PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's soccer team, coming off of a run to the Atlantic 10 title game and a second place finish in the conference, looks to continue its success when the Explorers open the 2011 season tonight at Rutgers.

The Explorers take on the Scarlet Knights at 7 pm in Piscataway, N.J., playing the Big East team in hopes of starting off this season with a bang. The game will be broadcast for free on RVision.

This season will be a pivotal one for the up and coming program that defied their 2010 preseason prediction to go 6-2-1 in league play and earn the No. 2 seed and first-round bye in the tournament. A glaring hole is left by the graduation of reigning Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year Ryan Richter, who contributed 14 of the Explorers' 26 goals in 2010.

The team returns a pair of playmakers in All-Rookie pick Jidell Roach and classmate Jason Plumhoff, who recorded 11 and 10 points respectively in their freshman seasons last year to rank second and third on the team. Junior Glenroy Chapman, who netted three goals last season including two in the Atlantic 10 semifinal game, also returns and will look to step up his scoring role.

The team also added reigning Philadelphia Catholic League Player of the Year Tom Baker, who graduated from Archbishop Wood as the school's all-time leading scorer with 105 career goals.

"The biggest thing offensively that we have to do is replace that 14 goals that Richter scored,"Head Coach Pat Farrell said. "What we're hoping for is that two or three different guys can increase their production. We're a very young team, there's six sophomores that got a lot of experience last year. It's important that they identify what they need to do to become better players."

The young goal scorers will need to bring their top game to the pitch, but they also have a seasoned defensive staff supporting them. Returning for their senior seasons are Second Team All-Conference honoree Dan Korenyi and Mid-Atlantic All-Region pick Nick Dundon, along with sophomore Andrew Lill. The trio spearheaded the defense last year to eight shutouts. Korenyi is a four-year starter who has played the last two primarily on the defensive end. Dundon, who transferred to La Salle from Wisconsin-Milwaukee two years ago, moved from midfield to defense early last season and has been a rock there ever since. Lill started 17 of 18 games as a freshman in 2010.

Behind the tough defensive line is All-Rookie goalie John McCarthy, who led the Atlantic 10 in saves (95) and save percentage (.841) in his freshman season. He also ranked second in the conference with eight shutouts

"On the defensive end, when we were on that run last year, we weren't giving up goals," Farrell added. "We were solid defensively and that starts with the leadership in the back. We got into a situation where we started to have success and we hope that transfers over to this year."

Following tonight's contest at Rutgers, the Explorers return to 20th and Olney next Friday (9/2) when they host Penn in the home opener.

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