It is a year of transition for the Madison College men’s soccer team. New head coach Corey Sims takes over the WolfPack after being an assistant on last year’s team, which went 1-15. Sims also coached the U10-13 boys for the Magic Soccer Club in Madison for the past three years.

When asked about going into this year as head coach of the WolfPack team, Sims said that he was learning on the job last year and believes his year of experience as an assistant will definitely help.

Sims noted that as the head coach, he gets to put his own plan into action where as an assistant coach he had to defer to the head coach for any ideas he had. Still, Sims does not seem to be particularly nervous about this season and stated that his expectations are “pretty high” and noted that the team has “quite a group of talented players.”

Madison College returns its No. 2 scorer from last year’s roster and has signed several new players, including first team all-conference player Elliot Piper from Fond du Lac high school.

Midfielder Ittay Rivas also returns to this year’s squad. He scored two of the team’s nine goals last year, playing in all 16 games. The only other sophomore on the squad is defenseman Michael Digman from Dodgeville.

Scoring was a challenge for the WolfPack last year. The team was shut out in eight games, while allowing opponents to score almost five goals a game.

Madison College opens the regular season at home with a scrimmage against NJCAA Division I team Kankakee Community College. Madison’s first home game is against Harper College on Friday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m.