MORRIS, Minn. – The men's soccer team begins their season on Tuesday as they travel to Saint John's at 4:30 p.m. The Cougars open up against the Johnnies for the sixth straight season. Morris is looking for their first win vs Saint John's since 2008.
 
On Thursday the Cougars will travel out west to Spokane, Washington to play Pacific and Whitworth on the weekend. The Cougars first home game of the year will be on September 9 against Carleton College.
 
Back for 2015 is UMAC Defensive Player of the Year Cody Christ, All-Region player Shingo Yamane, and All-UMAC players Zachary Jacobson and Jacob Gindt.
 
The Cougars reached the UMAC Championship match last season and are expected to be there again in 2015, receiving the second most votes in the preseason poll.
 
Last season Morris got scoring from several different places, a total of 20 different players finished with at least one point. Yamane topped that list with 23 points and ten goals. Jacobson finished the year with 10 points and is the second leading scorer returning.
 
Defensively the Cougars return two members of backline that allowed just over a goal per contest in 2014. The defense is where it starts and Scott Turnbull hopes that the build up to a strong season will begin as early as next week.
 
It is a long journey to the UMAC Title game, a voyage that will have its up and down but Turnbull already sees positive growth from the time the team stepped on campus until now.