UM soccer adds 9 players

Pat Laughlin, the newly appointed University of Maine men’s soccer coach, has announced that nine players will join his program in the fall, including five transfers.

The Black Bears will enter the fall season immersed in a 22-game losing streak.

“When you consider I didn’t start until Feb. 1, I’m thrilled with this group,” said Laughlin.

“You need to get a lot of good players to make the team more competitive and the other two things I looked at were guys who were winners or were used to being on winning teams and guys who were captains or leaders on their teams,” said Laughlin. “I had to make sure they understood that next year was going to be tough and if they couldn’t handle that, this is the wrong place to come.”

Midfielder Pat Halligan from Falmouth transferred from the University of Connecticut, where he played in five games in three seasons.

Topsham’s Kyle LeDuc, a back, played in four games in two seasons at Providence College; back-midfielder Brendan Rogers of Wakefield, R.I., was a freshman redshirt at Hofstra University last fall; Westbrook striker Kyle Shangraw was an all-regional choice at Bryant and Stratton (Junior) College (N.Y.), and back Corey Sinclair from Richland, Wash. is transferring from Northwest University and Walla Walla Community College. Shangraw and Sinclair will be juniors.

The incoming freshmen will be Yarmouth goalkeeper Jon Planer; Toronto midfielder Tom McCole; Northville, Mich., midfielder Alex Rickett; and Swedish midfielder Mikael Wasiuk, who is playing in Virginia.

“Pat Halligan is a dynamic, attack-minded player who is hungry to play,” said Laughlin. “Kyle LeDuc is a big center back with pretty good feet; Brendan Rogers is a hard-working, motivated guy and a good athlete; Kyle Shangraw is a competitor who will be tough to play against and will create scoring chances.”

“Mikael Wasiuk is very good on the ball and a very creative player; Alex Rickett has very good feet and is college-ready; Corey Sinclair is a very good athlete who was a real good defensive back in football; Tom McCole is a [solid] two-way midfielder, and Jon Planer has long arms and big hands who has a real good chance to blossom in college,” said Laughlin.