WVU Men’s Soccer is officially one month away from taking the pitch for its first regular season contest of the 2026 season. The program will kick off its 65th season against Charlotte on Thursday, August 20, at 7 p.m. on the road. Read more: One month out: WVU Men’s Soccer
WVU has seen great success in recent years, including three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and a 2024 Sun Belt Championship title.
Overall, the Mountaineer faithful can expect to see several key players return to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium with some intriguing newcomers joining the roster as well.
Several All-Conference players returning
This past season, WVU had quite a few players make the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team, Second Team and Freshman Team.
Additionally, WVU also had the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Player and Offensive Player of the Year in forward Marcus Calderia. He will not return to the Mountaineers in 2026 as he now plays for Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer.
Related: Season in review: WVU Men’s Soccer
Returning award-winning players include forward Pablo Pozos of the First Team, midfielder Nacho Martinez of the Second Team, and midfielder Juan Alvarez and forward Sammie Walker of the Freshman Team.
Pozos was the second leading scorer for WVU this past season behind Calderia with 11 goals and three assists. He started in 18 games and played a total of 1,213 minutes.
Martinez scored no goals for WVU in 2025 and only had one assist. However, he was a consistent starter and played 1,724 minutes. He was also a strong contributor defensively and helped WVU shut out eight opponents.
Combined, Walker and Alvarez scored three goals, and Alvarez had four assists. Walker participated in all games but one, mostly as a substitute, while Alvarez had a total of nine starts.
Additionally, the Mountaineers’ third leader in points, midfielder Isaac Scheer, returns. He had three goals and seven assists.
Other returners on offense include:
- D – Tristan Pusztahegyi
- D – Thijs Veldhorst
- D – Tyler Bush
- MF/D – Sebastian Burke
- MF – Tyler Londono Zapata
- MF – Brayden Macomber
- MF – Thomas Bowe
- F – Braedon Smith
A mostly fresh goalkeeping unit
In 2025, goalkeeper Marc Bonnaire started all 21 games for the Mountaineers. He will not return to the squad in 2026 due to this past season being his final year of eligibility.
WVU’s roster for this upcoming season lists three goalkeepers: Toby Mawer, Chase Collins and Kendall Starks.
Mawer is the only goalkeeper of the three that have seen any collegiate playing time. Even then, Mawer only played the second half of the Mountaineers final 2025 NCAA Tournament game against High Point and did not have many save opportunities.
Mawer is from Bath, England, and was an England Elite School Boys Champion with King Edwards Bath in high school.
Although returning to the team, Collins has yet to make a collegiate appearance. He played for the PA Classics MLS Next club, reaching the playoffs in 2022.
Starks, an incoming freshman, is the lone newcomer of the goalkeeping unit. Starks played for Colorado Rapids 2 in MLS Next Pro.
Additionally, Starks played in the Generation Adidas Cup and was the Goalkeeper of the Tournament. He was ranked No. 10 of goalkeepers nationally by TopDrawerSoccer and No. 98 overall.
Offensive newcomers
WVU Men’s Soccer signed five players out of the transfer portal, three international transfers and four incoming freshmen for the 2026 season.
Transfer Portal
Standouts from the transfer portal include WVU Tech forward Julen Recalde, Missouri State defender Harry Hogben and Cowley College midfielder Kanta Ishii.
Recalde built quite the resume at WVU Tech, achieving honors such as River States Conference Offensive Player and Newcomer of the Year, River States Conference Male Athlete of the Year and NAIA First-Team All-American.
Recalde also helped WVU Tech reach the NAIA National Championship game. He was the Golden Bears’ leading goal scorer with 16.
Related: West Virginia still rising as the soccer state
Hogben started 14 games as a freshman at Missouri State this past season. He was named to the American Conference All-Freshman Team.
Ishii was a standout at the JUCO level for the past two seasons, earning KJCCC Offensive Player of the Year and First Team NJCAA Division I All-American honors twice.
Other transfers include Pitt defender Jacob Rendefors and Loyola Marymount defender Civan de Jesus Ferreira.
International transfers
WVU also added a few international players, including graduate student defender Aurélien Cormier of France, sophomore forward Joshua Dudock of Germany and sophomore defender Mark Chust of Spain.
All three players have played for clubs in their home countries prior to joining WVU.
Dudock played for Germany’s fourth tier of the German football league for Bremer SV. He scored 11 goals and added five assists with the club.
Cormier and Chust both played for the fifth tier of their home countries’ football leagues. Cormier was with Paotred Dispount Ergué-Gabéric of Championnat National 2 (France) while Chust was with UD Alzira (Spain).
Freshmen
The freshman offensive additions to WVU this upcoming season include midfielder Joshua Jones (Canada), defender Grafton Kahl (Virginia), forward Lucas White (Maryland) and defender Ryan Birtwistle (Singapore).
Kahl and White both played club soccer in the United States. Kahl was with Richmond United while White was with Bethesda SC.
White was ranked the No. 35 player of the Mid-Atlantic Region by TopDrawerSoccer.
Jones and Birtwistle also have club experience in their home countries.
Jones played for Surrey United and was part of the 2023 Provincial Championship team. Birtwistle played for the fourth tier of the German football league system with Wacker Burghausen.
Last year’s coaching staff returns
WVU Men’s Soccer head coach Dan Stratford will lead the helm again for his seventh season.
Stratford previously won two National Championships at the Division II level as the head coach of the University of Charleston. He was named the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year in 2024.
Stratford played his collegiate soccer career at WVU and started his coaching career at WVU as an assistant coach.
Also returning are associate head coach Andy Wright, assistant coach Nick Noble, and technical director Nolan Sheldon.
Sahil Dhunnookchand is the lone newcomer of the coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach.
Key matchups in 2026
WVU Men’s Soccer will play ten matches at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium and seven on the road in 2026.
The Mountaineers will play its home opener against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies on Monday, August 24, at 6 p.m. WVU holds the all-time series record at 10-1.
Six of WVU’s opponents competed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament this past season (UNCG, Akron, Denver, UCF, Marshall, Kentucky).
WVU will travel to face Marshall in the Mountain State Derby this season on Sunday, September 27, at 7:15 p.m. WVU leads the all-time series at 18-9-4, but lost the most recent meeting.
The 2025 Sun Belt Conference Champions UCF, will travel to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Wednesday, October 21, at 7 p.m. The two programs are tied in the all-time series at 2-2-2, but WVU has not lost to UCF since becoming conference foes.
WVU will finish the regular season in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in a match against conference foe JMU on Tuesday, November 3, at 7 p.m. In their past five meetings, WVU is 2-0-3.
Related: One month out: WVU Women’s Soccer
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