Last season ended in the national semifinal, and the team that beat Cumberlands there went on to play for the whole thing. That’s the backdrop for 2026, a roster that lost real production but opens the year against the exact team that sent it home.
The Story So Far
Cumberlands entered the 2025 national tournament as a No. 12 seed, shut out Xavier to reach Orange Beach, then needed 110 scoreless minutes and a 4-1 penalty shootout to get past Warner Pacific. It was the program’s second straight trip to the national semifinal. WVU Tech ended that run, 2-0, then advanced to the championship match itself before falling 2-1 to Grand View, which claimed the program’s first national title.
A Real Rebuild This Time
Unlike the women’s side, this roster isn’t returning most of its production:
- 38% of the team’s points come back
- 45% of its goals
- 15% of its assists
That last number is the one that matters most. The team’s leading distributor is gone, and there’s real ground to make up through the midfield.
The Anchor: Samuel Dolobaipu
Samuel Dolobaipu led the team in scoring last season with 5 goals, 2 assists, and 12 points, and he’s back for a senior season as the clearest returning piece on the attacking end.
The Rest of the Holdovers
Behind Dolobaipu, Nico Romero returns with 4 goals, 1 assist, and 9 points once his split box-score lines are combined under his full name, Leandro Nico Romero Protto. Luca Piazza, Gabriel Canineu, Conor McVeigh, Zabir Taylor, and Ja-Son Whyte round out the returning group, though none carried more than 5 points a season ago.
Replacing The Wall
The bigger question sits in goal. Javiero Izquierdo Cuervo played nearly every minute of the 2025 postseason run, finishing with a 0.98 GAA and seven shutouts on the year. He’s gone. Martin Gomez (133 minutes, 1.35 GAA) and Zachary Dean (55 minutes, 0.00 GAA) both return with game experience, but neither carries a sample size close to what’s needed to know what this defense actually has behind it.
Real Losses This Time
This isn’t a program losing depth pieces. Mario Fernandez Garcia, the team’s leading assist man, is gone, along with Bruno Marques (10 points), Hugo Champalloux (8 points), Tjerk Meijs (6 points), Ryota Nakamura (5 points), and Patrick Ostergreen (5 points). That’s the bulk of last year’s scoring depth walking out the door in one offseason.
The Reload
This program doesn’t answer that kind of turnover with a freshman class. It answers it through the portal. Nine transfers and grad transfers arrive from four continents: Vitor Mendonca (Eastern Florida State), Luciano Viejo (USC Sumter), Rafael Torres (Trinity Christian), Nicolas Muniz (Garden City CC), Shiko Kiyomiya (Missouri Valley), Karim Nlamu (Radford), Jannes Kühn (Northwestern College), Yota Ishikawa (Southeastern CC), Eduardo Pedroza (Bethel), and Jesus Macaya (Longwood).
Circle This One: August 22 at WVU Tech
The 2026 opener puts this rebuilt roster on the road against the exact team that ended last season, a team that was one win away from a national championship of its own. There’s no easing into the year. It’s a statement game in game one.
Our Take
This roster loses real talent, and honestly, we’re not sure what to expect. But this program is built at a level where it reloads instead of rebuilding, and we trust this coaching staff to have it ready. Whether it gets back to the Final Four is a fair question. Whether it shows up ready to make a statement on August 22 in West Virginia isn’t.
