A No. 12 seed shut out Xavier to reach Orange Beach, then outlasted Warner Pacific through 110 scoreless minutes and won it 4-1 on penalties. It was the program's second straight trip to the national semifinal. WVU Tech ended it there, 2-0, then went on to play for the whole thing before falling to Grand View in the final.

Romero's line combines two split box-score entries under his full name, Leandro Nico Romero Protto.

Javiero Izquierdo Cuervo played nearly every minute of the postseason run: a 0.98 GAA and seven shutouts across the full season. He's gone.

Both return with game experience, neither with a real sample size.

Nine transfers and grad transfers arrive from four continents to replace the production that walked out the door. This program doesn't rebuild through a freshman class. It reloads through the portal.

Mendonca · E. Florida State Viejo · USC Sumter Torres · Trinity Christian Muniz · Garden City CC Kiyomiya · Missouri Valley Nlamu · Radford Kühn · Northwestern (IA) Ishikawa · Southeastern CC Pedroza · Bethel Macaya · Longwood

The same team that eliminated Cumberlands in the national semifinal, one win away from a title of their own, is who this new-look roster faces in game one. No easing in. This is a statement game, first whistle of the season.

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.