JACKSON - The Millsaps Majors Men's Soccer Team opened their preseason up with 26 players taking the field and preparing the for 2012 season. To the team, this means anything is up for grabs.

"This year, I couldn't tell you what the starting 11 will be," says senior Taylor Harrison. "I think we have 20 guys that could go out there and start, who that will be, we won't know until this Friday at our scrimmage."

"It has created a more competitive practice environment," says 10th year Head Coach Lee Johnson. "The joy of it is guys want to be on the field and playing and it holds our returners to a higher standard."

Millsaps comes into 2012 with high expectations as they would like field a competitve team that will not only improve from their last two seasons, but can compete for a Southern Athletic Association Championship.

"Every team is going to the conference tournament and there is only one inaugural conferenece champion," says Johnson. "That's something we are capable of doing."

"We want to go as far as we can," says senior goalkeeper Stephen Andrieu. "We want to be contending and we have chance in the SAA Tournament."

The Majors lose one starter from a year ago and return a strong senior class of seven starting with Harrison. The native of Hendersonville, Tenn. has started all but one game in his career and has been great defensively for Millsaps throughout his career. Last season, Harrison led the team in points with six, goals with two, and assists with two and will look to pick up where he left off last season in the fall.

"He's going to be a good leader for us on the field and his competiveness is always great," says Johnson. "He plays in the back for us so he has an opportunity to get forward on the attack and it will be good for us."

All starters from last season join Harrison in fellow senior Alex Szabo, junior James Klugh, and sophomore Christopher Lawrence. In an offense that struggled to put goals on the board, the defense kept Millsaps in close games as they made big plays throughout the year and even scored goals of their own. Key reserves also return for Millsaps in seniors Drew Moroux and Duncan Stankevich.

Behind the defenders will be Andrieu, who started most of 2011 after Dylan Broussard went down with an injury and proved to be very efficient in goal. He picked up 59 saves on the season and had the only two wins of the season for Millsaps with one coming on a shutout victory over Huntingdon.

Andrieu feels the Major defense could be primed for a big season.

"As a goalkeeper, I want to have a clean sheet every game," says Andrieu. "I also really want our back four to all be on the same page and we have done well all preseason working on our marks and shifts, defending as a unit, and in the end, preventing a lot of goals attempted." 

Trey Fontaine is back at midfield after tying for a team leading two goals last season. The Majors also welcome back junior Hayden Baker and Michael Pellissier who each had an assist last season. The Majors also bring back the electrfying sophomore Chucky Hayden who has made giant strides in the preseason.

Johnson praises Hayden's improvements.

"Our right side was dangerous last year with Hayden and Harrison," says Johnson. "And we look forward it to being a lot more dangerous this year."

Up front, the Majors welcome back sophomore Chase Ming who scored one goal and added an assist and senior Hunter Creech, who saw time in nearly every game last season. 

The big get for the Majors were 10 newcomers who are set to make a giant impact this season. Many of the freshman could find themselves playing big time miuntes and even starting.

"Overall, I'm excited about the whole class," explains Johnson. "The class brings a lot to the program from expierience to competiviness, I think the class as a whole is going to make us much better and brings competition to our team."

Harrison thinks this group has an idea of how physical the college game will be when the first game comes around thanks to the returners preparing them during preseason.

"In the past, we've always had a slow start with the freshman as they don't have a good understanding of how the physical play will be," says Harrison. "The first fews days of preseason was kind of a culture shock for them, but now they are starting to fight back which is a good atmosphere for us."

And for this senior class, it would mean everything to them to send Millsaps Soccer in the right direction with a strong season.

"We've struggled these last three years, there's no denying it," says Andrieu. "It would mean a lot to us to set an example to a great freshman group by going out strong so they can carry out the program from here on."

Harrison adds, "My individual goal is to rally the senior class to set a good example for the younger guys and show them where this program needs to go as it continues to go there."

The Majors scrimmage Cardinal Stitch on Friday evening at 7 p.m. at Harper Davis Field before opening things up on September 1st against Fontbonne in Memphis.