WICHITA, Kan. — With 60 percent of its roster consisting of new faces, the Newman men's soccer team had a steep learning curve when its players first walked on campus.

That curve has quickly leveled out though, and the Jets are ready to attack the final year of Heartland Conference play in 2018 before heading to compete in the MIAA beginning in 2019-20.

Three preseason contests are under his team's belt, and coach Cliff Brown likes what he's seeing out of his squad.

"With 15, 16 new players, it's always a challenge to get everyone melded together before the first game, but I'm pretty happy with the progress we've made," he said. "We have some really good quality players this year, a nice balance between nationalities and playing styles that really do work together very, very well."

Brown's 25-man squad features 15 players new to Newman, seven freshmen and 11 different nationalities.

They also have back the team's leading scorer from 2016 in Carlos Rubio Garcia, an experienced and senior-laden midfield led by Vince Couto, and a junior defender in Andreas Agrell who has logged more minutes than any other Newman field player in the past two seasons.

That's not a bad base to inject an incoming class full of talented players coming from soccer-rich countries.

"The big thing is just getting into our style of play in match situations that have a little more pressure than in preseason games," Brown said. "Then once we get into conference, just start picking off games that we need to win and challenging the teams we need to challenge so we're where we need to be at the end of the season."

Newman opens its season Friday night at Colorado State-Pueblo. The Jets take on Bethel a week later in their home opener at 7 p.m. Sept. 7 at Wilkins Field.

SEASON BREAKDOWN (2017 statistics in parentheses)

Forwards

Returners: Carlos Rubio Garcia (Sr., 15 GP, 2g, 2a, 6 pts, 10 SOG, 1 GWG)

Newcomers: Ignacio Lerech (So., North Carolina Wesleyan); Sam Garcia (Sr., Saint Mary)

Coach Speak: "When we get Ignacio eligible, he'll be a powerful player up top for us. Carlos had a very good spring and has come back with a much better realization of what he needs to do, so we're hoping he's back into 2016 form. The biggest thing up top is just the number of new players, getting everybody up to speed, knowing all the new teammates and their styles of play."

Midfielders

Returners: Vince Couto (Sr., 16 GP, 3 SOG); Tommy Fiszel (Sr., 16 GP, 2g, 3a, 7 pts, 13 SOG); Taylor White (Sr., 18 GP, 1a, 1 pt, 1 SOG); Ed Jabbari (Jr., 16 GP, 1g, 2 a, 4 pts, 11 SOG); Fernando Robles (Sr., 18 GP, 1g, 2 pts, 4 SOG)

Newcomers: Pedro Vega-Perez (Jr., Jefferson CC); Santiago Martinez Zuvira (So., Southwest Mississippi CC); Diego Rojo (Gr., completed tennis career at Newman); Victor Rubio Lopez (Fr., Spain); Kristian Gecaj (Fr., England); Davide Panucci (Fr., Italy); Mehdi Al-Amood (Fr., Campus HS); Grant Sacket (Fr., Derby HS)

Coach Speak: "The attacking midfield is probably our strongest position right now. There's a lot of experience and creativity, and there's a lot of players with similar style of play, which is what we're trying to recruit to. I'm excited about what they can do."

Defenders

Returners: Enzo Nalis (So., 16 GP, 952 min.); Andreas Agrell (Jr., 17 GP, 2a, 1529 min.)

Newcomers: Arnor Johnsson (Fr., Iceland); Rafael Alkmim (Jr., Cloud County CC); Magnus Kretschmann (Fr., Germany); Junior Galvan (Jr., Allen CC)

Coach Speak: "We're a little bit thin in the back. We'll be trying to pull some different players from other positions and pull them back. That might be one of our biggest concerns, if we have someone go down. Losing Fernando [Rubio Garcia, on redshirt] at the end of last season hurt. Sometimes Vince [Couto] will have to step back. Magnus has shown tremendous quality. Andreas has come ready to play. Arnor is really solid with a great personality, and Enzo has been in the program and knows what we need."

Goalkeepers

Returners: Chase Bowman (So., 18 GP, 1.01 GAA, 56 saves, 6 shutouts)

Newcomers: Jean Claude Consol (Jr., Italy)

Coach Speak: "We have to get Jean Claude eligible. He's a late addition that just has to get through the eligibility center. He was playing the top amateur level in Italy. He'll give us a much better situation than when we just had one keeper last year. But right now, Chase will have to man that spot by himself again."