VIDEO: Paul Csmarich Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – We continue previewing the 2023 Carson-Newman men's soccer season by glancing at the Eagles' midfielders with help from Paul Csmarich.

Carson-Newman's midfield will be brand new in 2023. Jannik Schulte, Matheus Maia, Yannick Kranz, Ewan Lynch, Gustavo Moses Bessa and Tim Vercelli all depart from 2022. This group combined for 11 goals and seven assists last season. 

The Eagles return exactly ten minutes from their 2022 midfield group. Cooper Cross (Knoxville, Tenn.) played in C-N's final regular season game for ten minutes and Paul Csmarich (Vienna, Austria) missed the entirety of the season due to an injury. Those are the only midfielders that have been with C-N for a calendar year.

The Eagles scored 28 goals, 20 of which were assisted last season. Half of the team's assists from 2022 came from a midfield player. Csmarich could find himself filling that setup role in 2023.

"I think we are good at creating chances," Csmarich said. "Right now we need to work on finishing them. We have a lot of attacking players, a lot of attacking minded players, who can score and assist goals. For me, it's not so much the attack, but more like setting the attack up. But obviously if I can chip in with a goal or two, I won't be disappointed with that."

Rhydian Williams (Llannerfydd, Conwy, Wales), Gunnpor Gislason (Reykgavik, Iceland), DJ Powers (Knoxville, Tenn), and Maxime Wester (Brussel, Belgium) are four incoming freshman that will look to emerge as a key contributor in their rookie campaign.

Two Dutch also join the midfield group. Mitchell Honcoop (Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands) is a junior newcomer that comes to the states after playing for Koninkijke HFC and Tim Haans (Tilburg, Netherlands) is a sophomore and played for Havo.

"We have a lot of good incoming players, but especially the midfielders," Csmarich said. "It's a lot of young players so we are going to need people to step up and take responsibility. But, for what I have seen so far I'm not worried at all. It's a very talented group and it's all about finding each other and getting to know one another on the pitch."

Carson-Newman's positions previews conclude on Tuesday as we examine the forwards with senior Harry Whitehead.