MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men’s soccer team hosted its first-ever men’s soccer media day on its new campus practice facility on Thursday afternoon.

The Bears are coming off their most successful season under third-year head coach Brad Ruzzo and are hungry for more. Ruzzo returns nine starters from a 2009 squad that finished 7-11-2 and made it to the Atlantic Sun Championship game before dropping a 2-1 decision to Stetson.

Multiple media affiliates from the central Georgia area attended the event including 13 WMAZ CBS Macon, Fox 24 Macon, the Macon Telegraph, Macon.com, the Cluster Newspaper and the BearZone blog.

The Bears officially start their 2010 season on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Georgia Southern for a preseason exhibition match. Kick-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Quotes from the 2010 Men’s Soccer Media Day

Head Coach Brad Ruzzo

Thoughts on the importance of a fast start this season:

“That is definitely one of the things we have discussed as we prepare for this upcoming season. Obviously we want to win every game, but starting strong and stringing some wins together during the non-conference schedule will give us confidence once our conference schedule begins.”

On the high expectations surrounding the team:

“The way I look at it is if you don’t have expectations, you aren’t where you want to be. We set a standard last year reaching the A-Sun Championship match and we are looking to exceed that standard this season by winning our conference and going to the NCAA’s.”

#4 Josh Shutter, D

On why he chose to transfer from Clemson to Mercer:

“I had a former teammate from my club team up in Pennsylvania, Joey Heavner, who said to come visit and I came down and everything just clicked. I really liked the coaches and we definitely have a great group of guys who are focused and hungry for an A-Sun title and a chance to go to the NCAA’s.”

#14 Richie Edmondson, F

Which World Cup team does this year’s team most resemble:

“I think our team is most like the Netherlands because we are a blue collar team with a high work ethic. The Dutch also gelled together late at the end of their World Cup run and I think we did that during our A-Sun Tournament run last year.”

#8 Phil Thoren, D

What makes this team run:

“I think we all really feed off coach Ruzzo’s passion and energy. We are all hungry because we know we came so close to winning it all last year and with almost everyone back for this season we know we have another great chance to go to NCAA’s.”