After the UW-Whitewater men’s soccer team’s first three games of the season, the Warhawks are out-scoring opponents 14-2 with an overall record of 2-0-1 as of press time on Sunday, Sept. 8. While it may seem like a strong start to the season, head coach Tony Guinn said this team is capable of bigger and better.

“I am extremely disappointed that we gave up a goal,” Guinn said. “At our school we have always had a strong culture of not giving up goals. We had a lack of composure and a lack of leadership and gave up that goal at the end of the game [vs. Rockford on Sept. 4].”

The reason he has such high expectations for this year’s team is because he thinks it could be one of the best he has coached in Whitewater.

“I think that this is one of the most talented teams I’ve had in my time at Whitewater,” Guinn said. “I also think that due to COVID and guys getting a fifth year this is one of the oldest teams I’ve ever coached at Whitewater.”

According to Guinn, the team’s toughest opponent this season could very well be themselves, “because [they] are that talented.”

“We have to be intelligent and we have to be methodical,” Guinn said. “We have to have composure and we just can’t do things that beat ourselves.”

Since last season the team returned all but two of their starters and even brought back a couple of players who were injured during the 2023 season.

“Getting Faizan Mohiuddin back [after] he tore his ACL is big,” Guinn said. “He worked really hard and rehabbed it. He’s a great kid, he’s a captain, he’s our Messi and getting him back to be able to play is a big deal to us.”

He also had good things to say about sophomore defender Hayden Saul from Iowa City. At 6-foot-4, he is a key part of the Warhawks defense. 

“Hayden Saul is phenomenal,” Guinn said. “He’s from Iowa and I think he was the best player in the state of Iowa when he came out of high school.”

Overall, the Warhawks ceiling is very high for the remainder of the upcoming season, but according to Guinn it’s up to the team to keep themselves from making costly mistakes to beat themselves. 

“Most coaches in the country would be honored to coach this team and I can tell you that my job is to assemble a group of people and to recruit a group of people and it’s a great team,” Guinn said.

The Warhawks will be on the road this week with a matchup against Macalester Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then on to play Augsburg Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. in Minneapolis.