Note: The Warriors open their season on Friday and Saturday with games against WVIAC schools Davis & Elkins and Concord on Concord's campus in Athens, W.V.

East Stroudsburg University has won 15 PSAC men's soccer championships in 28 seasons under head coach Jerry Sheska, so when the Warriors don't make the postseason, they're usually an odds-on favorite to get back the next year.

That's the task facing the 2010 edition of the Warriors, who went 11-8-1 last season but missed the PSAC tournament for just the sixth time under Sheska's leadership.

With the conference returning to the single-division format that was in place from 1993-2007, the Warriors will look for a return to the top of the PSAC standings as well, a spot that they held for 12 of the 15 seasons played under the old format.

ESU has six starters back in the fold, along with the return of two-time All-American Danny Drago, who missed most of last season with a medical redshirt and will play a new role after earning All-America honors at back in 2007 and 2008.

The strength of the Warriors should be in the midfield, where three local products will help solidify the position after the graduation of Toric Robinson, a four-time All-PSAC player and an honorable mention All-American last year.

Drago (Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg), redshirt senior Michael Kane (Stroudsburg) and senior Drew Repsher (East Stroudsburg South) will all push up from the back, where they have held starting positions in their careers.

Drago has 10 career goals, including six in his inaugural All-America campaign as a sophomore in 2007, and will give the Warriors a strong offensive option. Kane was an NSCAA All-Region back last year and has made 43 career starts, and Repsher has been a three-year letterwinner after originally attending Coastal Carolina.

The outside midfield positions will likely be held by a pair of newcomers, senior Shastri Spencer and sophomore Derek Lopez. Spencer, originally from Trinidad & Tobago, scored 31 goals at Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg in 2006 when he was the Pocono Record Player of the Year and then earned All-America honors at Monroe Community College in 2008.

Junior Josh Inman started 11 games in the midfield last season and will also contribute, along with freshmen Andrew Cerda and Matthew Geidner.

Up front, junior Greg Schook moves from a starting midfield role to forward and scored five goals last season, second on the team. Sophomore Kevin Lombardo saw action in 12 games a year ago and freshman Marc DeFeo will be counted on after a standout high school career at Morris Knolls (N.J.), where Sheska was head coach for 10 years before coming to ESU.

Moving Drago, Kane and Repsher into more offensive roles should make the Warriors more dangerous at the attacking end, as they were fifth in the PSAC with 1.75 goals per game last year (35 goals in 20 games) after scoring at least 50 goals in each of the previous four seasons.

The personnel shift was made possible by the faith in a number of new players along the back line. Senior Josh Arcona, sophomores Garrison Draper, Suane McLeish and Steve Sollecito and freshmen Dominick Morizio and Khriswayne Wallace will all look to earn starting roles as Sheska solidifies the back four prior to the season. Arcona (16 starts) and McLeish (20) are both returning starters, while Draper comes to ESU from Division I Valparaiso.

In goal, senior Troy Hernandez takes over as the starter after the graduation of Larry Pokrywa, an All-PSAC and All-Region selection who is now the Warriors' graduate assistant coach.

Hernandez has started eight games in his career, notching two solo shutouts, and has a career goals against average of 1.11. He made seven starts in 2008 with a 4-2 record, including seven saves in a 2-1 win over Bloomsburg. Freshman Andrew Chongaway and sophomore Steve Mack will battle for the backup role.