“We all started playing the game because you want the ball and want to score goals. There’s no 4- and 5-year-olds saying, ‘I just want to defend,’” he said.
“Inherently, I think the guys enjoy how we’re just going to go for it every single game, regardless of who we’re playing.”
The Raiders have ridden a resurgent offense to promising start this season. They’re first in the Horizon League and tied for fourth in the nation with 26 goals while posting a 5-3-2 record.
They’ve already surpassed last year’s goal total of 22 while finishing 4-9-5 overall.
“We’re playing a system that favors our strengths, and we have really good players that are confident,” said Van der Sluijs (pronounced Vander Slice), who was hired in 2023 after a successful stint at Wilmington.
He decided this year to ditch a more traditional 4-3-3 set-up for offensive-minded 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 alignments.
“That gets some more numbers up front naturally. Our personnel changes also have been really positive,” the coach said.
“Last year felt like a square-peg-round-hole kind of thing. Now, with this first recruiting class, 17 new players, everybody’s style really complements what we want to do, which was intentional in the recruiting process. There’s been an attitude shift.”
Cole Werthmuller, a senior from Medina, Ohio, leads the league with seven goals. He’s also first in shots per game with 3.2.
He had just four goals last year, which was second on the team to Reece Allbaugh’s five. And he averaged only 2.5 shots.
“Last year, he had a tough year getting the looks. He was a bit unlucky. We played with a lone striker in him. Now, we’re playing with two and three strikers,” Van der Sluijs said.
“That guy works so hard. Some goals are great goals. Some goals are that he wants it more. He’s a crawl-off-the-field-tired type of guy. You really can’t teach that as a coach.”
Werthmuller leads the team with 16 points, while Edwin Espinal-Elvir has nine (four goals, one assist) and Conner Osterholt seven (three goals, one assist). Brian Burkett, Felix Ezekwuka and Henry Hutchinson have six points each.
“It’s a lot of guys contributing. There’s no real one guy. When we have four and five guys who can score, it’s hard for teams to prepare for more just one forward like last year,” the coach said.
The Raiders are 2-0-1 and tied for first with Robert Morris after one-third of the Horizon League season. They’re looking for their first title since 2018.
They have a home game with Green Bay at 1 p.m. Saturday and then finish with three of their final five league games on the road.
They were picked ninth out of 10 teams in the preseason poll.
“There’s no miracle pill. The guys are training really hard and are committed to getting better every day,” the coach said.
“We can talk X’s and O’s, but, really, there’s just a belief and commitment around the group. They’re really connected.”
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