This season head coach Jon Pascale fields a much more experienced squad, as the Tritons did not graduate a single player from the 2011 roster.

With the exception of seniors, goalkeeper Jesse Brennan and defender Harris Rabin — both out due to injury — UCSD’s starting lineup looks close to that of last season.

Forwards, senior Evan Walker and junior Sam Ball, retain their spots up top for the Tritons, while juniors Cory Wolfrom, Gavin Lamming and Andrew Keimach hold down the back line with junior Josh Cohen in goal.

In the midfield, Pascale’s afforded the luxury of picking from a number of talented halfbacks, including pacy wingers Kian Malek, Adam Zernik and Andisheh Bagheri.

The Tritons kicked off the 2012 campaign by splitting their only two preseason matches, losing 0-2 to Cal Baptist before topping Academy of the Art 2-0.

UCSD won its first conference match the following week against San Francisco State as junior Adam Zernik hammered home the decider in the 83rd minute. The Tritons took another 1-0 win against Cal Poly Pomona.

UCSD’s next two conference matches went to double overtime, as CSU Los Angeles finished in the 115th minute to best the Tritons, before UCSD settled for a tie against CSU San Bernardino.

Last Sunday, Sept. 23 the Tritons fought San Francisco State to a 0-0 tie. To date, UCSD is off to their best start in recent memory. At 4-2-2 it seems that the Tritons have finally broken out of the familiar pattern of starting slow and finishing strong.

“Throughout the [2011] season, what has let us down was our consistency,” UCSD assistant coach Eric Bucchere said. “But with all of our team back next year, I think we can look at this as a lesson for next season and hopefully we can find more of a consistent rhythm and make a run at the playoffs.”

This season, look for the Tritons to be a contender in the CCAA postseason race.