Anderson University men's head soccer coach Rob Miller says chemistry will be the key for his 2008 team. The Trojans open the 2008 season Thursday night at Mars Hill. "Talent-wise, we have a good core of returning players," said Miller, who is entering his seventh season at Anderson. "We have 13 solid returning players and we've added a good class with a variety of talent - some transfers, some freshmen. My No. 1 job will be trying to create chemistry with that mixture. If I can create the chemistry, I think we can be very good. "We will be deep and talented, but the conference is very tough. To keep up, you have to be strong. We worked hard on recruiting after last season." The Trojans finished last season 8-11 overall and 5-5 in Conference Carolinas. Anderson was the only team to beat league champion Lees-McRae in conference play, but the Trojans also suffered six losses by three goals or more. "There's no doubt that we were inconsistent," Miller said. "I think a lot of our inconsistency came from youth in the goal. Several of our losses can be attributed to a lack of experience. This year, we have experience coming back in goal, we have several sophomores returning who got playing time last season, and we have six seniors. We have a mixture of experience with some new talented players. That's a good ingredient for success." The six returning seniors are forward Lahnden Onger (Abilene, Tx.), defender Peter Miele (Vaughn, Ontario), midfielder Josh Nguyen (Greenville, S.C.), midfielder Jaime Henao (Simpsonville, S.C.), and midfielder Stephon Henry (Kingston, Jamaica). "Those six guys are all good leaders," Miller said. "They know what they need to do. Lahnden is going to be a four-year starter. He is one of our top scorers and one of our most dangerous players. He is athletic and deceptive on the dribble. Most teams have a difficult time marking him. Stephon is one of the best athletes in the league, and he is highly motivated for the year." Onger scored four goals last season, including two game-winning goals. One of his game winners gave Anderson a 1-0 overtime victory over Lees-McRae. The leading returning scorer is junior forward Paulo Passini (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). Passini scored six goals last season. "Paulo was all-conference last season," Miller said. "He is very talented and has a great attitude." Leading the defense will be junior defender Rayon Markland. "Rayon was all-conference and all-region as a freshman, but he struggled a little bit last year," Miller said. "We need him to have a great year." Among the top newcomers are three transfers - Kevin Balkenburg (Holland), Adrian LeFlet (France), and Benjamin Papillion (France). "I think all three will impact the team right away," Miller said. Papillion will be in the mix at goal with sophomores Adrian Osborne (Nottingham, England) and Chris Skelton (Ontario, Canada). Osborne was 3-6 with two shutouts last season. "I am always cautious because of all of the things that can happen during the course of a season, but we could be very good," Miller said. "A couple of years ago, I had a team I thought talent-wise was marginal, but we had good chemistry and balance and finished third in the conference. Once you get on the field, you can see what they're about, see if they're in shape, work on their fitness, and start creating team chemistry." In addition to creating chemistry in the preseason, Miller will be looking for goal scorers. "I think you create chemistry by getting to know each other personally and understanding each other on the playing field," he said. "We will have to figure out which guys are most effective. Our weakness has been finding a guy to produce goals. We've had some athletic players but finding goals has been tough for us." Miller says there are no guaranteed victories in Conference Carolinas. "There are a lot of young, aggressive coaches in the league," he said. "It has always been like Queens, Lees-McRae and Belmont Abbey and everybody else found their way behind them. You have a lot of talented teams now. There are no easy games. You have to come to play."