ANDERSON, S.C. -- The Anderson University men's soccer team opens the 2007 season Thursday afternoon at Newberry. The match will start at 4 p.m. Anderson, 9-9-1 overall last season, has its largest and deepest roster since joining Division II in 1999. "We got very aggressive in our recruiting," said Anderson head coach Rob Miller, who is starting his sixth season at AU. "It was tiring and exhausting, but the coaches who can recruit are going to win. I hope we've recruited well enough to do that. I'm excited about this group because I think we can mold them into a really good team." The Trojans won five of their last seven regular-season matches in '06, including four straight entering the conference tournament. In the first round of the conference tournament, Anderson played top-seeded Queens (N.C.) to a scoreless tie and was eliminated on penalty kicks. "We have 22 new players with a shot to make the varsity," Miller said. "We will have lots of competition and more depth than we've had since I've been here." Among the nine returnees are two All-Region players - midfielder Lahnden Onger and defender Rayon Markland - and defenders Michael Walker, Steve Henderson, Stephon Henry, and Peter Miele. Henry, a junior from Kingston, Jamaica, was Anderson's second-leading scorer last season with six goals and two assists. "We've got a good mix," Miller said. "We've got American kids, some international kids, three transfers, and a huge crop of freshmen. On paper, this is the best team I've had. We just have see how it all fits together. We've got a lot of chemistry things to work on. There is some excitement and some uncertainy, but I feel pretty good about this group." Injuries limited what moves Miller could make last season. Eleven of Anderson's 20 players played in 16 or more matches. Of the remaining nine players, just two played in more than 10 matches. "We will play more people and we will play at a faster pace," Miller said. "Last year, we lacked depth because of the injuries. This year, the guys who play in substitute roles will not drop the level of play. They more than likely will add to the game. Most of the new players are coming from good club environments. A lot of them are all-state, all-conference, and all-region type players." One of the biggest competitions during the preseason will be at goalkeeper where four newcomers will battle to replace Andy Barth, who had a record of 8-3-1 in the Anderson net. "We have signed four goalkeepers - two international players and two all-state players," Miller said. "That is going to be an interesting competition." Anderson won the '06 meeting against Newberry, 2-1 in overtime. Henry scored the winning goal at the 108:15 mark after a wild scramble in front of the Newberry goal.