Men's Soccer Announces 2018 Recruiting Class

CINCINNATI – Xavier men's soccer head coach Andy Fleming announced the program's complete 2018 recruiting class on Tuesday, featuring seven new faces who will join the team later this summer.

The class includes players from four different states and two international players, one from Norway and another from Germany.

THE CLASS

Name	Position	Hometown	High School/Last School	Club
Jacob Bernsen	MF	O'Fallon, Mo.	Fort Zumwalt West HS	St. Louis Scott Gallagher
Ethan Lee	MF	Carmel, Ind.	Carmel HS	Indiana Fire Academy
Matthew Fickenworth	D	Cincinnati, Ohio	Anderson HS	Cincinnati United Premier
Connor Haskell	D	Medfield, Mass.	Medfield HS	Global Premier Soccer
Jacob Benintendi	D	Cincinnati, Ohio	Turpin HS	Kings Hammer Academy
Felix Boe Tangen	F	Oslo, Norway	The Norwegian College of Top Athletes (NTG)	FK Lyn
Tomek Pauer	MF	Hamburg, Germany	University of Hamburg	Lüneburger SK Hansa

THE CLASS

"To start I'd like to thank our players, assistant coaches and support staff for their efforts in identifying, hosting and attracting this class. I felt that we've reestablished what the makeup of our annual class will look like and have delivered on that blueprint for the second straight year.

This class has two or three players who will help immediately, a few others who I think will contribute in year two then a few final pieces who will develop within our system and be great veterans for us down the road. I can honestly say that these guys are Xavier players, as evidenced by each getting an academic scholarship and they all were most attracted to our culture and are coming here for the right reasons.

We were able to continue to hit some of our key bread basket areas in St. Louis and the Indiana Fire Academy, along with two Cincinnati-based players. For the third time we've been able to get a player out of the New England region and once again have a Norweigan-based player as well. For the first time we went outside of the box a little bit with our first ever graduate student, hailing from Germany. I'd like to thank each of them and their families for their trust in me and my staff and believe in our wonderful university and soccer culture."

MEET THE RECRUITS

Jacob Bernsen
Position: Midfielder
Hometown: O'Fallon, Mo.
High School: Fort Zumwalt West HS
Height/Weight: 5-11/170
Born: September 16, 1999
Club: St. Louis Scott Gallagher

• State Cup Champions
• Member of Arsenal Program
• Participated in Xenophanes International Tournament in Greece
• 5-year Academy Player
• Son of Jason and Cindy Bernsen

COACH FLEMING ON BERNSEN
"To me, Jacob is one of the more overlooked players in the Midwest in his class and has made as big a jump from his junior to senior year as I've seen in a while. Coming from St. Louis Scott Gallagher, you know he is well coached and is versed on how to play possession style soccer. More recently he's been training with the professional USL team in St Louis. He is comfortable as both a wide midfielder and a right back and gets forward from both spots. If ready in August, he will be given a chance to get on the field here as a freshman, which is rare in our program."

Ethan Lee
Position: Midfielder
Hometown: Carmel, Ind.
High School: Carmel High School
Height/Weight: 5-11/165
Born: November 26, 1999
Club: Indiana Fire Academy

• Top Drawer Soccer Top 150 Recruit (#15 in Great Lakes Region)
• Member of Indiana Fire Academy Development Academy
• Region II ODP team for IMG Interregional event and Costa Rica Trip
• Four year member of Indiana State ODP Team
• Scholar Athlete, Academic All-Conference and National Honor Society member
• Son of Rob and Vanessa Lee

COACH FLEMING ON LEE
"Ethan is the latest to come to X in a long line of players from the Indiana Fire Development Academy and their director, Phil Presser. He is very aware of his limitations and capabilities, is versatile in several spots and has a sound soccer IQ. As far as his habits, attitude and academics, he's certainly a Xavier player and is someone who will quietly move his way up the ranks once he adapts to the physical demands of being a Division I player."

Matthew Fickenworth
Position: Defender
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
High School: Anderson HS
Height/Weight: 6-1/185
Born: December 6, 1999
Club: Cincinnati United Premier

• Four-year varsity starter
• Three-time First Team All-ECC Selection
• Two-time team captain
• Eastern Cincinnati Conference Player of the Year
• First Team All-State
• Cincinnati Enquirer Player of the Year
• Four-time Eastern Cincinnati Conference Scholar Athlete
• Club team finished sixth in the country at 2017 nationals
• Son of Jon and Becky Fickenworth

COACH FLEMING ON FICKENWORTH
"Matt is the 10th Cincinnati United Premier player to sign on with us during my tenure. He is a guy who really just got serious about soccer and began doing it on a regional/national/year-round level only about a year ago. His frame and height obviously can't be taught and I think he delivers a pass and moves very well for a guy his size. He will add to his frame, go against some of our attacking players on a daily basis and learn the communication demands of this level and then hopefully one day add to our already giant backline with Samuel Buzzas and Taylor Crull.

Connor Haskell
Position: Defender
Hometown: Medfield, Mass.
High School: Medfield HS
Height/Weight: 5-10/157
Born: May 4, 2000
Club: Global Premier Soccer

• Four year member of New England Revolution Academy
• Team captain
• Invited to Manchester United for week of training in 2015
• Ranked No. 89 2018 recruit by College Soccer News
• Invited to U-15 and U-16 US National Team camps
• Top Drawer Soccer three-star recruit
• Son of Stephen and Julie Haskell

COACH FLEMING ON HASKELL
"Two years ago, Connor was noticed by the US national team outfit and also spent time with the youth academy at Manchester United and then with the New England Revolution. After a bit of a challenging junior year, he has responded well in this his senior year with GPS in the Boston area. Connor has great balance, can serve a ball very well and has big time pace, getting forward out of deep areas, as the fastest player in the class. That and being left footed are things that can't be taught and once he improves his off-the-ball defending, he'll meet the demands of the college game quite well."

Jacob Benintendi
Position: Defender
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
High School: Turpin HS
Height/Weight: 6-2/185
Born: March 1, 2000
Club: Kings Hammer Academy

• Two-time Kentucky State Cup Champion
• Kings Hammer Academy Team Captain
• First Team All-ECC
• All-Conference Academic Award

COACH FLEMING ON BENINTENDI
"Jacob comes from a rich athletic and Xavier pedigree. His aunt is a Hall of Fame basketball player here and his cousin, former soccer great Luke Spencer, who was our first MLS Draft Pick at Xavier. Jacob enters as a physically mature, athletic defender. Capable of playing centrally and as an outside back, Jacob looks like a 22 year old physically and is now on the clock to get up to speed with the technical, tactical and speed-of-decision demands for this level. We are excited to attract a player from local club Kings Hammer for the first time in a while and know he's in good hands with former Xavier assistant Kevin McCloskey as his coach."

Felix Boe-Tangen
Position: Forward
Hometown: Oslo, Norway
High School: The Norwegian College of Top Athletes (NTG)
Height/Weight: 6-1/165
Born: June 15, 1999
Club: FK Lyn

• Three years with FK Lyn First Team in Third Division
• Stabaek Premier League Academy
• Voted Fans' Player of the Year in Lyn
• Earned starting spot with first team

COACH FLEMING ON TANGEN
"Felix comes to us via the Lyn Football Club. My first year in coaching in 1998 we had three players from Lyn at Boston U and I've always been smitten with their club and Norwegian players in general. Felix runs with the ball well, can pass off of the dribble, is two-footed and has great balance. He can play a number of attacking spots and is brave getting to the near post and into the box. Once he adapts to the cultural swing of things, I see him being able to compliment our attacking players this fall."

HIGHLIGHTS

Tomek Pauer
Position: Midfielder
Hometown: Hamburg, Germany
Previous School: University of Hamburg
Height/Weight: 6-4/190
Born: May 28, 1994
Club: Lüneburger SK Hansa

• 3-year Captain of Lüneburger SK Hansa
• Developed in VfB Lübeck Youth Academy
• Pursuing a Masters in Sports Administration

COACH FLEMING ON PAUER
"Tomek was brought to our attention by the family friend of a current player and we feel we've struck gold. He is a 24 year old who stands 6'4 and has over 100 appearances in Germany's Youth Bundesliga, which is a hybrid of our top four college soccer conferences, level-wise. He reads the game well, moves well, plays within himself and has a maturity, toughness and mettle to him that can be decisive to a talented team looking to turn the corner, which is what we plan to do this fall."

Schedule

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Samuel Buzzas

Taylor Crull

Upcoming Events

Xavier University Athletics