There are plenty of reasons for the Northeastern men’s soccer team to feel optimistic heading into the 2010 season. With a talented recruiting class joining players who notched 23 of the team’s 27 goals from last year, the Huskies feel their time has arrived to win the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship and reach the NCAA Tournament.

“I think there are really high expectations going into this year,” junior midfielder Mike Kennedy said. “Everyone has the mindset that we want to do well, not only in our conference, but make a good run in the NCAAs as well. Everyone is excited about the season.”

The Huskies will look to carry the momentum from an 8-2-1, third-place conference finish into this fall’s campaign. With their four leading scorers, a crop of stalwart defenders and seven players who garnered all-conference honors looking to avenge the Huskies’ heartbreaking 1-0 loss in the CAA finals to UNC-Wilmington last November, the pieces are in place to win the program’s first conference crown since 2002.

“Our number one goal is to win the tournament,” senior defender Matt Sanford said. “Making it to the finals two years in a row and losing is a disappointment. It gets old. This year we’re going to try to be number one and win it.”

The Huskies combined an offensive attack, with steady goaltending to put together their late season surge, winning six of their final eight matches. Northeastern scored 23 goals and distributed 22 assists during conference competition and will return most of that firepower in 2010, including CAA Rookie of the Year and team-leading scorer, forward Don Anding.

Senior forward Nick Leuders and sophomore midfielder Andre Ciliotta join Kennedy as Northeastern’s top-four goal scorers to return. Ciliotta topped all players with six assists during conference play.

“We had a very good offense last year,” head coach Brian Ainscough said. “As the season wore on, [young players] started to take over, so we’re excited to have them back. We think we have a lot of depth coming in and that will really help us.”

Experienced defenders returning in the backfield also boost the Huskies. Senior Santiago Bedoya captured first team all-conference honors last season, showing off his multi-dimensional game by assisting in both Huskies’ goals during their dramatic CAA semifinal victory over William & Mary. Bedoya joins fellow seniors Matt Sanford and Jeremy Klein as well as Brendan Ennis, who redshirted in 2009 following an injury.

Although a plethora of talent does return, Ainscough and the Huskies will miss the contributions of the four departing seniors: Co-captain and CAA all-second team midfielder Lars Oklund, starting goalkeeper Scott Partridge, defender Matt Laning and midfielder Konrad Stefanek.

“You don’t replace those types of players,” Ainscough said. “Those seniors that have gone out the door have built the program to where it is. Looking forward, it’s exciting to see the players step in and get us going from where we are right now. We hope to get someone to fill those roles.”

Partridge compiled six shutouts and ended the 2009 season with a remarkable 0.68 goals against average. Ainscough said the competition to replace Partridge is “wide open.” The only returning player with experience in net as a Husky is sophomore Michael Gallagher, who posted a shutout in his first career start last November.

Ainscough said he is also excited about players in his incoming freshman class, nearly all of whom have earned awards playing at the highest level of high school and club soccer. Roslindale native and center midfielder Hamadi Cantave, versatile midfielder Nikko Lara, holding midfielder Rex Messing, forward/midfielder A.J. Stueck and defender Connor Alexander will join the Huskies and Ainscough expects them to contribute immediately to the winning cause.

“There’s a lot of quality, not just quantity,” Ainscough said. “Most of these freshmen coming in, we don’t expect them to sit there and act like freshmen. We expect them to fight and be competitive. They should be able to get college time right from the get-go.”

Northeastern opens its 2010 season with an exhibition contest against Boston University at Parsons Field on Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. They begin the regular season Sept. 3 with a match at Georgetown University.