The Coyotes will be a new look team, especially up front with the loss of key goal scorers Art Guizar and Jose Garay, but head coach Mike Dibbini has reloaded the team and feels the team will be right in the hunt for another conference title. The rest of the conference agreed, picking Wesleyan first in the preseason poll.

With all the new, a lot of questions remained unanswered, but Dibbini is confident the Coyotes will be okay.

"It's too hard to tell right now if we can ever match the power of what Jose Garay and Art Guizar brought," he said. "They connected really well and they understood what it takes to put the ball away. But I think the difference will be our depth at all positions this year."

The depth will be key in keeping the Coyotes from becoming too one-dimensional, something that plagued the Coyotes towards the end of the year last year.

"Last year teams figured out who to try to shut down as the year wore on," he said. "I think that we will have the ability to be more spread out offensively, which will in turn create opportunities for us. We might not be able to finish as well as we did last year, but we will be able to create more opportunities for us to score which will turn into goals for us."

The Coyotes are definitely deeper on the defensive side. Dibbini sees a possible seven-man rotation with six players that the Coyotes can rely on and two role players that will fit into the mix without problem. Five of the eight are returning players.

"We are deeper than we have been in the last two or three years defensively," Dibbini said. "There's a lot of players that we can turn to and they all bring a different defensive element to our game."

Some of the players that Dibbini is looking to count on defensively include returners Derek Dodrill (Sr., 5-10, 140, Rio Ranch, N.M. / Rio Rancho HS), Scott Knox (Sr., 6-3, 185, Salina, Kan. / Salina Central HS), Edgar Espinoza (Sr., 6-0, 190, Los Angeles, Calif. / Compton College (Calif.)) and Jeremy Mireles (Jr., 5-9, 155, Hesperia, Calif. / Victor Valley College (Calif.)); along with newcomers Carlos Chavez (Jr., 6-0, 155, El Monte, Calif. / Mt San Antonio College (Calif.)), Cesar Torrico (Jr., 5-10, 165, Baldwin Park, Calif. / Mt San Antonio College (Calif.)) and Cacey Scott (Jr., 5-9, 160, Santa Clarita, Calif. / Mt San Antonio College (Calif.)).

David Hernandez (Sr., 5-7, 150, Inglewood, Calif. / LA Harbor College (Calif.)) will anchor the Wesleyan midfield again this season after earning KCAC Newcomer of the Year and Honorable Mention NAIA All-American honors last year as a junior. The Coyotes have added a little more support in the middle with the addition of Hernandez' junior college teammate Rodolfo Jauregui (Jr., 5-10, 170, Bellflower, Calif. / LA Harbor College (Calif.)).

"David and Rodolfo play together really well," Dibbini said.

Larry Guizar (Jr., 5-10, 175, Santa Clarita, Calif. / College of the Canyons (Calif.)), the cousin of Art Guizar, will also be a complimenting player in the midfield for the Coyotes this season, who also has the ability to move up into a forward-type role.

"Larry brings a threat in terms of having a nice shot and a nice leg from the outside," Dibbini said.

"He understands the game really well and is very aggressive and will be really good in the middle for us."

The Coyote front line will be all new for 2010, with the exceptions of Trenton Corea (Sr., 5-9, 155, Mesa, Ariz. / Red Mountain HS) and Robbie Hector (Sr., 6-1, 150, Simi Valley, Calif. / Moorpark College (Calif.)), who both missed the 2009 campaign with injuries.

Also looking to make many marks on the scoresheet will be Alex Chavez (Jr., 6-3, 185, Los Angeles, Calif. / LA Harbor College (Calif.)), who Dibbini calls the ‘go-to guy' this season. Chavez earned First Team All-American honors last year at LA Harbor.

"Alex will be our leading go-to guy this year," he said. "He's a big strong target player with a nice left foot."

Several players will be able to compliment Chavez nicely, including Eduardo Barba (Jr., 5-11, 145, Norwalk, Calif. / East LA College (Calif.)), Jacob DeLeon (Jr., 5-8, 166, Apple Valley, Calif. / Victor Valley College (Calif.)), Daniel Chance (Fr., 5-9, 160, Lawrence, Kan. / Lawrence Free State HS) and local product Ryan Ingrassia (Fr., 5-10, 155, Salina, Kan. / Salina Central HS).

"All those guys will be able to work for and work off the skill of Alex. They all compliment his game and each other's game well, "Dibbini said. "We will be strong up front again, we just have to come together feed off of what each other does and we will be fine."

The battle in the net seems to have a clear early favorite in returning starter Diego Millan (Sr., 5-8, 165, Lynwood, Calif. / Cerritos College (Calif.)), but newcomers Roberto Sanchez (Jr., 5-11, 170, Los Angeles, Calif. / LA Harbor College (Calif.)) and Juan Morales (Jr., 5-8, 175, Santa Clarita, Calif. / College of the Canyons (Calif.)) look to battle for some key time between the pipes for the Coyotes as well.

Dibbini points out that Millan is the current number one, while Sanchez and Morales will battle for the number two spot and returning sophomore Nick Ciliberti (So., 6-3, 185, Enid, Okla. / Enid HS) will look to fit into the goalkeeper mix as well.

"Diego is our number one right now, but he can't take a day off or fall asleep, Roberto and Juan are breathing right down his neck," he said. "Nick is still in the mix as well, but his lack of collegiate experience is what is holding him back right now."

As on the women's side the men's schedule provides a formidable selection of opponents, especially in the non-conference portion of the slate.

"I would say our schedule is an above average schedule in terms of strength of our opponents," Dibbini said.

Wesleyan opens the year with Morningside on September 4, a team that the Coyotes tied last season and then take on Concordia (Neb.) before heading out to California to play Azusa Pacific and California Baptist.

Also the Coyotes will take on Bellevue (Neb.) and William Jewell and Westminster (Utah).

"Bellevue and Azusa are consistent National Tournament teams," Dibbini said. "Williams Jewell has been very good in the past along with a very strong Westminster team."

McPherson and Friends along with the Coyotes should be the top teams in the Kansas Conference, but Dibbini also thinks that Ottawa and Sterling have a chance to make an impact in the conference standings.