Troy boys' soccer teammates to compete together in college

by BRIAN FEES (Sports Editor)
Published: February 8, 2012

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Behind the offense of Geoffrey Debach and the goaltending of Justin Fitzwater the Troy boys' soccer team has enjoyed plenty of success in recent years.

With their high school careers coming to an end, the days of the two being teammates will continue as both will be joining the Penn State Altoona soccer team in the fall.

"I heard it was a very good school from a group of my friends," Fitzwater said. "I knew I wanted to play soccer in college. (Coach) Steve Saxton said he knew the coach so I got hooked up with him. I went down and looked at the campus and the campus was nice."

For Debach it was a similiar situation when he saw the campus.

"I pretty much just liked the campus and the tought of playing with Justin definitely influenced it," he said. "It's more freshmen and sophomores so I will be playing with a younger group."

This isn't the first time Troy has had players at Altoona. Both Dan Saxton and Brock Heller earned all-conference honors there before graduating in 2008.

For both Debach and Fitzwater their should be a chance to come in and compete right away.

"Their returning goalie from last year said he wanted to play on the field this year," Fitzwater said. "The coach said he had talked to another goalie from New Jersey but didn't know the situation with him yet. There was a chance I could be their only keeper they have. The coach said they haven't had very good experience with keepers in the past so he wanted to change that."

For Debach there also should be a shot to come in and compete as a freshman.

"It will be based on my ability, but they said I should have a great opportunity to play coming in," he said.

Both players are excited about the chance to play at the college level.

"I think it will be a blast getting that experience," Fitzwater said. "Not many people get that experience in their lives."

"I'm very excited, I'm looking forward to it," Debach said. "I'm a little nervous about it. But, I am definitely pumped to see how much the game steps up from high school soccer."

Both players also liked that the school had their majors.

"I plan to go for criminal justice and they have a good program for that," Fitzwater said.

"They had the major I was looking for which was communications," Debach said. "Radio/television and film to be specific."

The chance to be teammates again is also something that will be fun for both players.

"We are good friends. Having him go down, I will know someone and it wll help us to get to know other people as well," Fitzwater said.

"It's going to be awesome," Debach said. "I will definitely feel more secure up top while he's back there blocking all the shots."

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