Greetings from Kingston! Hope the summer has gone well for you and you're enjoying what's left of it. Time flies as we all know!
I wanted to extend a "thank you" to all who participated in the 11th annual men's soccer golf outing on Monday August 13th at Green Valley Golf Course in Portsmouth, RI. We had over 20 foursomes of alumni, parents and friends of the program. Special thanks go out to our corporate sponsors Hudson Companies, KenBro Soccer Camps, Stantect (formerly Geller Sports) as well as our tee sponsors Charlie O's Tavern, Herff Jones, Ikon, American Power Conversion, G2 Interactive, Banner Buick-Olds-Pontiac-GMC-Saab, GN Mortgage, Taste Rite, Rams Football Club and Rhode Island Elite Soccer Academy. We were very happy to have our new Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn on hand at the post-round reception to say a few words before the awards ceremony and raffle that followed. Alum and assistant coach Gareth Elliott, Steve and Kyle Froberg, Chris Simon and Corey Sullivan all were instrumental in ensuring that things ran smoothly.
Well, we're a little over a week into preseason training and so far we are very pleased - not only with the effort but with the play as well. The guys came back in good shape and everyone met the minimum standard our fitness guru Frank Bergren set for them. The freshmen have performed well and after a few day of training have already made things much more competitive and realistic.
Sunday we had our first exhibition game of the year with a mid-afternoon match up with the Wildcats of the University of New Hampshire. It was a beautiful day to play and nice to get out and face someone besides ourselves. We also got a chance to look at a couple different line-ups over the 90 minute game. In the end we were very pleased but not satisfied with the 0-0 result. Tonight we travel to Worcester, MA to meet up with Holy Cross for our second and final exhibition games before out Blue vs. White practice on Monday night at 7:00 pm here in Kingston.
Following the final tune-up to the season we'll start getting ready for our opening match at #24 Harvard University on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 1:00 pm. Following out game against the Crimson will be a Monday night home-opener against interstate rival Providence College at 7:00 pm.
Classes begin on the 5th of September and it doesn't get any easier from there as we travel to South Bend, IN for the Mike Berticelli Memorial Soccer Tournament where we play host and 10th-ranked University of Notre Dame on Friday Sept. 7. After a days rest, we complete our visit to the Midwest with a match against the No. 7 Indiana University Hoosiers on Sunday.
Our return to Rhode Island only gives a short reprieve until we slip up the road to play our other Ocean State foe Brown University on Sunday Sept. 14 at 1:00 pm. It'll be quite a challenge, as our first five games are against teams that all competed in last season's NCAA Tournament. It will be a GREAT test for our veteran team!
Take a look at our complete schedule... hopefully you can plan a trip to see us play either here in Kingston or on the road.
Just a quick reminder about HOMECOMING 2007! There is a tremendous weekend planned with two great Atlantic-10 games, alumni vs. alumni game, Friends of URI Soccer BBQ and the traditional Homecoming football game versus James Madison. The schedule looks like this:
FRIDAY OCTOBER 12th
6:00 pm Match vs. Xavier University
8:00 pm Homecoming Rhody Rally followed by fireworks.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 13th 10:00 am Alumni vs. Alumni Game (Odd years versus Even Years) 12 Noon Men's Soccer BBQ 1:00 pm Homecoming Football Game
SUNDAY OCTOBER 14th
1:00 pm Match vs. University of Dayton
We really hope that you can join us!
Before I sign off, I want to welcome our new assistant coach, Mitch Stone. Mitch joins us from New Hampshire where, most recently, he was the director of the Grantham Indoor Soccer Center. He's also the former head coach at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. I've know Mitch and his family since I was an undergrad at the University of Maine and I'm sure you will all join me in making him feel at home with the URI soccer family!
Well, that's about it from the soccer office. Keep in touch, thanks for your support and GO RAMS!