October 18, 2007

HOMECOMING 2007... and what a homecoming it was for your Rams! It was a fantastic weekend all around - which was just what we all needed.

We kicked things off on Friday night, with our opening Atlantic 10 match against Xavier University. The game was the start to the 2007 URI Homecoming schedule and the parents, friends and alumni in attendance got what they paid for in an exciting 2-1 win. After dominating the first half statistically, we unfortunately went into the intermission down 0-1. The boys showed confidence though and they certainly were not ready to fold up the tents. Their hard work and determination paid off in the second half when Lukasz Tumicz (Bisztynek, Poland) tallied the equalizer after a great build up with the help of teammates Kedan Crosby (St. James, Trinidad) and Dawid Badecki (Jelenia Gora, Poland).

The goal, Lukasz's sixth of the year gave us extra energy and this materialized into a Geoff Cameron (Attleboro, MA) goal from Danleigh Borman (Capetown, South Africa). Danleigh played a nice ball into the box that Geoff flicked back over the on rushing Xavier goalkeeper. Cam nearly got his second in the final minutes on a breakaway after he took the ball off one of the Muskateers central defenders but his slotted ball just went wide of the goal. It was great to comeback from a deficit and finish what we had started.

Following the game, the guys were able to bask in the short-lived glory at the Rhody Rally held in Keaney Gymnasium. The squad got a nice reception when introduced and a couple of laughs when Dwayne "the Hurricane" Williams (Kingston, Jamaica) got a chance to speak to the crowd on behalf of the team... I couldn't hear exactly what he said but the boys found it very funny.

A bonfire and fireworks followed the rally and it was great way to start the weekend!

Saturday morning came quickly for everyone, especially the former players who showed up for our alumni vs. alumni game following the team practice. It was nice to see Dan & Vince McCrudden, Pat McGuire, Brian Bradley, Mike Stricklin, Mike Rogers, Kevin Kennedy, Dennis Richards and Jesse Simmons who all joined in with some of the reserves for a small-sided game. Afterward, we all retired to Rhodyville, where we had a tent and a place to rest the tired bones. We had a nice crowd of about 60 which included the players, parents and our alums. David Caetano who was back in the country from Portugal (to be inducted into the Danbury HS Athletic Hall of Fame) and Cliff Schechter stopped by and we finally got to meet after exchanging a lot of e-mails over the past year or so. It was a nice atmosphere and convenient staging area to support the football game that followed.

On Sunday, you couldn't have asked for a better game from a fans point of view. But, becoming a team referred to as the "cardiac kids" is not exactly what I was looking for in the season but I'll take it. The game, which was broadcast via tape delay (on Cox Sports Rhode Island, Monday night at 10:00 pm) was an epic battle. Your Rams came out firing on all cylinders again and carried the play for most of the first 45 minutes. At the interval, we went in tied at 0-0 but I could tell by their body language and conversation that the guys were confident and we just needed to "tweak" a few things to be successful.

As we all know in life, the "best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" and this was the case in the 59th minute when Dayton found the net and a 1-0 lead. The guys knew that they didn't need to be looking ahead too far, just look for the equalizer... and that we got on a superb effort by Tumicz. He was set up by a great long pass by Steve Scalzo (Plymouth, MN) - who was filling this weekend for an injured Callum Bissett (Pancaitland, Scotland). Steve was outstanding on the weekend after being called into duty under difficult circumstances. Anyway, he sent a long ball through, which Tumicz ran onto... The Flyers' GK came to get the ball on the end line but Lukasz got there first, pulled the ball back and cut around him to deposit it into an empty net. It was electric!

We kept the pressure up and in a "Made For TV" scripted ending, scored the go-ahead goal with 3 minutes to go after Tumicz served a ball from the end line that Danleigh Borman hit on the flying side volley into the goal at the back post. WOW! I'm sure COX TV was delighted with that one!

The final minutes of the match were not without excitement as Dayton pressed for the equalizer. We finished the game off and got the win but not without a loss as Geoff Cameron was shown his second yellow of the day in the final minute for a late tackle when his enthusiasm got the best of him. He will now miss the game at Charlotte on Friday but I'm confident that the guys will pull up their boot straps to fill in during his absence.

Regardless, it was a great weekend and tremendous results for us. We've continued to make strides forward in our goal to qualify for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. I appreciate our parents, friends and alums for being there and showing their support.

I would also like to personally thank Dennis Tierney of the Narragansett Youth Soccer Association and Jay Sisson of Jamestown Youth Soccer Association for coming to the games for their special nights at the URI Soccer Complex. These groups, along with South County Youth Soccer and Soccer Rhode Island, have had "theirs nights" at URI - which have included give-a-ways, an exhibition at half-time and involvement in our pre-game festivities. It has meant a lot to us to have the support of the local community as these youth players could be the future of URI men's soccer.

Well, we're back on track now and looking to keep it going the rest of the way through our Atlantic 10 games. We head to Charlotte and St. Louis this weekend, which will be a great challenge. We follow that with a game at UMass and then return home at the beginning of November for our last home games versus Fordham and La Salle of which the latter will be senior day at the URI Soccer Complex. The season finishes with an away weekend at Temple and St. Joe's, so let's hope we are in position to play in the Atlantic 10 Tournament at that time.

Thanks again to everyone who was with us this weekend... we hope to see you and others soon!

GO RAMS!