September 19, 2008

Dear Alums & Friends,

Hopefully by now you have seen the tremendous 1-0 overtime result during our midweek game versus Harvard University here at the URI Soccer Complex. I was very proud of the guy's for the way they came out and handled themselves after the disappointing game at BU. Wednesday nights tilt was an exciting match and a night which included a doubleheader with the URI women's program who finished off the night with a 2-0 shutout of Vermont. In our match we got a great overtime goal from Erkko Puranen (Visitasaari, Finland) on a "no look" pass from Gary Crooks (Falkirk, Scotland) that sent the "Finnish Flash" on a breakaway. He took it well and the win was a good one over a very talented Harvard squad which includes two players on the Herman Trophy (College Player of the Year) watch list. If not for a couple of Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England) saves and the organization of our defense led by Kevin Shaw (Denny, Scotland) and Dom Petrarca (Providence, RI) we could have been on the short end of that result so we are happy it went our way in the end.

Well, it is on to the next match which will be another big one for the Rams as we take on intra-state rival Brown University at 7:00 pm tomorrow at Stevenson Field. It is a big night as not only is it Soccer Rhode Island Night (the youth soccer organization in the state of Rhode Island) but is also the culmination of a joint fundraiser for Grassroot Soccer.

As you may or may not know, Grassroots Soccer is a global AIDS prevention organization works to deliver prevention messages to children in the world's most HIV affected countries. ALL youth soccer players wearing a soccer jersey will be admitted FREE to the game. Our players as well as the players will be wearing limited edition jerseys (yellow for URI and red for Brown) during the match to bring attention and raise awareness to our cause.

We hope those who are in the area will be able to attend not only to support URI Men's Soccer during this VERY important match but also to help us help the children of these African nations as all proceeds from the game go to Grassroot Soccer. I feel it is a VERY worthwhile cause and one I have close ties to with as two of the founders, Methembe Ndlovu (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) and Dr. Tommy Clark (Hanover, NH) are former players from Dartmouth College who played there when I was an assistant coach there from 1990-1995. I also have one of my former players from the University of Chicago Stuart Phelps who is in South Africa right now training in preparation for his work with Grassroot Soccer. They have worked hard to bring attention to this global problem and we hope that you will join me in supporting their cause.

Anyway, it will be a great night and one which everyone will be a winner in the end...hopefully our Rams more so then not. On behalf of Grassroot Soccer and the University of Rhode Island men's soccer program we thank you in advance for your support! Hope to see you there...

GO RAMS!
Coach O'C