November 9, 2009

Alums & Friends,

It was a busy but productive weekend and today the guy's are on their day off waiting for the Atlantic 10 Championships which begin Thursday here at the URI Soccer Complex. Going into Friday's match at George Washington we knew that if we win on the weekend we are in and the guy's were very focused. It didn't hurt that we had a huge contingent of family and alums there at the game to support us. In addition to our alums the Tanke's, Eckmayers, Petrarca's, Preyss's and Robby Gargaro's dad were there to cheer us on as well as an alum of mine from Chicago, some coaching friends from nearby Georgetown and my college teammate David LaPrise who is a huge supporter of ours. It was unbelievable!

The game was a big one for both teams as GW was still alive for a berth in the A-10 Championships. They started out well when their Herman Trophy watch list player Andy Stadler scored his 10th goal of the season just 15 minutes or so into the match. But, I saw something in the players that I haven't as of yet when we conceded a goal...they got mad! It was like an old coaching friend of mine Tim Schmiechen (Beloit College) said to me when I was at Chicago and they scored against us (we ended up winning 5-1)..."it was like poking a bear". The guy's responded well and turned it up a notch and it paid off when we got two in a span of less then 3 minutes. The first in the 41st minute when Andres Ruiz (Providence, RI) volleyed the equalizer in after mis-cleared free kick and the second in the 43rd minute on a Dwayne Williams (Westmoreland, Jamaica) header off a corner from Gary Crooks (Falkirk, Scotland). It took the wind out of the Colonials sails and we were on our way. We stretched the lead to 3-1 on Andres second goal of the game on a direct free kick and capped it with a Jaime Eckmayer (Harrington Park, NJ) tap in on assists from Thomas Lindroos (Espoo, Finland) and Franco LoPresti (Scarborough, Ontario). Our win combined with a Temple loss assured of a spot in the A-10 tourney. It was great.

Thanks so much to Joe Spofford, BJ Kochis, Kevin Algozer, Jeff Gonzalves, Kevin Hamill, DJ Burns, Matt Moriarty, Joel Dargan and others too many to name (sorry if I forgot anyone) who traveled to be there, sang and supported us. It meant a lot to me and the players for sure.

Friday night we travelled down to Richmond to get ready for the final game of the season and a chance to improve our ranking for the Atlantic 10 Championships. The guy's were in great spirits (rightly so) and we were treated to an impromptu "beat box" performance by Franco LoPresti on Saturday night for a group of young ladies from Virginia Commonwealth University who were at the Olive Garden with us celebrating their friends birthday. Rumor is that it WILL be posted on youtube.com soon. It is a classic!

Sundays game was played on a beautiful field at Ukrop Park in Richmond (UR is building a brand new stadium) under sunny skies and 75 degrees. It was senior day for the Spiders but we picked up where we left off attacking from the start. Thomas Lindroos earned a penalty in the 4th minute of play but unfortunately had it saved. But, 6 minutes later Dwayne "Bock" Williams tallied his second goal of the weekend off a Kevin Shaw (Denny, Scotland) corner. The game stayed tied through the half although statistically we had the edge in all departments. We were cautious with Richmond as they were the only team to blemish the record of regular seasons champs and #1 seeded Dayton so things kept tight. We got a couple of good chances which would have been nice to capitalize on and finally got the insurance goal in the 87th minute when freshmen Matt Ribbens (Tinley Park, IL) slipped a pass to Erkko Puranen (Viitasaari, Finland) for the nail in the coffin. it was Matts first career point and a good one. Our goal was to get a minimum of 6 wins in the conference and it was mission accomplished.

Now the second season begins this week with the programs seventh consecutive appearance in the Atlantic 10 Championships. We go in as the 4th seed and will play UNC-Charlotte at 7:30 pm on Thursday night. The opener at 5:00 pm pits Fordham (#3 seed) versus St. Bonaventure (#6 seed) with Dayton (#1) and St. Louis (#2) waiting in the wings. The semi-finals will be on Friday at the same time with the final on Sunday at 1:00 pm.

We are excited about hosting the championships and thank Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn and Senior Women's Administrator Sue Bergren for making it even more special by supporting the purchase of new bench shelter/awnings (see attached photo). They were put up over the weekend and look fantastic! It's the first phase in our improvements to the URI soccer complex (the next is a scorer's booth) and will add to the already beautiful facility we have to host the championships.

Hope we see you out at the games as we would love to see you supporting us in our quest for the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship.

GO RAMS!
Coach O'C