September 20, 2010

Dear Alumni & Friends,

What a night! It was a beautiful nearly fall evening at the URI Soccer Complex. It was a busy one as not only were we hosting the home opener of 2010 but it was also the 3rd Annual Grassroot Soccer Fundraiser game as well as Chariho Youth Soccer Night. Everything was lined up to be a great night and in the end a 2-1 overtime win over the Siena Saints capped it off.

This game is always a tough one as Siena is coached, as many of you know, by URI soccer standout and my former Assistant Coach Gareth Elliott along with his classmate and Assistant Ahmed Manning ‘02. At the end of the night someone is going to be disappointed and for the last two years the Saints have had the upper hand.

Prior to the game was an amazing site…about 300+ Chariho Youth Soccer parents and players tailgating in the Ryan Center parking lot while on the other side of the complex our own Rams FC families were doing the same. As people started to file in we could tell it was going to be a good night all around. The guy’s were treated to a awesome “Rally Tunnel” by the CYSA players and following the other pre-match festivities, the game was on.

We were fortunate to get things going pretty quickly, generating a couple of good chances early with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We nearly got on the board with a David Malloy (Oxford, England) chance in close as well as another by Jon Pereira (Barrington, RI). Things calmed down and bit and Siena had their share of threats through their speedy forward and Norwegian wide player. We regained a good rhythm that carried us into half-time 0-0.

We came out fast again in the second half and the effort paid off as Malloy cleverly put Reece Markman (Dallas, TX) through the Saints defense and he in turn curled a great cross to the back post that was met by a sliding Greg Balicki (Wilbraham, MA) for the 1-0 lead. We nearly got another minutes later on another Balicki blast but only an outstanding save by the Saints goalkeeper Phil Chabot who is from Smithfield, RI stopped us from extending the lead.

Siena is a much better squad then their record shows and we knew they would not go down without a battle. So, Rams goalkeeper Peyton Warwick (Prairie Village, KS) was pressed and called upon to make a couple of outstanding saves to keep the home team on top. But, the opportunistic Saints got the chance they were looking for equalizing on an angled free kick. It was no surprise that now it would go down to the wire as it had the past two seasons.

It only took about four minutes into the overtime for the boy’s to find joy. After a run forward by spearheaded by a Balicki and Malloy combination, a ball slipped in behind the Saints defense was deflected by their central defender to their left back who attempted to clear it. But, “Johnny on the Spot” sophomore Jamie Eckmayer (Harrison Park, NJ) blocked the clearance and finished it for the game winner.

At the end I was extremely happy with the entire event as almost everyone was a winner. We got the win, which was really important at this stage in our development as a team, the fans were treated to an exciting game with their home town Rams coming out on top and we raised over $2,000 for Grassroot Soccer.

The next week or so we hit the road for games that will give us a gauge on where we are as we take on nationally ranked Boston College on Tuesday September 21st, New England rival Boston University on Friday September 24th and then travel to Big East powerhouse University of South Florida on Wednesday September 29th. We return home on Saturday October 2nd for the final game of the non-conference season to face the Fairfield University Staggs at 7:00 pm.

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C