September 23, 2010

Dear Alumni & Friends,

When we were on our way back from Boston College the other night, I have to admit that we were all a little disappointed. We could look on the bright side and say we hung with the #10 ranked team in the country (now 5th ranked) for 80 plus minutes but we’re not much into moral victories. What I can say is that we had chances to beat the highly ranked Eagles but couldn’t capitalize on their mistakes and, in the end, they caught us twice.

It was a beautiful night in Chestnut Hill, at a beautiful soccer complex - which, funny enough, was designed and built by our own URI alum Pat Maguire ‘82 and his Stantec consulting firm. Pat was there, as was Dan Brownridge ‘01, and a nice group of parents and friends including the Eckmayers, Morans and even freshmen Jon Cloutier’s parents who came all the way from Hawaii.

The game started off well as the guys played the Eagles even for the first 45 minutes of the match. Although, statistically it looked as though BC had the edge, their chances were easily handled by Peyton Warwick (Prairie Village, KS) or sailed high over the crossbar on a shot from 30 yards. The best chances came from the visitors including David Malloy (Oxford, England) and Greg Balicki (Wilbraham, MA).

On the defensive side, it was nice to have Dwayne Williams (Westmoreland, Jamaica) back in the line-up along with his “Friday the 13th” style mask custom made to protect the orbital bone he broke scoring against Bryant.

At half-time, the sideline was buzzing as the squad knew they had done well to that point but we still had more inside. Being the underdog, the longer the game went on tied the better it was for us. As the game wore on, the momentum on both sides increased creating chances.

Peyton Warwick came up big on a semi-breakaway and David Malloy nearly chipped the Eagle net-minder. Then, in the 80th minute, a rather innocuous cross turned into a well headed goal from 16 yards out and the home team had the lead. A insurance goal less than 5 minutes later sealed the game and left us all a little gutted.

The bus ride home was a quiet one, as everyone seemed to be taking some time to think about what had transpired and the opportunity missed. But, you can’t dwell on what can’t be changed as we have a short turnaround in preparation for our next match against Boston University - Friday night at Nickerson Field.

Last year we dropped a close 1-2 decision at home, so motivation for a result shouldn’t be a problem. We continue to develop as a team and if we keep at it the results will take care of themselves.

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C