October 12, 2010

Dear Alums & Friends,

Spent the day yesterday with the family for the Columbus Day holiday. It was a nice reprieve after what was honestly a frustrating Sunday in Kingston. In looking back, it was a weekend that under different circumstances we might have been happy with the outcome. But, for myself, our staff and the our guy’s it was a difficult pill to swallow considering the opportunity that was presented to us.

Rewind to Friday for the 2010 Atlantic 10 Conference opener versus defending A10 regular season Champ University of Dayton. It was a beautiful night to play after some not so nice weather during the week. What we heard through our scouting report was that Dayton was a big athletic team with no more than 2 starters under 6 feet tall. This would be a challenge but it certainly wasn’t something that deterred the boy’s. From start to finish it was a great battle. Out of the gate Dayton the Flyers had the best of it but we soon found our legs and got a hold of the game. The first half ended in a stalemate with neither team having the better of the other. In the second half the tides began to change a bit as we began to generate chances that came in bunches. The best of which came from a Reece Markman (Dallas, TX) layoff to Thomas Lindroos (Espoo, Finland) inside the box that was saved point blank by the UD netminder. In overtime again we seemed to get the best of the chances but nearly lost a goal if not for a desperation slide tackle by central defender Franco LoPresti (Whitby, Ontario) that literally saved the game for us. The match finished a 0-0 draw and earned a point we certainly would take proudly considering the gutsy performance.

On Sunday, Dayton’s travel partner Xavier University came to down following a 0-2 loss to UMass on Friday. We started the game with a BANG hitting the post and earning a corner in the games first 5 minutes. It seemed as though all was on our side until the 8th minute when on Xavier’s first chance they got on the board. Lady Luck looked the other way 3 minutes later and we were down 0-2 and stunned a bit. If you had missed the first 15 minutes and the scoreboard wasn’t working you would have seen one-way traffic with the Rams leading the way. Our dominance in corners (17 to 1) and shots (25 to 7) couldn’t get us a victory as a bevy of attempts including a point blank volley by Jon Pereira (Barrington, RI) who along with Lindroos and Markman recorded 5 shots a piece, were thwarted. It seemed we just couldn’t catch a break even when a rocket of a shot by Matt Preyss (Chagrin Falls, OH), destined for the back of the net got deflected at the last minute or the three glance headers by Lindroos on there way to tickling the twine seemed to have eyes and steer around the post. The game was just not to be ours in spite of the tremendous offensive effort we put forth.

But, as we all know the first weekend of the conference season, although important does not a season make. Last season we opened with two losses but ended as the 4th seed in the A-10 tournament. Up next is our New England rival and travel partner the UMass Minutemen on Saturday October 16th. It will certainly be a great match as it always as the UM is led by National Player of the Year candidate Ben Arikian. Kick-off is at 7:00 pm at the URI Soccer Complex and we hope to see all of you there.

Before I sign off I wanted to pass along a link to an article that appeared on the front back of the Boston Globe sports section last week on URI’s all-time leader in points and MLS veteran Andy Williams of the Real Salt Lake. It was a real nice piece and hope you enjoy it:

http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/articles/2010/10/05/williamss_odyssey_has_a_happy_ending/

Finally, following our trip to play the University of South Florida and subsequent visit by former URI Coach Geza Henni and his son’s Geza Jr. and Chris, I have received a boat load of emails reflecting back on their time playing under the URI coaching legend. Below are some excerpts from one such email…

I was a member of URI's men's soccer program from 1969 to 1972 (graduating in 1973); one year on the Freshman squad and then a three-year starter, mostly as sweeper (at least that's what we called it back then). First, let me apologize for not composing this prior to your Florida trip. However, I do want to share some memories from that period:

Although I was a defender, I did score two goals in my URI career, one at BC and one at BU. Unfortunately, the latter was an “own goal” and we lost 3-1; Coach was not happy!

Winning the Yankee Conference in 1972 (back then, it included all the New England state schools (UVM, UMass, etc.) and some others, like BU and BC. The season came down to the last game that was played at Storrs against UConn, with the winner taking the crown. We played in front of the biggest crowd of my soccer career, and we dominated - winning 5-1!

As a result of the above, we earned a berth into the NCAA New England Regional that Fall. This was first time any URI team reached an NCAA Tournament, so we were pretty pumped. There were four teams: Harvard (ranked #1 in New England and #3 nationally); Brown (our arch rival and also ranked nationally); URI; and UConn.

Of course, we got to play Harvard, in Cambridge, in a monsoon and without one of our star defenders (Pete Schneider), who sustained a broken leg at UMaine a few weeks prior. While we played them tough, we ultimately lost 1-0 on a disputed goal scored with less than two minutes remaining, but we left with our heads held high because no one had given us a chance. Almost as memorable, was the feast afterwards at Mamma Leone’s in Boston, courtesy of our Athletic Director, where we celebrated with the many supporters that came up from Kingston. I think the bill was almost $900, a huge sum at the time. On the way back to campus, Coach had the bus drop off our co-captain and leading scorer, Luis Calvalho, at his house in East Providence!

In addition to the necessary training and game preparation that Coach excelled at (including the dreaded 2-mile runs around the outside perimeter of the fields behind Keaney Gym), he also made sure we had fun. Most notably:

We had very competitive tournaments on the adjacent tennis courts (without cleats), using soccer balls that weren't allowed to hit the ground

If we prodded him, Coach would get in the goal and dare us to score on him (we almost never did). Back then we all thought that anyone over 30 was old, but he’d put on a show, shut us down and was very modest about it all.

Finally, long bus rides to away games were the norm, the worst being the annual sojourn to Orono, Maine (sorry Coach O'Connor), to play the Black Bears. It was six+ long hours on Route 95 that cut through the deep woods of Maine, with no cell phones or laptops for diversions! But what we had, was better – Coach used to tell us the stories of how he and his family fled the Nazis before and during WWII. While my memory is fading somewhat (I’m in the over 30 crowd now too!), what I remember is that all of us were riveted to every word of those real life tales.

I have very fond memories of my playing days at URI and a big part of that, of course, was Coach Henni. I would appreciate your passing this note on to him. While, I have lost contact with him and my teammates over the years, I am sure that I’m speaking on their behalf when I wish Coach the warmest congratulations on an outstanding career and a wonderful family (Geza Jr. was just a little guy back then, but you could just see the talent oozing out of him!).

Good luck the rest of the season - Go RAMS!
Best regards,
Don Gilmore '73

Thanks Dan for a great recount of some wonderful days playing here at URI. I can tell you it was no picnic for me to travel from Orono to most of our good New England games during the 80’s… LOL.

But, as I read through the emails I can’t help but keep asking myself the question: What can we do for Coach Henni to show him how much he meant to URI and the program? I think it is about time and I have some very good ideas but it is going to take all of you alums out there to make it happen. Interested? Contact me via e-mail or phone and I’ll fill you in fully.

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C