November 9, 2010

Dear Alums & Friends,

The season has ended and not as we had hoped or planned back in August when we rolled into preseason camp. On the flight back from Charlotte Sunday night the guy’s were busy getting their homework done or listening to their music. Looking around it is amazing to me how resilient they are and have been considering the day, the weekend and season. It’s the great thing about youth and the innocence it brings. It’s not that they don’t care or weren’t affected by the disappointment, but that they can move on so quickly because for most aside from our seniors they still have another season to look forward to and prove that this fall was an anomaly.

Friday we were in St. Louis for the first of the final two Atlantic 10 and regular season games. Game time was a little brisk but the trip was a good one so far bar the 6:00 am departure from campus on Thursday morning. The match itself was an important one for the host as they needed points to make the A10 Tournament but for us it was playing for pride and playing the role of spoiler. It looked as though we would fulfill our goal in the opening stanza when Thomas Lindroos (Espoo, Finland) hit a cracker of a shot the Billikin goalkeeper rebounded out to Reece Markman (Dallas, TX) who finished it cleanly but…the off sides flag was up. Lady luck had foiled us again.

Half-time was deadlocked and coming out of the dressing room we got the better of the chances for both teams. A subsequent SLU corner turned into the best of all as a challenged header was knocked down, side footed and saved initially by Peyton Warwick (Prairie Village, KS) but as the ball spun on the goal line a mere touch to recover it sent it into the goal. We chased the game with great resolve forcing the SLU goalkeeper into a game high 6 saves (to Peyton’s 1) including a blast by Greg Balicki (Wlibraham, MA) whose rebound was swept out for a corner and a slicing run and rip by Jon Pereira (Barrington, RI). In the last 2 minutes Thomas Lindroos got to the six yard box on the angle and shot over and in the final ticks Reece Marksman's volley off a corner sizzled over. It was the best performance against SLU in the regular season since my time at URI.

The second leg of the trip to Charlotte was again marked by an early flight and training. We were set to finish against the already crowned 2010 Atlantic 10 regular season champions and #1 seed in the A10 tournament. If you missed the first 10 minutes of the game you would have missed a lot of excitement. UNCC got on the board a little over 5 minutes in on a great shot from distance but even better, our boy’s responded less than 30 seconds later. Off the kick off Reece Markman got a great pass through from Jon Pereira that he drove first time across the 49er goal for Greg Balicki to finish with a thundering first touch for 1-1 score line. But the fireworks weren’t finished as the home team took the lead again on what looked to be an offside goal before you could say forty-niner. We were 10 minutes in with a 2-1 score line that extended to 3-1 later on a hotly contested penalty. The second half hoped to be better but only got worse as the hosts tacked on 2 more for a comfortable lead. A late free kick by Joey Haught (Brecksville, OH) found the head of Dwayne Williams (Westmoreland, Jamaica) who headed it down where Eric Hutson (St. Louis, MO) pounced on it to bring us one back. In the final seconds a blast by Matt Preyss (Chagrin Falls, OH) looked like another little to late tally but a deflection took it off the face of the goal. I could only smile as it seemed to be a final symbolic example a season full of deflections and pieces of bad luck.

It was the last game for our senior class that is always a tough one for them and me. They had come in bright eyed 18 year olds but when I watched them walk off the field at UNCC they were very different people. A long season like ours can do that to you but also four seasons of memories transforms you too. Campaigns like this don’t come along very much and although I’ve seen a few, they have always been followed by one filled with results that represent the true nature of the program. The 2011 season can’t get here too soon but before then a long off-season of reflection, re-tooling and re-dedication to the principles of Rhody Soccer are due. That I promise you.

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C