September 19, 2012

Dear Alumni & Friends,


It sure was an exciting one last night and another step forward in our development as a team. We gritted out a 4-3 overtime victory over the University of New Hampshire on a blustery night here in Kingston. Rain was forecasted earlier in the day but what little precipitation that came in overtime didn’t damper our supporters, our effort and ultimately the result.

The game couldn’t have started out better for us as crisp passing combined with well timed runs got us into great scoring positions. We were dominating and our speed of play paid off in the 10th minute when Brett Uttley (Jamestown, RI) fired a shot on the face of the goal that deflected off a Wildcat defender and past his own GK into the side netting. We kept up our tempo and increased the lead to 2-0 when Michael Casey (Wakefield, RI) rifled a left footed shot off a miss-cleared ball for his second goal of the season. We continued to look dangerous while holding UNH’s counter attack to a minimal number of chances.

In the second half with the wind across us and UNH pressing the tide changed and the visitors got one back in the 55th minute and tied it in the 74th minute on a rebound after a good save by goalkeeper Thomas Spenser (Hasting on Hudson, NY). The Wildcats had climbed back into the game by their direct style of play combined with some untimely errors. Things looked dreary when in the 84th minute UNH would score what appeared to be the game winner. Our boy’s plugged along and we inserted goalkeeper Adam Blanchard (Scarborough, ME) in order to use his weapon of a leg to put pressure on the UNH back line in the final minutes. It paid off and with only 6 TICS OF THE CLOCK, Michael Casey scored his second of the night off a Robby Gargaro (Naperville, IL) cross to send it to extra time.

We took the wind in the overtime and continued to push for the golden goal....and we got it! Freshmen midfielder Oscar Soons (Breda, Netherlands) slipped and fantastic pass through 2 UNH defenders to senior Matt Ribbens (Tinley Park, IL) who went in all alone from the right, shot, had it initially saved but slotted home his own rebound for the winner.

It was a great team effort and the kind of never say die attitude we needed at this point in the season. The boy’s stepped up to the challenge of a tough game considering some key players were out with injuries (Mikey Welsh – Plantar Fasciitis, Joey Haught – quad strain, Ross Morison – quad strain, Jamie Eckmayer – broken nose).

Before I sign off I got a chance to see my college coach Jim Dyer this past Sunday at the URI vs. Maine women’s game (he is a volunteer assistant for the Black Bear women in his retirement). We had a chance to catch up and the next day he sent me an email with some nice reflections on his career. In it he wrote:

“One of the things that my return to coaching has taught me is that you can coach 'til the cows come home', but sometimes the players have to just go thru the process and learn from the experience of games (sometimes with unsuccessful results) in order to learn what you were trying to coach all along.”

This has certainly held true for our boy’s and it will not surprise me how a game like last night could be the springboard for the future success of the team.

We now have a week off until we travel to Chestnut Hill to face the Boston College Eagles on Tuesday September 25th at 4:00 pm. Hope to see you there as it is another great challenge.

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C