September 20, 2006

It's been a busy couple of weeks with back-to-back weekend tournaments hosted by Harvard University and then this weekend at UMass with an Atlantic 10/America East challenge. Soccer is a funny game, as are a lot of sports, and it can run you through a gambit of emotions. All in all, we found out a lot about ourselves and got some good performances.

At Harvard we opened the weekend with Loyola Marymount University (CA) who came into Cambridge having recently knocked off perennial Big East Conference challenger University of Connecticut. We got on the board just two minutes in on a goal from Geoff Cameron (Attleboro, MA) and were in the position we wanted to be. Unfortunately, Danleigh Borman (Capetown, South Africa) reacted poorly to a foul committed on him by an LMU player and was ejected two minutes later.

For the next 75 minutes we played a man down against a good team. We seemed to weather the storm fairly well, getting great minutes from Steve Scalzo (Plymouth, MN), Kedan Crosby (St. James, Trinidad) and James Quiah (Providence, RI) whose lungs were needed trying to contain a very technical LMU team. Unfortunately in the final 16 minutes Loyola broke the seal with the equalizer and then tallied the game-winner shortly there after. It would have been quite a feat to hold off any team for that long but I was proud of the team and there effort.

On the following Sunday, we met New England rival Northeastern University. Lukasz Tumicz (Bisztynek, Poland), who was just coming back from injury, netted his first goal of the season. We continued to dominate the game but a missed clearance by our defense left first year goalkeeper Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England) at a huge disadvantage and the equalizer found its way into the back of the net. The squad worked away and had chances but after 110 minutes the game ended as a draw. We all were frustrated as out of our first five games, we played three overtimes and twice a man down. But the Providence College game we dominated and had quality chances that we could have converted for the win.

This past weekend we traveled to Amherst, MA, the home of A-10 rival UMass. It was a beautiful weekend to play and our foes from the University of Vermont and the University of Hartford were ready and able to meet the challenge we would bring.

On Friday, we faced the boy's from the Green Mountain State in our first game and our players were rested and ready to go. We started the game very well, creating several chances and dominating the attacking side of the ball. But, like as in many of the games here early in the season, one mistake can cause problems and when a UVM forward was able to reach a ball knocked over the top of our defense and spin inside two Ram defenders, the Catamounts' only chance of the half turned into a goal.

The boys were not happy and turned up the heat, using crisp passing and speed to put the UVM defense back on their heels. Borman got behind the Catamounts and served a good ball into the box that Gonzalves redirected to tie the game. Less than five minutes later, a nifty one-two at the top of the penalty box with Tumicz got Gonzalves his second goal of the afternoon. He later returned the favor to Lukasz who netted the game-winner on his second goal in as many games. This barrage showed the offensive fire power waiting inside our Rams. UVM got a late goal on a well placed free kick but it was not enough. We won the game, 3-2.

On Sunday against Hartford, Gonzalves scored his third of the weekend after some scrappy work from Steve Mellen (N. Kingstown, RI) who had just returned from an injury he sustained way back in our pre-season scrimmage with the University of New Hampshire. But, like many of our matches again, Hartford found that one kink in our armor and equalized.

A barrage followed with our boys hitting the cross bar and post and seeing the Hawks' goalkeeper make some key saves. We were not without our lucky moments either - Hartford hit the post on what would have been an overtime game-winner and a real shame. In the final two seconds, we had a chance to win it but our free kick just went over the net and the game ended a 1-1 tie.

So, as you can see soccer is a funny, and sometimes cruel, game. In the past four matches, we have out shot and out cornered (as well as out fouled) our opponents but also found that one mistake could ruin a wonderful effort. I am a firm believer that we are a work in progress and our best soccer has yet to be played.

We're off to Boston University this Wednesday and then following a weekend off we return to the comfortable confines of the URI Soccer Complex for a Tuesday evening match versus Harvard University at 7:00 pm. It should be an interesting one as the Crimson are on a good roll right now. It is also Soccer Rhode Island night so we're looking forward to seeing all of the Ocean state youth players at the game!