August 31, 2009

Dear Alumni & Friends,

Tomorrow it all begins with the beginning of the 2009 season. The boys have been working hard through preseason and now are ready for the challenges of the fall campaign. Over the past couple of weeks they have been coming together in training and testing the waters during our scrimmages.

The first “exam” came against interstate rival Providence that ended in a 1-1 draw. Junior forward Greg Balicki (Wilbraham, MA) threatened first when he found a seam between the Friars defense and side footed a ball that unfortunately hit the post and caromed out. He was rewarded for his efforts minutes later scoring on a header off a flick on from a throw-in from classmate Michael Tanke (Niles, MI) to Andres Ruiz (Providence, RI). The squad continued carrying the momentum but fell asleep for one moment to see PC equalize on a short corner service that deflected off one of our defenders. It was a hard fought match, as all PC/URI games are but ended a draw.

In the second "exam" of the preseason, the Holy Cross Crusaders came to the URI soccer complex in a match moved a day earlier due to the predicted path of Hurricane Danny. In retrospect, the move was a good one as it allowed us an extra day of rest prior to the first game of the season. Anyway, again your Rams scored first on a class goal from Ruiz. After a hard cross from senior midfielder Gary Crooks (Falkirk, Scotland) that went through to the opposite side of the penalty box, Ruiz collected the ball, got inside two HC defenders and curled the ball into the far post for the goal. It was a tremendous finish. Unfortunately Holy Cross equalized after an angled shot skipped on the wet ground and under goalkeeper Chris Pennock (Spennymoor, England). The visitors scored again to take the lead and it finished 2-1. In the long run both games were very constructive and we learned a lot about where individual players are and what direction we need to go as a team.

By the way I recently got a nice note of good luck from Michael Bradley ‘97 who at present is in Washington State at Army Combat skills training. Michael is there as part of his commitment he made to the United States Navy while attending medical school at Dartmouth College. After his training he will be in Afghanistan by early to mid September but home by Easter 2010. Hope you will join us in keeping Michael and his family, who are here in RI, in your thoughts as he serves our nation abroad.

A couple other things to report from our alums… special thanks to Andres Perdomo ‘09, Kevin Kennedy ‘03 and Paul Fanning ‘01 who came by training to lend a hand during an intra-squad game when we had a few guy’s out with some bumps and bruises.

Also heard from Danleigh Borman ’08 who is in the midst of his second season with Major League Soccer’s Red Bull New York. Unfortunately Red Bull have been struggling as of late and coach Juan Carlos Osorio resigned recently. Danleigh told me that the team is trying to get refocused and even as I write are on the verge of their second straight win after losing seven in a row.

Spoke with Geoff Cameron ’08 last night as he was returning from Panama where he played a CONCACAF Champions League game versus Arabe Unido (they drew 1-1). His Houston Dynamo dropped a game to the Rapids today but they are at the top of the table and looking good for another berth in the MLS Cup.

Finally, Dawid Badecki ’08 who is back in Poland e-mailed me to say he was planning on coming to the U.S. and Kingston for the Atlantic 10 Championships in November. He’s hoping that his former teammates and other former Rams return to the site of their previous glory days to support the squad in their quest for another A-10 title. We hope so too!

Speaking of alums, Homecoming 2009 is just around the corner October 16-18. It will be a great weekend with two Atlantic 10 matches starting with Friday versus St. Joe’s at 7:00 pm and a Sunday match-up with Temple at 1:00 pm. On Saturday we have an Alumni vs. Alumni game followed by URI Soccer Alumni tailgate and the football game at 12 Noon versus Hofstra. You may have heard new URI President David Dooley established a new “Tailgate Policy” for football games that I know many alums have expressed is a long time coming. It will give our returning veteran players a nice place to get together to visit prior to the game.

Remember you can keep up to date with all the happenings of URI men’s soccer by checking out www.gorhody.com. Our Sports Communications office, specifically Jodi Pontbriand, does a great job with our page. We will be having some games streamed live during the season and all will be available on Gametracker, which can be accessed through our website.

We have a great schedule with one of the highlights being our Second Annual Grassroot Soccer fund-raiser during the match with Brown University on September 19th at 7:00 pm. Grassroot Soccer is an international AIDS awareness and education organization that reaches youth in Africa through soccer clinics. It is a cause which I have become personally attached to as two of its’ founders Dr. Tommy Clark and Methembe Ndlovu are guy’s who played for me when I was an Assistant Coach at Dartmouth College. Last year at Brown URI passes along a check for $1,000 to GRS and this season all gate proceeds from the game will be donated. The match is FREE to attend but we are asking for a donation for a minimum donation of $1.00 for Grassroot Soccer. In you need more information or cannot be there and want to make a donation yourself go to www.grassrootsoccer.org.

Well, as I said tomorrow it all starts and we are excited to get going. We hope we see many of you tomorrow night at 7:00 pm when we face the Eagles of Boston College!

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C