September 29, 2009

Dear Alumni & Friends,

It’s been quite a couple of weeks for us that have included the start of classes and 5 games against some very good teams. Our results have been a little up and down but the quality of play has improved which I feel will serve us well down the road. The competition has been excellent and we have had stretches in those games where we were as competitive and anyone in the region.

Saturday night's match versus Boston University was another such performance that again was a short result for your Rams. The #19 Terriers came to town with a few scalps on their belt including perennial national powerhouses Uconn Huskies (beat 3-0) and St. John’s Red Storm (beat 1-0). So, we knew we had our hands full but were up to the challenge.

We started out the game really well and seemed to be on our way. But on one of just two corners on the night, BU deflected a shot ended that up as goal putting us in the hole 1-0. A second goal just after the halfway point of the first period and BU was in the driver's seat…it would seem. But, the boy’s kept plugging away and their hard work paid off when Reece Markman (Dallas, TX) came off the bench to win a ball back and fed left back Matt Preyss (Chagrin Falls, OH) on a short overlap who clipped the ball into the near post space to a diving Erkko Puranen (Viitasaari, Finland) who deposited into the net. That cut the deficit in half at the interval.

In the second half, the momentum had shifted as we pressed for the equalizer. Midfielder Michael Tanke (Niles, MI) and freshmen forward Thomas Lindroos (Espoo, Finland) were involved in several dangerous attacks including Thomas’s glance header that unfortunately went right to the Terrier goalkeeper. The guys kept up the intensity where we thought we got the tying goal on Franco LoPresti (Scarborough, Ontario) header that just went over the crossbar. The team fought into the final seconds getting our last gasp on a corner. The ball bounced around and unfortunately we couldn’t get a head, foot, shin or big toe on the rebound. The whistle blew and the visitors narrowly escaped Kingston with the 2-1 victory.

It was a tremendous effort in the end but one that unfortunately didn’t get us the result we wanted. I am confident - when looking at the way we are playing in the latter stages of the games - that we can compete with these nationally ranked teams. But, my biggest concern is maintaining our concentration and organization in the first 20 minutes of the game as that is when the goals we are conceding have been scored. It will be something we will discuss with the team and look for an answer too this week in preparation for our final non-conference game at Binghamton University (NY) next weekend.

GO RAMS!
Coach O’C