MENS SOCCER FALL 2008

i know there's a lot of excitement about the womens team right now, but i just took a look at the mens schedule and i think we should be paying a little bit of attention to them as well. i noticed that they open the season at home vs virginia tech, who made it to the final 4 last season. i also noticed that the game at home against UW is going to be televised on FSC. this is big time news if you're asking me. if there was ever a time for the boys to get back to the same level they were at in the days of clive, i feel that this year is a perfect oppurtunity. i know they lost a few key players, but i am extremely excited to watch the youth step up and begin to show what they can do. anybody else have any news/updates/thoughts? i would really love to build some excitement going into this season.

golaso brings up a good point.

Two years ago, the men's side seemed to have completely lost focus, and it seemed they forgot what Pilots soccer was about.

Last year, however, they got stronger as the season wore on and learned to play together. It was actually a lot of fun to see the team get better. The result was something we have come to expect from Pilot teams, a return to the tournament.

Perhaps this year they will continue that new focus and grow even more as a team.

At any rate, it will no doubt be fun to see them try. I know last year it was.

I think the real key is going to be who steps up and shoulders the scoring load. We have some capable scorers Irwin, Lopez, Etc... I think offensively we are going to depend a lot on Collen's development as a "playmaker" he is a great defensive and possesion mid, but I think he has the ability to really turn a corner and play a Wozzie-esq role for the men.

But what do I know?

you are very right. a lot will be riding on collens shoulders. i can't wait to see how he has developed and see if he can carry the team. another thing i'm looking forward to seeing is who steps up in the back. with the losses of fredback, gavin, and griffin, it will be interesting to see who will step up.

I would imagine we will see a bit more of Logan holding the back line this season. Beyond that its a toss up for me.

I was pretty impressed with the freshman class from last year - Austin Guerrero is going to be AWESOME, and I thought Frankie Lopez had some really nice flashes too. Jared VanSchaik was pretty impressive as he got more minutes late in the year, and Ryan Luke showed he has a nose for the goal. If those last two guys put on a little more muscle, they could turn into really nice players. And Lopez already seems primed to take on a leadership role.

Collen will be a stud in the middle, but I'm worried about goal scoring. Losing Alex hurts a lot, and though Bryan Irwin did a fine job up there last year, he's got pretty clear limitations. I love his hustle and his fire, but his skill level isn't close to Alex.

My guess (total guess, mind you) is that it will look something like this:

GK: Austin
D: Drew Chrostek
D: Patrick Jurney
D: Logan Emory
D: Greg Rouse/Alex Kraus
MF: Leland Wright
MF: Jarad VanSchaik
MF: Collen Warner
MF: Frankie Lopez
F: Ryan Luke
F: Bryan Irwin

I'm sure Brayton Knapp and Steve Hossenmardi will get plenty of time too. Actually, Brayton will likely start.

As for the freshmen, I really have no idea. Bill Irwin has shown that he's not timid about putting them out there, so if they perform well we will probably see some of them out there too.

I like that the team has a lot of experience, but I worry that the overall talent level might be down a bit.

I am not a proponent at all of speaking poorly of student athletes and always try to keep my comments constructive, but I have some really strong feelings regarding certain players. I will put it this way and you can take from it what you will. I hope that Stonehouse is correct on his starting strikers, both do have their limitations... however their limitations are far less noticeable than the limitations of the alternative strikers you would have coming off the bench.

Only problem I see with that starting lineup is that Ryan luke tore his acl in the spring. If he makes it back this season, it won't be until conference play. Looks like it will be Steve and Bryan up top again. I noticed in the timbers game in the spring Logan moved up top for the last 10 minutes after playing defense for most of the game, I think we could see more of that situation late in games. I think the starters up top will probably be a combination of Bryan and either Steve or an incoming player.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Kawaluk and Nielson starting or at least playing major minutes.

Nielson was a pretty good scorer in HS, good enough to make all state lists.

Kawaluk could be the central defender we need. I hope so, or it might be a long season.

I'd really like to see Lopez up top myself, he brings something that we don't have in the sense of possessing the ball and creating on his own. Bryan is a nice big target, but creation off the dribble will likely be a need this fall.

Rats... didn't know that about Ryan Luke. That's a big bummer.

Lopez I think is best served where he can use his play-making skill, so I think playing out on the wing or even in the middle a bit fits that. But I could definitley see him playing up front as well, especially if scoring becomes an issue. He definitely had a knack for it in HS and he can strike the ball really well, so I could see that working for sure.

Still, maybe I'm making too much of the questions about scoring... Guerrero is going to be a wall.

Stonehouse wrote: Austin Guerrero is going to be AWESOME.

has he learned how to keep his kicks in touch over the break??? that seemed to be his big downfall last season... even without a player in his box pressuring him he would punt the ball out for an opponent's throw-in to often...

Alright who wants to speculate what the Men's record will be this season? I think that they have a tough road ahead when it comes to another NCAA tourney appearance, especially with the SOS. But a few quality wins early could certainly help.

People forget that it was actually the men's team that helped to build up the women's team by making it to the Final 4 and getting the field formerly known as Merlo built. One thing that I would love to see more coaches do is play a 4-2-4 formation like Pele was a part of in Brazil. The problem is that you need to have two amazing mid-fielders to anchor the mid-field to make it work. One of my little league teams did it, and we went undefeated and drew pretty decent sized crowds considering that we were kids. If I could be coach for a day, I'd use an aggressive 4-2-4 formation with Frankie Lopez and Collen Warner anchoring the mid-field. That would be exciting to watch.