men's season so far...

after a devastating loss to virginia to open the season, i must say my hopes weren't extremely high for the men's team this year. however, to my surprise, they have rebounded from that loss and are now an impressive 3-1-1 with some quality wins. in their last 4 games they are 3-0-1, and 2-0-1 on the road. with two more road trips to come in the next two weeks, i am really hoping the guys can keep up this form and return to merlo with a winning record. from the st. louis game and what i saw from the husky game, it seems like the team and coaches are finally starting to pull the program back together. this team actually plays soccer! it is something that we have all been pleading for for years, and i think they are finally getting it. the virginia loss seemed to be a make or break moment, and so far the team is making the best of it. warner is still warner, jarad is still winning tackles, and the defense seems to have tightened up. if they can keep things up it would be really great to see this team return to the playoffs and bring in a great recruiting class to turn the program around. fingers crossed. what do you guys think?

I fully agree, golaso! I am enjoying watching these men play more than the previous few years. No more "long ball". Fun to watch. Concerning the Virginia game, keep in mind that it was our first scrimmage of any sort and it was Virginia's fourth game. Also, we were sorting out the right back position and it appears that Keith has locked it up with some very solid performances. Moving from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 has made a big difference also. Huge weekend coming up vs. Cal Poly and Creighton. If we can come out with a win, heading into conference with a winning record, and then have a winning record in conference, a bid to the tourney might be in the making.

I don't think the score of the Virginia game was entirely indicative of how competitive we were in the match. We played them pretty well for an opener and they converted three opportunities brilliantly. It's only been up from there.

Speaking of recruiting classes, there have been a surprising number of minutes played this year so far by underclassmen. Could be the building blocks for something grander a year or two down the road.

Hopefully, the men can keep it up. I'd love to be producing good teams every year instead of just exceptional individual players again. People seem to forget that the success of the men's team was what helped to get Merlo built and then the success of the women's program came along much later.