Spring is Here!

Yet another crazy winter in Philadelphia, but alas....Spring is here! Flowers blooming, birds chirping, Masters' weekend (Rory, tough Sunday) and of course, soccer returns to 43rd & Powelton and with that, so does the fabled (fabled, really dude?) 91st Minute with yours truly! (Be prepared....Dougie has lots to say...)

So we have started our non-traditional season and its great to get out and play some outside opponents after training for the past three months. We trained for the entire winter term (January-March) and to the guys credit, they got after it and have truly embraced the process of getting better. Of course they are 18-22 year old "aspiring" men, so there are good days and bad days, but by and large the good days far outweighed the bad during this time.

Since getting back from spring break, we have started training from 6:30-8:00 am - a necessary evil when you have part of your roster working Co-op (a few unemployables on No-op) and the other half taking night class (truth be told, I love it and would make them train then even if this wasn't the situation....a bit sadistic true, but how can I not love that their first thoughts of every day are on soccer...granted some take a little longer to start thinking than others at that hour...). The early morning forces them to focus straight away and with the length of training being a bit shorter than our normal two hour sessions, it leaves them wanting more at the end on some days.

We have trained for three months now, played two spring games and it is obvious that we are getting better and learning more about one another. Just a year into things now (thanks everyone for the Anniversary gifts...), but clearly the players are understanding me more and more, as well as what we expect of them in how we play. Both of the games showcased this and showed our commitment to fitness, despite this concept of being an "off-season" (honestly there really isn't such a thing...you finish one season, you break for a month and let your body recover, and then you prepare for the next). For me, this is our pre-season. January to May symbolizes the start of our new cycle and build-up for the 2011 campaign (which by the way, will be the 65th season of soccer here at Drexel University...I am planning a ticker-tape parade down Market - but I think it will more likely end up as my assistants throwing some confetti on me in the office...).

Fall seasons are such a sprint, literally just two weeks to prepare before your first game. So for a game that demands everyone have total understanding of one another, this is not much time. As a result, I put a lot of stock in the work we are doing now (lifting, fitness, training, meeting, etc.), as these guys will be the core of our team next fall and responsible for getting the new guys acclimated to the way we do things in our program.

Saturday, April 2nd @ UMBC (L 1-0):

It was a good first run-out against a formidable team. UMBC had some great success this past fall, winning both the America East Championship and advancing to the second round of the NCAA College Cup. The game had pace and a good sporting attitude to it. While we lost 1-0 (a mid-second half penalty that they finished well), we did more than enough to earn a point on the night. I was impressed with how well we pressed and chased the game for 90 minutes. Additionally, we looked to play with tempo when we had possession and we certainly had the large portion of that. While we created more than enough from the run of play and had just over a dozen corner kicks, we lacked some precision in that final third...albeit the last ball for delivery or the final strike at goal.

As I said to the guys after the game that night, you can get better in a loss and that night we did. I believe we saw a picture of how we can be in transition and how that can help us in controlling the tempo of the game. It was a solid first start after a four and a half month lay-off from outside competition.

Friday, April 8th v. Monmouth (W, 2-0):

A good week of training to reorganize the group and hopefully some better results in the final third. We spent the entire week working with the guys on movement and finishing plays in front of goal, mostly in smaller number scenarios but always building to a bigger picture by the end of training.

So second game and against another solid team. Monmouth won their sixth straight Northeast Conference regular season title this past year and qualified for another NCAA College Cup. Additionally, the Hawks spent the entire season ranked in the NSCAA National Rankings with a ranking as high as #4 in the country.

It was a rain soaked evening from the get-go! Guys warmed up in tough conditions with heavy rainfall, but it tapered as the night went on. A nice slick surface is always great to play on, allows you to really move the ball with speed on the ground. I thought Monmouth had a tough time adjusting to the shape of our team and interchange of our players. We continually found space under their back four in the first half and that allowed us to get at them a bit and keep them on their back foot. Clearly it lead to the first goal as Andrew Goldberg was able to find the ball in a pocket of space between their center backs and square up. He beat them in behind and ended up getting pulled down for a legitimate penalty about 2/3's of the way through. Nathan Page stepped up and finished it.

I told the guys at half-time that is was great for them to keep playing and earn the goal for their work in that half. This is the danger of soccer - play well, feel confident, get comfortable, don't score, get done in. We knew that Monmouth would come a bit heavier at the start of the second half and sort out any issues they were having from the first part of the game. Another danger point....you have the game in hand, now you have to keep playing!

I don't like to take anything from our opponent, so I don't believe we necessarily let up as opposed to just settle in mentally. Monmouth upped the tempo of the game and grabbed a good share of it to start off the second half. We showed some strong character to play our way back in and earn another goal off of one of their miscues...a tough back pass for their goalkeeper to deal with that was then put right on the foot of an eagerly awaiting Nathan Page. One touch and a finish, 2-0. It was a good game and a solid result for us.

The Rest of this Week...

Lots going on this week here at Drexel....the inauguration of President Fry....today is Fry-day, on a Thurs-day....get it??? You see it???.....that's called a play on words my friends, one of the many literary tools that we use around here to create a little tomfoolery... shenanigans.... chicanery if you may....

Also this week (as you can tell by the obnoxiously large banner at the top of the blog), it's Cinderella's Ball! Not really, but we are having our end of the year Men's Soccer Banquet at the Independence Visitor Center in the Liberty View Ballroom ....very hip, very sheik, very sweet 16-esque! I am certain our guys are out shopping for that perfect prom dress right now and I am hoping there will be a dance area so that Coach Green can teach us all "How to Dougie..."

Should be a great event and we will follow it up with another spring game on the Saturday, April 16th at 3:00 pm against yet another NCAA College Cup participant from the past season, St. Peter's College from New Jersey. Hope you will get out to Vidas Athletic Complex to see us play!

Thanks for reading as always and stay in touch,
Coach Hess

P.S. make sure you vote for our 2010 Goal & Save of the Year!

Save of the Year Video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpIAAKChXDY

Goal of the Year Video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvlLeeJgOUA

Vote for each online at - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QZ9WZXX


I AM A DRAGON!