Where are the Dragons you say? Great question...where did all the time go? So much time and so little to do...Wait, strike that, reverse it!
Fitting that when my trusty head assistant, Bryan Green, and I took our seats on our most recent recruiting trip we found this cross-word puzzle leading the way in the complimentary in-flight magazine. A little bit of a wake-up that it was time to write again!
"Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
Chim chim cher-oo,
I does what I likes
And I likes what I do..."
For a brief moment in time, I wasn't so sure I could agree with those lyrics, but I digress. There's nothing like a little "Bert the Chimney Sweep" from Mary Poppins to get this edition of the 91st Minute kicked off (courtesy of my youngest Delaney a.k.a. "Bubba", who wants to watch "Mary and Poppins" just about every minute of every day...).
So a bit silent for the last couple of months....cricket cricket...but let the silence be broken! I will try to keep this brief, but brevity was never a strength of mine...nonetheless, I will do my best to recap the ups and downs of our year in as few words as possible of course... keeping it brief... not saying much... just getting the facts down... the abridged version... short 'n sweet, the old k.i.s.s. principle... bare bones version... no frills... much-a-do about nothing.. Cliff Notes...
Back to keeping it short, the 65th year of soccer is now in the books here at Drexel and although the 2011 season saw a tough start for your young and growing Dragons, a solid late surge was mounted by our team. We came through pre-season flying, but got dealt a dose of reality when three of our players went down with season-ending injuries early on.
No excuses, such is life in the world of college soccer - as I often tell our team, you must be ready to deal with one, if not all three things through a season: injury to a player, a dip in performance of a player, and/or two non-results tied together in a row...and you will still have to play despite these things. We were "fortunate" enough to have to deal with all three! Credit to our team and their willingness to keep battling despite a tough start to our season.
It took us the month of September to realize that we actually had to score to win.... "oh really coach, wow, that's brilliant..." No seriously, perhaps we thought there were some style points for connecting 10 passes or for shooting the ball "near" the goal... You actually have to put the ball over the goal line though is what we learned, and as we did, we had far more success. Scoring a goal is the hardest thing to do in the game of soccer and as we went through games in September scoreless, the nerves and anguish built. It took a city rivalry game to snap that mental block. When Malcolm LeBourne scored our first goal against Temple, you would have thought it was the first goal we ever scored (granted it wasn't the first of the season, but it certainly felt like it)...the celebration of the team, the emotion of the players, it was priceless!
After watching our team struggle through September, it confirmed what I already knew - common belief is the single most important trait a group must have in order to have success. We were so on the fence as to whether we wanted to believe that we could score and when you get shut-out as often as we did, that little light of ours struggled to shine. Amazing what scoring a couple of goals can do for a group.
The Temple game was the half-way point on the season and we managed to go 4-3-2 from that point on, including a 2-1-1 record against the top 4 CAA teams. We showed much promise through October, not in just the results but more importantly how we achieved them. I know we earned great results against the top two teams, beating JMU 2-0 and drawing at ODU 1-1, but the most telling game was VCU. Not only did we miss a penalty (Kenny Trib's hit it with his purse, really...he did), but we went down a goal and then down a man early on in the first over-time. Against all odds, our guys found a way.
Our finish is encouraging to build on, but we know it is not the results against the top teams that matter the most...it is winning when you are supposed to win that matters most. This is what makes the best teams, the best teams. So while 2-1-1 is fantastic against the top four, 1-1-2 against the bottom four just will not cut it. There is more work to be had for this group and the process of getting better is what I love and embrace the most.
We return 27 players next fall, the most I have ever had in my fourteen years of college coaching. We have a huge opportunity in front of us to grow together in the coming winter months, to build our culture, to forge relationships, and to continue to create our soccer environment. The new cycle begins in the new year...looking forward to getting cranked up this coming week as the guys get back for classes...nothing like the brisk Philly winter winds on your face to get you going (that's a lie, I wouldn't mind being tickled by the warm westerly winds of the Cayman Islands...but, I don't think we have a satellite campus there...).
"Winds in the East, mist coming in...
Like somethin' is brewin' and 'bout to begin..."
Thanks for the closing line Bert, but I don't think Mary Poppins is blowing into Philly any time soon...here is what is about to begin, lots of Men's Soccer Events on tap:
Men's Soccer Banquet: Friday, January 27th @ 6:30 pm
Featuring Alumni Honoree Fred Gerstenfield, All-American '81
Drexel University Homecoming Weekend Jan. 27th-29th
Men's Soccer Alumni Gathering at Men's Basketball Game: Saturday, February 11th @ 3:00 pm
Men's Soccer Spring Schedule: TBA, Stay tuned....
If you would like to attend either of the events above, drop me a line...we will be sending out an Evite in the near future for the Alumni Gathering at the Men's Basketball Game.
Thanks for reading and as always, stay in touch!
Happy Leap Year!!!
Regards,
Doug
