Spring is Here!

Can you feel it
Now that Spring has come
It's time to live in the scattered sun…

Oh touche' Mr. Morrison (such a great way to start the 91st Minute, there is nothing like a sword fight...) no longer do we have to wait on the sun, Spring is indeed here! Azaleas in bloom....another Master's is in the books... MLS in full swing... and of course, we start our spring season playing segment here at Drexel. What a great way to start it off as well last week... 43rd & Powelton (that's Vidas Athletic Complex before you go Google Mapping on me), a lovely 7 pm kick-off under the West Park Towers... a captivating night.... temperature was exquisite... dew point moist... humidity absent... wind northerly... visibility perfect... barometric pressure comfortable... and the moon was a Waxing Gibbous... (descriptive enough for ya?) against last year's USL Pro Division Runner-up, the Harrisburg City Islanders (more about that game in a minute).

Early mornings under the silence of the Towers... three months of training... and now we get to start truly prepping for next fall. I have said it before and I will say it again, these are the months that provide the build for the fall. With the large majority of our roster returning next season, this time is so important to us in developing our culture and who we plan to be in the 2012 season. I understand that the results "don't count" (people love to say that...um, it always counts when you keep score is my response), but it certainly matters...it always matters, otherwise we would not do it.

4/5/12 Harrisburg City Islanders: L 3-2

A respectable result last week, despite the loss (hey it doesn't count right...that would be sarcasm folks, we always want to win). Nonetheless, we must keep it in perspective...and from my perspective, scoring twice against a pro team in one game almost totaled our goal output in the month of September last fall....cricket, cricket... (um, that is sarcasm too folks...paired with the harsh truth of reality). So the City Islanders controlled most of the play through the first half and our guys were a bit overwhelmed by the pace of the game and the speed with which their midfielders closed us down. Our opponent did a solid job of snuffing out our midfield build and causing us to turn the ball over too often. That being said, we managed to score first against the run of play.

First Half Goal Summary:

1st goal – Drexel - 17:38 1-0 Drexel
Michele Pataia was fouled just before midfield. Robert Liberatore served the restart in the air to the top of the Islanders' Penalty Box, Mark Donohue and a HCI defender and the HCI goalkeeper challenged for the ball, the HCI defender won the initial challenge, but it fell to Michele. He calmly controlled the ball and volleyed it from 26 yards out over the keeper into an open net.

2nd goal - HCI – 22:50 - 1–1
HCI cut out a pass in midfield and caught us on a counter-attack down our right side. Their striker finished across the goal in a 1v.1 situation with our goalkeeper.

3rd goal – HCI – 27:30 – HCI 2–1
HCI in possession knocks diagonal ball from midfield toward our left side. Their winger received and ran the ball down the left wing, cutting in around the Penalty box and then finishing at the near post from 17 yards out.

We were able to re-organize at the half and address our inability to adapt to Harrisburg's pressure through the first stanza. It was our first time out, so the biggest issue for us to tackle was minimizing our opponent's opportunities in the transition phases of the game. After that, it was having the confidence that we could indeed play despite the quality of our opponent. We needed to recognize that we were conceding the game to the Islanders a bit too much and needed to get after it more.

Second Half Goal Summary:

4th Goal – 58:20 – HCI 3-1
Drexel deep restart served into HCI's Penalty box, that was cleared and controlled by HCI then countered down our right side. HCI forward picked the ball up and ran at our center back. He used our center back as a screen and bent the ball around him into beating our goalkeeper to the far post.

5th goal – 78:05 – HCI 3-2
Cross by Ridge Robinson to near post headed away to pk spot by HCI defender. Ken Tribbett is first to the loose ball and his first-time shot through traffic was able to be re-directed by Phil Hagerty into the back of the net.

Conceding a third goal in transition gave us plenty of ammo to work on in training this week. A fair amount of sessions keying on the transition phases, so we shall see how it goes this weekend. The best thing on the night was to see our guys grind a bit after we conceded the third goal to the City Islanders. We managed to pull a goal back, as well as create several other goal-scoring opportunities through the remaining minutes of play. A great sign of resiliency and mental toughness.


Some local derbies on tap for the spring, along with maximizing our NCAA allowable 5 days of Competition. Originally we were scheduled to play at Monmouth, but after we lost that date due to a scheduling conflict we were fortunate to be able to pick-up the round-robin play over at UPenn. Now we are going to play multiple games on three of the five dates, which should be great tests for us both physically and mentally.

Hopefully your taxes are in (before you pull a Martha Stewart, and I ain't talking about matching the drapes with a love-seat if you know what I mean folks and I think you do...) and you can get out to support our guys on one or more occasion this April. Go on, give a few friends a call or gather up the family and head out to see us play...two chances to do so this weekend...Saturday at Princeton (2:45 pm & 4 pm kick-off's) and Sunday at cross-the-street rivals Penn (3:00 and 4:00 pm). Hope to see you there!

Weekly updates to come through the month from me, along with game re-caps. All the best and stay in touch!

Regards,
Doug