October 9, 2007 - It Was Hot Hot Hot...

Well, we left Saturday morning for VA, to play our last non-conference game before we start our Atlantic 10 matches, and I can tell you now that this was probably the worst traveling experience that we've had all year! In total, we traveled for at least 10 hours. Leaving campus at 6AM for the airport, we got to Baltimore and then had to drive from Baltimore to Richmond. When we finally arrived there, it was around 3PM... Needless to say, it was a long day of travel and so uncomfortable! But its all good, at least we arrived safely!

Sunday we played at the University of Richmond... I know its weird, but even though Richmond is in our conference, it did not count as a league game. It just turned out that both teams were looking for somebody to play the week before conference games began.

Anyway, the game was scheduled for 12PM - the hottest time of the day - and believe you me it was hot!!! The temperature was mid-90s and it was humid too! I don't think I have played in that type of heat since arriving in the United States! I'm from Africa, and back home it gets hotter than that... but I guess being in Rhode Island, I've become accustomed to basically freezing all year round. That was the worst thing about it too - I should be used to heat like that but I definitely wasn't!

Well, on we went with the game - which we knew Richmond purposely scheduled at that time so that they would have an advantage over us, being acclimated to that type of weather and all... Anyhow, we came out strong, attacking and getting a couple of shots off in the first 20 minutes, but you could see that the heat was affecting us...

Midway through the first half, we looked really lethargic but we still maintained possession of the ball... It was good because we created a lot of chances we just didn't finish... At the end of the game, we had 23 shots to their 13 and tied the game 0-0... We dominated though, so I guess we should be happy with how we played... And I'm sure that on a different day - and with cooler weather - the result would have been in our favor...

Well, now its time to get ready for A-10 play - and everybody is starting with a clean slate... We'll see who wants that title the most......

October 3, 2007 - A Step in the Right Direction...

We finally won!

It's been a while, but on Sunday the 30th of September, everything finally came together for us. All the hard work and effort that we put in during the week paid off. We worked together, created chances, finished those chances, and beat Maine by a score of 4-1... which was such a feeling of relief as just two nights prior (at Hartford) we did all of those same things an yet could not - for the life of us - finish!

Against Maine, the boys played well and now the camp feels a little better with another win under our belt. We know that we can't get too excited though, because we are still only 2-6-0! But I definitely think that this win has given us a bit of confidence - which we need going into our Atlantic 10 matches!

I must also say that it seemed as if everybody really enjoyed themselves on Sunday... It was so good to actually play well as a team again and have everybody working together. The win was just the icing on the cake...

I hope now, with a few goals, scoring will become a bit easier...

We've definitely taken a step in the right direction and it is important that we remember what it took to get here... Sometimes, we have the tendency to become complacent but we all know that our current record won't allow for complacency!

So, now we will try to keep this momentum going with another win at Richmond on Sunday afternoon. Even though Richmond is in the Atlantic 10, the match will not count toward our conference schedule - league play begins the following weekend. And it's a clean slate from there...

I will leave you with this: It really is true - enjoyment does come with winning!

September 24, 2007 - Soul Searching...

Ok, we lost again this weekend! To Boston University, 2-0, at home - so you probably can guess that the boys and I are not doing too well. This loss makes our record 1-5-0, which is so disappointing. Coming into this season, we had really high expectations. We returned 10 starters from last year and we definitely did not think we would be in this position right now.

But in what seems to be the URI men's soccer tradition - we have started off slow... Even my mother, who is all the way in Africa, has recognized and reminded me of this!

Coach has asked us all to do some soul searching... so that is how I have spent the past few days.

Here is what I've come up with:

In the beginning, our problem was that weren't playing together... We've worked on this, but still haven't received the results we are looking for. Hopefully, that will come soon.

We've also struggled to create clear cut chances... And we are still struggling to do this. Maybe we need a change of personnel? Move a few players around? I don't know... but then again who does?

I also wonder - are we all just trying too hard? Forcing the game when we need to just play the game? I know that this comes from wanting to do well and wanting to win games. But I also know that, personally, I do my best when I am just playing soccer - not thinking about all of the technical aspects. Lately though, I think maybe its been too much thinking and not enough playing... It needs to just come naturally.

Or is it that we just need to grind, grind and grind some more? The last two years, when we've won the Atlantic 10 Championship, that's what we done - we've outgrinded and outworked our opponents. We haven't been doing that this year... And I'm worried that this could be because we feel as though the game owes us something - that since we have the talent, and have done so well in the past, we just expect that good things to happen to us. The truth is though, the game owes us absolutely nothing and we are privileged to even be playing at this level.

Lastly, are we enjoying ourselves? As coach G always says: If we win, then we'll starting enjoying it... But lately, its become so bad that you wonder why you're playing... Am I playing because I have to? Shouldn't it be because I want to?

Anyway, that's all I have for this week. My brain is fairly tired from all this soul searching... We are going to turn this around! As WET, WET, WET would say: I can feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes...

Until next week - peace, love and happiness!!!!

September 18, 2007 - The Brown Game...

Yep, we lost again... this time to Brown. I apologize if I don't sound too happy, but our record is 1-4-0 right now and we just lost to our in-state rivals - its not exactly how we expected to start the season...

The thing that's most frustrating is that we worked hard all week and everybody was really focused. We were playing like a team again at practice and we took that into the game with us... We didn't play badly Sunday - it was actually one of our better games - but in the end it was Brown that found a way to win.

That's soccer for you though - its about putting that sphere in the back of the net... Given that we played well, I think our biggest challenge is creating clear cut chances to score and finding a way to win.

I know the camp is down right now and everybody's doing some soul searching but we can't dwell on this loss because we still have the rest of the season ahead of us. And we have to start focusing on our next game - which is Boston University, next Friday.

I'm not going to say much this time because I'm still gutted about the loss... The boys know that we've got to come together as a family and put extra effort in to getting ourselves out of this rut!!!!

BU, watch out...

September 10, 2007 - A Weekend in Indiana...

So this past weekend was probably our toughest yet as we traveled to South Bend, IN to play eighth-ranked Notre Dame and #4 Indiana at the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament (hosted by Notre Dame). Going into the weekend, we all were prepared and focused - knowing that if we came out victorious in both games we would be in good standing for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament (but nevertheless, you know that we are still gunning for our third-straight Atlantic 10 title!)

Anyhow, unfortunately things did not go the way had we planned... Our first opponent was #8 Notre Dame. We knew that this was a well-rounded team that did all of the little things really well. We didn't buy into all the hype about playing one of the nation's best teams because we know that we are good enough to be playing at that level - and we saw this tournament as a way to prove that.

Unfortunately, our confidence took a blow in the fourth minute of the game, when Notre Dame scored as a result of silly team errors. This really unsettled us... and its where we should have held our composure. Instead, everyone was trying extra hard to win the ball back to make things happen for us... its good that the boys had the desire, but its wasn't exactly smart. As a team, one of our strongest points is that we're really good when we everyone is working together - that early goal really got to us though and simply destroyed our game plan.

From there, Notre Dame just picked us apart and that's what happens when you play good teams. We still fought till the end but to no avail... the final score was 3-0 due to a good effort... but not a smart effort.

Sunday came and it was time to face fourth-ranked Indiana. Despite still being upset about Friday's loss, we knew that we had to put it behind us - and that's exactly what we did! We came out guns blazing... Good teamwork and sticking to our game plan paid off and we took the lead in the fifth minute.

The game was very even with both teams getting chances at goals. Once again, to our letdown, silly errors led to two goals against us. At least this time we held our composure though, and we were still pressuring the Indiana goal.

In the second half, the boys continued to work hard and create a few chances but did not capitalize on these opportunities. Indiana's third goal came from our lack of concentration and lack of lungs to continue playing. By the last fifteen minutes, we had run out of steam and that's something that needs to be worked on.

Otherwise, I feel that we learned a great deal this weekend. We played against the big boys - and its not that we don't have the talent to hang with them - it's just that we need to work harder on our fitness and stick to what we know best... working together and winning!