Men’s soccer kicks to a new season

Shooting for the goal, Seton Hill University’s (SHU) men’s soccer team is jumping at the chance of making the championship game for its 2009 season.

By Megan Seigh

Sports Editor

Shooting for the goal, Seton Hill University’s (SHU) men’s soccer team is jumping at the chance of making the championship game for its 2009 season.

SHU soccer coach Dan McCarty said, “There is a great vibe around our team right now. There is pride in what we are doing, in how we are coaching, and how the players are working. We have the tools needed for a successful season.”
“Our expectations are very high for this upcoming season. We only lost a few seniors last year, so our team is very experienced. We have our same goalie back which is very beneficial. We have a few freshman that came in which will help us be stronger coming off the bench,” said junior Jon Gibson.

Soccer is a competitive fall sport for SHU’s fall sports lineup. The dedication of the men’s soccer team is boiling more than ever this year with a winning season in their grasp.

“I think you can head into every season with high expectations and high hopes for your players. We have a strong group of upper classmen who have a few years of experience and maturity that will pay big dividends this season. We have stronger chemistry this season, everyone is on the same page and we all have the same goal,” said McCarty.

“With the addition of Joel Zalesky, who is on loan from the Lacrosse team, we should be very strong in the middle of the park. As long as we play hard and keep people from getting injured we should be a dangerous force in the WVIAC conference,” said Gibson.

Like any other sport, men’s soccer continues to demonstrate its growth each year by changing up the way they play to complete a better winning season than each previous one.

“We have made some changes to our system and style of play. It is a faster pace and an attacking style that will help us compete at a higher level. We actually played very well last season but didn’t get some of the results we would have liked,” said McCarty.

Losing games is inevitable in most sports but that doesn’t stop the optimism that this family exceeds.

“Overall our plan to be successful this upcoming season is to work hard and be a family on and off the field. Our team chemistry right now is great and we really feel as though we have a shot to have a great season,” said Gibson. Gibson continues, “We also need students and faculty to come support our team at home games, especially for our big conference games.”

“Soccer is a strange sport in that you can dominate a game and still lose the match. This season we should get the results we want if we stay in the present and keep focused on one day at a time, one practice at a time and one game at a time,” said McCarty.