Nicholas Gerard-Larson, a senior on the 2009 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his sixth blog entry.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It’s hard to concentrate on anything noteworthy when the September weather continues to outlive all previous expectations. I suppose Nature feels that she owes us some extra weeks of summer, since June and July were so notoriously cool this year. It’s doubtful the temperature will remain this mild until the end of the month, but we can certainly hope for the best. Here’s my prediction. Just to retain the reputation of erratic unpredictability the weather will stay sunny, calm, and relatively warm for another week or so, and then suddenly, without the typical warning colors of red, yellow, and orange appearing in the foliage, we’ll wake up to two feet of snow.
We opened our home season with a very strong opponent, nationally ranked University of California-Santa Barbara. UCSB has consistently been ranked in the top ten this season and a good result against them would be a major breakthrough for our squad. Their team possessed players with excellent ball control, and they were collectively able to move the ball forward very quickly. Although Santa Barbara controlled a larger portion of the possession, we were able to achieve several very good chances in the first half. Defensively we maintained a very tight and disciplined structure, forcing many of their attacking plays wide. Indeed, the two goals Santa Barbara ended up scoring came off of extremely well-placed shots, and there was very little our backline or goalie John Shakon could do to prevent the 2-0 final score. There certainly was room for improvement, however it is obvious we’ve come a long way in our defensive confidence, and when our top defenders play well it is very difficult for the opposing team to penetrate and score.
Our biggest attacking problem, as expected, is simply putting the ball in the back of the net. Our forwards and midfielders continue to work hard and generate opportunities, yet we lack the finishing acumen in our opponents’ final third. Tactically, I believe we have improved from the beginning of the season, although our ability to attack efficiently is marred with inconsistency. We continue to have one strong half of attacking play in our games, but in college soccer, especially at the NCAA Division I level, this is not enough to attain a positive final result.
The second game of the weekend drew Oakland University and there were high expectations that we would be able to get a much-needed victory. This optimism was reflected in the ideal weather conditions, 75 degrees and brilliantly sunny; I practically felt like I needed to lather up with sunscreen. Inauspiciously however, as we were changing into our uniforms and preparing ourselves mentally for the match, clouds slowly blew in off the lake and the temperature began dropping. By kickoff our surroundings had ominously transformed and the overcast sky boded ill for the upcoming contest.
From the starting whistle our play seemed languid and predictable. Our team appeared lethargic and unenthusiastic, almost as if the weather itself had drained our hopeful morale. Collectively, our output lacked the necessary effort and we struggled to connect passes from one third of the field to another. At halftime we found ourselves down 2-0 to a team that truthfully hadn’t earned either goal. Oakland’s personnel had very little to offer individually, outside one strong forward up top, and as a whole their squad seemed equally despondent and tired. They must have been surprisingly elated to find themselves up at the half.
We responded well in the opening salvoes of the second half, scoring one goal in the first few minutes to put the tally at 2-1. Palpably the mood had changed from kickoff and at times it seemed like our optimism had returned. Appropriately, we buried an equalizer with about ten minutes to go and it appeared as though the momentum was inexorably behind our squad. However, this sentiment was short-lived as we despairingly allowed Oakland to gain the go ahead goal approximately one minute after the equalizer. We pushed hard in the final ten minutes for a third goal, but were unable to capitalize on our few chances. Another one goal deficit and our sixth loss of the year, certainly not a result to be proud of.
