CAPTAIN'S JOURNAL

Once the season begins in early August and through the completion of the post season you will be able to get a weekly report from one of our captains.  This will give you a different perspective and better understanding of the day to day challenges during the season from a player's point of view.  We will try to get these reports on the web by 12:00 Noon each Monday whenever
 possible. 

  2009 Season

#10

This past weekend was truly amazing! Going into the Big South Conference Tournament we had lost 3 straight. Two of which came to conference opponents. These losses at the end of the season put us in the tournament as the number 4 seed, which means we would face the number 5 seed Gardner Webb. We were not worried going into the tournament as the number 4 seed. We were confident going into the tournament that if we could go back to basics that we could win another championship.

We started the tournament with Gardner Webb on Friday. It was a well-fought game by both teams. After 110 minutes of play the game ended 2 to 2. We went into penalties. In preparation for the tournament we practiced penalties for 4 days straight. So going into the shootout we felt confident that we could come out of it with a victory. The shootout didn’t start in our favor when we missed our first shot and they made their first. But this didn’t scare us. We ended up making four straight and Enrique came up big with two quality saves. We were now moving onto the semi-finals.

We ended up facing our conference rival Coastal Carolina. They may have beaten us 3-1 just last week, but that was the past. We went into the game a little beaten up, but were fortunate enough to be able to go back to the Coliseum and get treatments for our many aches and pains. The game was close and very even all the way to the end. We went down 1 to 0 in the second half and had to fight our way back. We’ve been here before and have proven that we are capable of bouncing back after giving up the first goal. And that is exactly what we did. A great shot by Miquel put the game into overtime. Both teams played very tired and neither team had any great chances in the overtime periods. So once again we were going into a penalty shootout. Also, we once again were the first team to miss a penalty shot. But, we bounced back and once again Enrique made a great save. We believed in ourselves and made it to the final for the second year in a row with a chance to make history.

Liberty was our match-up in the final. This was exciting for us because our last meeting with them was not one of our best games. To be honest it was one our worst. We wanted to redeem ourselves by winning this one and proving to everyone in the conference that we deserve another championship. The game got off to a rocky start when Liberty scored in less than 2 minutes. We once again had to fight our way back into the game. We were fortunate to get a tying goal just minutes before the end of the first half. Stephen picked a good time to score his first goal of the year. The half ended 1 to 1 and we knew that we had them right where we wanted them. We came out fired up in the second half because we knew that all it took was 45 more minutes to win a conference championship. We held most of the possession in the second half and it seemed as though it was only a matter of time that we would score the go-ahead goal. We had a few chances and hit a couple posts in the process. It wasn’t until there was only 15 minutes left on the clock that we were able to get another goal. This goal proved to be the championship winner. We were able to hold possession of the ball for most of the last 15 minutes. The game finally ended and we were once again CHAMPIONS!

The entire tournament weekend proved to all of the guys on the team that the hard work put into training everyday truly pays off. We went into the weekend as the underdog, but ended as CHAMPIONS!

We would like to say thank you to everyone for supporting us through the year and came out to cheer us on at the tournament. We also want you to know that we are not done yet. We want to continue to make Winthrop history. Duke is our next obstacle and we hope that many of you can make the trip and continue to cheer us one like you have all year. 

Thanks,

Matt Skonicki, Cameron Alksnis, and Matt Lacey                    

#9

It has been a poor week for the Eagles. The Elon game did not go well at all. It was a cold and very rainy night at Elon and we did not come out like a team that really wanted to win that game. Give Elon the credit because even on such an ugly night they still came out very hard and eager to win the game. We tried to put that behind us and prepare for our conference match up versus Liberty.  

The Liberty game again was one that did not go so well or us. Liberty came out flying with two first half goals and never looked back. We were not able to adjust to the playing conditions up there as well as Liberty and they took advantage of that. It was just a poor run of form from the Eagles this week. Losing this game let everyone else in the conference catch up in the regular season title race. Our last game was against Coastal at home.  

The Coastal game was our senior night and our last game at Eagle field. We wanted to get a win to help us have any chance of finishing on top of the conference. The game started out pretty physical. They came out with a lot of energy and got up 2-0 at half. Not a very good half from our stand point. We knew that we were not out of this game, so we came out in the second half trying to get back into this game. We scored to bring it to 2-1 and we were back in the game. The game was very open and physical and we had a couple of chances to tie it up but our attempts ended up not good enough and Coastal sealed the win with a late goal.  

This ends our regular season of play. We will finish either third or fourth in the standings. This is not a good way to finish the regular season, but we must remember that the season is just getting started. We have over a week of before our first tournament game and we need to take this time to get rested and get some good positive training sessions in and get back to the way we know we can play. The tournament is a whole new ball game, what happened in the regular season is over and now anything can happen in the tournament. We must be prepared to play like every game is our last.

Your Captains,

 Cameron Alksnis, Matt Lacey, Matt Skonicki

#8 

We started the past week off with a good win against College of Charleston and finished it off with a massive three points against UNC Asheville. The game against College of Charleston was not a conference game but it was taken just as seriously as it would gain the team some respect within the region if we could win the game. As gaffer would say, we took care of business. We came away with a 1-0 win in a game where we spent most of the game defending corners and set pieces but we counter attacked with great purpose and created three quality chances and luckily we scored one of these to win the game. Even though we won the game I'm sure we will still be overlooked in the NSCAA regional rankings this week.

After the College of Charleston game we had three days to rest to prepare for the UNC Asheville game. This game was really important for us to win as it would give us daylight between us and second place in the conference. We started the game of well and created numerous chances but were punished early on for not making any of these count when UNC Asheville took the lead. We worked hard to get back in the game and went in at half time winning 2-1. We finished the game off in the second half with one more goal and most of the possession. It was a tough game and credit to Asheville who never gave up and made the game very difficult.

We travel to Elon on Tuesday night in a non conference match. This is a very important game for us as we want to again show that we are a top team in the region. Then we will travel to Liberty on Friday night for a Saturday afternoon kick-off. This is a massive game for us, as a win will perhaps give us the number one ranking going into the conference tournament. We will work hard this week to prepare for both of these games.

Your captains

Matt Lacey, Matt Skonicki, Cam Alksnis

#7     

The conference schedule is well underway and we have been facing some very tough competition. We traveled to High Point for what was anticipated to be a quality match. The game turned out to be everything that was expected. We were able to score an early goal off a well-taken set piece. The ball was put into the mix and luckily High Point wasn’t able to get a piece of it. We were waiting there on the back post and buried the ball into the back of the net. The rest of the game turned out to be a defensive struggle. Both teams were on their heels at times, giving everything they had to keep the opposing offense from scoring. In our opinion, this game was one of the best defensive games that we have had all year. The team was able to defend as a unit. Everyone did their part in a defensive game, and we were fortunate enough to come out victorious.

We then made a trip up to VMI for what was also expected to be a difficult match. VMI is a very difficult place to play and every time we go there the game seems to go right down to the wire. A couple years ago VMI was able to take us into overtime at their field. The game ended up finishing at a 0 – 0 tie. For some reason, it is harder for us to win at VMI than most places. This year we were hoping to come out with more intensity than past years. However, after the first half the game was tied 0 – 0 and it felt very much like the game a couple years ago. But the boys were determined to not let history repeat itself. We came out in the second half fired up and put VMI on their heels. We ended up scoring twice in the second half due to some good build up from the back and through the midfield. VMI had their chances as well, but our defense and goalkeeping was up to the task and handled everything that came at them. The game ended 2 – 0 and we got our second shutout in a row on the road.

The team then got a couple days off to rest our legs. The rest was much needed for many of us. We didn’t have our next game for another week, but this time it was at home against Radford. Radford is a good side. They may not have the best conference record going into this game, but they have beaten some great teams this year. We knew that this would be yet another great test for us. Radford came out fired up, as did we, and were able to get two goals off set pieces. The ball bounced around a lot in the box and they were lucky enough to be on the end of it. They may have scored twice, but our team has never been the type to just put our heads down and quit. We fought back quickly and scored our first goal of the game within a minute of their second goal. The momentum seemed to swing our way, as we were then able to get a tying goal only minutes later. Once again, we fought our way back from a deficit to give ourselves a chance to win. However, we couldn’t seem to find the goal again. We had many chances, as well as Radford, to win the game, but the luck wasn’t on our side in this one. The game became very physical as it went into overtime and eventually ended in a 2-2 tie.

Our next game is at College of Charleston on Tuesday. We know that Charleston is a great team that works very hard on and off the ball. We must get our legs ready for what is bound to be a fast paced game. Tuesday night will hopefully give us momentum as we take on Asheville next weekend.

Matt Skonicki, Cameron Alksnis, and Matt Lacey

 #6

The trip to Liberty didn’t exactly go as planned. We traveled up on a Friday after training and got in Friday night. The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then we headed over to the field to have a light jog and stretch. The weather wasn’t the best; it was cool with a light rain. Later on that afternoon we find out that the game has been cancelled due to the weather so we had to load up the bus and head back. This was a bit of a shame because all of the boys were really excited about this game and getting the conference season started. We would have to wait until Tuesday to start the conference when we host Presbyterian.  

Unfortunately, the training session before Presbyterian Lacey suffered an injury to his knee and was ruled out of Tuesdays match. Despite also losing Mossy and Horn to injuries in this game, the game went well. The first half was excellent; probably some of the best soccer we have played all year. The defensive effort was probably our best of the year and our offense was really clicking. Our second half performance was not as good but still a great way to start the conference. Our next game we travel to play Gardner-Webb who is having a pretty good season so it will be a good test for us. 

The game against Gardner-Webb had its added challenges. DiBiagio was ruled out of this game after suffering a concussion against Presbyterian. So now we have Lacey, Mossy, Horn and DiBiagio all out for this game against Gardner-Webb. In addition to that Gaffer and Dan were both feeling sick and weren’t sure if either of them could make the game. Unfortunately Gaffer was not able to make the game; however Dan was able to make it even though he was still feeling ill.  

The game was very open and playing at a fast pace. It hurt us to not have some of the guys there to give us some depth; however this was a good chance for some guys to step in and prove themselves. Jordan stepped in and did a great job in the back and Murphy did well in the midfield. The game was a fight and after trailing in the second have with less than 20 minutes left we managed to fight back and tie it up. Although we had our chances to put the game away a 2-2 draw was still a decent result for us given the circumstance of the game. We are disappointed that we didn’t get the win and that we dropped points in the conference. 

Our next game is at High Point on Wednesday. High Point is a team that is very hot right now and it will be a very good test for us. We hope to get some guys back for this game and come out with a good result.

 Thanks,

#5

Well where do I start? We scored 5 goals this past weekend and only won one of the two games. There is no way that you should lose games when you score as many goals as we have been scoring. We beat App State 3v2 on the Friday then lost 4v2 to a strong UNCC side on Sunday. In both games we conceded two early goals from individual’s errors. Thankfully on Friday we were able to recover and win the game in the remaining minutes but on Sunday we were unable to repeat the heroics of the comeback on Friday.

A good question to ask would be when will we learn to stop conceding sloppy goals? To be honest I hope that this day will come very soon because tomorrow the competition and importance to win steps up another notch. We open up conference play away against Liberty and we cannot afford to be making these games harder than they are with silly mistakes. The longer these mistakes continue the harder it will be for us to reach are ultimate goals set as a team. In any of Gaffers teams there is never going to be any finger pointing at players because we are a team and we except that every mistake is a team mistake but it is time each and every one of us step up and work and concentrate that much harder to eliminate these mistakes. We are working hard every day in practice to improve the whole team’s mentality to defend and we hope that this may help take pressure off the back four and goalkeeper. Defending from front to back has become the greatest emphasis for this team this season.

We travel to Liberty today after practice and will stay overnight and start preparing for the game tomorrow with some light jogging in the morning. We all know how important this game is and that we haven’t won at liberty in a few years, so we are all focusing on getting the job done. It is important for us to start the conference campaign in good fashion and this is what we have worked hard for in practice all week. If players are not ready to play tomorrow, then they are in the wrong team.

Thanks

Matt Lacey, Cameron Alkins, Matt Skonicki

#4

The Wingate Classic was held at Eagle Field this past weekend and it proved to be a successful one for us as we ended the weekend with two victories. We started the tournament with a victory on Friday night over Brevard and finished with a victory over IPFW Sunday afternoon. After the weekend our overall record has improved to 4 wins and only 1 loss. 

The Brevard game was expected to be much like the Covenant game from a week ago. We knew going into the game that we should finish with a win, but at the same time we knew that they are a team that cannot be taken lightly by any means. That point was proven last year when they took us into overtime on our home pitch. We came out of the blocks very strong to start the game and seemed to be getting countless scoring chances, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Toward the end of the first half Brevard was pushing hard at our back line and a small defensive mistake led to an unfortunate goal to give them a 1 to 0 lead going into the second half. At halftime, we regained our focus and were determined to not let this game slip away from us. We came out in the second half very strong and finally started scoring goals in quick succession. There was some great offensive play and our defense stayed determined for the rest of the game. The game ended 4 to 1 in our favor. Now it was time to focus on IPFW, a team that had just beaten Gardner Webb 1 to 0. 

We knew going into Sunday’s game that IPFW was going to be a good test for our squad. They are a big and physical team that has some quite talented players on their side. The keys for us were to keep the ball moving quickly on the floor and break down their midfield and defense with quick one and two touch passing. We also knew that our intensity and work rate had to be very high in order to win this game. We started off the game following our game plan. We played the ball quickly, kept it on the floor, and showed some great intensity. Our forwards were pressuring their defense, our midfield was controlling the tempo, and our defense wouldn’t let IPFW hold the ball long enough to be of any threat to our goalkeeper. We scored to scrappy goals and quickly went up 2 to 0. Unfortunately, IPFW was able to sneak one in to make it 2 to 1. Going into halftime the score was 2 to 1 and was proving to be a great match. We started the second half with more intense play and pressure. We came out strong and scored right away. We seemed to have the game in our hands, but unfortunately let them stay in it with some costly mistakes that led to some unlucky goals. We had enough strength to hold on to the match and score some well timed goals that helped lead our team to another victory. The game ended 5 to 3.

We now have a few days to prepare for the upcoming tournament at UNC Charlotte where we will play Appalachian State and UNC Charlotte. We look to head into these games with revenge in mind, given that many of the boys can remember losing to both of these teams last year. We cannot let that happen again. We have the rest of the week to recover and practice hard before the tournament this upcoming weekend.

Thanks again for your support.

Captains – Matt Skonicki, Matt Lacey, and Cameron Alksnis

 

#3

Our regular season is officially underway. We very had a busy week, playing 3 games in 5 days. We wanted to come out strong and build on our progressive performances throughout our three preseason matches. We knew starting the regular season that we are still trying to improve our team performances and that we need to make the most of every game. 

We opened the regular season at NC State. This is a team that finished the last few games of last year strong and also has a lot of starters returning. We knew coming into this game that they would be a good team and have a lot of experience. The facility and the crowd made for a high quality college soccer atmosphere. Unfortunately we came out a little flat and conceded two first half goals on our own defensive mistakes. You can’t come out flat against a team like NC State because they have the quality and experience to punish teams for their mistakes. We were countered in the second half trying to get forward and score to get back into the game. All in all it was a disappointing loss because we took ourselves out of the game with some early mistakes. Having said that, there were some positives from this game as we did keep the ball very well and maintained lots of possession. We worked hard in the second half to try to make a comeback but fell short as we missed a few goal scoring opportunities. Even with the loss it was definitely a performance to build on going into the Friday’s game against Jacksonville.  

Jacksonville is another experienced team that finished last season strongly winning the A-Sun and getting to the second round of the NCAA College Cup. The game started off slowly again. All our guys came out flat-footed in the first half. Jacksonville was winning all the 50-50 balls and just out working us. We conceded a goal in the first half off a counter attack where we gave the ball away and were sluggish in recovering back. Second half was a much different story. We came out with some fire and really stated our claim that we wanted to win this game. Everyone’s work rate was better in the second half and we proved to be the better team, scoring 3 second half goals to win 3-1. Just like in the NC State game it was a step in the right direction and a good performance to build on.

The very next day we were back on the field at home to play Covenant College. This is a team that we knew we should beat, but at the same time knew we should not take lightly. For those of you who remember our game against Brevard last year, we didn’t want this game to go the same way. Again we came out playing the first 10 minutes flat-footed. This is something we have to seriously take issue with and look at our warm-ups to see try to fix it because we shouldn’t need the first 20 minutes of the game to get up to game speed.  This game, even though we won, was a serious step back to where we want to be at this point in the season. This was our worst performance so far this season. It is very disappointing because we have been building on our performances until now taking some good steps forward, but this was a big step backwards.

We have some time off now after these games and don’t play again until Friday. The whole team needs to use this time to think about how we want this season to go for us and start making some changes in our work rate and get back on track and improving as a team again. We must come out strong against Brevard on Friday and show that we want to get better and have a good season.

Your Captains,

Cameron Alksnis, Matt Skonicki, Matt Lacey

#2

Well pre-season is over for another year and we are now all ready to start the season. We open up tomorrow against NC State and are ready for a game that we all know will challenge the team’s capabilities at this level.

NC State will provide us with a test that we haven’t encountered in pre-season yet. The level of play in the ACC conference is by far the strongest in the country and will really provide us with a test that will hopefully bring the best out of our young team. Compared to last year we will be heading into this game without really knowing what we can produce against a top team. However, everyone is up for the challenge and we plan on approaching this game like every other game, to win. I believe that this team truly has the ability to compete with any team in the country if we can match other teams work rate and commitment.

During pre season the coaches have worked very hard on shaping and molding a team that will be challenging for honors in November. I feel like the coaches have done their part to get us ready for the season, now it is our turn to start producing the performances and results that our team’s talent matches.

The pre-season games went well and it was evident to see that we made a progress from the first game to the last game. Not only did the results change but we started to play soccer with a purpose and turned possession into goals. A criticism from the coaches has been that we have been possessing the ball without an end product. I think that any supporter who has watched the games would truly agree that this has been the case. So as a team we have been working very hard on being more dangerous in the final third of the field with Coach Dan. I feel that in the Davidson game we gained a little luck from working hard in training and finally produced the goals that we need to win games.

Now that pre-season is over it is time for the team to stand up and be counted for as we move into the official schedule. From this point onwards all that matters is that we get results and give ourselves the best chance of repeating last year’s championship.  Gaffer has preached throughout the whole of pre-season that last year means nothing and unless we earn the right to win by working hard and playing the right way, this season could be very long.

For the returning players we have been working hard together since the spring to give ourselves the best possible chance of a championship and now that the new lads have joined us throughout pre-season in this common goal, we are ready to get this season started.

Your captains

Matt Lacey, Cameron Alksnis, Matt Skonicki, 

 

#1

Captains Journal (Coming Into Captains Week and Pre-Season)

Last season was unforgettable and will never be forgotten by those of us involved. However, it is a new season starting today. In order for this team to improve on what we accomplished last year, we must work even harder than before. The emphasis put onto us last season was to work harder than every other team out on the field. What we must do is continue that legacy and reputation. We must continue to work harder and play with more intensity than any team we come across this upcoming season. If we can do that, great things will happen for this team again.  It is our jobs as captains to ensure that this happens. But, we are not going to settle for what we accomplished last season. We want more…

The boys are just starting to get back into town and we are about to hit the fields for our first week of training. It will be very different out on the pitch since we lost a lot of key players from last year’s team, but we have high expectations for the new players that are going to fill those holes. We know that the team is going to start off slow, given that we haven’t played as a unit in about 3 months. However, we are sure that the boys will pick it up quickly and improve as a team every day.

We are extremely excited to see the new players and what they have to offer the team. The keeper position is up for grabs, so it will be very interesting to see them battle for the starting spot. Who will step up to replace Mitro? Not only that, but our defense will be missing Otto, Henry, and Keiffner, so we will be looking for some of the newer players to help fill those holes. With the loss of one of our main goal scorer, Revivo, we will be looking for someone to quickly fill his shoes. We are happy about our returning midfield! Last season we had one of the best midfields in the conference. This year that same midfield is returning to the pitch and we are happy to have Stephen back and healthy.

We will continue to keep you posted on the team’s progress throughout all of captain’s training and preseason. We look forward to seeing many of you out at the field to support us this upcoming season. It is sure to be an exciting year and the support from our fans (much like the support we had at the Big South Championships) will help our success greatly.

Cameron Alksnis, Matt Skonicki, Matt Lacey