jjobember 5,1993
Men s soccer sees bright tuture
Jon Simon
Staff Writer
The Guilford men's soccer team
just completed a losing season, but
the team has found that it will be a
good foundation to build on for the
seasons to come.
The team is still young and there
are only about five seniors gradu
ating. The 14 freshman that were
on the team this year now have a
year of experience under their belts
and three more years with the
team.
"For us younger guys [this year]
was a total learning experience and
even though we might have got
ten killed in some games, we found
a way to think positively about ev
ery loss. Sometimes you learn
more from your losses than you do
from your wins" says freshman
Isaac Gowin. Gowin was a force
for Guilford this year. He was sec
ond on the team in goals scored
with six goals and made second
team all conference in the ODAC.
Both Issac and freshman Dennis
Byrne are two players Coach Mer
cer hopes to build around.
"Issac is probably our best
player. He can play anywhere on
the field. Dennis works his butt off
every single day," states Coach
Mercer.
Having young talent combined
Women's soccer optimistic
Christopher Behm
Staff Writer
Another season has come and
gone for the Guilford College
Women's Soccer program. For all
involved, the season seems to have
been one of ups and downs. How
ever, the team appears to have
learned from the lessons of this
season, which they plan to use to
improve for the future.
As for late-season action, the
Guilford team ended its regular
schedule at Virginia Wesleyan.
After a pretty miserable first half,
the Guilford women came back to
produce a respectable second half
of action, though far short of vic
tory. As coach Lisa O'Brien said,
the team seemed to be playing a
"completely different game."
The ODAC tournament took
place the Tuesday following Fall
Break and pitted the sixth-seeded
Quakers against the third-seeded
team of Washington & Lee. After
a terrible practice on Monday, the
team came out to play one of its
with a good team work ethic makes
Guilford's future look bright. One
thing this team never did this sea
son was give up during a game and
many players have emphasized
this as the team's strength.
"We never gave up in any game
even though we were down by big
margins a lot of times" says Jun
ior Forrest Collier.
A good example of this was in
Guilford's last game against
Roanoke. "We were losing 6-0 and
then we scored two goals. We
didn't stop, we just kept pushing"
says Senior Derrick Lilly.
Over Guilford's fall break the
Quakers won a game against
Emory & Henry and lost two
games, against Randolph Macon
and Lynchburg. They also lost their
final home game of the season to
Greensboro College. Roanoke
College beat Guilford 8-2 in the
first round of the ODAC tourna
ment to end the Quaker's season.
Eduardo Yodar lead the team in
scoring this year with 14 points
including six goals and two assists.
Gowin concludes, "We battled
hard and even if the score was 5-
0, we still played hard. You can still
leam things and that is the most
important thing about this year.
There were so many new players
that if they didn't learn something
out of a game, then that game was
pretty much useless. If you don't
best games all season
Forward Alicia Golden stated
that it was "the best game we've
ever played as a team."
Coach O'Brien added that "just
about everyone on the team played
phenomenal.. .everyone played to
their potential."
However, this effort was simply
not enough, as Washington & Lee
scored two goals in the first ten
minutes of the second-half, lead
ing to the Quakers' elimination.
In the end, the team ended up
with a 5-9 record. While this may
have been disappointing to some,
the record does not indicate the
true talent that the team possesses.
Coach O'Brien states that she felt
that the team did not perform "up
to [their] potential, for the most
part, during the year."
As sophomore midfielder Amy
Lewis said, "A lot of times what
put us out of a game, or into it, was
our outlook. That was the differ
ence sometimes: who wanted it
more?"
The team, despite occasional
inconsistent performances, did
participate in some good games.
= &port*
un^a
I
Anthony Raccuglia brings the ball upfield; Mark Keersemaker and Forest Collier watch
leam something then you're not
going to be better next time you
go out." This team had a rough
year going 3-14-2, but they worked
every game to improve.
"This team was relenUess. We
had a lot of guys with big hearts",
The team performed well in close
matches against both Ferrum and
Greensboro College. The Ferrum
game in particular sticks out in the
minds of coach and players alike.
O'Brien said, "It could have gone
either way."
Tied 2-2 at the end of regula
tion, Guilford ended up dropping
the game 4-2 in overtime. Accord
ing to sweeper Becky Shotwell, the
team simply "ran out of steam."
The leading individuals on the
team this year were Shotwell and
Golden. Both were named this
week to the Second-Team ODAC
All-Conference Team.
Golden's achievements were
especially impressive due to the
fact that, as a result of medical con
ditions, she was only able to play
approximately thirty minutes of
each game, and missed the last four
games of the season altogether.
Despite these limitations, she was
able to accumulate the most goals
and assists on the team. Their lead
ership was also a great help.
Amy Lewis, another stand-out
on the team, stated that she "con
sidered them [Shotwell and
says Forrest Collier.
Regardless of how young this
team is they had some tough com
petition this year, contributing to
an even better learning experience.
"I hope it made them realize what
it takes to play at this level," said
Golden] like the roots of the team,
and then everyone else built off of
that." Strong contributions were
also provided by Marissa Brooks,
Amy Johnson, and Karen Rule.
To be sure, many lessons were
learned from this season. O'Brien
states that "we have to learn, as a
team, to have more discipline." In
addition, she feels that there is a
strong "need to work on the of
fense: getting the midfield into the
offense, getting some more for
wards in with some speed." Also,
O'Brien hopes to see improvement
in "the air game," explaining that
her players "don't leave the ground
to challenge players in the air." If
they improve upon that aspect of
the game, O'Brien feels that the
team is "going to take the game to
a whole other level and be a lot
more competitive at that level."
Everyone involved with the
team foresees a bright future. Since
most of the players are young, with
several freshman and sophomores,
there is much hope of future suc
cess. In speaking of this year's
team, Amy Lewis stated that "if
there is anything you can say about
ftfte t&utttortriati
Mercer.
Mercer also says that Guilford
has a good recruiting class com
ing in and if the team gets a couple
more talented players, they should
become a big competitor in the
conference.
this season, it is that we had po
tential."
O'Brien said that "other teams
are taking a look at us. They are
worried about us in the next couple
of years."
A few changes will be at
tempted to make the Quakers' win
loss record better reflect their level
of talent. O'Brien hopes to run
shorter practices, instill more dis
cipline, and schedule "more vari
ety" of competition. In addition,
she hopes to schedule more games,
since they "only had thirteen
games this year, and are allowed
to have twenty." Finally, O'Brien
hopes to bring in some instruction
for the goalkeepers, since she has
felt that this aspect of practice has
been lacking.
As the team plays together more
and gains more confidence, it is
likely that they will improve ex
ponentially. The talent base is cer
tainly present and the players all
seem very motivated. This coming
spring season should prove to be a
good test of the potential that lies
within this unit.
13
Photo by Eric Forman