The men’s soccer team recently wrapped up the 2012 spring season and the collective feeling of the outcome seemed to be a positive one.
Junior defensive center midfielder Connor Bowen said the team went 2-2 during the spring season, but that the games lost were still positive.
He said they had most of the possession during the losses so he looked at it in a positive manner. He also said he believes the team worked extremely hard this season.
“The spring season as a whole was really good. We all put in a ton of work,” he said. “Not only did we have fitness and weights throughout the whole season, but on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at six in the morning we had practices every day.”
Bowen explained that many improvements and changes have been made throughout the season. One of these changes was the resignation of coach Chad Flanders. Flanders resigned after nine seasons with the Bears; Flanders said he stepped down from the job for personal reasons.
Ross Duncan assumed the duties of coach this season. He had been the assistant coach for two years and about two months as interim head coach.
Ryan Webb was just named one of the new assistant coaches this year.
Bowen said that these coaching changes have led to great things.
“We completely changed how we play and it is so much better. It’s how soccer should be played,” he said. “All that is due to the coaching staff. They saw what we were doing wrong and changed it. We really like Ross a lot.”
He said the biggest struggle the team has is on the field.
“We all get along off the field,” Bowen said. “It’s sometimes on the field that we struggle trusting each other, but we have definitely gotten a lot better and are continuing to do so.”
Senior midfielder Michael Quinn described what was different about the new style of play the team has embraced.
“The style of soccer we played before was direct and long ball and now it’s keeping the ball on the ground and playing the game to our strengths which makes it a lot more fun,” he said. “This is how we have wanted to play the whole time we’ve been here so the transition hasn’t been overly hard because that’s how a lot of us played when we played club, but we’re definitely still learning and going in the right direction. I feel like it gets more people involved.”
He said he feels like the team will turn a lot of heads next season and that they will make a solid run in the playoffs.
All of the soccer players seem excited to move on to next season with the coaching changes and the new style of play.
Comments