In his 14 years of coaching, Albert Oni has moved up through the ranks of club, high school, ODP and college soccer. Two years ago he took on the challenge of coaching then-new ASA Chesapeake Charge in their first season in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), leading the team to the first round of the playoffs that year. On Thursday, May 10, Oni will take on the next challenge of his career as he directs Charge against former Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) side Boston Breakers in the inaugural match of the WPSL Elite League.
The 2012 Charge will have a different look, with only 12 of the team’s 29 players being returnees. The team has had only a few practices and scrimmages to prepare for the opening match, but Oni is confident that his side will surprise people.
Included on the roster are several current and incoming members of the powerful University of Maryland women’s soccer team, including future freshmen and current U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team members Ashley Spivey and Riley Barger. The Charge also have an ace in the hole in Christine Nairn, who is currently in the player pool of both the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. U-23 Women’s National Team.
“I’ve been able to hand-pick our team,” said Oni in explaining the development of the squad. “Everyone had qualities that I look for. Our team isn’t necessarily a team that every coach out there would select the same players. I have an idea of the way I want the team to play and was able to select players who will fit in my scheme. So it’s a real natural transition for these players to be playing with each other because they all play very similarly without even knowing each other.”
Having a team with everyone starting on nearly the same page will be important for Oni, with the limited practice time the full squad has had. With the majority of the team being college players, with a few talented high school graduates and four post-college players, many were not available until just the last weeks. But that does not worry Oni. “The players are all advanced and they learn quickly,” he explained. “It’s just getting them organized.”
While the transition to the new WPSL Elite League has been a challenge, Oni had already begun to build on the success of the 2011 team that made the “Elite Eight” in the WPSL playoffs. “This year I made selections based on last year to improve,” Oni said, “and now that I’ve made those selections I have to coordinate them and get them organized on the same page. I have a team I feel would definitely have won the league this year or at least been competing for the title.”
“Last year I felt we could use a little more speed as a group,” he explained, “so we’ve gone with a younger, faster team. When I say fast, I mean speed of play and speed of execution as well as running speed. The players I’ve selected have all those qualities.”
While some teams prepare for an upcoming match by scouting their opponent and adjusting their game to match what they expect, Oni is focused on helping his team to develop their own style and character. In this effort he will be helped by his assistant coach Dan Bulls and Nairn.
Bulls played at Oni’s alma mater of University of Maryland, Baltimore County before moving on to play with the USL’s Real Maryland Monarchs and then with coach Joe Public in Trinidad. Bulls has since returned to the United States to finish college and will work closely with the players.
“He’s a technical guru,” Oni said of his assistant, “so he’s able to take these players who are advanced and continue to teach them.”
With her National Teams experience, Nairn – who was also a member of the team that won the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup Championships in 2008 – will be another factor in the development of Charge. “[Christine] is going to raise the bar,” insists Oni. “We already have a high standard at our training sessions with all these high-caliber players, and she’s going to come in and raise it that much more.”
One last factor that Oni sees giving his team an edge is the excitement of playing in the new league. “I think this is exciting for the players, the coaches and everybody involved,” he said. “I hate when people are not that motivated because they think that they’ve been there and done that. I don’t have that feeling right now; I feel like everyone is really excited, like a junior who makes varsity for the first time or someone who makes the Olympic team. And that’s what you want. When you have a motivated group you can do anything, and that’s what we have right now.”
When Charge take the pitch on Thursday night they will face a team with a long history in several leagues and with a roster that reads like a coach’s dream. But that doesn’t faze Oni at all. “We could come out there and shock everyone or we could get blown out,” he said. “I’m optimistic, and I think we’re going to come out and shock everyone. But I’m not going to be shocked and my players are not going to be shocked because they’re all confident as it is.”
ASA Chesapeake Charge host Boston Breakers in the inaugural WPSL Elite League match on Thursday, May 10, at Anne Arundel Community College, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30.
