The 2014 college soccer season officially is underway on the University of Akron campus. Early this morning the Zips hit the pitch for the first time with coaches watching over. With the seniors leading practice the first few weeks of August, this practice provided the coaches the first opportunity to see what they have to work with.
With almost 30 new soccer balls, bright new pinnies, amongst other necessitates the team was in good spirits to start the day off.
“The balls fly off your feet!” said one excited player.
Beginning practice with typical calisthenics, the team was split up by field players and goalies. For roughly a half hour the Zips training staff pushed the team to power through resistance bands, get their knees higher, or make their cuts faster. While the field players continued this, the goalies took shots from goalkeeper coach Stuart Dobson, as well as positioning drills.
Following the warm up session the focus shifted to ball handling and quickness. In what seemed to be a main focus in today’s training, the team was broken up into groups of six, then challenging each other, one vs. one, seeing if the ball handler could get passed the defender. During this process head coach Jared Embick, assistant coaches Leo Chappel and Oliver Slawson and director of operations Donny Sheehan walked back and fourth giving instruction, and encouraging the players to “have pride” and to “force their (the defenders) head down”.
After a quick talk from the coaches the players were broken up by position and put into another drill for quick passing, footwork, and communication. Starting a bit sluggish on all accounts, the players eventually found their form and began making excellent decisions on the fly. It required each group, whether that be forwards, midfielders, or defenders to work together to keep the ball out of the middle team’s possession.
It was a great day to begin organized practice, as the temperature never exceeded the mid 70’s. Even with the mild temperatures it didn’t stop the players from feeling the heat. Multiple players during water breaks would crouch over in pain, grabbing their sides and grasping for air. Nonetheless, the team continued to push each other. It was a great sight seeing the upperclassmen led by senior Saad Abdul-Salaam and junior Andrew Souders saying, “lets go!” or “keep it up.”
Simple motivation from team leaders could be extremely important for the young Zips. With only a handful of veteran players, the roster is made of predominantly young players. 20 of the 26-man roster is made of freshman or sophomore athletes. That being said, the past two recruiting classes for Jared Embick have been fantastic. Now in his second year, look for Embick’s recruits to take the next step in their development.
The Zips are ranked 13th in the country according to the NSCAA preseason poll, and immediately will get tested. While expeditions, the Zips face off against number two in the country, the University of Maryland, on Monday August 18th, followed by Syracuse University on Friday August 22nd. Those two expeditions all lead to a faceoff against number three New Mexico University on Friday, August 29th in the regular season opener.
Reflecting on his team’s first day coach Embick had this to say about his team’s performance.
“I’d say this first day for me, we wanted to hit the ground running. We got a difficult early part of the season, so we have to get some things sorted out quickly. Its always excitement, frantic, but we tried to push that aside and get some things done, move the group forward, and see whose going to help us right away and whose ready to play here.”
Another talking point was having to replace former striker Reinaldo Brenes, but coach Embick does not believe this will be much of a problem.
“I think we have several guys that may have to fill that role. I think if we can get more out of the midfield from Adam (Najem), and when you’re looking at forwards, you’re thinking, Sam Gainford, who was here last year but wasn’t able to play, he has the experience of at least being here, and we expect big things. Stuart Holthusen, a New Zealand U-20 guy, we think will help right away. Sean Sepe, a transfer from St. Johns, Nathan Shultz. All these guys are good players, and we might do it by committee rather than one guy.”
If tradition holds true, the Zips should continue to display the dominating style they have the past several years. With a history of solid midfield play along with a deep strike force, the Zips should see great success during the season. It will be key for the Zips to make it through New Mexico, South Florida, and Florida Gulf Coast before finally playing their first home game Friday September 12th against the University of Central Florida. Keep an eye open for the Zips as they push towards another College Cup Run.
