Gopher Soccer Set For More Success
October 8th, 2003
By Archived Story
After an undefeated regular season last year, The University of Minnesota men’s club soccer team still has unfinished business left on the field. A quarterfinal lose at last year’s national tournament in Bakersfield, Calif. have the Gophers excited to get the ball rolling in 2003 – this time with a new crop of ballers.
“We have at least 11 new players. That’s more than half the squad that has been changed,” Merrick said. “We’re trying to get them into a system of play and an understanding of what we are trying to achieve.”
The new-look Gophers won their first game this year against St. John’s University, but lost their next two against Macalester and Carelton. While Merrick said his team played well against Macalester despite losing, he considers the Carleton game a wake-up call for his team.
“That was a good game for us to lose. It showed that we were not invincible and on any given day a team can beat us.”
His message sparked the Gophers to six strait victories. One of those wins came in the championship game of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Tournament. The toughest game the team faced was against themselves – the club’s maroon team, or B-squad.
“We won the tournament pretty handily,” Merrick said. “The A-and-B game was probably the hardest game we played so far this year. And that’s an indication of the strength and quality of players that the U is producing.”
The Gophers maintained their rhythm after the Eau Claire Tournament with back-to-back victories against Iowa and Iowa State on the same day.
“We really took them apart and I think that was the confidence we got from the [Eau Claire] tournament,” Merrick said. “We created so many chances and it was such a pleasure to see that we were generating so much offense. But we have to be patient and take our chances a little more thoroughly.”
Merrick singled out Brady Eichorn-Hicks, Dan Spakowitz and Nelson Granados as proven leaders on the team. Add on explosive talent like Nick Demuse and a spark plug like Rasmus Hyhegard, and it looks as though the Gophers have what it takes to make a return trip to the national tournament.
“Demuse is going to be a dominant goal scorer for us,” Merrick said. “He’s so strong up front and he’s a target for us that is big and will make things happen.”
The Gophers have three regular-season games to play before the regional tournament October 24th through the 26th.
“We have had good seeds [in the past] and we’ve taken care of business in regionals,” Merrick said.
Like last year, the Gophers are hoping to carry over their regular season success to postseason play. This time, they’ll have to do it with a squad of newcomers.
