Men’s soccer makes it through a tough season

By: Mike Wozniak
Contributing Writer

 The men’s soccer team was in transition in the 2006 season by adding a new coach, George Perry, and 11 new freshmen coming to the roster.

Monmouth did have many talented players returning, including all-conference players senior Sam Beciri and sophomore Brandon Stacey. Senior keeper Brad “Sunny” Hoffman also returned for the 2006 campaign; Hoffman also serves as the team’s only captain.

On the season, Perry said, “I am very happy with the effort and direction our program is going.  Coach Ian Kline, a graduate student from Western Illinois who helped with the program last year, was a tremendous asset all season long. The players have been very positive in their work ethic and understanding what we need to improve upon, individually and as a team. All season long, we continued to improve our team defending and working to make sure our first pass after winning possession is a good one.”

Many players made an impact on the team’s success throughout the year. Perry acknowledged the efforts of “Brad Hofmann in goal was outstanding, Sam Beciri, midfielder, led the team with points, four goals and seven assists.  Sharing the goal scoring were Tom St. George and Zach Nasti with four goals each. Pat Blazer had a solid performance all season in the midfield. Our defenders showed steady improvement. We used a combination of Brian Blanas, Josh Graeber, Bryan Jackson, Jeremy Doze, Dan Schroeder, Matt Montgomery and John Quade.”

Perry has seen this as a building year, a learning experience and has some ideas on how to make next year’s team better. “Between now and next season, I am hoping the players have seen areas they can all improve.  We will be encouraging them to get stronger through our off-season lifting program, improve the quality of their first touch through repetitive activities and small-sided play and their transition play, understanding there is never a time to stop when you are on the field. We will be looking for continued good play and improvement from junior midfielders Trevor Neff and Brandon Stacey. Also in the midfield was our spark, freshman Sean Geiger.”

The team has the attitude of champions: “We finished the season 5-8-3 and 1-6-2 in conference play. Overall, I thought we should have had better results in three of our games this fall. The most important fact with this team is that they never gave up in a game. This is a quality that you cannot coach and it comes from within the players,” said Perry.

If the team keeps this can- do attitude and limitless resolve into next season, great things may come.