This year’s Warrior men soccer team is developing into a rebuilding season as most of their starters have departed in the off-season.
“This is going to be a tough year and hopefully the players will stick with it and improve and as they improve the results will improve,” John Britton, head coach, said.
With very few returning players and many newcomers with little to no experience in the college level, this year may be an inconsistent season.
“This year, we have a very young team and none of our returnees played significant minutes last year,” Andrew Britton, assistant coach, said. “I think there were literally only four or five players who had played last year.”
Because of the inexperience, there hasn’t been a captain announced and the preseason is being treated as a tryout to see who will fill that role.
“Normally we look to give the captain’s armband to a returnee but if none of them step up, we might give it to a newcomer,” Andrew Britton said.
Of the current group of players, returnees Kris Lopez, midfielder, and Freddy Godinez, defense, are the favorites to wear the captain’s armband.
“The captain could be one of the returning players like Freddy or Kris because they’re here all the time, they never miss practice and they go at it 100 percent,” Hector Gomez, defense, said.
In the three games played by the men, only one goal has been scored and the team’s weaknesses and strengths are in full display.
“These first three games, we had a lot of errors and we don’t even have a set team in the first week,” Freddy Gondinez, defense, said. “We will improve over the season because the first game we lost 7-1 and the second game we lost 3-0 so it’s still an improvement.”
The biggest problem with the team would be the lack of an identity because of all the new players not fitting a particular mold.
“Every practice, we find something different about the players,” “As a team we do not have an overall stance because we’re not tall so we can’t say we are going to play the ball in the air and we’re small but we do not many quick-footed players.”
Comparing offense to defense, the defense has shown signs of optimism and flashes whereas the offense has been inconsistent.
“I would say our defense is definitely stronger, although we have conceited a lot of goals, they have been due to lack of concentration and just mental mistakes,” Andrew Britton said. “The players have the ability but it’s making sure that they are always switched on and paying attention to the game.”
What the team has going for them this year is the enthusiasm for the game and the commitment to play for both this year and the next for ECC.
“It’s definitely a rebuilding year but most of the guys have already said that they are coming back to ECC so we’re a work in progress,” John Britton said. “We’re working to achieve decent results this year and to move on next year.”
