Men's soccer squad defeats alumni in first annual matchup

Cardinals need shootout to beat previous SVSU players

April 2, 2007 —

by Nick Kaiser

Senior Matt Urick centers the ball during Sunday's men's alumni game. The first annual event pitted the current SVSU men's soccer team against a team of alumni players. The current incarnation beat their predecessors in a shootout 1-1 (5-4).

The SVSU men's soccer squad set to take the field this fall eked out a penalty-kick victory against their predecessors on Sunday.

The victory came in the first annual men's alumni soccer game, which featured some of the best players from the past against the current squad. The game revealed the potential of the current squad to reverse an abysmal 2006 season in which the men won only four of 20 games.

The first half of the game was a back-and-forth affair in which both teams worked out the kinks after taking the winter off. Both squads slotted a goal, one of which belonged to junior Brent Walker, the second-leading scorer of the 2006 squad and part of a core of returning players that will have to repeat, if not best, their performances from last year. Walker, alongside returning senior Jimmy Henry, are two bright spots on a team that managed to net only 24 goals in a 20-game season.

The second half saw the alumni squad slow down, giving the men in white an opportunity to showcase their outstanding conditioning and determination, two traits that will serve them well in the upcoming season. However, they couldn't put the alums away, and only after penalty kicks was the game resolved in the current team's favor.

Putting the game on ice is something head coach Andy Rishmawi struggled with all last year, and something he said he hopes to work on over the summer and into the fall season.

Rishmawi was optimistic about the team's future, mentioning that several recent acquisitions - including five players that have already seen playing time on the pitch - are set to invigorate an already youthful squad.

"Oh, I'm excited," Rishmawi exclaimed. "We've got five transfers that already have college experience coming in. We've already recruited a few freshman that are about to make an impact. We've got a few other players that are healthy and eligible. We're real excited."

Rishmawi, while pleased with what he saw on the field, said that he was looking forward to working out some of the problems, especially issues that plagued the Cards in 2006.

"We're still hesitant on what we're going to do with the attacking third," he explained. "We don't play patient enough. We just rush up the field, rush back."

The Cards' attack was part of a set of problems that troubled Rishmawi's squad last year. In 2006, the team put away 24 goals out of a total 245 shots logged, compared to the opponents total of 44 goals on 335 shots. So not only did the team take fewer shots than its opposition, it converted even less of the time.

Rishmawi knows conversion is only part of the problem, though. Last year's GLIAC winners Mercyhurst and any good soccer team, for that matter, is not only physical on the pitch, but intelligent too.

"We don't let any of our runs develop," he added. "We just need to be little bit more patient in the attacking third. Hit the right stuff, you know."

If hitting the right stuff means improving upon a 4-14 record, Rishmawi has his work cut out for him.