Men's soccer squad looks to improve upon 2006 season

Transfers, new students likely to make impact

August 24, 2007 —

by Adam Baudoux

The Cards are hoping to surprise the GLIAC this season.

The numbers four and 14 are burned into the heads of every member of the 2006 men's soccer team.

The team only managed to steal four games away from its opposition last year, losing 14 on the season. But losing seasons have their benefits - improving the next year should be easy. And naturally, other teams will underestimate you.

But coach Andy Rishmawi always believed in his players.

"I think these guys are capable of beating every team in the GLIAC," he said.

And he might be right. The team remains largely intact from last year, including its biggest offensive threat in Jimmy Henry, now a senior. Both keepers are seasoned, too: Eric Carnes and Nick Kohn are also seniors.

Also on board this season are four transfer students and three freshmen. The transfers, which Rishmawi is understandably excited about, already have years of college experience under their belts and can help the team immediately.

The transfers in question are Brandon LeBlanc, a midfielder from Delta College; Daniel Wragg, a defender from Delta College; John Pizanis, a midfielder from Michigan State and Larry Ferriera from Regina Mundi College. All four enter SVSU as juniors, and all will contribute two years of experience to the team.

"We improved upon the quality of players we had last year," Rishmawi said. "I'm really interested to see where we go from here."

The team has a ways to go. Last year, it managed to score a meager 24 goals total, averaging 1.32 goals per game. Of those 24 goals, defender and returning senior Jimmy Henry netted six. Trailer behind him is returning sophomore Kevin Fox with three - it seems clear that the Cards will have to find someone else to contribute.

But that doesn't mean that the team never had a chance to score. Rishmawi says it's simply a problem of conversion.

"The biggest thing is finishing in the attacking third," he said. "We had no problem moving the ball - the problem was finishing."

The statistics reflect Rishmawi's observations. Of 245 shots logged during the 2006 season, 102 were on target. Compared to the Cardinals' opposition, these numbers are deficient. On average, SVSU's opponents logged 345 shots, of which 176 were on target. So not only were the Cards being out shot, they were on target even less of the time.

These problems, among others, will need to be rectified if the team hopes to avoid another disappointing campaign. Rishmawi remembered a couple of games in which the team's inability to convert proved disastrous. One of the games was against Mercyhurst, who went on to win the GLIAC.

"In both the Gannon and the Mercyhurst games, we had three or four great chances to score, and then they'd nab a goal," Rishmawi recalled. "You can only miss so many shots before the other team sticks one in."

But behind the numbers, there's still a season to play.

"It doesn't matter what happened yesterday," Rishmawi said. "It matters what happened today."