Men’s soccer aims higher after 1-0 win over Emory

The freshly selected men’s club soccer team opened its season with a victory over Emory University on Sept. 10 at West Campus. Sporting their blue tops for the 2011 kickoff, Georgia College beat Emory 1-0, in an unkempt manner.

“We had a lot of new guys come in at all different positions this year,” junior center back Durham Knight said.

Georgia College played a 4-4-2 on the hot Saturday afternoon, meaning four defenders in the back, four in the middle field, and two forwards up top to try and pressure the Emory defense. Knight played alongside other returning center back William Strawbridge.

The two second year club players debuted in the back alongside international student Kapes Dávid from Hungary and freshman Colin Urwin. The four worked well together to shut down any opposing Emory threat. Knight and Strawbridge orchestrated their defense well, and never found themselves in any defensive break-down.

Aside from a decent free-kick, Georgia College goal keeper Mark Thomas Hoskins did not have any worries. Missing many of last year’s returners, Georgia College was still able to substitute many men, sometimes six man rotations.

Tryouts were good to the men’s club team, as they built their depth tremendously from last year, allowing for full offensive swaps.

The first half was quiet on both sides and the Bobcats were disappointed with their ball movement.

“We’ve been practicing possession a lot in practice and that didn’t transfer over in the game,” Knight said. “We need to work on keeping the ball within our players and not always look up field.”

The only goal of the game came off a free kick from graduate student Jarred English. English curled one into the box on the far post to find freshman striker Paul Murray. Murray timed his leap in the box and delivered a header to the opposite post for the Bobcat’s first goal of the 2011-2012 seasons and Murray’s first in college.

“It was overwhelming as a freshman. It was my first goal and my first shot of the game,” Murray said. “I just stopped and high-fived everyone. I didn’t really know what to do.”

The men took half up 1-0 looking to improve on their on-field communication and possession.

“In the second half, our play wasn’t as tight as it should have been,” Strawbridge said.

Kendyl Wade | gcsunade.com

Graduate student Jarred English (left) wins a header over an Emory defender in the season opening victory game on the middle field at West Campus on Sept. 10. The Men’s Club Soccer team’s next tournament will be held at Valdosta State University.

Payne wanted to see his new players’ strengths and weaknesses and much of the second half was entering new players and moving people around. The last twenty plus minutes of the game were focused on maintaining the ball within the blue jerseys.

The opener was a success, Georgia College winning the battle and learning what is necessary for improvements.

“It wasn’t always pretty, but at times it looked good,” Strawbridge said. Good enough for a victory and for motivation to go into their long weekend.

The Bobcats will continue their three day practice regimen to prepare for the long weekend.

“The defense was a solid effort this weekend so a lot of practice will be based on striking,” Payne said. The team will travel to Valdosta State University to play the Blazers on Sept. 17 and head further South to take on the Seminoles at Florida State University.

Posted by Taylor Lamb on Sep 15 2011. Filed under Lead stories, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.