Season Preview

Alexander Cole
Sports Writer, Etownian

Heartbreak is the only word that can describe the way last season ended for the Blue Jays as Hobart College knocked the Jays out of the NCAA Tournament with penalty kicks.

“It was miserable to play that hard and lose like that to a team we knew we were better than,” junior captain Wes Bunting said. “It was a hard way to end the year.”

But that was the past. The team has put the loss behind them and is ready to defend their Commonwealth Conference Championship.

“We’re farther ahead this year at this point in time than we were last year,” coach Arthur “Skip” Roderick said of his team’s preseason training.

The boys in blue and gray will need to be at the top of their game at the sound of the first whistle this season, as they have one of the most challenging lists of opponents in the nation.

“I think we have one of the toughest schedules in the country,” Roderick said. “It’s going to be a challenge for this young team.”

The Jays’ schedule features three of the four Final Four teams from last season: New York University, Wheaton College (National runners-up) and Messiah College (National Champions). They will also face other quality out-of-conference opponents, like Franklin and Marshall College and Arcadia College.

Roderick isn’t trying to beef up his strength of schedule to impress the committee that gives out the at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament.

“I’ve had seasons where my teams have gone 18-2 and 19-1 and haven’t gotten an at-large bid,” Roderick said. “It’s a computer system that doesn’t even take into account the strength of schedule. I’m just trying to play good soccer.”

“If you want to be the best you have to beat the best,” All-Mid- Atlantic-First-Team Bunting said. “We will be battle-tested from day one and it will only make us stronger as a unit for the playoffs.”

Last season the Jays’ (11-5-3, 3-3-1) defense was their strength, only allowing 13 goals in 19 games. But they graduated two key players to that defense, Brennan Reichenbach and Rick Winstanley.

“The thing that made the defense so strong last year was the relationship we all had back there,” Bunting said. “We have just as much talent this year and if we can build the chemistry that we had last year we can be just as good, if not better.”

Offensively last season the Jays struggled, only scoring on 10.7 percent of their 270 total shots (29 total goals). Reichenbach was a co-leading scorer on the team with four goals. Junior Matt Diller was the other leader and has already shown a knack for finding the goal this year with two pre-season goals against Millersville University.

“We are hoping to score by committee,” Roderick said. “Matt Diller, George Severini, Mike Helsel and also three first years — Brian Gallagher, Tony Pacella and Taylor Helsel — all can score for us.”

The first-years have been very impressive for the Blue Jays in pre-season. Of the 26 guys that will dress for the team almost 10 of them are first-years.

“Talent-wise they [first-years] are very good and if they can pick up the system and believe in the system we will be very deep,” Roderick said.

The first-years aren’t the only ones who will need to pick up a new formation, as the Jays will be playing in a 4-2-2-2 this season, rather than the 4-1-4-1 that they played last season. The team had success with the new formation in spring season but is having some problems with it early in the pre-season.

“The upperclassmen forgot how to play the system,” Roderick said. “We had to start all over, so it has been frustrating as a coach that from last spring they forgot what to do.”

But Roderick is very impressed by his team’s work efforts in the two-a-day practices they have been having for the past two weeks.

“We are extremely fit,” Roderick said. “Early in the season our fitness has to win the game.”

The Jays will travel to Stevens Institute of Technology this weekend for the Stevens Tech Classic. They will face New York University in the first game and Skidmore College in the second.

“We want to come back undefeated,” Roderick said, “but we have our hands full.”

New York University (15-4-4) only lost three starters from last year’s Final Four team. They also return with an All-American and their leading goal scorer.