MENTORING THE MENACE >>

Friday, May 25, 2007

The past week has been challenging for me and everyone else on the Menace team. The loss to the Kansas City Brass was disheartening for everyone. Overall, our team performance was poor. I feel we were lucky to have scored at all.

The challenging part about road games is that we always leave fired up and ready to play. Traveling on the bus, wasting time in the city we are playing in, all take away from that energy.

I can’t make any excuses for our loss, we just got outplayed. The hardest part about losing a game like that is looking back and feeling like I could have done more. I and the other veteran players on our team, have too much experience for a loss like that.

After the loss to Kansas City, all I wanted to do was play St. Louis at home. We knew it would be a challenging match, but also offered a great chance for us to bounce back. St. Louis is a great team, they are organized, disciplined and have an extremely knowledgeable coach.

The main obstacle that my teammates and I faced Saturday night was that we just couldn’t score. Everyone who played in that match had a chance, and we couldn’t get it done.

The reaction of some Menace fans was that we were just unlucky. I have never been one who believed in luck when it comes to sports.

I remember a soccer match when I was eight years old. I didn’t score one goal the entire match and not for lack of trying. My team still won 8-0, but I was really upset. After the game my coach came up to me and said that I did a great job, I was just unlucky. My dad then looked at me and said, “You weren’t unlucky, you just didn’t play good enough to score.” I have always carried that moment of tough love with me.

I keep on telling myself that even when you play a great team, the best teams find a way score. The Menace has more than enough talent and experience to conquer any defensive and once the team figures that out, we will play some great soccer.

I am really looking forward to playing at Boulder this week. I am anxious for the chance to get back on the field and recover from our last two losses. Colorado is a talented team and playing them will be a great experience for the Menace win or lose. But of course, winning would heal a lot of pain.

Editors note: Journal entry submitted just prior to loss in Colorado.