University of Richmond Athletics
From The Touchline By Peter Albright
08/29/2008 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 29, 2008
University of Richmond, Va. -
A Good Beginning- Hi Friends,
After a long absence, I'm back to write about our team....some of the things you may not get in the box score or in the articles written by our wonderful new Media Relations Staffer, Rachel Park.
First, Pre-season- We came back less fit than I would have liked, but the players worked very hard every day. I was disappointed at the cool temperatures; I want us to suffer a bit more. Still, there is plenty of time for making pain deposits in the "Bank of Suffering". We installed (for lack of a better term) a new defensive structure and new offensive scheme. Jim DeRose, a former player of mine who has taken the Bradley Men's Soccer program to national prominence, has helped me immeasurably with this transition. After some quizzical looks from the players, there were little moments of understanding, followed by a smile when something actually worked as planned. The complete disdain that our offense has for our defense is a really good sign. No one wants to be defended really well, and that if we are to be successful, that will be a trademark. England's Neil Lanham spent lots of time helping me gain a new perspective on the role of possession in attacking, and in winning. More on that later if his lessons have the desired effect.
UR 2-JMU 1
A good night to be a Spider. After a wonderful entrance provided by Bruce Matthews, President Ed Ayers and Dean Juliette Landphair and some 350 Spider student athletes, we started the season in front of 750 enthusiastic fans. We survived a couple of great JMU attacks in the first 4 minutes before settling into a great defensive grind. This effort produced great field position and several quality chances before Wolfer buried a cross from Hilt to give us the first goal, and lead, of the season. The second ½ was hard fought, and the chances created in the first ½ were harder to earn against a quality JMU side. Boyer, Bizer and Co. made sure that the Richmond goal was well taken care of and eventually, playing against 4 forwards, Radz got free to score a beautiful insurance goal (is there any other kind?). A lapse with 37 seconds left allowed a late JMU goal, but the game was ours. This was a fun night in front of the Spider faithful, but it was also important for the team. 1 win does not a season make, but we received official confirmation that we are headed in the right direction.
VCU- Our cross town rivals are ALWAYS tough. I look forward to a spirited match with Powers, Hardison et al. Tiffany and Tim Sayaydak are excellent coaches, and I know that this game will be a test of will as much as anything else. I am confident that we will put up a great fight. I hope that you can come to the game, or watch it on streaming video. This is our second of 10 home games. Try to come see us play. We love to play in front of a good crowd. The City Championship!
Till next week- From the Touchline
Peter
