September 8, 2003 - Kevin McCarthy
In August, the majority of the team arrived at Emory a week before the official start of the preseason, with high hopes for this season. Coming off a disappointing season, the returnees entered this season with the intention of securing the team's first UAA title in four years. So far, it seems like the returning players have made the conscious decision to play up to the team's potential, rather than underachieving as we've done the past few years.
With the addition of eight freshmen and a key sophomore transfer, the team is significantly deeper than it has been the last two years. Competition for playing time has already been fierce and we're only three games into the season. This depth has contributed not only to the role players coming off the bench, but it has forced the starting eleven to perform their best.
As a third-year player, this team seems different than previous teams in that the atmosphere during training and games is very positive and there is a stronger sense of camaraderie. Perhaps this is due to the extra time that the team spent together prior to the season.
It may simply be a result of adding new personalities into the mix. Each player brings something different to the team's chemistry and the effects are impossible to predict.
For example, who can predict how the team will change after the addition of a personality like Karl Dix, a sophomore whose hobbies include swiping burgers, performing napkin magic, and shouting "Arrrrrrgghh" like a pirate at passing cars. With men of many talents like Dixie, I can only imagine what this group will be like on road trips.
At the end of three weeks, I'm very excited about this team. We know that we have the talent and we've demonstrated that we can play well together. I just can't wait until we get our shot against teams like Christopher Newport and Greensboro in the next couple weeks. Make sure you pay attention to this Emory squad. This season should be a lot of fun.
September 15, 2003 - Matthew Levine
"You think you know, but you have no idea..."
Going into last weekend's road trip to Fayetteville, North
Carolina, our team record was 3-0. After graduating three starting
seniors, this year has seen newcomers starting in each match so
far.
We have made noticeable strides in our tactical awareness behind
the ball, and have made leaps and bounds when it comes to working
as a unit. We have been increasingly confident in our ability to
attack with numbers without giving up too many counter-attacks, and
as a result have been finding the back of the net quite
frequently.
Despite this new vigor instilled in the team, we knew as we got on
the bus Friday afternoon that we were going to face two squads that
would give us a tough challenge. Six hours later, full from the
good ol' southern cooking of Cracker Barrel and predictably
exhausted from watching such classics as "Road Trip" and
"Scarface," we checked into our hotel for the night.
An evening team meeting reminded veterans of the pain that Christopher Newport has embarked on us over the course of the last three years, beating us soundly each year since I came to Emory. CNU has been our arch nemesis, our unicorn if you will, and we were all pumped up to try our luck with a new and improved crew.
With this in mind, leaving the field as 4-1 victors was probably the most satisfying feeling I have had from soccer since I came to Emory. Not only did we break the losing streak, we returned the favor they had so generously extended to us in past and handed them a decisive loss.
A nice dinner at the local Outback kept the 19 players in high spirits. On Sunday. Methodist came at us in the first 10 minutes of the game, as we came out flat and over-confident from Saturday's easy win.
After weathering the storm, my roommate, on the road and in Atlanta, Chris Nehls, came on the field and burned the Methodist squad with his blazing speed. Two goals in just six minutes and the game was out of reach for the home team. A 4-0 victory made us winners of the Methodist Classic, a first in four attempts for me.
As always, winning made the trip home that much more fun as players and coaches alike joked and laughed the entire way back. Whether it was card-playing, southern shopping at gas stations, team meals, the lady at Shoney's hitting on D-nice, movies on the bus, or one of the best on-field performances I have ever seen on a weekend road trip, this was definitely a weekend to remember.
And wouldn't ya know, we get to do it all over again next weekend as we head back to North Carolina to face southern rival and current No. 6 in the nation, Greensboro College.
September 22, 2003 - Kevin McCarthy
Coming off a big weekend at Methodist College in North Carolina, the team had to concentrate on the next match against the other local NCAA Division III school, Oglethorpe. With a revamped team consisting mostly of freshman, Oglethorpe came to Emory and played a tough match. Despite some lackluster play at times, we managed to get a solid 3-0 result.
Once the Oglethorpe match was over, the team shifted its attention to Greensboro College. Entering Sunday's game against Greensboro, we knew it was going to be a battle. The past few seasons, they've had our number. The Greensboro squads have always played smart and physical soccer and there was no reason to think that they would play any different this year. However, we know that we are a different team from years past.
The game opened with both teams eager to go forward, resulting in some sloppy play. We created a few good scoring opportunities, including a blast to the upper corner from freshman defender Matt Kaufmann, but we lacked our usual crispness. While we held them to only a few genuine scoring opportunities, they managed to pinch a goal off a corner towards the end of the first half. At halftime we knew we weren't playing our best soccer, yet we were only down a goal to a very good team.
The second half was a very different story. We were able to get better patterning in the offensive third as well as control the flow of play. Early in the half Karl Dix played a beautiful ball from the right wing to Matt Levine's head. Levine hammered the ball into the back of the net leaving the keeper no chance for a save. That goal sparked the Emory team to pick up its intensity and speed of play.
We kept putting the pressure on the Greensboro defense, managing to create both a goal that was called back and a penalty kick. However, we were unable to find the back of the net again until Karl Dix, working from the left wing this time, beat his defender and fired a shot to the lower right corner of the net.
Once we had taken the lead, we were able to make the game easy by possessing in the midfield. Midfielder Anthony Esposito created the last goal by beating two defenders in the corner and finding Levine in front of the net for Matt's second goal of the game.
To go into Greensboro and get a win was a great accomplishment for this team, but the season is only one-third of the way over. Now we've got to turn our attention to this week's opponents, Erskine College and Savannah College of Art and Design. Hopefully we'll be able to carry some momentum into these two games and maintain the team's positive feelings.
September 29, 2003 - Matthew Levine
It's been well worth the wait.
At the outset of the season I never imagined that we would be undefeated after nine games. Having powerful sides such as Christopher Newport, Greensboro, Methodist and Piedmont on our schedule has inevitably proved to be too much to overcome in the past.
However, for the first time since my arrival at Emory the team has figured out a way to come away from each game with a ‘W'. The team has begun to click more and more, on as well as off the field. After three years of remaining unranked nationally, we have recently moved into the No. 3 spot according to the NSCAA coaches poll.
While the hard work and perspiration expended in the last three seasons went unrecognized on paper, all of a sudden, our efforts have paid off and everything seems to be clicking. This success can not be attributed to any player or group on the field, but to a combination of features.
Our team has a rigid defense that has allowed just four goals in nine games, and just two against the run of play. The fluid midfield has the ability to defend against the best, and spark counterattacks down the middle as well as up the wings.
Up front, a potent offense has found a way through every defense so far, pouring in 26 of the team's 35 goals. Last, but not least, our goalkeeping has been nothing short of spectacular this year as Rohit has come up with some enormous saves to invigorate our team when we needed it most.
Going into October undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the nation is an amazing feeling and well worth the wait. However, this success comes with accountability as well as an enormous red ‘X' on our backs. Every team we face is going to be fired up to take us down.
As we have seen in the past, the seven other teams that make up the UAA are always extremely challenging. The atmosphere that the UAA season creates makes it increasingly difficult to come away from each game with a ‘W'. If we can continue to play as a coherent unit I think we will be able to persevere and give ourselves a chance to make the tournament for the first time in my Emory career!
October 6, 2003 - Kevin McCarthy
We've taken the first step towards a UAA title.
With no midweek games, the Emory University men's team spent the week focusing on Saturday's matchup with the University of Chicago. For some this was their first University Athletic Association experience. While the veterans know to expect an intense, hard-fought game, the rookies were unaware of what lay ahead.
The team arrived in Chicago early Friday afternoon. Many team members headed downtown on Chicago's elevated train for a good meal and some sightseeing. Despite some impromptu chants of "Let's go Braves" in the midst of Cubs fans, the Emory team managed to safely navigate downtown to take in the sights of the Magnificent Mile and surrounding areas. Chicago is an exciting city, but the Emory squad was in the Midwest to take care of business.
We arrived at the University of Chicago's fieldhouse focused for our match. In the beginning of the first half, neither team was able to settle down and the play was a bit sloppy. Though both teams attacked aggressively, the half yielded few good scoring chances on either side. Heading into halftime, we knew we weren't playing our best soccer. We were just a step slower than usual and our passing wasn't crisp enough.
The second half started out similar to the first with some lackluster play by the Emory side. Eventually, our play caught up to us and a Chicago attacker managed to run onto a bouncing ball and finish it into the very right bottom corner of the net. This goal was a wakeup call for us. In years past, we have panicked when falling behind in big games.
This year, however, we remained calm and picked up our play. We began to possess the ball, working it from the back through the midfield. This possession, in turn, opened up the flanks and gave our strikers more room to maneuver.
Almost immediately after Chicago's goal, Emory defender Matt Kaufmann managed to penetrate the Chicago box. He was tripped up by the Chicago keeper and we were awarded a penalty kick. Anthony Esposito finished the penalty with authority and the Eagles immediately went back to work. There was no way that we were going to let up.
We continued to increase our control of play and kept working for scoring opportunities. Scoring a goal was inevitable. It was just a matter of when and how. In the 64th minute, forward Matt Levine hit a shot from just inside the 18 that beat the Chicago keeper to his right.
Once we were up 2-1, we seemed to tighten our possession even more. During the second half, Rohit made some great plays coming out of his net and grabbing crosses above the heads of Chicago attackers. Aside from those balls played in from dead balls, our defense managed to stop Chicago's attack and preserve our first UAA win of the season.
The seven UAA games are definitely the most important on our schedule. The success that we had prior to conference play is great, but it doesn't matter in comparison to conference play.
Needless to say, we were very happy to come home to Atlanta with a victory against a very tough Chicago team. This week's schedule includes a Tuesday night game against regional opponent Maryville (Tenn.) and a Saturday match against UAA foe Washington University (Mo.).
October 20, 2003 - Kevin McCarthy
Heading into last weekend, we were eager to improve on our 1-0-1 conference record. We knew that we had a long weekend ahead of us with games in Cleveland, Ohio, and Rochester, New York. It's always tough to win in the UAA, especially difficult on the road.
In Friday's game against Case Western Reserve, we pushed hard for an early goal. However, we were unable to convert in the final third and the home team had some threatening counter attacks. After withstanding some of the Case attacks, we stepped up the offensive pressure and defender Jeff Alexander scored a timely goal on a clever pull back from midfielder Brandon Rust.
It was good to go into halftime up a goal, but Case Western came out firing in the second half. Once forward Chris Nehls finished a pass from midfielder Karl Dix, we were able to control the pace of the game and limit Case to few scoring opportunities.
Later in the half, we had goals from Nehls and midfielder Andy Goldberg, whose lightning shot pinged off the left and into the net. The final tally was 4 to 0. Friday's game also marked the much-anticipated return of defender Tyler Gordon who was given the rare opportunity to showcase his offensive ability in the midfield.
After a bus ride from Cleveland to Rochester, we arrived at the University of Rochester to try out the artificial turf field before Sunday's game. The conditions for the game were less than favorable with temperatures in the 40s and the turf wet from the previous night's rain.
Early on, U of R managed a header goal as a result of some confusion in our penalty box after a corner kick. Determined to roar back, we stepped up our intensity and moved the ball through the midfield and created scoring opportunities. Throughout the first half, we had numerous opportunities. Defenders blocked shots, the goalkeeper made a few good saves, and we missed the goal--barely--on other occasions.
Despite our lack of success at finding the back of the net, we were determined to get the equalizer in the second half. However, Rochester again managed to get into our box early and scored to put them up 2-0.
At that point, we felt the pressure to score and played all out to capitalize on our scoring opportunities. We sent defenders in for offensive restarts, tried different lineups, and played with a sense of urgency. Unfortunately, the ball skipping on the wet turf and the Rochester defense were too much to overcome.
We dropped our first game of the year 2 to 0. Although it was tough to lose a game like this, I'm proud of the way we played and the fire that our team showed in never giving up.
Now we've got to look ahead to this weekend's games against regional opponents. On Friday night, we play the University of the South under the lights at home. Then on Sunday, we'll travel to Huntingdon College in Alabama. After the loss in Rochester, you can be sure the team will be ready for this weekend's games.
October 27, 2003 - Matthew Levine
The level of anxiety is rising because there is a visible light at the end of the tunnel for our season. With only three games left in the regular season, I have already begun to feel the tension surrounding a possible post-season berth.
Our team is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation and it looks as
though we are in control of our destiny from here on out. However,
with three UAA games left that is no certainty by any means. I
think there is a consensus on the team that we need to push
ourselves harder in practice in order to better prepare for the
upcoming games.
Personally, I have been battling a foot injury the last few weeks.
I hurt my foot in the game against Washington and have not reached
100 percent yet. Missing the Case Western/Rochester weekend was
tough for me, but I still had full confidence that the team would
pull through.
Unfortunately, we dropped our only game of the year so far to Rochester in a battle that I wish I could have taken a part in. This loss has only motivated me more to concentrate in my rehab efforts and get back on the field as soon as possible.
For me, the fact that there could be only three games left in my
career has really raised my sense of urgency and I am beginning to
come to the realization that my tenure on the team is extremely
limited. Although this is disheartening, I am rededicating my
efforts in the last few games and am going to leave everything I
have on the field.
A joint men's and women's soccer team dinner at the Fox house, an
annual tradition, this week will provide a great pre-game meal
before our Brandeis game. Plus, everything tastes better when it's
free in college!
The laughter and camaraderie at those team dinners really typifies how close-knit these teams are, and really makes me proud to be a part of something as special as this. From here on out, I can only hope for the best and contribute all I have towards a team effort to win the national championship, if everything goes according to the plan!
November 3, 2003 - Kevin McCarthy
Last weekend was our second conference doubleheader of the season. Unlike the first doubleheader weekend, we had home field advantage.
Friday evening we played Brandeis in front of a frenzied home crowd. After playing to a tie last year in Boston, we were ready to hand Brandeis a loss. Feeding off the crowd's energy, we managed to score a season-high six goals in a 6-1 win.
But the weekend's business was not finished. We knew that NYU would come into Sunday's conference game ready to battle. We came out flat in the first half. Our team defense was lacking its usual intensity and we failed to effectively make off-the-ball runs. Overall, we didn't have any bounce in our step and NYU capitalized, scoring a goal on a corner late in the first half.
At halftime we knew that losing this game would cost us any chance at an appearance in the NCAA tournament. The team emerged from the halftime talk confident that we would step our play and win the game. Not only did we acknowledge that we needed to step up our play, but we knew that we needed to start playing our game.
With a combination of increased intensity and confidence in our system, we were a different team in the second half. We got an early goal on a header by 5-foot-6 striker Jon Arost. Once we got that first goal, we knew that NYU wouldn't be able to stop us.
Shortly thereafter, Jacques Edeline ran onto a brilliant pass from midfielder Chris Scharer and tucked the game-winning goal into the back of the net. We locked down defensively and got an insurance goal from Karl Dix, ensuring that NYU didn't have a chance to come back.
So now we stand at 16-1-1. We play our last game this Saturday at 1 pm at home against Carnegie Mellon. We've put ourselves into contention for both the conference title and an NCAA berth (either by way of a conference title or an at-large bid).
Regardless of the results from other games in the conference, Saturday's game is a must win for us. Carnegie Mellon has had our number for the past couple of years. We're determined to change that in this weekend's match.
It's the biggest game of the season. Freshmen are making flyers so we're expecting a big crowd and you can bet that we'll be ready for the match.
November 17, 2003 - Kevin McCarthy
We sat on the field trying to comprehend what had just happened. The scoreboard read Piedmont 2, Emory 1. The game was over. Our season was over.
The game was 90 minutes of hard fought Emory soccer. We pressed hard during the first half, but weren't able to score. With the game scoreless at halftime, we were confident that we'd soon pull ahead.
However, it was Piedmont that scored first on a free kick from a tough angle. We got right back to work, possessing the ball and attacking the Piedmont goal. Eventually senior Matt Levine scored the equalizer to give us the momentum.
But, only a few minutes later, Piedmont scored to pull ahead. Despite an all-out attack by the Emory side, we were unable to come back again.
What an incredible season. Though we were disappointed that we didn't go farther in the NCAA tournament, we accomplished a lot this season and learned what we were capable of achieving.
We opened the season with 11 straight wins, tied the school record for wins with 16. The team learned what it was like to be ranked among the top teams in the country and to play with that target on our backs.
Without a doubt, this team made tremendous strides in all areas. For the first time since I've been at Emory, this team feels it can beat any team it plays. Our depth has improved greatly in the past year and the program has finally been raised to the level that we felt was possible.
We've arrived as a program to be reckoned with and we intend to stay there. The team is looking forward to the spring season where we can improve ourselves as a team in order to build on what we accomplished for next season.