As was proven last year, the WUSTL Men's soccer team can do more than just play soccer. This year at the WUSTL athletic department talent show, the men proved they have talent. Click the video to watch or follow this link to see it in higher quality. For a different camera angle, fewer heads in the way, but without the Neumann commentary, click here.
Not to be outdone, Joe and other anonymous athletic department staff, decided to showcase their talent.
By: Paul Neumann
On a perfectly lovely spring night in St. Louis on SLU's equally lovely grass field your Bears played a double header. The first game featured the Warriors of East Central Community College (Decatur) as the competition. There were no refs so players called their own fouls and directions on throw ins which worked very well for the most part. 
The Bears opened in their standard 4-4-2 with Andrew Serio in goal and controlled the flow of play early. We had a quick shot in the second minute by Kevin Privalle off a feed from Joey Glass that went high. We continued to dominate the middle of the field as Peter Jebson and Chris Weinstein won a lot of balls. Joey and Kevin were active up front and played well off each other but we failed to score until about 20 minutes in when Kevin centered a ball from the right that Joey controlled about 12 yards out and took one touch and then beat the keeper with a well placed shot. The Warriors countered with their first significant offensive foray of the half with a push down the center and a shot that was blocked by Andrew Serio and picked up by a player (clearly in an offside position according to a number of well positioned spectators) who scored from three yards out.
After 30 minutes the first half concluded with a 1-1 tie. Michael Rao opened in goal in the second half. The Bears continued to control the play. We had numerous chances down both wings with Dylan Roman on the right side and Chris Weinstein making a number of runs and putting balls into the middle. About 20 minutes in Kevin made a nice run onto a thru ball and was open at the 18 and shot past an onrushing goalie but went just wide of the right post. The ECCC team was tiring (numerous kids cramped up ) but had a couple of good runs only to be thwarted by a very heavy touches by their winger to give up the ball to the goalie without actually getting a shot on goal. the Bears had a number of chances in the last 10 minutes and finally, with a minute remaining, Cody Costakis (transfer from Bucknell) had a nice corner which was headed on goal by Harry Beddo. the goalie could only block the shot and John Hengel was there to put in the game winner as time ran out. 
After a short water break the second game against SLU came on. I am short on chronology here because there was no running clock so some general comments that maybe Mike Hendrickson who came in from LA for the game can add on to. A well played game also without refs. They played two 40 minute halves. Generally SLU was the better team with 60-40 possession and more runs into the box. They were very fast (an order of magnitude faster than anyone we played in the fall) and connected well on cross field balls and long passes. We did a good job of holding our shape, never broke down on defense, were able to often double the ball (had the guy doubled on SLU's second goal but #26 for SLU was fast enough to go by two people in 20 yards get to the end line and cross for the header). Randy and Dave Klein played the wing defenders almost the whole game until they were subbed late. Nat, Harry and Alex rotated between the two center defenders and one of the center mids. John Hengel, Pat McLean, Cody, Chris Weinstein and Peter Jebson shared time at the other center mid spot and Pat, John, John Duncan and Kevin Privalle late played up top. Zach and Cody opened on the wings and looked good both on offense and help on defense. Zach had a number of plays where he beat his man to the inside at about 40 yards out but we were unable to convert them into good offense. John Duncan and Chris Weinstein and Joey Glass spelled them in the second half. 
The teams played two forty minute halves. SLU scored after about twenty minutes on a fluke goal from a soft chip from 10 yards that deflected off Nat's chest and went about 15 yards up and came down into the right corner of the net for the score. We had a couple of chances in the first half with John Duncan going over goal early and one on a defensive miscue in the box where Pat stole the ball but could not get a clean shot on goal. The half ended 1-0 and after five minutes for water they resumed. 
Their second goal was absolutely legit and came as one of about 10 attacks down Randy's side that were relentless in the second half. We defended them well overall with Smelcer pulling down a couple of balls but generally allowed very few shots on goal. Our central defenders headed out a number of crosses and controlled others that they played up to the mid field to bring it out of our end. Smelcer snuffed out one opportunity memorably as he snatched a ball that was crossed from about six yards wide in a great reaction save. We had a couple of chances late with one run by Chris Weinstein into the box, another off a pass wide to John Duncan at about the 18,a run by Pat, and with about 5 minutes left Kevin bumping a SLU player off the ball and carrying it into the box but going wide with the shot. We did not get off really good quality shots as their defenders closed very well. SLU was more physical and probably benefited a bit from no refs (one sequence had the SLU player fouling Pat, Pat fouling him back to take back the ball and the SLU player falling down (probably from embarrassment) and claiming a foul) but we could have probably gone harder to some of the balls. Andrew Serio played about the last 15 minutes in goal. Kudos to John Duncan (subbing for Randy who had a cramp) for a defensive clearance late even as he was being pulled down from behind. 
A fun game to watch and I think the players had a good time playing in it. Everyone seemed positive after the game and the conditioning and practice they had put in over the last few months showed to good effect. As Joe said afterwards, if we could play about 35 games like that it would really benefit our team. Hopefully everyone puts in the same kind of effort over the next few months.
I hope everyone has a great summer and we look forward to seeing you next fall.
Go Bears
For the rest of the photos from the game, please click here.
To view the video of the ECCC game, click below.
To view the video of the SLU game, click below.
By Paul Neumann
(with additions by Jeffrey Pomranka) 
On a pleasant spring day in front of 25 parents and grandparents, about 20 students and spouses and children (there ought to be a bonus point for the alumni team for every kid they bring to the game) 23 alumni took the field on Saturday. The group included this year's seniors minus Craig & Pierre, the latter who was away running in a track meet where he placed first in the 100 meters and second in the 200. Ethan, Onyi , Elie, Matt and the always charming, Brian San Francisco came from last year's class and a wide variety of other year's including two players from the 80s also played. Three players from the 60s were also in attendance but did not take the field. They combined to provide an enjoyable test for the WUSTL FC players nearing the end of spring practice sessions.
A number of the WUSTL players ate at Mangini's to do carbo loading on Friday night in front of Saturday's game. Many of the alumni team gathered on Friday evening with Joe at Blueberry Hill to do carbo loading made possible by their immunity from the 48 hour rule.
The game was played in three 30 minute segments with unlimited substitutions. Kevin Brege said before the game that the alumni were going to the hockey system with line shifts every couple of minutes on the fly. Although they did not start the game in this way by the second period they were subbing on the fly and by the third period many of the substitutions came after a few minutes on the field.
I apologize in advance for any details I mucked up in the report that follows as the green jerseys with different numbers and a lot of new faces off of team Rock were confusing. 
The WUSTL student team opened up in a 4-4-2 with Smelcer in the goal, DK, Harry, Nat and Randy across the back, Alex at defensive mid, Cody (a mid year transfer from Bucknell) at offensive mid, Zach and Kevin Privalle on the wings and Hengel and John Duncan up top. 
Goalie coach Jeff Pomranka (class of 91 i.e. last played almost 20 years ago) started between the pipes for the alumni, with Hemphill and Silver at defense, Elie and Cliff in the middle and Onyi and Eric Hill up top. Not sure of all the other players. Jeff preserved a shutout for the first 10 minutes and then (due to injury by a viscous sniper attack) was replaced with Ryan Kruse. The alumni subbed liberally through out the period. 
The first period was fairly level with most of the action between the 18s. Duncan and Hengel made some runs but were stymied by Matt Hemphill who may have lost some of his endurance but none of his defensive chops. At about 15 minutes in, the students scored as Pat McLean got loose in the box and chipped Ryan to the far post as he came out to challenge. That gives Pat a two game scoring streak carrying over from the Chicago game winner in the fall. The student team subbed en masse after about the first 20 minutes with Joey Glass coming in at a wing, Peter Jebson in midfield, Chris Weinstein at one of the backs, Pat McLean up top, Owen Craig at another back. 
Both teams looked good and it was fun to watch. (Bruce Brege commented that there were a couple thousand collegiate games of experience represented on the alumni team so it was no wonder they held shape and passed well). Elie and Marshall won a lot of balls in the middle and the alumni maintained possession for stretches but could not find much offensively. Andrew Serio opened up in goal for the second period The alumni cam close to equalizing with a rocket form 20 yards but Andrew tipped over and the subsequent corner was cleared out of the box. The students had a couple of good chances but Nat Zenner went over from about 25 yards off a ball dropped out to him off a corner and Peter Jebson missed with a lovely chip from the 18 off a nice feed from Cody. 
Ryan Kruse was forced into a number of saves off of shots from Hengel, Duncan and McLean but the defense held. Offensively, the alumni struggled in the final third with a couple of long crosses from Eric Hill finding no takers and two long runs by Onyi out of the back falling apart about 25 yards from goal. 
The alumni then mixed up their team with Eric and Cliff moving back to defense and the defenders going up top. This almost paid off right before time as Kevin Brege broke down the wing and fed a great ball thru on the ground to a sliding Matt Hemphill who touched it six inches wide of the right post presumably demonstrating there is a reason Joe played him at defense all those years. 
The third period kicked off at 1-0 and the alumni beginning to look a bit winded. Michael Rao, a freshman, took over in goal and Smelcer came in up top with Pat McLean. this duo connected after about 10 minutes with Pat breaking the ball onto the back line and crossing to Smelcer who calmly slotted home from 10 yards out. This was sufficient to secure his bet with Jeff as to which team would emerge triumphant. (I now owe the keepers a rib dinner.) the students had three other good chances late with one threat called off on a very close offsides call as Harry broke free on a thru pass, a second off a ball across the goal mouth from John Duncan that just missed being headed in, and the third with Smelcer being denied from six yards out. 
The game ended 2-0 in a light rain and then adjourned to a post game meal of barbecue, salad, chips and dessert for 85 in the alumni room at the AC. A great end to a great day. 
If yo are interested in reliving the match, we have the recorded stream of the 2nd & 3rd Periods. We hope to have all home games streamed in the future.
The photos from the 2009 Alumni Game have been posted. As is typical they are up on my SmugMug.com account. For those alumni and others who have not looked at photos there, here is a bit of key information. I make all the photos available to download and use as you wish for free. To download an image, click on the thumbnail and a larger version will show on the right. Simply mouse over the image and you will see a menu bar appear. At the bottom is an icon to same the image. Click that and you will download the full resolution image. Free. Enjoy. 
Some very kind people have wanted to offer me money for the photos. That is great, but not necessary. As a compromise I have made prints available for sale through SmugMug.com. I have therefore set prices for prints that puts a little money into my account. However, I think you will see I am not charging much. I find them to be a very good printer and have always been very happy with the results. So to see the images, look at the Sports Galleries at http://pomranka.smugmug.com/. For a write up on the game action, view the "Alumni Game Writeup" written by Paul Neumann.
