2008 WUSTL FC Parent Squad

Dear WUSTL FC Parents, players and friends:

Welcome to another wonderful season of Bears soccer. The team is currently 1-1 (more on that later) but will hopefully go over .500 tomorrow with the Westminster game. Sheldon is otherwise occupied so I am putting out this year's first parent squad news bulletin and fall soccer planning guide.

The weather so far has not been too sweltering in St Louis and all of the freshman appear to be surviving the entry into their collegiate soccer career. we saw several of them in Birmingham and am sure will get a chance to meet more in St Louis soon. We also look forward to meeting their parents in the stands at Francis field.

We have heard from at least 20 parents so far that will be coming into St Louis for the Washington University classic next weekend. As the games are at 8 o'clock each night a team dinner after the games seems like a non starter but for parents who are interested we will plan on a 9:30 on Saturday morning brunch (your kids won't be up yet) somewhere in Clayton. Place to be announced.

The Varsity Reserve is also playing tomorrow at Francis field. The schedule is subject to change but Jeff is posting a schedule at wustlsoccer.com

Additional events during the season that are still in the planning stage include a Sunday tailgate/brunch in Pittsburgh prior to the CMU game (with a special guest appearance by last year captains and this year NYC residents Elie Zenner and Onyi Okorofoar), a team dinner in St Louis either Oct 18th (NYU/Brandeis weekend) or the 25th (parents weekend) depending on when the most parents will be in town, and a team dinner on November 1st at the home of Jane and Ed Plow in Cleveland. They are also offering overnight accommodations (they certainly appeared sober at the time) for the night as well (I think that is for the parents not the team, Joe)

I am sure as we get into the swing of the season other opportunities to get together and support the Bears will present themselves.

for those who have not found it yet you can go www.wustlsoccer.com to see additional info as well as link to the game photos courtesy of Jeff Pomranka our goalie coach and photographer extraordinaire. Jeff is kind enough to make these available to all of us as free downloads so new screensavers are just a few clicks away.

Michael Hendrickson, one of our freshman parents is working on trying to do video streaming on games that are being filmed so all can join in via the web.

If any players see parents not listed (or anyone from last year wants to drop off the list) please e mail to add or delete names from our list above.

For those of you who did not make it to Birmingham and who would like a more detailed account of the games than what is on the WUSTL athletic website here goes:

This past weekend WUSTL FC played three halves of soccer worth writing about and one that was painful to witness and undoubtedly more painful to be a part of.

On Friday at 5 with 90 degree heat on a beautiful grass field the Bears got off to a fast start. Coming out in a 3-4-3 with the side midfielders having defensive responsibility the team controlled the ball from the get go. Cliff Goldkind had a shot off the post inside three minutes, followed by a corner where the goalie had to come up huge to save a header nodded down to the goal line by Harry Beddo. The team continued to dominate but did not get on the board until about 15 minutes in when Ryan Grandin put a ball thru the keeper's legs to score. 3 minutes later Grandin hit a ball that hit the crossbar that bounced down and out of the goal to be picked up by the keeper. Joe substituted liberally and at least 20 players played 10 minutes or more during the half. it ended 1-0 with WUSTL having allowed no shots on goal and with what should have been a more rested team.

The second half saw WUSTL come out flat in much cooler weather and we played pretty much even until Sewanee scored on a goal that came up the middle with Alex running with the forward who got off a shot and it ricocheted off JS's legs (who was coming out on the ball)into the goal. that seemed to energize Sewanee who began winning more balls in the middle but WUSTL played them even and had more shots but with about 13 minutes left a Sewanee player about 22 yards out hit a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced down and in to let them go up 2-1. WUSTL pressed and had some good activity with balls thru the box that no one could quite reach. The game was put out of reach with 3 minutes to go when Sewanee played a long ball thru the middle and the Sewanee forward beat Nat and Alex to the ball and took it around John coming out of goal for an easy tap in.

it ended at 3-1 with WUSTL scoring once off 25 shots and giving up 3 goals on 6 shots. An inauspicious start to the season but as Onyi reminds us not something they have not done during season's past (say 1-0 to St Norbert's or 2-0 to Truman State last year)

We shared a nice dinner the following night at Lovoy's Italian restaurant with the team, coaches and 11 parents and had copious amounts of garlic bread, salad and a variety of pasta. Two hours later as Arloa and I were walking into the lobby after a walk to digest our meal many of the team were down getting snacks, desert etc. They were certainly not in any calorie deficit the following day.

They came out on a hot (90 degrees) looking purposeful in a 4-4-2 and controlled play for the first 15 minutes against Birmingham Southern but were unable to score. With BSC's first opportunity they went up 1-0 on a beautiful flick on off a player's shin guard from a corner at the 6 yard box that went far post. John never had a chance on the ball. Rather than folding at that point WUSTL stayed with the game, the defense with Nat, J Flo. Randy and Nick Karr was solid and we looked about to score as Harry went just wide at the 30 minute mark. We went in at the half down 1-0 but looking slightly the better team. We came out in the second half and put pressure on steadily. the goal came as Pierre beat his guy down the left sideline centered to Harry whose shot was turned away by a defender. Marshall controlled the rebound about 8 yards out with his back to the goal and a goal side defender on him. He pinned his guy, turned him and beat the keeper to his right with a low ball into the goal to even the score at 1. We then proceeded to play 15 minutes of sublime soccer with chance after chance on runs by Marshall, Kevin, Pierre and John Hengel with a variety of just misses on headers and shots as the ball came thru the BSC box on a steady basis. We could not keep up the pace and went thru about a 10 minute stretch of even play which ended with Kevin Brege beating his guy to a free ball at the half line and plying it to Pierre who put him thru with a lovely ball down the right wing that Kevin touched twice to the 18 and curled a nice soft ball past the defender to Kellen who was steaming down the middle. kellen controlled with one touch turned his defender and beat the goalie from 8 or 9 yards out.

The last 10 minutes were tense as BSC put everyone forward. The defense was steady and Cliff and Nick Wilbar were stellar in the midfield with David Klein and Eric Hill on the wings winning balls and headers on a regular basis. We dodged a bullet on a free kick from 40 yards out that JS went up on and collided with a BSC payer and the ball came down and was bouncing to the goal only to see Randy Schoen clear it out from 3 yards out. A minute later we almost put it away as Nick Wilbar played Harry thru on the goalie only to see the ball go just wide of the goal. with about a minute left the side judge missed an offsides call (he had two players to choose from) but Alex slid thru to send the ball out of our six yard box to allow a throw in which we defended successfully three times as the game came to an end. A well deserved victory in a game that could have been a repeat of the Friday game but was not. Very nice to see such a tough response to adversity. It made for a much better bus ride back to St Louis.

We look forward to seeing you all soon and know that those who can't be at the games are there in spirit.

go bears. allez ours

paul