Men’s Soccer: Revamped, Retooled and Refocused
The Utah State men’s soccer club enters the 2012 competitive season with a new team but high hopes to improve upon last year’s semi-final regional finish.
“Win,” said co-captain Jordan Butterfield of the team’s goal for the year. “Win all of our games and take the Region tournament.”
Few returners are back from the team that lost two games last year, but after finishing tryouts last Thursday, Butterfield says the team is feeling a surge of confidence for the year.
“We’re looking surprisingly strong this year,” he said. “We lost a lot of guys from the year before, but we’ve picked up some guys that are good players, ex-Division I players.”
Co-captain Nate Jarman was also impressed with the top-tier influx of talent.
“We have a diverse, mixed team,” he said. “We have kids from the Olympic Development program and even the Dominican Republic. If we can come together, we should have a good season.”
Jarman said enough new, deep talent tried out for former Olympic Development players to be cut from the team.
Butterfield was excited with the amount of technical talent the team picked up, as well as with their new head coach, who has a coaching license one step below international level.
“We’re excited to have Sherri Dever come in as our new coach,” he said. “She has her B-License in coaching, which is kind of a big deal.”
“Having someone with her experience will help a lot,” Jarman said.
Dever brings a wealth of club and Olympic Development coaching to the team, and is excited to continue the Aggie tradition.
“I am confident in my knowledge and experience of the game and feel that I can help the members of the team have a good experience,” she said.
Butterfield and Jarman, along with returning starter Casey Allen, anchor a strong midfield and defense for the Aggies, while forward Kevin Young is expected to headline the offensive attack.
“The defense is going to be amazing, but the offense is going to struggle,” Jarman said. “We’re not as big as last year up front.”
Jarman said the team plans on playing a technical, possession-based passing approach, similar to the styles of recent world championship teams from Spain.
“All the kids are now possession players,” he said. “We’ll be more possession based than last year.”
Jarman said the focus for the team, which is now entering practice, will be to mesh together and find a specific team identity and plan for each side of the ball.
The club hosted tryouts this past week and are funded by donations and out of their own pockets. Fields are provided by the university but all balls, jerseys, cleats and other equipment must be personally provided.
The team will play other clubs from around the state, such as Weber State, Utah and Westminster throughout the fall until the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association Region VI Tournament in November. The champions of the region tournament move on to NIRSA National Campus Championship Series National Soccer Championships, where Butterfield hopes the team will be this fall.
“We should win every game unless it’s our fault,” he said. “We should dominate. We have the skill and players to do it.”
The Aggies opened last Saturday against Weber State and now enter practices until a Sept. 21 trip to Provo, Utah to play BYU.
USU then returns home for a double header against Westminster and then Utah the next day.
Home games are played at Legacy Fields unless otherwise noted.
– m.hop@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter:@legendarymhops