Spring Break
Column: Spring soccer looms
Dan Cusack / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: Sports
The Eastern men's soccer team ended its season with a 4-1 loss on Nov. 12 against Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
The women's soccer team ended its season with a 2-1 loss to Morehead State on Nov. 4 in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Both teams will finally get back to the field this weekend for their spring season.
The men will play seven games in the spring season, including hosting four games at Lakeside Field in April.
Eastern finished 5-13-3 last season, and this season will have a lot of positions to fill.
Seven players graduated from last year's team, including leading goal scorer Brad Peters, the team's top defensive player Adam Gartner and goalkeeper Mark Hansen who started in goal 15 of 19 games last season.
The women's team played in a 7-on-7 tournament on Feb. 28 in Champaign, but Saturday's match against Illinois State in Normal will be the first under new coach Summer Perala.
Former head coach Tim Nowak left this winter to take an assistant coaching job with Arkansas.
The team has five matches scheduled during the spring slate including two matches at Lakeside Field against Valparaiso on April 25 and an opponent to be announced April 4, and two games in Champaign.
The women's team struggled to score goals and win matches early in the season 0-12-1, but rallied late in the season to make it to the OVC Tournament.
Unlike the men's team, the women only graduated three players from last year's team and will be returning with a number of players who played substantial minutes.
The spring season is important because it allows the coaches to get a lot of people playing time and experience. The players get a chance to dust off the cobwebs of winter filled with workouts, but no outside competition.
The coaches can toy with different line-ups and see how the players react in different groups.
For the men, the team can give a number of player's minutes to help fill holes in the fall left from graduation.
For the women, it will be the first time in a game situation for the new coach. They will have a taste of the coaching style she will implicate next fall.
Although the teams cannot win a conference tournament and the records do not mean too much, the spring schedule will be important for both teams.
Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.
The women's soccer team ended its season with a 2-1 loss to Morehead State on Nov. 4 in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Both teams will finally get back to the field this weekend for their spring season.
The men will play seven games in the spring season, including hosting four games at Lakeside Field in April.
Eastern finished 5-13-3 last season, and this season will have a lot of positions to fill.
Seven players graduated from last year's team, including leading goal scorer Brad Peters, the team's top defensive player Adam Gartner and goalkeeper Mark Hansen who started in goal 15 of 19 games last season.
The women's team played in a 7-on-7 tournament on Feb. 28 in Champaign, but Saturday's match against Illinois State in Normal will be the first under new coach Summer Perala.
Former head coach Tim Nowak left this winter to take an assistant coaching job with Arkansas.
The team has five matches scheduled during the spring slate including two matches at Lakeside Field against Valparaiso on April 25 and an opponent to be announced April 4, and two games in Champaign.
The women's team struggled to score goals and win matches early in the season 0-12-1, but rallied late in the season to make it to the OVC Tournament.
Unlike the men's team, the women only graduated three players from last year's team and will be returning with a number of players who played substantial minutes.
The spring season is important because it allows the coaches to get a lot of people playing time and experience. The players get a chance to dust off the cobwebs of winter filled with workouts, but no outside competition.
The coaches can toy with different line-ups and see how the players react in different groups.
For the men, the team can give a number of player's minutes to help fill holes in the fall left from graduation.
For the women, it will be the first time in a game situation for the new coach. They will have a taste of the coaching style she will implicate next fall.
Although the teams cannot win a conference tournament and the records do not mean too much, the spring schedule will be important for both teams.
Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.
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