UCSB men’s soccer players gather for some instruction from coach Greg Wilson on Wednesday.
Coming off a season in which it failed to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years, UCSB’s men’s soccer team started training camp on Wednesday with a purpose and a desire to get back to where the Gauchos feel they belong.
“I like the attitude of the team, I like the mentality of the team, I like the fact that there’s a little bit of a chip on the shoulder from not having made the playoffs last year,” said UCSB head coach Tim Vom Steeg, who is starting his 15th year leading the Gauchos.
Achilles Campion, center left, and Adis Islamovic during team training on Wednesday.
The team participated in a morning practice at Cate School in Carpinteria before regrouping after lunch for another afternoon session. The players were wearing new-look practice jerseys, sporting a solid navy blue with a vertical white band down the front. The team will also unveil new game-day jerseys this year.
“I think it went great. Obviously the energy, the intensity, and everyone willing to work hard, it was really good,” said UCSB senior Fifi Baiden after the morning session.
“It shows we got a deeper team and a team that is willing to work together as a team and not dependent on individuals, so?I really like what I saw this morning and I hope we can continue to play like that.”
Baiden is one of a group of seniors that Vom Steeg will be leaning on this season. Vom Steeg compared this year’s team to his very successful 2004 national runner-up team.
“Every team is going to have a run. We had ten-straight years,” Vom Steeg said. “At some point the wheels are going to come off on something. But I think more importantly for me is to get the team right. For me, it feels right.”
Senior defender Peter Schmetz, who stands 6’6″, will anchor the backline of a team that, like the 2004 squad, is led by a group of players who have really bought into the team concept.
“I think we have a good team,” Schmetz said. “The guys are standing together, everyone is fighting for each other and the rest is coming by itself because they are also great individual soccer players.”
Gone are Andr? Grandt, Nic Ryan, Josue Madueno, Machael David, Dion Acoff, Mac Cerceo and Peter McGlynn. Big West Conference Freshman of the Year Ema Boateng then decided to leave in July to sign a professional contract in Sweden, leaving UCSB without two of its leading scorers from last year.
To fill the scoring void, UCSB will look to Achille Campion, who scored six goals in seven games last year in a season cut short by injury. Campion’s goal-scoring ability has Vom Steeg thinking he has a shot at UCSB’s all-time single season goal-scoring record of 20 set by Rob Friend “if he can stay on the field.”
Vom Steeg singled out Goffin Boyoko, UCLA transfer Reed McKenna, plus new-comers Adis Islamovic and Ismaila Jome as potentially dangerous playmaking threats.
Baiden will direct the midfield.
“I think (Baiden) is as good as it gets in the country right now and that’s a result of being 4 years and 80 college games, and crowds of ten, twelve thousand playing in tough places,” Vom Steeg said.
Baiden and Campion were included in TopDrawSoccer’s preseason?Top 100 College Soccer Players.
The Gauchos went through a variety of drills on Wednesday that included possession work, a 2-on-2 attacking exercise in limited space, which was then expanded to include more players and the full width of the field. Vom Steeg is trying to have shorter sessions during training camp this year with the hope that it will keep his players from wearing down later in the season.
“With that, we hope that we’ll have more at the end than where we were before,” Vom Steeg said.
UCSB started unbeaten in its first 11 games but struggled down the stretch, especially at the end of games, and finished Big West play with a 4-5-1 record.
The Gauchos have three non-conference games scheduled against teams ranked in the preseason Top 25. Nobody from the Big West cracked the Top 25, although UCSB was close at 29.
The Gauchos will see their first game action when they host Westmont on Saturday, August 24. They will then travel to the Midwest to face Northwestern and Illinois-Chicago before returning home for a match with Gonzaga on September 6. Find a complete 2013 schedule HERE
“It is very important for us, and, you know this is our last year as seniors so we’re definitely, definitely gonna fight our hardest and make sure we get in the tournament and make up for whatever happened last season,” Baiden said.
