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| Soccer season is back (Picture: USF Oracle) |
Last season, the Bulls went 13-4-4 (7-1-2) including an impressive 8-2-2 at home at the new Corbett Stadium and went 5-1-1 on the road as they clinched the Big East Red Division and made it to the postseason. The Bulls made it all the way to the Elite 8 where they fell to Creighton, but the historic run by the team and the ever growing support for the program rose to all new levels.
The 2011 team was special with the arrival of two key players, forward Dom Dwyer and goalkeeper Chris Blais. Dwyer, a 1st round pick in this year's MLS draft, led the team with 16 goals and continually attacked the opponent in every game. Blais came into the mix and anchored the defense in net, stopping 69 shots and brought a great deal of experience to the team. With both these players gone, including top defender Aubrey Perry and midfielder Santi Alexis, the team will have to fill in the voids left by these talented young players but the team is in great position to do so.
The 2012 returns a lot of experienced and talented players from last year's squad including names such as Wesley Charpie, Ashani Fairclough, Leston Paul and Ben Sweat that were all key members of the postseason run and will looked upon to lead the team this season. But the two major questions the team must address early in the season is the goalkeeper position and at the forward position, trying to fill the blue shoes of Dom Dwyer.
It won’t be easy to fill the shoes of Dwyer a first round pick of Sport Kansas City in the MLS, but the Bulls landed the top JUCO player in Edwin Moalosi out of Lincoln College who will look to become the primary striker for the Bulls. There will be questions if he can transition from the junior college level to the Big East, but with the team the Bulls have, he should get his goals and the offense will continue to flow for the Bulls.
The real question this team will face, along with replacing Perry on defense will be the goalkeeper position. Losing a star like Chris Blais and all his experience will be hard for the Bulls and there is no clear goalkeeper at this moment. Dallas Jaye has a lot of talent, but has never taken the field in collegiate action. Eric Osswald is a little bit older than Jaye, but once again, has not taken the field in live action, leaving a big question mark in the net for the Bulls. The Bulls will be solid on defense, but there are problems in the net that have to be addressed early in the season before the grind of the Big East season begins.
The Bulls have a tough schedule entering 2012, but after their historic run last season, they are prepared for the challenges ahead and will look to return to the postseason once more. The team will open the year with an exhibition against Jacksonville on August 14th and another warm-up game against the University of Tampa on the 18th before they hit the national stage to open the season as they host Michigan. The game will be aired on the Fox Soccer Channel on the 24th, so expect an electric crowd for that game for the season opener. The team will begin conference play with Villanova on September 29th and will return home to open their first Big East game at Corbett on October 6th against always tough Rutgers. The team has 11 home games this season, which is great news for the Bulls as the team fed off of the Goalmouths and the electric crowds at Corbett. The team is loaded again and with the talent on the roster, the Bulls should be able to have another strong season and will look to return to the postseason and make another deep run.
How good can this team be in 2012? They will have a winning record, there is no question there and they will make a run in the Big East. Will they get into the postseason, the NCAA tournament, that is the real question. The Bulls are solid at forward and midfield. They have to figure out a few things on the defensive backline and they will be pressed to replace the 16 goals of Dwyer, but they should have enough firepower to get that done. The real question is goalkeeper. If Jaye or Osswald emerge and take the job, the team can go pretty far, but until they get that figured out, a deep postseason run will be hard to do.
While not mentioned on USF's website and they make it look as though he is just an academic, Osswald actually has a pretty good background too. For starters, he was all state in high school, played for Crew Academy and was named to the U17/18 Central Divison Starting XI amongst some pretty good company (See below);He also was a member of the USL's 2011 U20 National Championship team and received Honorable Mention GK of the week for the U23 VSI Tampa Flames this past summer. He has trained extensively (over 10 years) with Jon Busch, currenty GK for San Jose Sharks (and past MSL GK of the year) and has also trained with the Columbus Crew full team for the last three summers. It is very true that Eric and Dallas lack the "experience" in goal that Blais had but I personally would have chosen different words than - "their problems in the net have to be addressed early" - they have two good choices - its just a matter of them getting that experience of being the guy. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and I personally don't think of it as a problem, nor do I think the coaches do - its just an evolution.
ReplyDeleteU-17/18 Central Conference Starting XI
GOALKEEPERS: Eric Osswald (Crew Soccer Academy)
DEFENDERS: Alex Sauciuc (Sockers FC), Sebastian Ibeagha (Houston Dynamo), Moises Hernandez (FC Dallas)
MIDFIELDERS: Nikita Kotlov (Indiana United Academy), Zach Barnes (Dallas Texans), Victor Ulloa (FC Dallas), AJ Corrado (Indiana United Academy), Harrison Shipp (Chicago Fire)
FORWARDS: Soony Saad (Derby County Wolves), Ruben Luna (FC Dallas)