Head coach Ian Collins
Opening Statement
?Things are starting to move forward and we feel like we?re ready to break through and make a real run at the national championship. We?ve been close for a number of years and we?re hoping this is a breakthrough year. Friday night (vs. Louisville) is a tough game to get going off with. Soccer is tough because you only have 10 days of preseason and you play two exhibitions, so we?re still trying to figure out what half the players names are. We?re going to put a bunch of names in a hat, pull 11 out and put them on the field. Hopefully they?ll be better than the 11 the other team has. On a good note, we?re expecting a huge crowd. Hopefully, we?ll break the attendance record here for soccer, which is 3,000. We?re expecting that. It?s going to be a nice night and I?m hoping we can put a smacking on them. That?s what we?re looking to do. It?s not going to be easy, it never is. But that?s certainly our goal. We?ve only got three seniors and none of those three have ever lost a game to Louisville and hopefully this won?t be the start of that. It?s a difficult game, they are a good team. But our goal is very simple: we want to go beat them. I can say nice things if you want like we want to have fun and go compete and do those things. But that?s not the case. We?re looking to go smack them and they’re looking to come in here and smack us.?
On changing conferences
?It?s tough being in a sport where there is no SEC. We?ve been in the MAC for a number of years and they gave us a home to play. It?s impossible to be an independent in any sport. So, we found a place to play and we were grateful for that. The last few years, the MAC reduced in the number of teams and some schools had programs cancelled. Our program is in a place where ? Confrence USA is in the top two or three in the country. It is the equivalent to SEC baseball and SEC women?s basketball, stuff like that. Eight out of the 10 teams were in the top 25 last year, six made the NCAA Tournament. We had the fourth highest RPI that didn?t make the NCAA Tournament, but I?ll leave that alone. We?ve played a lot of teams in there already. The level of competition is not something we?re unaccustomed to here, so it?s not like we?re making a huge quantum leap. And I?ll say this, kids would much rather play in Miami in October instead of Buffalo in November. So, as we recruit better players, hopefully kids look at that all the way through. We?ve always played a great non-conference schedule and, without disrespect to the MAC, this is a different level that we want to play at. I think it will be good for our fans to see quality teams week in and week out. We?ve always tried to bring the best teams we can here.?
On how you can have a breakthrough year while starting four freshmen
?I think (the freshmen) are good players. I?ll say this first of all, I think we have the best goalkeeper in the country playing for us in Andy Gruenebaum. He was just named a preseason first-team All-American. Our defensive back three have about 200 combined games underneath their belt. So, right off the bat I don?t think we?re going to give away a lot of goals. We have some exciting attacking players. Maybe that?s a bold statement on my part, but we?ve been close. The last 16, second round gets old. We have to push through. I think last year we had a chance to do that, but we didn?t get the chance (in the NCAA Tournament). Our players coming in are understanding of that. I don?t think we?ll play our best on Friday, but by midseason we?re going to hit our stride and be good. I don?t say that to be arrogant or cocky, that?s what I believe. The players work hard. They are fit and have a really good mentality. I like our group of players.”
