Men's Soccer Ends Season in Style

Baby steps.

It might be hard to tell from looking at its record over the past two years, buts the men's soccer team is quietly making progress in what is increasingly being referred to as "the Locker era," the hitherto two-year reign of soccer coach Stephen Locker.

"It's sort of hard to tell from just looking at us on paper, but we've made some major strides in the past two years," senior Mark Howansky says. "Coach has been making some fundamental changes in how we do things, and in what sort of talent we put on the field. He's really trying to take the team to the next level eventually."

Last season, just after Locker took over, it looked like the team would reach that "next level" a lot quicker than eventually. The squad started off the season with four quick wins against Columbia, Connecticut, Yale and New Hampshire and suddenly found itself ranked 21st in the country.

"That was probably the highlight of my years here," Howansky says. "It was great--we came out of nowhere to surprise everyone."

The squad came down to earth after that brief moment of national glory, losing seven of its next nine to finish with a 7-7-1 overall record and a seventh-place finish in the league, but it never forgot the feeling of the experience.

"I guess that has sort of stayed with us ever since," Howansky says. "Our goal has been to return to that level and stay there."

This season the team made some lasting strides toward that goal. Although establishing a record that was actually worse than last year's (6-8-1 overall, 3-3-1 Ivy), the team set about the task of integrating some solid freshman talent into the Locker system.

"Coach really focused on working the freshman in, with the thought, I think, that it will pay off a few years down the road," Howansky says. "I think that might have accounted for a couple of our problems during the season, but it eventually worked itself out."

The strains of such measures were apparent in the first few weeks of the season, when the season got off to an abysmal 1-5-1 start. Particularly hard hit was the team's offense, which averaged only 1.4 goals per game through that period.

But as the season progressed, the team's fortunes turned around--at least a little bit. The squad demolished traditional Ivy doormat Penn an October 9, 3-0, and then defeated Maine on October 13,2-1.

The team then dropped three games in a row, but all three contests were close losses to solid teams. The Crimson lost to Yale, 2-1, Boston College, 2-0, and Princeton, 1-0.

The Princeton loss, an extremely hard-fought contest against the second-best team in the league, seemed to signal a Crimson turnaround, and the team's performances in the next three contests--the last of the season--confirmed that premonition.

To finish the season, the squad won three games in a row, its longest and most impressive winning streak since the beginning of last season. First, the team blew out an overmatched Hartwick team on October 27. Then it beat last year's Ivy League champ, Dartmouth, 1-0. And finally, in the season finale, it garnered a solid 2-0 win over Brown, a team that had earlier in the season knocked off the number-one team in the country Virginia.

It was a great end to a mediocre season. But more than salvaging a potentially-disastrous season, the wins pointed unambiguously towards the future.

"You could say that we should have been playing like that all year, but I don't think that could've happened," Howansky says. "This year was about development--we were continually getting better throughout the season. I think we reached that higher level in the last few games, and I think that bodes well for next year's team."

MEN'S SOCCER

Record: 6-8-1

Ivy League: 3-3-1

Key Players: Kevin Silva (6 goals, 1 assists); Will Kohler (3 goals, 6 assists); Ned Carlson (74 saves,..73 save %).

Seniors: Joe Bradley, Mark Howansky, Ping Li, Joshua Martin.