St. Thomas University men’s soccer lost to the Holland College Hurricanes 4-0 Saturday night.
The team has a new coach, players, and new tactics, leading to some struggles on offence.
Xavier Ponce is in his fourth year with the team, but is hopeful for the future.
“My expectations are to try, really, is to try and play better soccer than I’ve played before and that’s good. But I also want to win and get to playoffs,” said Ponce, the economics and communications major.
The team’s new Head Coach John- Ryan Morrison brought in eight new players, and that’s something Ponce is excited for.
Ponce played soccer since he was four and is hoping to pass on his experience and offer advice to his new teammates.
“I’ve been trying to tell them if you’re a good player and a good student,” said Ponce, the Quito, Ecuador native. “You do your work and your responsible with whatever you have to do, your homework, practice, you’ll get around and you’ll do better in everything.”
The results paid off during the game when a player hustled over and kicked the ball in mid-air, keeping the ball out of the net. Keeper Nick Levesque couldn’t come back to make a play on the ball.
“Tonight our focus was good from the start, our energy. The boys did what we trained for this week and put it on the field,” said Holland College head coach Jonathan Vos.
Brandon Minard, Morgan DesRoches, Ibrahima Sanoh and Will MacNeil all scored a goal each for the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are ranked nationally, and the Tommie’s coach said despite the score, his team is getting better.
“Big improvements over last year, I think we lost 9-0, 10-0 against these guys, so big improvements,” said Morrison.
That’s something Ponce noticed too. He said the team is playing more competitive soccer against teams that would often blow them out last year.
“You learn to lose and you learn to win,” said Ponce. “Sometimes you work really hard and it just doesn’t happen, but still you have to be positive and get the best out of it.”
Ponce and Morrison are hoping that the more games the team plays, the better off they’d be in the long run. They’ve had trouble scoring this season, but they say with so many young players they need more time together.
“I’d like to see more creativity up front. We haven’t scored a goal yet this season,” said Morrison. “We have to look up for better connections between our mids to our attackers, once we get that I think we’ll be alright.”
