After last year’s disappointing season, the Men’s soccer team is ready to come back and prove that they are not about to lie down and play dead.
At the end of last season, the men’s soccer team had an overall record of 5-11-3 and their percentage was .342 for the year. Men’s soccer head coach and Assistant Athletic Director Brain Crookham feel’s that the team’s failures last year will be rectified this year.
“Anytime (we) have a bad season, I guess we looked first at ourselves – ‘what can we do better?’ And I think that we got into a situation where we had some things that we couldn’t control – players that we (red-shirted),” said Crookham. “What we can control out of that is how we react to that. I don’t think that we reacted as a group very well.”

photo by Steve Stoner - The Metropolitan

Metro's men's soccer coach Brian Crookham, left, speaks to sophmore goal keeper David McReavy during an Aug. 12 practice on the athletic field.

Crookham said that he and his team are anxious to come back and show that they are ready to compete at a top competitive level.
Crookham explained that his returning players are putting a great deal of pressure on themselves and on their teammates to perform better than last year.
“The guys that we have back – they are willing to do whatever it takes to put a good product on the field,” said Crookham. Which includes increasing communication and striving for good team chemistry.
“I think that (the veteran players) understand how important the chemistry (affects the team), especially last year when things got tough and we didn’t have good chemistry. I think they really understand how important that is and they’ve done a good job, over the first week, of helping us sort that out and bring the new guys into the fold a little bit,” said Crookham.
One of the toughest challenges that faced the team last year was “the injury bug,” so Crookham is eager and weary at the same time to push his team to the furthest limits.
“We’ll push as hard as we can possibly push. We’re gonna find out what some limits of players are, but we’re not gonna break players,” said Crookham.
Crookham knows that his team is up against some tough competition. Last year, the division was filled with top-of-the-line players and teams; this year is no different.
“Our conference is stellar – Colorado Mines has had a couple of great years in a row; Fort Lewis had a very, very talented young team that will definitely compete; Regis (is a) very talented, extremely dangerous goal-scoring type of team.” He continued by saying, “I feel very good about what we get to compete against within the conference and around the region.”
Crookham is confident that this year’s fresh, new team will be able to hold their own against the stellar competitors. “From top to bottom, the conference is going to be very good,” said Crookham. “If you look at our schedule this year, the way you get into the NCAA tournament is by being at the top of your region. We play the top, I would say, thirteen teams in our region.”
In the off-season, it is really tough for the players to sit idle and not compete. “(The team) wanna compete. Right now is a tough time for us ‘cause we’re in pre-season, and in pre-season you kick each other. You don’t get to go out and play anybody else and so it’s gonna be a tough two weeks until we see the real conference schedule pop up or the real regional schedule pop up. Exhibition (games) are great, but we need to compete.”

photo by Steve Stoner - The Metropolitan

Freshman Preston Borrego, left, kicks a shot against sophmore goal keeper David McReavy during Metro's practice on the athletic field Aug. 12.

In order to satisfy the need for competition, Crookham and Assistant Coach Tony McCall arranged for the team to travel through Europe and compete against international teams.
The players raised money in various ways, such as working the concession stand at Pepsi Center during events.
The team stayed in Prague in the Czech Republic and spent some time in Heidelberg, Germany, during which time they played international teams and flexed their competitive muscles. Crookham said it was good to see the guys spending time together and really coming together as a team.
“Anytime you can spend 6 to 7 days together in strange, hostile environments where you gotta deal with elements that are a little bit a out of your comfort zone it helps us grow as a group. Having said that, I think our guys worked very hard over the summer. I think they play at pretty good levels,” said Crookham. “There’s nothing that brings a group together more than just spending time together.”
Crookham explained that the goal of the coaching staff is to encourage togetherness among the team by building chemistry and communication skills, as well as physical strength and agility.
These skills will be vital in the upcoming season, but he stresses that there is a limit to how far and how hard the coaches can push the team.
“We have to, first, have good communication with them – how they’re feeling, where they’re at (mentally and emotionally), things like that,” said Crookham. “Players tell us what we need to know – they may not tell us verbally, but their actions, their physical abilities, (and) the training staff – things like that, (the players) help guide us through where we can press and where we can’t.”
There is always a concern that the players will start to fall into a rut or become discouraged by losses, so Crookham plans to keep a strong emphasis on communication throughout the season and not just in bad times. “We need to prevent any type of slide before it happens now, so we’re gonna take the offensive on that and make sure that we don’t.
When asked how he’d handle a slide in performance, Crookham commented that, “We’ll do a better job of communication; we’ll do a better job of defining roles for the players. And that’s not if we don’t do as well, that’s right now.”
Crookham stressed that the coaching staff urges the players to be self-motivated and self-reliant. “I don’t want them working for me, I want them working for them.” Only the season will tell if they can live up to that ideal.

Headlines

photo by Chris Stark - The Metropolitan

Auraria campus students look at a retired Championship Auto Racing Team display betweern the Tivoli and the Plaza Building, as a preview to the up and coming Shell Grand Prix of Denver during the Labor Day weekend, Aug. 29 through Sept. 1.

Attention race fans: the second annual 2003 Shell Grand Prix of Denver will be turning the Auraria Parkway into a speedway this Labor Day weekend.
The race will take place throughout a closed, 1.65-mile, nine-turn stretch of Auraria Parkway and will feature the cars and drivers of Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford, the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama, Trans-Am Series for the BF Goodrich Tires Cup, and the Fran-Am 2000 North American Pro Championship.
Tickets are still on sale for the race, which is scheduled for 7 a.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, August 29-31. Ticket prices range from $40 to $105, and can be purchased on Shell Grand Prix of Denver’s official website, gpdenver.com, or over the phone at (888) 82-SPEED. The cheapest ticket is Sunday-only general admission and the most expensive ticket gets fans all three days with Saturday and Sunday reserved seating in the higher grandstand levels. Reserved seats are in the grandstands placed at the best vantage- points around the track, according to the website.
Parking for the event will be located on Auraria Campus lots A, C, and E. Three day parking and single day parking passes are available for purchase.
The 2002 Shell Grand Prix of Denver’s attendance was over 100,000, with 50,000 to 55,000 on Sunday alone, according to event organizers.
Stars such as Michael Andretti, of Team Motorola; Paul Tracy, of Team Green; and Adrian Fernandez, of Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex raced last year. Andretti, praised as the most successful driver on the Championship Auto Racing Teams circuit, started 17th and finished 13th. Tracy spun out after making contact with the wall between turns 7 and 8 during a practice run. Many of last year’s drivers drove cautiously, because it was the first time driving the new course and they had trouble racing on the slick concrete and sticky asphalt.
The top three finishers of last year’s race were Cristiano da Matta, third place; Scott Dixen, second place; and Bruno Junqueira, first place.

Headlines