Thoughts on the Southwestern fall tourney on Oct. 25:

Overall the tournament was a productive one. The first goal of the day was to see which one of the guys was ready to lead and produce. We graduated some strong players last year and it's always fun to see who the new alpha dog is going to be. Unfortunately, we were missing about five team leaders due to family events so we did not get to see the strong upperclassman. Surprisingly, we noticed a good chemistry from all the guys, despite the absence of some of our top leaders. The young guys all stepped up across the board and competed well. You usually expect to see some fall-ball freshman jitters and they were certainly present; however, the younger guys played with a level of poise that was commendable.

Our first game was against Southwestern, and the team came out strong. We came out of the blocks fast and got on top of the new Division III team. Stu Graham faced off very well and dominated the groundballs. The final score was 14-2 and we saw lots of nice assisted goals.

Game two was against a talented Texas State squad. We had played them earlier in the fall and had let everyone on the team get into that game. In this scrimmage, we gave some more thought to personnel and especially tried to put the younger players in a situation to show us if they could step up, which they did. We started slow and TSU put in a few goals early.

Spencer Price played brilliant in the attacking third and showed he is a gamer. The TSU goalie kept them in the game, making some nice saves, and the TSU offense found the back side man very well. They ara only going to get better and Matt Malcolm (TSU #9) is a game changer. We found a nice rhythm in the second half and scored a few good goals. Final score was 6-4.

We don't believe in heavy team conditioning in the fall and game three was a test. The guys didn't look in great shape, but all of our full-field drills and scrimmages in practice seemed to pay off. Our team's athleticism certainly showed against Sam Houston. SHSU has a couple of guys who really can play the game, but our depth and full-field work showed as we rolled to a nice win.

Going 3-0 means very little and I told the team to stay focused on the bigger goal — getting better prepared for a challenging season. The day was certainly productive and we thank Southwestern for hosting a nice event.

Thoughts on the goalies:

We have a nice fight brewing. Nick Milazzo (Soph.) is proving that he is able to step up in games and save the ball. Phil West (Jr.), last year's No. 2 goalie, is pushing hard and playing well. Transfer Alex Barfield (Soph.) has showed flashes of great play. We are not going to name a starter until we see some consistency and leadership out of someone. We may have a three-man rotation at first and see how it goes. Mike Gerbush, our new goalie coach, has pushed these guys to play at a higher level and we like where we are right now.

Thoughts on the freshmen:

The freshmen are a strong group. There are a few of the guys that will have an impact this season at every position, but especially at the attack and midfield. Additionally, they have added depth to the team. We are deep and athletic across the board. Having players challenge the established guys is great for the competitive nature of our team.

The coaches are really looking forward to seeing who comes back from winter break prepared and with the confidence to step up.