Soccer: Returning Players Shine

MeanGreen61 · March 28, 2006

Returning players shine

7-on-7 games

By Michael Neglia

Staff Writer

March 28, 2006

The NT soccer team started its spring schedule on Sunday when they played four games in College Station.

The team played three 7-on-7 games and one full game (11-on-11), while it played 25 minute halves as opposed to 45 minutes and played on a shortened field for each 7-on-7 game.

The Mean Green won its first game of the day, defeating Sam Houston State 6-2, tied its second game against a soccer club in Houston 5-5, and lost its third game against Texas A&M 10-4 for the 7-on-7 games.

“The reason we do 7-on-7 games is because it gives us a chance to look at everybody,” NT head coach John Hedlund said. “Teams are usually a little short because their seniors just graduated and their recruiting class isn’t there yet, so we get a chance to look at kids that usually don’t get to play and I get a chance to do things that I normally wouldn’t do during the fall season.”

The full game saw NT beating Stephen F. Austin by a score of 4-0.

“It is geared towards getting ready for the fall, almost like a non-season,” Hedlund said. “It was a good measuring stick to see how our weight-training programs are going and see where everyone’s fitness level is at.”

While the team was able to see some of its other players compete, the starters played sharp like usual.

“Everybody played pretty well,” Hedlund said. “Heather [forward Heather Hutyra] played well; I think she had three or four goals throughout the day. Kelli Lunsford, Dani Slavonic also played well, and Angela Hawkins did a good job at defense. The usual players stood out.”

The spring schedule allows NT, who returns all 11 starters, to play together as the team. After winning its conference and reaching the NCAA tournament for the second straight year, expectations are high.

“We should be pretty strong, and it should be an even deeper team than last season and we should win the conference title and go back to the NCAA tournament as long as we don’t have many injuries,” Hedlund said.

The Mean Green’s next game is on April 1 when it plays Oklahoma and University of Texas at El Paso in the Sting College Showcase.

ADLER · March 29, 2006

“We should be pretty strong, and it should be an even deeper team than last season and we should win the conference title and go back to the NCAA tournament as long as we don’t have many injuries,” Hedlund said.
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Boy, ya' gotta love that type of optimism.

"We should win the conference title and go back to the NCAA tournament"

How often does a North Texas coach confidently make a statement like that.