After a 3-13-1 record in 2010, the soccer team is off to another slow start in 2011. As of Sept. 11, the WolfPack soccer team had no wins against four losses. Three of the losses came at home. However, there is a strong sense of optimism shared by Jeff Richardson, coach of the soccer team. Richardson has a number of reasons why the future looks bright for the soccer team.

Positive Attitude

Richardson notes hard work and determination from his players for a reason to optimistic. Even though their game against Prairie State College earlier this month was a 7-3 loss, Richardson says that game showcased that determination.

“We were right there. We should have actually competed for a win there. We just had it get away from us,” Richardson said. “We were in it until the last 20 minutes.”

The game against Prairie State showed Richardson that the team is real close to being more of a competitive team on a consistent basis, he said. He cites the team’s desire to improve on last year and have a more successful year in 2011.

Veteran Presence

Returning from last year’s squad is Eric Liegel. Liegel is a sophomore goalie out of Belleville High School. Richardson and the rest of the coaching staff are looking upon Liegel to provide leadership this year as he was named captain for this season.

“He brings very good insight into what we want and how to facilitate that with the players,” Richardson said. “He’s on the same page with us.”

Liegel played on soccer teams in the offseason to prepare for the N4C Conference schedule.

The Season is Still Young

In the early going, the competition has been stiff so to speak. First, they played University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s JV squad. They also played Concordia University’s JV squad as well, another NCAA Division III school.

Their conference schedule hasn’t been easy either. In their first game, the soccer team was pitted against Triton, the reigning Region IV champion three years running in NJCAA Division III. Triton was ranked number five in the nation as of Sept. 7.

Madison College also played Prairie State, who won five of their first six games this season.

Overall this season, the team is shooting to earn an N4C conference title. They don’t want to just stop there. They want to go straight to the NJCAA national title tournament in Herkimer, NY.