UK Summer Tour 2011

The team is back from England and Scotland and will have a much needed 7 days of rest before checking in for pre-season.

Overall the boys had a great experience. While in Manchester we played 2 games, toured Old Trafford, went to an Everton game, took a day trip to Chester, and spent one afternoon at the very impressive Trafford Center (mall). The days were quite full as we would typically have a morning session, afternoon meal and sightseeing and then an evening game.

In Scotland, we stayed at quaint little town called Bridge of Allan right outside the city of Stirling. While in Scotland we toured Celtic Park, visited Edinburgh, toured the city of Stirling including the castle and the William Wallace Monument, and had a Scottish Football Association Coach run a training session for us. We only played 1 match because the second had to be canceled due to heavy rain.

Unfortunately, we didn't win any games this time around, but we actually saw some very good things from our play and thought that we could carry them over to our season. The team had a blast and really enjoyed the culture and atmosphere surrounding the trip.

 

 

2011 Kickin Diabetes Tournament

FSU Players and Alumni

Saturday, May 7th was the annual Kickin Diabetes Tournament held at the Cumberland YMCA. It has become a Frostburg tradition for the current players and alumni to get together for a great day of soccer, friends, and supporting a good cause.

I would like to thank the YMCA and alumnus Rob Wise for hosting the event and allowing us to co-sponsor and support this great cause. Special thanks also go out to the referees who volunteer their time to so we can donate as much as possible to the American Diabetes Association.

Congratulations to the Frostburg State Alumni team for winning the event and defending their Championship. The Alumni would face the current FSU players in the final and would prove that their earlier loss to FSU in bracket play was just a fluke. Playing for the Alumni were Bryn Varhol, Trevor Havey, Danny Simpson, Adam Gracia, Brandon Rethemeyer, Greg Bistany, Nate Kish, Claudio Dias, and Heath Hastings.

Hopefully next year we can get a few more Alumni teams entered and can make it any even bigger event. Thanks again to the YMCA, Rob, the referees and the 2011 participants including Hagerstown Community College and a few local club teams for making this a great event.



Spring Season Coming to a Close

It's been almost six months since the last Bobcat soccer posting so I wanted to give everyone an update on the team's progress as our spring season comes to an end this weekend.


I think we had a very solid winter season with the team participating in a 3-day a week training regiment consisting of: lifting, ply-metrics, and speed sessions conducted by our Strength and Conditioning staff. We saw a noticeable amount of improvement in some of the younger players as we began our spring practices in April.

We will finish up our spring season this weekend with a scrimmage against Division II, Davis and Elkins College from West Virginia. Spring practices have been highly competitive with the addition of a few mid-semester transfers and a handful of spring walk-ons. The atmosphere around the team is very positive and the excitement for next season is already building.

We have eight committed players already that will make us a more talented team than we had last year. We are still working on a few other players that if they decide to attend FSU can take this class from being a very strong class to being one of the best classes we have had here in my tenure at FSU. The commitment to improving on last season’s performance is evident and the competitive fire is burning in everyone as they know the young talent coming in is looking to make an immediate impact.

The weekend of May 7th many of the players will be participating in our annual Kickin’ Diabetes Tournament down at the Cumberland YMCA. It's been a FSU tradition now for the last 5 years and is always a lot of fun and a great time for some of the Alumni to come back and show their stuff. The Alumni won the tournament last year and will be looking to defend their title.

A majority of the players will be training hard this summer as they prepare themselves for the England/Scotland trip in August. This great experience will be the teams third trip abroad to Europe in the last 9 years. The team will participate in 4 matches against English and Scottish competition and will have the opportunity to tour Old Trafford and Celtic Park as well as take in an English Premier League game.  The trip will finish up early in August and give the guys a chance to rest up for a week or so before reporting to camp for pre-season.

Lack of Offense Sinks Bobcats

Seniors: Raul Diaz, Stephen Cavallo, and Danny Hutchins

Instead of peaking at the right time of year it looks like we have done just the opposite and gone back to the beginning of the season. FSU suffered two more 1-0 defeats as the offense struggles to put goals on the board.

Wednesday night ex-AMCC rival Penn St. Altoona came to town for the final non-conference match of the season. It was a competitive game that didn't see many good scoring opportunities. Despite being up a player for the majority of the second half the FSU offense was unable to find the back of the net. With two minutes remaining in regulation Altoona was awarded a penalty kick and would put it away to take the victory 1-0.

Wesley College was next up at home on Saturday for senior day and a crucial CAC contest. With wins against Wesley and Stevenson (on Wednesday) FSU would be in a position to earn 4th place in the conference playoffs and receive a home game for the first round of the CAC tournament. The Bobcats had a very sub-par performance in the first half and in the 38th minute Wesley would go ahead on a free kick from just outside the penalty area. The team would respond well at half-time and came out with a much better second half energy. FSU would out shoot Wesley 9-4 in the second half, but again were unable to finish. This makes the teams eighth one goal loss of the season.

The loss puts FSU in a must win position on Wednesday at Stevenson. With the win FSU would still need some help to qualify for the CAC tournament. Going into the final games this Tue/Wed all 9 teams are still alive and seeds 3 - 6 are still to be determined.

The offense will need to find the back of the net on Wednesday or the season will end for the Bobcats. Leading scorer, Dillon Muise who has been out since the Mary Washington game is still rehabbing and will not be available against Stevenson and reserve forward Greg Hill who picked up his second concussion of the year in the St. Mary's game has been lost for the remainder of the regular season.

Double Over-Time Again

Saturday's CAC match up against St. Mary's College ended in another 2-2 draw. It was a tail of two halves as we jumped out early to a 2-0 lead with the wind at our backs, but conceded two in the second half and would be caught playing defense the remainder of the game.

FSU jumped out early as Shawn Baker sent a forty-yard shot over the St. Mary's keepers head about 15 minutes into the game. Baker had noticed the keeper playing high off his line and with the wind at his back turned and sent one towards the goal. It was a bit ambitious, but a very heads up play that would give is the early lead. Ten minutes later Baker was in alone on the St. Mary's keeper and the keeper would be forced to take him down in the box. Mike Bistany would convert the penalty kick and give FSU a 2-0 half-time lead.

The second half was mostly St. Mary's as they possessed most of the play in the midfield and we struggled to work the ball out against the wind. St. Mary's would get on the board early off a corner kick and then midway through the half would tie the game on nice strike form about twenty-yards out.

Both overtimes were pretty uneventful except the final attack that St. Mary's mounted ended with a shot off the post. Despite giving up the two goal lead we do feel fortunate to come away with the tie on the road as St. Mary's did have the better of play and scoring opportunities. With two conference games left we are still in a position to finish anywhere from 4th place to being out of the playoffs. Saturday's game against Wesley College at 2pm will be Senior Day and will be a must win for us to get closer to securing a playoff spot for the CAC Tournament.

Shawn Baker and Mike Bistany

Team Begins to Make Strides

We finished up last week with a 1-0-1 record and continue to see improvement in our quality of play.

Last Wednesday it was a cold, rainy night in Frostburg, but despite the weather we were able to do enough to defeat St. Vincent College 2-0. It was hard to control the ball at times on the wet turf, but we limited St. Vincent's chances and towards the end of the game junior Mike Bistany put us ahead on a well struck free kick and freshman Toby Schaffner would record his first collegiate goal in the waning minutes to put the game away 2-0. It was nice to get the shutout at home and get back to finding a way to win.

Saturday we were on the road at Mary Washington. Mary Washington came into the game tied for first in the conference and boasting an impressive 7-2-1 record. We knew it would take another performance like that against York and Salisbury to keep us in the game and we were hoping to be a little more of an offensive threat this time around.

For the first time since the first game of the season we had every player healthy and available which was a big boost to the team confidence. Sophomore Dillon Muise would put us ahead in the second half with his team leading fourth goal of the season with a blast from about 20 yds. out which knuckled and went over the keepers head. Unfortunately, on the strike Muise would re-aggravate a hamstring injury and will most likely have to sit for the next few games. Mary Washington would tie the game on a penalty kick with about 20 minutes left in the game. The game went back and fourth for a while and ended with an FSU flurry of shots on the goal including what was thought to be the game winner with just seconds left as Jamie Flewellyn followed up a rebound and sent it towards the open UMW goal. A Mary Washington defender would slide out of nowhere and save the ball off the goal line to secure the tie and send the game into overtime. Neither team was very dangerous in the overtime periods and the game would end in a 1-1 draw.

We are off midweek, but back on the road this weekend against CAC opponent St. Mary's College. The parity of the conference has shown itself with all nine teams still alive for the six playoff spots as we head into the last two weeks of the season.

The boys stepped up once again and put forth a great defensive effort, but came up short against York College and lost another 1-0 match. That makes our fifth one goal loss of the season and fourth 1-0 defeat.


We just can't seem to catch a break this season as the injuries continue to mount and we just can't seem to get healthy. Both starting center backs, Jamie Flewellyn and Mike Bistany were out for the match along with central mid-fielder Bryan Whitmore who has started four of nine matches this year.

Mike Hurst and Raul Diaz had strong games replacing the center backs and did a good job of limiting York’s scoring opportunities. At the end of the first half York had not registered a shot on goal. Again the team was disciplined, played hard, and our team defense was tough to breakdown.

In the second half the game opened up more as both teams switched up formations. York was more dangerous going forward and had a few more scoring opportunities, but were held to just the one goal. We actually began to gain a little control of the game as the subs in the second half worked extremely hard and changed the flow of the game. Forward reserves Greg Hill and Michael Norman created problems up top with their speed and work rate and helped the FSU offense create four legitimate scoring opportunities in the final 15 minutes.

When the final whistle blew the team was disappointed with the result, but happy of the way they rebounded on the road against a quality opponent after a poor mid-week performance. Once again the focus will be to maintain the level of play seen against York and Salisbury and carry that over to the remaining six matches.

We will back at home on Wednesday against non-conference opponent St. Vincent College. Last year’s match was 1-1 draw.