By Randy Burns
It is that time of year again. The time when that old black and white soccer ball gets kicked, headed, thrown, and sometimes even punched. Although that may not sound like fun to the ball, University of Louisville soccer fans are getting geared up for the season ahead.
It will be a season that head coach Tony Colavecchia hopes will be a great one. “I expect them to play one game at a time and think one game at a time,” he said. “I’m looking for a better team chemistry than last year. We’ve worked very diligently at trying to recruit players to form that chemistry. If the players and the team can provide that, we are going to have a very good year.” In his seventh season coaching the Cardinals, Colavecchia feels his new players make up a strong recruiting class.
Fernando and Felipe Tolomelli, also known as the “Tolomelli Twins,” are at the head of this year’s newcomers. Left-footed Jelani Grant from Markham, Ontario also promises to be an exciting player by specializing in beating opponents while one on one. Dan Martin was described by his coach as being tough and tenacious and will also bring experience to the team. Freshman Matt Neely from New Albany, Indiana has been coached by Colavecchia since the age of fourteen. He is a very versatile and athletic player who the coach hopes will add defensive depth for the Cards. The defense expanded even greater when the Cards signed Brad Sokolowski and Matt Smith as goalkeepers.
Several returning players will lead the Cards. They have an excellent sharp shooter in 5’7″ 175 pound junior forward Simon Bird. After performing extremely well at his high school in Lincoln Heights, England, Bird had a great season last year as a sophomore. He was named third team All-Conference USA and team Offensive Most Valuable Player after playing in all 19 games and scoring 11 goals. Like Bird, if there is one individual that stands out among the rest of the nation’s elite soccer players, it is junior midfielder Adrian Cann. Born in Thornhill, Ontario, he started in all 19 games last year, was named first team All-Conference USA, and also received Most Dedicated and Most Valuable Player honors from his Cardinal teammates. This year, Cann has been selected as a Preseason First Team All-Conference USA member. But personal accolades are not the priority of this 6′ 3″, 165 pound all-star. “My goals and objectives are past all of that,” said Cann. “I want to win the conference tournament and make it to the NCAA tournament. The other stuff just comes secondary. The team comes first.” Coach Colavecchia believes that Adrian is a leader and will help put the university’s program up where it belongs.
One of the biggest challenges for Louisville comes just five games into the season. On September 10th the Cards travel to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the NCAA runner-up Hoosiers. “Playing Indiana always means something special because they are always a team that is in the NCAA tournament,” Colavecchia said. “Their history over the last five years has been absolutely second to none.”
Both Cann and Bird share similar feelings as their coach when it comes to playing IU. “I can’t wait this year to play Indiana,” said Cann. “Besides Saint Louis and South Florida, they are one of the teams who we want to beat for sure.”
“We don’t fear them and we are looking forward to playing them,” said Bird. “Especially with the new players we’ve got we’ll give them a good game and we are expecting to beat them.”
Last year’s game between the Cards and Hoosiers drew 2,130 fans and there is an even larger crowd anticipated this season.
It is likely that more fans will join the soccer fan base because of the United States’ accomplishments this year at the World Cup. A believer in that prediction is coach Colavecchia. “Their success will have a chain reaction in Major League Soccer, the college game, and also a trickle-down effect to the community of Louisville.”
But fans are not the only thing concerning the coach this preseason. He is preparing his athletes for the upcoming season. Cann says his coach is getting the team to bond very well. During each practice the team works on different patterns and formations while working on transition play and moving the ball from the backfield up to the midfield and outside wings. Practicing together everyday under the intense summer heat gives the players good conditioning, which is something Bird said will help the team in the long run.
In a preseason poll, the remaining coaches in Conference USA picked the Cards to finish the season no better than seventh in the league. Colavecchia doesn’t see the Cards’ outcome the same as the other coaches. “On paper, if we have everybody healthy, and everybody is available to play then I think we are a better team than seventh,” he said. “But that will be decided on the field. Hopefully, the boys can make a statement by representing the university and doing the job that needs to get done.”
Bird says that he is not concerned about what the other coaches in the conference think. He is concerned about who the team has to beat. When asked if the Cards will prove the other Conference USA coaches’ predictions wrong, Cann smiled and confidently said, “For sure.”
