Searching for answers

You can't win if you don't score. 

This is an issue the men's soccer team has been facing in recent weeks.
After outscoring opponents 15-7 in nonconference games, the team is now longing for goals in West Coast Conference play, where it is currently averaging one goal a game. The Bulldogs are sitting in fifth place in league right now, a place they did not expect to be.

"The season has been below expectations this year," said senior Nick Barclay.  "We haven't been playing as well as we could have been."

"We still have a chance to win league," senior Tim Muravez said.

Though the Bulldogs feel their full potential has not been reached, they understand the added intensity and competition in league play.

"It's always a bit harder to score goals in league," Barclay said.  "It's more intense and we're more familiar with the teams we're playing.  There are more rivalries between the teams and it's just more difficult to score."

"Conference is good this year," Muravez said.  "It's better than it has been in past years.  Everyone's getting better on offense and defense, so it's harder to score."

The lack of goal production has reinforced the Bulldogs' belief in strong team defense and keeping the opposition off the scoreboard.

"It makes the defense work a little harder, but we're all willing to put in the work," Muravez said.  "We're willing to do it for the good of the team."

"There's a lot of pressure already," senior Scott Barnum said.  "I don't like to feel like there's more pressure though because we're always thinking that we shouldn't let any [goals] in."

The team is quick to emphasize that scoring and preventing goals is a team effort, not simply based on a player's position.

"We work together to not get scored on, and to score goals," Barclay said.  "Scoring goals is as much on the defense as the offense."

"We score goals as a team and we play defense as a team," Barnum said.  "If the offense needs help, the defense steps up and will help out.  And if someone gets beat on defense, someone on offense will drop back for them."

The team has been using practice to focus on developing chances and finishing scoring opportunities.

"There's definitely lots of focus in practice on getting better opportunities," Barclay said.  "We focus on developing the build-up and then finishing our opportunities."
The team looks to get back on track through better communication and by focusing on getting that finishing touch.

"We need better communication and we have to focus on our opportunities because we're not capitalizing on them right now," Muravez said.  "Once we start capitalizing on our opportunities, we should be good.  Everybody just needs to buckle down and concentrate and improve on our own mistakes.  Once we get on the same page, it will help a lot."
"We have to improve our play in general," Barclay said.  "We need to improve all-around and not give up goals.  That should help us finish strong."

Knowing what they have to focus on, the team is optimistic about the second half of their season.

"We're still upbeat about the season," said Barclay.  "We're home this weekend and would like to get two wins."

"Our goal is obviously to win as many [games] as we can," Muravez said.  "Hopefully we can win out the rest of the season."

Asked about the team's goals for the rest of the season, Barnum echoed his teammates by simply responding, "Win."

"We want to win the rest of our games," Barnum said.  "Our goal right now is to get a win on Friday."

Motivated and focused with goals of winning, the team looks to finish the season strong and possibly take a share of the league title.  But to win the rest of their games, the team will have to turn their mental goals into physical ones, and put the ball in the back of the net.