It's been way too long since I have given an update on what in the world the team has been up to, so here is the best snapshot I can give of the last few months of UR soccer.
- The Germany trip: I can't say enough about the Germany trip. For those who don't know, we took a ten-day trip as a team to Frankfurt, Koln, and Amsterdam at the beginning of summer. I kept a comprehensive blog that can be found with a little digging through the men's soccer archives here: uofrathletics.com/archives.aspx
- Summer training: After our trip to Germany, most individuals part ways, head home, and begin their jobs, internships, and summer workouts. This year, it felt like we were a team of researchers as seven or eight players stayed in Rochester and worked on various undergraduate research projects through the University. Outside of that, there is a ton of dedicated training to getting better and coming in as fit as possible!
- Preseason: Preseason welcomed a class of eight new freshmen to the team. Everyone was able to pass our fitness test, "the danish," and we began training and playing against SUNY Buffalo, St. Bonaventure, and Ithaca. The preseason was really successful and allowed us to come into the season feeling fit.
- Current season: Currently we are closing our out-of-conference portion of the season. We have been able to play many matches at home, but have also traveled around the Northeast. We were able to beat a big-time rival, #3 ranked St. Lawrence University, and later tied (also #3 ranked) Oneonta State on the road. Both were huge results helping us to become ranked 15th in the country. Currently, we are prepared for an always exciting UAA conference season and our first match against NYU!