I took some time out to interview two sophomore men's soccer players, Ben Keeton and Andrew Sheridan, to get a different perspective on the men's soccer team.
Q: How do you manage balancing your mechanical engineering workload with your soccer commitments?
Ben: I focus on soccer a little more, to be honest. After that, I make sure I get my work done. It all works out in the end.
Q: What's your favorite part of the off-season?
Andrew: I love nap time. I need my rest. There's a lot more downtime in the off-season.
Q: How do you think the team is looking for next year?
Ben: We look pretty awesome. We're returning all six of our attackers. We're planning to score a ton of goals next year. We want a lot of high scores and a lot of exciting games. Our backline is also solid, so we shouldn't be allowing many goals. We lost a lot of seniors, but we think we can make up for that.
Q: As one of our only returning defenders, how do you think the defense will be next season?
Andrew: I think we'll be good. We have a lot of upperclassmen who can play these positions. It's simply next guy up on this team. We have tons of depth and we have tons of players who can fill in. We just have that kind of team philosophy here. We always defend well.
Q: Last year, the season ended before many of us expected. Next year, do you think the team can build on that experience, and how far do you think this upcoming season can go?
Ben: I think we definitely have the potential to do much better than last year. We have an expectation to go further than that. We had a good season, but losing where we lost is a disappointment to all of us. We see no limits to how far we can go. A national championship isn't out of our reach. We have the talent and the experience to really go far.
Q: Every season, certain players from the bench seem to step up to become key players the next season. Who do you think has the potential to do that for you next season?
Andrew: Well, we definitely need players to step up in the backline, and I think players like Keith Grafmeyer and Seth Davis Brown will step up and fill those roles. Also, Andrew Greenway could get some more goals this year as a sophomore for us.
Q: What is your favorite thing to do with your friends on the team?
Ben: We're a very tech-savvy group and interested in things like that, so we spend a lot of time learning about and using technology. We also love playing intramural basketball, and we watch a lot of mediocre college basketball. We love just hanging out in the "treehouse" (two of the other sophomores' room).
Q: You came really close to scoring a goal more than a few times last year, but the real question is, will you ever score a goal in a real game?
Andrew: I'm becoming a part of a lot of opportunities, so if I keep getting chances, I hope I can score one eventually. Hopefully I don't play centerback, or I may never score.