WEEK 2 | Matchday 1 & 2

✍️ Notes from Pre-season Week 2

Our main focus continued to be on the defensive side of the ball. It has been a bit more challenging with a number of players being limited in training due to recoveries from small knocks and bangs brought back from many of the summer leagues (USL2, NPSL, UPSL). This past summer we had 16 of 28 players in summer teams hoping it would aid in our fitness upon our return. Judging by the overall fitness levels it helped. Judging by some of the small knocks it put us a little on low numbers but overall training was very good and lots of energy in each session.

 We did play a shorted preseason match at Marshall. Going up to play a top 5 team nationally helped us get an idea of where we stood. Played only a total of 58 minutes due to weather. We managed to compete and hang tight the first 30 minutes. Missed a few earlier chances and had a goal called back in the first 15 minutes. Marshall did manage to break through shortly after and with some poor reading of the game in our backline we conceded two quick goals.

 Regrouped at halftime and played another 8 minutes when the match was put on delay. After a 90 minute waiting period, both coaches agreed with more weather incoming it was not worth risking an injury to play later that night.

 We wrapped the preseason phase and prepped for South Carolina.

⚽ Matchday 1: @South Carolina

❌ L, 1-7

Playing these type games had become second nature it seems. Going away to power 4 schools is always difficult. The group overall as a staff felt like we were prepared to go and push for a result. The first 20 minutes were solid and we created some quality chances. Some back and forth play for both teams. The flood gates then opened and honestly, it was one of the worst performances I can remember in years. We gifted South Carolina three goals in the first half. Gave away too much space in behind the backline. Suffered a red card in the 28^th minute. Made it to halftime and made many adjustments. A better second half performance until we went back to gifting goals. At this level, we made mistakes and were punished each time. It was a turn the time page performance but one to have in recall to not happen again this season.  Our guys did manage to play in an extremely hostile environment and hopefully builds some character to get right back up again.

⚽ Matchday 2: vs. Furman

❌ L, 1-2

Our SAAC held a pre-game tailgate party and we had a wonderful crowd on hand for our home opener. A game which featured a tremendous amount of transition moments for both teams. Some really positives after the South Carolina match and a very good response. We are still working to try and sort out substitution patterns and gain a little bit better understanding of each other. The chemistry in this game and the togetherness of all the players really showed in this match. Sam Pidgeon scored his first goal as an Eagle off a corner kick from Bruno Riveron Saggero. Furman responded on a costly error from us again. The game winner by Furman was fairly controversial. The boys responded and really put tons of pressure on the Furman goal the last 15 minutes. A game which we deserved much better than we got.

🫡 Captain's Note

The staff put a major challenge on us to raise the level in training the last week of preseason and heading into the regular season. Lots of competition in training and winners staying on in just about everything it seemed. The South Carolina match was really on us as players. Costly errors proved disaster on more than a few occasions. Zand and Daniel were very honest and direct post match, but everyone in the group really needed to take a deep look at themselves. We met as a team privately and agreed we have to really buy into each other and digging into the defensive work the staff had been demanding in training. Proud yet gutted with the response against Furman. Thank you to all the fans that showed up. It was a game we really felt we played all on the same page. Just small mental mistakes cost us again. A short week of training and off to play North Florida and Jacksonville. 

Sam Pidgeon, Diego Candia, Ricardo Ferreira