Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

November 8, 2017

Welcome to the final rendition of this year’s Men’s Soccer Blog! Congratulations to those who are still committed to going through the backwoods of the internet to read an engineer write about soccer, thank you for being faithful. Since you’re reading this, you probably know that our season is over. We lost to a good Ohio Valley team, like hosting our region for NCAA good. The G-MAC put two teams into the NCAA tournament this year which is a big accomplishment and something that hopefully we will be a part of in the near future.

As I think about the season that just finished up there are a lot of conflicting emotions, and I am sure that every person on the team will agree. However, I am proud of this group for the way that it, both individually and collectively, stepped up to the challenges and dealt with them to the best of their ability. It is no lie that we were a team plagued by injury this year. Kurt "You Can’t Do That Either" Gruenberg told me that I could not list out our injuries for the season because of some "HIPAA" rules (even though at one point we created a very unofficial yet rock-solid and loophole-proof document that would allow us to hear health information of our teammates - Kurt didn’t bite). But we did have at least seven guys who at least missed a game due to injury, and a majority of that group played significant minutes.

I am very impressed with the underclassmen, particularly the freshmen, who stepped up to the challenge and competed well. You guys have a lot of time left here to develop into the players and men that you need to be. Keep working hard even when you are running for an unreasonable amount of time on the treadmill and it feels like one of your lungs is no longer functioning. Pick your basketball team name wisely, because we will probably be referred by that name for your remaining time here.

Sophomores, way to be workhorses. You guys waited patiently last year and came out this year firing on all cylinders and ready to play a big role on the team. You have a year under your belt and know what the process looks like, keep being encouraging and working hard. Also, win the intramural basketball tournament this season, it would be nice to have at least one team that isn’t absolute garbage at hoops.

Janitors, I love being a Jacket with y’all. This season wasn’t easy for us by any means, but I am proud of the way you kept leading and encouraging even when we hit patches of discouragement. You guys supported me tremendously throughout my dealings with my injury and surgery and rehab, and I hope that you guys each felt as supported through the season as I was. Let’s take the off season by its horns and put ourselves in the best spot to take back the G-MAC title next year!

Seniors (Auld-Stars), you’re washed up athletes now. Though you are leaving behind this sport and team experience that you love so dearly, I hope that you are able to see the impact you have left on it. You have been role models to the younger guys in work ethic, maturity, level-headedness, and so much more. The effort and time that you have dedicated to this team is not unnoticed. Even though this year wasn’t exactly what you had planned for it to be, the adversity grew everyone and you led us very well. Please stop by and watch a game next season and come see us!

Big thank you to Coach Faro, Knight, Zaz, Isaac. I know that this season took a tremendous amount of time and energy that could have been spent elsewhere, and I speak for the team (by the fact that I have power of the blog) in thanking you for choosing to invest in the team wholeheartedly. If you are reading this Shelley or Lisa or Liam (Dibs on Liam in Li’l Dribblers next season, you heard it here first), thank you for putting up with the chaos of the season!

It has been a pleasure to write the Blog and I’m looking forward to doing it again because that means Jacket soccer is back!

Until next time,

Hughesy


October 31, 2017

You’re in luck Jacket Fans! You get to keep reading this literary genius for another week. Which means that the Jackets are still alive and well in the run for the G-MAC Championship. We left off after playing Ohio Valley in our last regular season game. From then until Saturday, the team lived a normal life, practicing and preparing for our match-up against Alderson Broaddus in the quarterfinals.

The team hopped on the bus Saturday morning for West Virginia. We started off the trip with a personal favorite of the beloved Kurt "No Is My Favorite Word" Gruenberg, Cool Runnings. Bad Jamaican accents filled the bus for the rest of the trip. We then watched "Draft Day" which shares the fictional story of the very real Cleveland Browns, where the Browns are actually the winners of the draft. Yet I still have a hunch they went like 1-15 for that next fictional season. We then stopped at Applebee’s for our pre-game meal and our spending limit was enough to include the 2 for $20, so you can imagine what everyone got. Filled and satisfied, we boarded the bus to drive over to AB for the game.

The boys were excited to play and Cole "I Know Everyone" Butaud managed to shoot over the keeper and under the crossbar in the first 20 minutes. Then the rest of the game happened, it wasn’t pretty at all (those who watched the game know what I mean). The game was an absolute grind with guys flying around the field to tackle, win headers, support each other, and defend. But when the final whistle was blown, the Jackets had a goal and the Battlers had not found the back of the net. I was very proud of how much heart the team showed to get statistically beaten and still persevere. Ben "The Doc" Johnson dubbed it "Cockroach Mentality", where the team got stepped on, beaten, and abused. But like the invincible creature they still managed to be alive and squirming about.

After the game we hopped in the bus to go and pick up our post-game meal before heading back to Cedarville. We started driving down Spa-Lick Road (east of Philippi, WV if you want to Google it) which started out paved and then went to gravel to dirt. Next thing we know the back of the bus is scraping the ground as we are driving across a single lane bridge. I was having flashbacks to my freshman year where our bus got stuck on a similar road and we were there for hours waiting for a tow truck. This time we were in the hands of the more-than-capable Coach Mac. This time we were not stuck for hours in West Virginia, but we did lose the bumper in the process. Once we regained possession of the bumper, Soccerpella made another appearance with "Silent Night" as we tried to calm Coach Mac’s nerves down the back road of West Virginia. The moral of the story is that GPS navigation should have a setting for large, non-versatile bus so that its suggestion is not a tiny dirt road when you miss a turn.

We will have another week of training to prepare for the semi-final match-up versus Ohio Valley on Thursday at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio. The game is at 11 a.m. so make sure to set your alarms so you don’t miss the game. It will be one to remember!

Until Next Week,

Hughesy


October 26, 2017

Another week has flown by and its time for yet another blog recapping the chaos that is normal for us. The week began like all other weeks, on Monday. This day we had a technical session where players got the opportunity to train individual skills in addition to normal practice activities. This was a much needed day for the group to catch a breath and process what happened, as the combination of the heartbreaking loss on Saturday to Walsh and John "Mr. Abs" Schwien suffering a horrific knee injury had everyone in shambles. (If you’re reading this John, I understand completely what you’re going through and I want you to know that this injury does not discount the impact that you have had on the group on and off the field. You are so much more than a soccer player, and the influence that you have had since being hurt has been remarkable. Keep going even though your impact doesn’t always seem as effective.)

The week of practices went along swimmingly for the group. The weird part about this week was that we did not have a game on Thursday for the first time in maybe the whole semester. Therefore the team had the opportunity to spend the whole week battling and competing, making each other better players. Believe it or not, we did not suffer any substantial injuries over the week either, though Zaz "The Punisher" Harris seemed like he was out for blood of anyone who has ever said anything mean to him. Folks, that includes everyone except maybe Brian "The Lionhearted" Wolverton who has not muttered a negative word or tone in probably his whole life.

Thursday and Friday were Fall Break so that meant sleeping in and getting the chance to sleep long into the day. Not! We had practice at what felt like the crack of dawn to our bodies, 10 a.m. Let me tell you, this is a magnificent time of day for a practice. The sun is out and beginning to warm up the air, and the dew is still on the grass. The ball slides so purely on this surface and for a moment we feel like players on a UEFA quality pitch. Coach "YEP!" Knight, Greg "I Go Harder Than Anyone Else" Williams, and Levi "Mr. Utility" Haight were pinging balls around so much that the cripple squad had to always be aware for a stray missile. Speaking of cripple squad, I think I speak for Smoker as well, Schwien is not a good addition to the group. While the rest of the team practiced, Smoker and I would do ab/core exercises to stay fit. Schwien has us going double-time, and without rest. The man could probably do sit ups for an entire day and not even feel sore after. Us mortals liked the days when there were breaks in between sets.

We headed into Saturday from a great week of practice ready to win "in competition versus our friendly rivals" to quote Keegan "The Mystery" Wondergem. Highlights from the game versus Lake Erie

• "Dead Leg" Derek Braak buried two goals, probably both going right down the middle if history tells us anything
• Brian buried the third goal for the team, his first of the season!
• Defense dominated, putting up our 6th shutout of the season

If you were thinking that only having one game last week was for us to get rest, well the joke is on you. We played on Tuesday this week versus Ohio Valley, who are impressively ranked #6 in the nation. Because bullet points are far easier to write than sentences, here you go:
 

• The boys battled back from going down 1-0 to tie it up with less than 10 minutes left
• Derek scored on a volley that was so far not in the middle that it kissed the far post before going into the back of the net
• The game went 110 minutes and in my opinion we had the better share of chances in the overtime periods
• We adapted very well to the game-plan the coaches gave, as we played at least three formations throughout the match and we looked confident in every one
• Impressive result to get a tie versus a top quality team

Now begins the process of training and preparing for Alderson Broaddus on Saturday in West Virginia, a rematch of last year’s G-MAC Championship. They have had our number the last couple times we have played, but it will be a great chance for us to get a tough road victory and move on to the semifinals. Its win-or-go-home now. IT’S THE PLAYOFFS BABY!! Support your Jackets at 6 p.m. on Saturday!!

Hughesy


October 18, 2017

(Editor's Note: This week's men's soccer blog was submitted by senior Graham Sachtleben)

It’s a new week for the Jackets! With a rough week in WV behind us, we were all eager to move forward and direct our attention to Malone and Walsh. However, there was one important point of emphasis that would be carried over from WV to this new week of training. We need to get our competitive edge back! The coaches made this very clear to us prior to our first day of training. We were going to compete and fight until we were a bloody mess! GO JACKETS!
 

That Monday training was riddled with two-foot tackles and scrappy one-on-one battles. Such as, the battle between Aiden Dougherty and Zazz Harris. The two were just one set of gloves away from being the main event at a UFC fight (let me know if any of you are interested, I could try to set that up). It was a fun training session to say the least. Everyone was getting involved and playing aggressive soccer. Elbows were flying, studs were up and nobody was safe! That’s the way the Jackets like it! By the end of practice, everyone had survived and gotten a chance to purge their inner-anger. We were ready to beat each other up again Tuesday!

Tuesday was more of the same! A lot of scrapping and fighting. All of our injured players, commonly known as the "Cripp’ Squad", were graced with another very entertaining practice session. However, Wednesday was a hard day to compete with as far as entertainment goes. It started out like any other pre-game day does. Zazz walks around asking players what day it is. The player generally responds by saying "it’s pre-game day!" Then Zazz and said player greet each other with an overly complicated handshake. If you’re not careful you could mistake the two for a couple of 12-year-old girls singing "Miss Mary Mack." I promise you, it’s two grown men greeting each other…you’re just going to have to trust me. However, things quickly went downhill when Carter Selvius, otherwise known as "Chip Bowl" or "Chip Node" (after his recent lymph node injury), became the victim of an uncontrollable nosebleed. This earned Carter his latest nickname, "Chip Nose!" It’s always exciting when Carter gets a new nickname!

But if we’re being honest, the highlight of everyone’s pre-game day was Keegan Wondergem’s post-practice prayer. Perhaps it was the adrenaline coursing through Keegan’s veins from another unstoppable performance or maybe it was just the competitive and violent nature of our previous training sessions. I’m not sure which it was but, I could have sworn I was in the movie Braveheart and William Wallace was praying me into battle against the tyrannical English King… it was simply riveting!

After Wondergem’s prayer, it’s no surprise that we went on to take a decisive victory over Malone University. We won 4-0. Kyle Nikerle installed a GPS in the ball and set its destination to Bryce Childers Noggin. They couldn’t miss. They managed to net two goals together on nearly identical plays in under a minute. Additionally, Nick Marculo found Mason Hecklinger for an effortless goal and Greg Williams served a ball to Levi Haight on a rope for a classy finish. All things considered it was a good day for the Jackets! Friday was a fantastic day! The Butaud family was in town and Mrs. Butaud was kind enough to cook us some delicious Louisiana gumbo! I can’t begin to describe how good it was…words don’t do that gumbo justice! It was a great night. We sat around Coach Knight’s fancy outdoor fireplace and reminisced about some of our favorite moments as members of the Jacket family (RIP Sebas "Papi" Duque!). We had a great evening hanging out and enjoying some family time together. Shout out to the Butaud and Knight family for a fantastic evening!

Saturday was a tough day for us as a team. We didn’t look like ourselves and struggled on both ends of the field. We went on to lose the game off of a last-minute goal in regular time. In addition, John Schwien picked up a very serious injury to his knee. Overall, it was not a good day for us. We were frustrated and disappointed.

Although our week ended poorly, it was a memorable one. From Keegan "braveheart" Wondergem’s killer prayer to Mrs. Butaud’s life-changing gumbo, it isn’t a week we’ll soon forget. We’ve learned a lot through it and are looking forward to getting after it this Saturday (Senior Night) against Lake Erie. One thing is for sure, we’re a resilient group of guys, we won’t go down without a fight!


October 10, 2017

Welcome back Jacket readers! Your Jackets had a once-in-a-lifetime experience in West Virginia this past weekend which you will learn about shortly. We had a long week of practices focused on how we were going to play Alderson Broaddus on Thursday night, and the boys were ready and confident to leave and play two big games.


We left for West Virginia on Thursday morning after getting a team meal at Chuck’s. The first movie for the ride over was Kicking and Screaming, as Zac "Ball Magnet" Muir and Joel "I Can Actually Sing" Fullmer had not seen the legendary film that embodies the coaching passion and grit we will be displaying as recreational coaches for our children. I would not be surprised if TJ "Run for Days" Milby is spotted wearing a customized track suit to his kid’s game in the future. We had our pre-game meal at the "Spaghetti Inn", which is no CJ Maggie’s, but served up a mean spaghetti and meatballs. The Jackets headed for Alderson Broaddus full and ready for a game. Couple highlights from it:

 

•  Defense was very solid, and shut down some very great opposing players
•  AB used a formation we used on them last year and we adjusted to it very well
•  Graham had some big saves

The next day, we got up and had free time before going to lunch. Many of the Jackets were hard at work completing homework and trying to make up for missed class periods, others enjoyed the extra time to sleep. We headed to good old Bobby Evans for an early lunch. Plates of Farmer’s Choice breakfast were coming nonstop to our tables and everyone ate their fill. I had the privilege of sitting with Isaac "Pity is My Ally" Nelson, who informed me on how to maximize the amount of food you get. The veil was removed from our eyes at this moment and we feasted like kings and shall henceforth.

We then returned to the hotel for recovery, and the guys who played a lot of minutes did a pool session. The other guys played a lovely round of Marriott Soccer Golf, competing in groups of three to win the honor of being the best. Chris "The Friendly Trainer" Brown used his two clubs - the crocs and the barefoot - with precision that would make Jordan Spieth jealous. Brian "Hoodlum" Wolverton may or may not have hit a parking sign and broken it on a wayward drive. I’m not sure if he was more disappointed in his shot or the fact that it broke something.

We then went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and feasted on peanuts, meat, potatoes, and cinnamon butter rolls. I think I speak for the whole team when I say the meal was delicious and that we probably ate too much food. Zaz "Traffic Cop" Harris and Ben "I’m the Best Dancer" Johnson tried their hand at line dancing. Those northerners couldn’t keep up. Speaking as a guy who can’t dance, it felt good to see them struggling to find how to do this dance. We headed back to the hotel to watch the US National Team SPANK Panama. We had several warnings from the coaching staff to not be noisy while rooting, I see it as being patriotic.

We awoke on Saturday and headed to Panera for a lovely lunch. It is always intriguing to see how far a college student can stretch a set spending limit. I’ll be honest, I was trying to collude with other guys and use the multiplied limit to find a loophole for more food. Keegan "Birthday Boy" Wondergem straight up ordered a half-dozen bagels, no cream cheese, no drink, the man knew what he wanted. After eating, we had to cross a road to get to our bus, but there were no crosswalks in sight. But fear not dear reader. Zaz "Mother Hen" Harris, stepped in the road and slammed his staff in the road and yelled "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" to the oncoming traffic as the rest of us sheepishly walked across the road. Greg "I’m the Fastest Period" Williams still managed to almost get hit as he tried to beat a car to the spot despite the cars behind that one stopping. We killed the afternoon at the movies. The dog was my favorite character. That is all I have to say about that. We then headed to Davis & Elkins for the game, couple highlights from it:
 

• Responded to going a goal down with putting two away in a matter of minutes!
• Fought and battled for 90 minutes
• Created many good chances

This upcoming week we play Malone on Thursday and Walsh on Saturday, both at home. If you happen to be reading this, please pass the info to a friend or family member. We really enjoy playing in front of a crowd, and this week are HUGE conference games to help our seeding for the conference tournament.

Hope to see you there!

Hughesy


October 4, 2017

(Editor's note: This week's men's soccer blog was submitted by T.J. Milby)

On a scale of 1-10, this past week was at least a 7.8 for your Jackets. The week started off with a few training sessions aided by Coach "iPad" Knight’s space age technology and diagrams. The sessions were well thought out and beneficial, but we all know the real reason the Jackets had such a good week this week: Hydro. Our team is participating in a study on a new sports recovery drink called Hydro. We came to find out that Hydro not only makes you more focussed in class, and ten times more attractive, but also give you ridiculous super powers on the pitch. It also might be a placebo, but that’s a whole lot less likely.

As a team we were sort of tired of playing soccer, so on Thursday night we played Kentucky Wesleyan in football instead. Bryce "Goal Thief" Childers had the only touchdown thrown to him by Brian "Captain Indiana" Wolverton. Greg "Carb Load" Williams put the extra point through and we won 7-0. (That score is actually real, Go Jackets) It was by far our best performance of the year to date and gave us a glimpse of what it could look like when we put a good performance together from back to front.

This past weekend was the de facto parents weekend for the men's soccer team. About half the team’s parents came in from out of town to catch a couple games and make sure their kids were still eating and going to class. That meant that most of us spent Friday night eating dinner somewhere other than Chuck’s, and for that I know we were all grateful. If you combine Hydro with real food you have an unbeatable recipe for success.

On Saturday we were ready to get back at Trevecca who had absolutely stolen a game from us down in Nashville a couple weeks ago. We knew we were better than we had played and were ready to prove it. After a back and forth first half, Alex "Fun Fact" Narog scored the first goal of the game and the first of his career. (Did you know Coke tastes better through a McDonald’s straw than other straws?) As usual Derek "I Actually Do Do Homework" Braak scored on a penalty kick. I was curious the other day so I asked him what he thinks about during penalties. He took a minute to think and then said "You know I really just try not to think about anything." So there you have it folks, that’s Braak’s secret to success. John "Post" Schwein decided he wanted to get in on the scoring action so instead of hitting the post and it having the ball come back at him, he decided to put a laser off the crossbar and in. Good choice Schwein.

That’s two out of two from this week, you literally can’t win more than two games if you only play two. So that’s pretty good. This week we head to West Virginia to take on Alderson Broaddus and Davis & Elkins.

I’ll go ahead and give you a preview of next week’s blog: Really long bus trips, no wifi or cell service.

Until then,

GO JACKETS


September 26, 2017

Another week has flown by in the blink of an eye. This past week went particularly fast for your Jackets because it was a three-game week. Yes, you read that right. Three collegiate soccer games in 96 hours. Except our final game was in the afternoon so that is more like 90 hours. The madness began on Tuesday with a non-conference game versus California PA and here were the highlights:
  Derek scored on a penalty right down the middle
Bryce scored two, with one being an 18-yard top corns volley that was served up by Aiden
The defense was an unbreakable wall
The next day was a post/pre-game day practice and your Jackets did a light recovery session with some finishing. I’ll be honest, it was weird having a session like this on dry land - I feel we have been pretty aquatic this season. Regardless, we had some fun while loosening up our legs after a game. The next day was Game Day and all of us wore our best attire to class to get some free advertisement for our game. Keegan "The Enigma" Wondergem rocked a bright blue shirt and bright blue tie combination that earned him the sharpest dresser award in my opinion. Also, the engineers showed up the business majors in dressing up, not a challenge or anything for next time! However this game was at 4:30 in the afternoon so pre-game rituals started around 2:15 p.m. which is far earlier than normal. We played Ohio Dominican this game:

• We buried three goals
• Derek scored a goal right down the middle
• It might not have been pretty, but a W is all that goes down in the record books

After the game, we showered up and grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back out to the field for the women’s game. At halftime we had a Lil’ Dribblers game for the crowd to watch. This program is where our team coaches teams of 4-6 year olds. We play against the other teams in the league and the rivalry gets pretty heated. The Light Blue Sharks have had a monster season thus far, and if it weren’t for some questionable tactics (playing two goalies, fouling on break-aways, etc) we would be undefeated. But on this night every team played at once and it was chaos, but the kids loved the experience of playing under the lights. This is one of my favorite nights all fall!

The next day (Friday) we had another recovery session where the team juggled and stretched on dry land. I assume Coach "Penny Pincher" Faro found a dollar on the ground at some point while setting up for practice, because he was ecstatically polling the team about how they would spend that dollar. I think the consensus was sweet tea from McDonald’s, in case you ever want to bless the guys with a treat!

For the final Game Day of the week, we left for Findlay at the crack of dawn (8 a.m. actually, but it felt far earlier). We ate at Bobby Evans for the first time this year! The Farmer’s Choice Breakfast was probably ordered by 75% of the team and everybody left the restaurant full and happy. We headed to Findlay for our game and it was quite the experience. We warmed up and played in grass that was so thick, you would have thought it was mud. The grounds crew had to bring shovels of dirt in to fill potholes that would break ankles instantly. No kidding, I stood with both of my feet ankle deep in a pot hole. Nevertheless, the game started and some highlights from the game:

• Mason scored right down the middle on a saucy ball from TJ
• We utterly dominated the last 60 minutes of the game

Unfortunately this result did not go our way, but we will be hard at work this upcoming week to refine and polish the parts of our game that out lacking. We play Trevecca and Kentucky Wesleyan at home this week, please come out and support

Hughesy


September 18, 2017

Another week has passed for your Jackets. I swear I woke up yesterday and we were heading to Louisville to begin the season and now we are already three weeks and six games into the season. This week was the famous Kentucky-Tennessee trip to play our G-MAC rivals Kentucky Wesleyan and Trevecca. From a soccer perspective, the weekend had a lot of great take-aways despite taking a loss on Saturday. But you aren’t reading this blog to hear my perspective on the game, so let’s get to what everyone wants to hear about - the behind the scenes of the weekend.

We left Cedarville last Thursday afternoon and headed to Kentucky for our first game. With Zaz "Storm Chaser" Harris gone, that left the bus’ DVD player in the hands of the capable Chris "I’m Just Here So One Day I’ll be a Better Kurt" Brown. We had movies! And let me tell you, we started with a classic that set the bar impossibly high. We watched "Miracle" and I know for a fact that your Jackets are American patriots. "U-S-A! U-S-A!" was being chanted after Mike Eruzione buried the fourth goal for America and Jim Craig was an absolute wall shutting out the Soviet Union. Coach "Mr. Lasertag" Faro may or may not have been caught repeating lines from this film throughout the weekend. We then settled to what looks like it will be the official restaurant of the 2017 season, Fazoli’s - where the end of endless bread sticks is found. Couple highlights from the game:

• Kentucky Wesleyan had a grass field with lights this year, and it was really nice!
• A big shutout for the defense with Graham rivaling Jim Craig in being an absolute wall between the pipes
• Derek scored on a shot that wasn’t right down the middle.

The next day was focused on recovery (and homework for the mom’s reading this) and Coach "I Have a Newborn Sleep Schedule" Knight took the opportunity to teach us a thing or two about unity in Christ. The class that had the least amount of consecutive juggles was titled "the untouchables" and given a handicap for the next round, and for the seniors that meant just ignoring the people who were given the handicap. We finished up with some pool aerobics. In the afternoon we went and played laser tag as a team and had a blast. I was a part of the Red team that went 4-0 against our rivals the Blue team. T.J. "First to Die" Milby thought he would outsmart the Red team by just hanging out by our base, this resulted in him dying something like 50 times in a 10 minute game…you do the math on that one. Levi "I Have a Hurt Everything" Haight was charging at light speed and it’s a miracle he didn’t hurt anything else. In the other game (the laser tag place was small so we divided into two groups) there were rumors of our coaching staff getting physical in the arena. I wasn’t there so I cannot confirm or deny, but having been physically assaulted by a coach while playing laser tag a couple years back, I believe it. Regardless, the Jackets walked away sweaty and smiling, a very good team activity.

Dinner that night was at the OG, where once again we found the bottom of bottomless bread sticks. After dinner we went back to the hotel and had a golf (the card game) tournament. After a number of games, the championship game between Coach Knight, Graham "I Defeated Lactic Acid" Sachtlaben, Greg "He Shouldn’t Be In The Finals" Williams, and Josh "He Was There Too" Brown. The game was heated between Coach and Graham until Greg made one of the most surprising moves in the history of the game and gave Graham a lower card, securing Graham’s victory and ensuring his own demise. Whatever his motives were for this bold move, you gotta respect a man that knows he has no chance and tries to take as many people down with him as possible.

The next day we headed to Nashville for the second game of the weekend and stopped at (you guessed it) Fazoli’s. I would say that an accurate theme for the weekend was bread sticks. Couple highlights from the Trevecca game:

• Created tons of quality attacking chances
• The team fought and battled incredibly hard amid the heat and humidity

This upcoming week we have three games with Cal PA on Tuesday (home / 7PM), Ohio Dominican on Thursday (home / 4:30PM), and at Findlay on Saturday (1PM). If you happen to be a Cedarville student and are reading this, please bring a friend or two to our home games this week. It makes the game incredibly fun to be playing in front of lots of people!!

Hughesy


September 12, 2017

Welcome Jacket fans! This blog is coming to you from part two of the three-man blog team, T.J. “full freshman” Milby. What a week it was for your Jackets this week. It was a week filled with some (very) highs and some (very) lows. But I think everyone on the team would agree we came out of this week a better team than we were eight days ago.

 

The week started with CedarFest, the local celebration of not working on Labor Day. We all went to the park and watched the fireworks and then hit the dance floor. Ben “B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D” Johnson kept it smooth on the dance floor, and Cole “I don’t actually know everybody” Butaud stayed in his wheelhouse (which we were all thankful for). A couple training sessions and more Lil’ Dribblers games rounded out our preparation for Wednesday’s home opener. Huge shoutout to the Lil’ Dribblers parents that seem to have an endless supply of muffins, cookies, and breads as snacks at the games!
 
On Wednesday we learned a whole lot of lessons. We took a bad loss at home to a good Ohio Valley team, but some positives came from the game. We were all reminded that as a team we are nowhere near where we need to be and were reminded by Coach “Motivation” Knight to “bend not break” and work to get better. More importantly, much of the team was inspired by the bilinguality of most of Ohio Valley’s team and has started to learn a second language on a free app on their phones. It’s a foolproof plan that should have us fluent in no time. But, for the next week and half or so, if you’re on the team bus or in the dorms you just might here some broken German, Italian, or Spanish being spoken in awful American accents.
 
The guys got back to work hard on Thursday and Friday, ready to prove ourselves Saturday against a new G-MAC opponent, Lake Erie. We headed out with (potato) chips on our shoulders Saturday morning, but before we could get down to business the old bus formerly known as Old Faithful (now known as Old UNfaithful) broke down. Thankfully, it was only a few minutes from the church we were having our pregame meal at and we all got to the church almost on time. While we were waiting for the transportation situation to get sorted out we found out that Derick “right down the middle” Braak, Josh “Nashville Hat“ Brown, and Alex “Engineer” Narog can each drink an entire bottle of water in about three seconds flat. The bus breaking down happened to be the best thing that happened to Cedarville Soccer since Connor “never forgotten” Gilmour,  because to solve the problem Coach “I’m more of a suburban guy” Faro went out and rented four brand new minivans. We rolled up to the field in our caravan of minivans ready to put an end to a bad start to our season.
 
Three important points from Saturday’s game

• We scored
• We scored again
• Lake Erie never scored

 
If you’re keeping track - that means we won. Watch out world, the Jackets are officially on a winning streak. We’re headed down to the land of sweet tea and country music to take on Kentucky Wesleyan and Trevecca Nazarene this week, and we’re planning on keeping that winning streak going.
 
Until next time,
 
GO JACKETS


September 5, 2017

"A Cruyff isn’t a touch, a Cruyff is a Cruyff" - Coach Knight on touch limits

What a week it has been for your Jackets! (I would like to start this blog out by saying that I will not be providing commentary on our many games over this season. If you have navigated through the back woods of the internet enough to stumble across this blog, you probably already watch/stream our games.) I boarded the bus, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to be met by an ensemble of Jackets singing "Sweet Caroline" as you would imagine a group of non-musical guys would sound. The bus was filled with energy and enthusiasm to start our season which was quickly drained when Coach "Birthday Boy" Zaz couldn’t figure out how to operate a DVD player. He says that it is the disc, but a classic like "Remember the Titans" doesn’t just stop working mysteriously. Needless to say, I am not convinced.

The bus ride was silent on the way to Louisville until we arrived at Fazoli’s for our pregame meal. I heard like six people in a row order the twice-baked lasagna, so if you haven’t been there in a while, that is what the Jackets recommend. We finished the meal and then began the process of preparing for the game, which was delayed over an hour by lightning. Unfortunately I did see this bolt when we were initially walking out to warm-up, but most of the time we are sent inside for mysterious bolts that are somehow caught by Kurt "You Can’t Play Today" Gruenburg, our trainer. During the delay some of the guys decided to participate in the bin challenge. Officially, it was short work as about 15 or so guys headed the ball down the line into the bucket on the first try - or at least there is no evidence to prove otherwise. Check out our snapchat to see the video. Eventually, we played the game and had our hearts broken. That all there is to say on that.

The next day, Louisville was met with the effects of hurricane Harvey so the torrential down pour forced us to be inside all day. The team had a recovery session in the hotel pool that day which consisted of Zaz seemingly making up the workout as we went. After a quick bite to eat at the beloved "Noodles and Co." we proceeded to our afternoon activity of Breakout Louisville. For those of you who don’t know how this works, a group of people are locked in a room with a series of clues on how to open locks which eventually lead to you finding the way or pass code out of the room, and you have an hour to breakout. Going in, we knew that the engineers would be a strong contributor to whichever groups they were assigned. Joel "We have a Joel?" Fullmer was also expected to be a powerhouse considering he worked at one of these places over the summer. Much to our surprise (just kidding) Coach Faro had the team already divided into groups based on position, squeezing every possible drop of structured positional bonding possible. I was placed with the other center midfielders. The other groups were the coaches, defenders, goalies & strikers (yea I was curious about that one too), and what I like to call the misfits - those players who are more attacking orientated but don’t conform to any one role. Unsurprisingly, my group broke out of the kidnapping room with almost seven minutes to spare. John "Not Stone Cold Anymore" Schwein organized our room so well that a professional organizer might cry and the rest chipped in where they could. Every group escaped except but one. You guessed it, the misfits failed to break out. I was told that Derek "The Flop" Braak turned out to be the rock that sunk his team despite Josh "The Greater" Brown putting the team on his back. Their excuse was that "the casino room was the hardest room". Yea, sure.

We then went to dinner at Tuby Ruesday’s where your Jackets got a generous spending limit (thank you coach!) Seeing everybody use their full spending allotment is always a funny sight, especially when the four guys at the end of the table have two of the most expensive appetizers. Alex "The Schemer" Narog was without a doubt the brains behind this operation that I am sure used every last penny they were allotted.

The next day we awoke and hung out around the hotel until it was time to leave for the game. The rain had finally subsided and the weather was very pleasant around kickoff. We had another unfortunate result versus UIndy but there was much good to be taken from the game. After this we showered, grabbed our boxed lunches, and began the journey back to Cedarville. We celebrated Zaz’s birthday with cupcakes that he immediately compared to his heritage while also turning your teeth blue. The mood was pleasant though tired on the trip back and at one point I took out my headphones to hear Mason "Long Hair Don’t Care" Hecklinger leading the back of the bus in a beautiful rendition of "Silent Night" in September. Soccerpella, our team acapella group, will bring you a studio album soon with a couple epic remakes and beautiful originals that may make you cry. Take that as you will. Anyway, if there are shenanigans on the bus, you can count on Mason to be orchestrating them. We arrived back to campus safely on Saturday in time for a lot of your Jackets to go out and support the women’s team start their season with another big win.

Big shout out to Coach Mac for being the best bus driver. Not only have I seen him wield the bus through a tornado, but I swear that man can park the 45-foot bus in a 30-foot space. While turning around in a parking lot, he came within inches of scraping a parked car. With the whole team screaming to stop, Coach Mac continued with absolute certainty in his skills - performing a flawless 3 point turn. The man is a legend.

Come out this Wednesday to watch our G-MAC and home opener versus Ohio Valley, a rematch of the semifinal match last year!!

Hughesy


August 29, 2017

Welcome back Jacket fans to another year of mayhem, mischief, successes, disappointments, and most importantly, soccer. First off, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Conner Hughes and I hail from the greatest state in the nation, Texas. I am a junior this season and studying electrical engineering. But you probably still have no clue who I am without my nickname that was so graciously given to me by the predecessor, Plumdog. So ladies and gentlemen, I “Conner the Lesser” will be your tour guide in the life of a Jacket along with T.J. “Full-Freshman” Milby and Graham “Kiss the Cook” Sactlabahahahaban (close enough). Let’s get started!

Your Jackets arrived on Saturday, August 12th and let me tell you there was excitement in the air. Everybody was eager to get moved in and started with the craziness of the first week. But this year was different. For the first time ever, the upperclassmen were permitted by the University and the coaching staff to live off campus. More on the perks of this to come later. After getting situated in our rooms, people went over to check in with the coaching staff and were thrown off guard when Coach “All Smiles” Faro was pulling people in for hugs left and right after NCAA-mandated meetings and physicals on Saturday were over. The next morning we attended Grace Baptist Church as a team and spent the afternoon relaxing and mentally preparing for the mile. Shelley prepared the team a wonderful chicken dinner that evening, as always, and next up was the dreaded mile.

The worst part of the mile is the warm-up, when you realize how uncomfortable the run is going to be and it is now real because you are on the track under the lights at midnight. Nonetheless we warmed up and divided into our two groups and ran. I was placed in the first group with some powerhouse runners like Greg “Nah Dude” Williams and Levi “Fancy Feet” Haight. Both groups ran very good races with a majority finishing at their goal times. Special shout-out to the guys and the one giraffe that beat five minutes: you worked your butts off this summer, way to come in fit and prepared for the season! The worst part was then over, at least for another year.

The next morning, we started training and everybody was flying on all cylinders. The energy and enthusiasm was incredible with everyone putting their best foot forward, trying to improve the team and themselves. We spent a majority of the week working on individual skill, playing so the coaches could see our personnel, and learning how to play our new formation. (You’ll just have to watch our games to see this masterpiece in action.) Because I spent a lot of time with Isaac “Giggles” Nelson hearing him talk about this system, it is really cool to see it come to life! We are blessed to have so many dedicated individuals and great soccer minds helping us in training to become the best of which we are capable. We have Coach “I Roll My R’s On Words Without An R” Knight wearing the assistant coach hat in addition to all the other hats (you heard that right, the man can do anything). Coach “This Is My 10th Year” Zaz and Coach “Father Time” Isaac Nelson help out tremendously in any way that they can. Jacket fans hold on to your hats, because Connor Gilmour (no title needed) is back for a little bit of time to help out and provide some tips on finding the back of the net as he has done so well in his career.

We played a scrimmage game on Saturday, August 19th and unfortunately lost 2-0 to Tiffin, a strong NCAA tournament team the previous year. There were a number of encouraging things that came from the game, including seeing the freshmen ball out in a game scenario for the first time, dominating possession and chances created, and playing the new formation very well on a week’s practice. Believe me Jacket fans, this season is going to be exciting and we are going to play a great brand of soccer that you will love watching!

On Sunday, we had quite the team night. We first went to the seniors’ house and had some brisket and hamburgers that were prepared by Graham himself. He spent like nine hours smoking the meat and it was delicious. Big thanks to the seniors for buying enough food to feed the team and letting us play a variety of lawn games at their place. After that, we went over to the juniors’ house to have a bonfire. The women’s team joined us as we spent the night talking around the campfire, forcing the freshmen to overcome their fear of public speaking, and making smores. It was a wonderful night where Brian “I Only Eat Healthy” Wolverton partook in a s’more. With that, the craziness of the first week came to a close.

Until Next Time,

Hughesy
 
P.S. Follow jacketssoccer on snapchat for a video and picture look into our lives


Conner Hughes is a junior midfielder from Wichita Falls, Texas. He is in his third season with the Yellow Jackets and is a Dean's List student majoring in electrical engineering.