Injuries have taken toll on Hansen, Generals soccer team
By Brian Questel
September 28, 2011
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Wooster High boys soccer coach Brian Hansen knew his team would have a tough road ahead of it to defend its Ohio Cardinal Conference championship.
He just didnt know how hard it would be.
The high hopes that Hansen had for his squad at the beginning of the season slowly disappeared with a series of injuries that have been hard to overcome and a prime reason for the Generals 2-6-1 ledger as they head into the final week of the regular season and then into the OCC tournament.
Injuries can be so hard to overcome when you start a lot of inexperienced and first-year varsity players, said Hansen. You can have that even with experience. With the injuries weve had, that can kill morale and the team, but I give our guys credit. They have never given up. They have fought through practices and games, but at game time it hasnt been there because some of our most experienced guys have been sitting on the bench.
At one point, we had eight guys out and six were starters. Weve taken it on the chin this year. When I have eight varsity players siting next to me, holy mackerel. That kills games right away.
The good news is that the slow drip of injuries has eased and seven of the eight players have returned to the pitch. The impact was evident Sept. 22 when the Generals worked for a 1-1 draw against first-place Mansfield Senior, which was 4-0-1 in the league prior to game time.
Technically, thats the first time weve had what I thought was going to be our starting 11 all season, said Hansen. I havent started the same lineup all season. Its hard to get into a rhythm when you are starting a whole entire different 11, a different lineup or different formations trying to cover injuries.
That was a nice tie and our guys totally felt like it was a win. We werent down 3-0 in the first 10 minutes – we started well and finished well. We had little lulls in the game, but they were minimal. They werent 20 minutes long, but two to three minutes.
It goes to show what we could have been. Were starting our season now in some ways.
Any good to come out of the rash of injuries has come in the form of opportunities for other players, Hansen noted.
We had a JV player, Luke Wiest, who started for me Thursday night (against Senior) and had our only goal at Clear Fork, said Hansen. We wouldnt have found him if not for all the injuries. We needed someone to step in and play. In my nine years, Louis Paumier was the last one to start as a freshman.
And, even though his goals-against average is not where it should be, George Kulka has played well (in goal). Weve taken our lumps, but it would have been worse without him. Hes been our MVP. With only one year of experience (in goal), that tells you what kind of athlete he is. Hes been incredible.
The OCC tournament will begin Oct. 4 and Hansen is looking for the Generals to steal some satisfaction out of his teams remaining dates.
The guys are fired up to play spoiler, he said. Were looking forward to it and looking forward to ruining someone elses season. Its been one of those things. Were just catching our stride and trying to go to the title game. How about winning only one or two games in the OCC regular season, but then playing in the finals of the OCC tournament? How cool would that be as a sixth seed, which is probably what we will end up being?
Wooster (1-4-1 in the OCC) played West Holmes Sept. 27 in its final OCC regular-season game. Should Wooster end up as the No. 6 seed in the conference, it will play the third seed in its opening OCC game.
