Post by CrimsonPhantom on Aug 10, 2012 7:27:23 GMT -7
Crimson & White scrimmage Friday
By Jim Hilley
Las Cruces Bulletin
New Mexico State University soccer fans will get their first look at the Aggies fourth-season team and the new Soccer Athletic Complex at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10, when the team plays the annual Crimson & White Scrimmage.
Coach Blair Quinn said Tuesday, Aug. 7, the coaching staff would use the scrimmage to evaluate how players perform together in a game-like setting.
“The coaches will sit down on Thursday night and probably again on Friday morning and try to figure out who we think has been performing the best, but also who plays the best with those around them,” he said.
“Some kids are very good, but maybe they don’t mesh as well with another player – because maybe they are too similar – so we are trying to figure out what we think will be the best lineup for the first part of the scrimmage. We will try to do our starting group against the next group.
“The second half will be much more intermixed, where we are looking at other people coming into the game.”
Quinn said having the scrimmage and practice at the new Soccer Athletic Complex should prove to be an advantage for his team this season.
“Any time you can train in the same place
you play, in the same environment, it should be a little bit of an advantage just in the comfort level,” he said.
Entering his second year as coach, Quinn said his own comfort level has increased since last year.
“Last year was kind of high stress for me because it was such a big change from where I was as first assistant to being head coach,” Quinn said. “Everything at this point now is repetitive, it’s seeing it again, which is good.
“It will make things a little bit easier but it is still a challenge to build your team the way you want it.”
Quinn said his team will hit the field ahead of where they were at this time last year.
“We are definitely ahead,” he said. “When you are only teaching five new players as opposed to teaching 27 players, things tend to go a little bit faster, especially when the returning players can help teach.”
Among the new players, Quinn said Samantha Sandoval, a 5-3 freshman forward out of Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque, has caught his attention.
“She has got herself positioned right now as one of the top three or four forwards,” Quinn said. “She has done some very good things, she’s quick, she’s good with both feet, she’s definitely competing to start.”
Quinn said the Aggies won’t change their style of play this season, but their speed of play should improve.
“With us understanding what we are doing better this year we should be faster, that’s the goal,” he said.
The Aggies return nine starters from a squad that won a program-record 10 games last season. Seven seniors on the roster have been with the program since its inception in 2009.
The Aggies open the 2012 regular season at a pair of tournaments on the road. The first game is at Boise State, Friday, Aug. 17, in the Holiday Inn Classic in Boise, Idaho, followed by a matchup with Idaho Sate on Aug. 19. NMSU then travels to the UC Riverside Tournament in Riverside, Calif.,Aug. 31-Sept. 2.
NMSU’s home opening weekend begins at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7, as they host Sam Houston State. The Aggies also host Weber State at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9.
The soccer facility is located between the Coca-Cola Weight Center and the NMSU Softball Complex on Stewart Street. For home games, seating in the grandstand is on a firstcome, first-served basis and may be limited. Fans are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs to sit around the field. Parking is available in the softball/soccer parking lot and fans can enter through the shared entrance.
From- www.lascrucesbulletin.com/ee/lascrucesbulletin/default.php?pSetup=lascrucesbulletin
