The Marauder’s Men’s Soccer team continued its winning ways on Wednesday, September 3rd by recording a decisive victory over West Chester University.
Millersville took complete control throughout the game by maintaining focus on, and executing the game plan. The victory over their conference foes was of immense proportion, considering West Chester was ranked above Millersville heading in to the game. The Marauders took the lead early on a 12th minute goal from Matt Wilson, and continued the onslaught by outshooting their opponents by a count of 21-5 and finishing with 4 goals on the day.
Coach Widdowson had this to say about his team’s performance, “We executed our game plan successfully, and were able to make the proper changes in order to counter our opposition. We forced West Chester to play into our hands, which enabled us to beat them in all phases of the game.”
Millersville’s success stems directly from their team unity, and willingness to improve each and every day. They are boiling over with confidence and appear to be relaxed going in to each game.
“We play with a chip on our shoulders. Teams get ranked higher than us, yet we know we can beat them. We have molded together as a team, and all hang out together. We always come ready for every game, and push each other to get where we want to be as a team,” said team captain Ryan Kiley.
The mentality of the players is shaped by Coach Widdowson, who preaches confidence, but not over confidence. He does not want his players to be arrogant. Instead, he believes they should feel comfortable out there and stay motivated.
“We need to be relaxed and confident, which we currently have a good mix of. There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance though. We are on the correct side of that line,” claimed coach Widdowson.
“We listen to Coach. He knows what it’s like to be in our shoes, playing for our school. He has a college background and understands what we go through. We believe in his system and know that if we execute we will be successful. He is willing to take the blame for our mistakes, but we, as a team, never point fingers,” said Kiley.”
Overall, the team’s play has been consistently good, and they have an undefeated record to show for it (3-0). The team is defending well, allowing just one goal in three games. Widdowson is delighted by how well the team defends as a full unit, which is also a credit to the unity within the team. The team creates many attacking chances, with the amount of weapons they possess.
“We defend as a full team, which limits the opponent’s chances, and at the same time we are creating chances of our own. The next step is getting a bit cleaner in our finishing. Other than that we just need to keep pushing ourselves every day,” said Coach Widdowson.
Millersville was ranked third in the Atlantic region and 21st in the nation, according to the current National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) rankings. The Marauders next test is on Wednesday Sept. 9 against Wilmington, at home. Kiley believes this will be a tough game, and that it will be a test of the team’s true character.
