Kevin McCarthy

September 7, 2004

This year's installment of Emory soccer is an experienced group looking to build on what it learned last year. Over the course of last season, we developed from a team with great potential to a team that played up to that potential.

By the middle of last season, we knew that we were a top Division III team. However, we faltered in our NCAA tournament game.

With nine returning starters, we are aware of our talent and we know we're capable of great success. But last year's experience also taught us where we need to improve in order to be a better team.

Every August, the team gets together for pre-season practices and conditioning. We run, play soccer, and hang out. It's pretty much hanging out with the team all day, every day.

This year our season started later than usual and so we had more time to work on important things such as conditioning and teamwork. As a result of this extra work and last year's experiences, this team has higher expectations than any previous team in my four years at Emory.

To the 19 returning players, we have added five freshmen and two transfers. Their contributions have already been seen in the first few games of the season.

We opened up our season last weekend at home with two good results against solid opponents. We defeated Richard Stockton 4-0 and Methodist 1-0. The results were good, but we still have some things to work on as a team.

In the coming weeks, we'll constantly be looking to improve. This year we have our work cut out for us because we know what we can do and, more importantly, now we know what we've got to do to be successful.

Kevin McCarthy is a senior from St. Louis, Mo. He would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.