Published: August 27, 2009

The Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) Soccer team finished the spring 2009 season owners of a 6-2-2 record and a share of first place in the Bryant North division of Metro Soccer NY. And though the team’s best record in years may have made FCLC a contender for a league title last spring, the squad will need to once again prove its worth this fall without the senior leadership and experience that earned such success last spring.

“Last season was epic, to say the least,” said midfielder Steven Rey, FCLC ’11. “I am definitely hoping that we can match last season’s performance and perhaps even exceed it.”

The revolving roster of players that is unavoidable with a college team will no doubt pose a problem to the FCLC squad, though.

“We’ll struggle, but we’ll step up,” said Richard Scott, FCLC ’11. “Everyone just needs to find their role.”

If Fordham hopes for a repeat of last year’s success, the team needs its players to find greater roles on the defensive side of the ball. Despite sharing a first place record, FCLC recorded a -2 goal differential, fifth worst in the division.

But Fordham’s surprisingly strong run last year undoubtedly left opponents with a new view of the team of Manhattan-based college kids.

“I definitely think last season’s success is going to impact how the other teams view us,” Rey said. “We don’t have the biggest or most intimidating players in the league and our physical diversity makes us stand out. We play against guys that are older, bigger, and alot more aggressive, but everyone now knows skill, smarts, and heart can prevail almost every time.”

“I’m sure our name will bring up some bad memories for a couple of teams in the league,” said Louiz Lourdes, FCLC ’11.

As is the case with any student-run athletic team at Fordham, off-the-field efforts are just as important to success as on-field performance. With last season’s leaders having graduated from Fordham and Fordham Law, a new crop of players will be responsible for scheduling practice times and organizing transportation to games.

“I think there are several players that do all the behind the scenes work,” Rey said. “As secretary this year I’m looking forward to working with the other members of the e-board and can’t wait to do some of the managerial things myself.”

One of the main challenges is finding a suitable practice field. “The fact that we don’t even have a decent field to practice in, and must resort to playing in dirt patches in Central Park really hinders our development,” Rey said. “I can’t express how good it would feel to kick a soccer ball into a net at practice, rather than in between two garbage cans.”

Loures said one of the team’s goals is to schedule more games against local colleges like New York University or Pace University in hopes of drawing greater attention from the student body at FCLC.

“I don’t think the team’s success went as noticed as it should or could have been,” said Rey. “We are the only sports team of our kind at Lincoln Center and, except for the occasional article on the last page of The Observer, we don’t get the recognition that we deserve. I have actually spoken to [Rev. Robert R.] Grimes [S.J., dean of FCLC] on the elevator a couple times and he always expresses how proud he is of the team, but we don’t get the same response from the overall Fordham community.”

“We’re proud of ourselves for last year,” Scott said. “I just wish more people knew at Fordham about it.”