Men’s Soccer Working to Improve From Last Season

The Hudson Valley Men’s Soccer Team is seeking to rebound from last season and make a playoff run this year.
The Vikings finished with a record of 5-9-1 last season, but finished the season with a three game winning streak.
Seven players are returning to the Vikings from last season, which means about 80 percent of the team will be newcomers.
“After a few weeks of preseason, I feel pretty good as the team is starting to form,” said Coach Cooke. “Being a junior college, every year there is a big turnover with players.”
Coach Cooke and his assistant, Chad Mendrysa, have the task of evaluating the new players and getting the team to where they want it to be.
“The players come from all different soccer experiences, so it is a very crucial time for player evaluation for the coaching staff,” said Coach Cooke.
There are things that Coach Cooke will be looking for in his players this season as the year progresses.
“I am looking for hard work on and off the pitch, this means the classroom also. As for their soccer development, I am looking to make a deep playoff run with the team,” said Cooke.
One of coach’s big points for his team development is making sure that the team chemistry is there.
“They have the potential but need to gain the team confidence in order to have success. Team chemistry is a difficult thing to build in team sports and it will be interesting to see how it develops over the year,” said Cooke.
After a few weeks of training, the team looks to score more goals this year.
“I will also be looking to improve the player’s mental approach to the game of soccer. We must be aware tactically as a team and also be able to handle the pressure and physical nature to college soccer,” said Cooke.
As the coaching staff gets ready to play this season, they have set a few goals for the season to get them to where they need to be.
“Main goals for myself and Chad are to be able to implement all of the research that we have been doing over the year, we [have] exposed a very large amount of soccer games, articles, drills,” said Coach Cooke
The Vikings start the season on Sept. 4 with an away match against Finger Lakes. That is the start of a seven game road trip before they return and play their first home game on Oct. 2 against Mohawk Valley.