Boston College Athletics
BC Weekly Diary With Bobby Thompson
November 13, 2001 | Men's Soccer
October 24, 2001
The rest of the season is all heart. The 2001 season began with very high expectations. Last year we won the BIG EAST Championship and this year's team is even better. As is normal in the game of soccer, anything can happen, so we have had some really tough games and unlikely losses. However, our team has still done very well and fought to an 8-4 record, 5-3 in conference play. Now comes the hard part.
Nearly every week for the last month has seen another key player hampered by injury. Leading scorer Casey Schmidt's season came to an abrupt halt when he received multiple fractures to his face in a collision with the goalkeeper from Harvard. This left a question mark on who would take over the role of goal scorer. Having scored a goal in each of the two games prior to Casey's absence, I hoped that I might be able to help the team by continuing to score. However, the following game I pulled my groin muscle against BU. The injury has gotten worse each game since, until last Saturday's game at Notre Dame, which saw me play only 15 minutes before heading to the bench frustrated.
Unable to produce, I still has the endless confidence that we have plenty of players who can score including Chris Cleary, Adam Pfeifer, and Neil Krause, our other main attackers. I was proved correct as both Adam and Cleary scored game winners in the following weeks. But would you believe it? Both Adam and Chris have suffered minor injuries in the past week that have slowed them down, if only a step, but every step counts. Our most active center midfielder, Billy Arnault, also just came down with the flu.
As the season winds down, our team must cope with the fact that four out of our five top scorers are either sidelined or playing hurt. With only four games to play in the regular season, the rest of the season is all heart.
Despite the injuries and despite this season's hardships, I am still fully confident that our team will finish strong. It seems as though every time someone gets hurt or ill, someone else steps it up and helps pull us through. Our team is filled with kids who have great work ethic, great talent, great confidence, and great heart. It could be anyone on the team who is going to be the next hero. It is not a question of whether someone will step it up, it is only a question of who will do it this time.
