With warm weather finally upon us, spring (and by extension, soccer, of course) has indeed arrived.
Therefore, let us look ahead to the promise of warmer temps and later sunsets, as the following is a preview to the sunny days and warm summer nights of Stingrays soccer in ‘07.The ‘Rays, coming off a 6-8-2 record (20 points) in the New England Division of the Premier Development League, look to improve upon their 3rd place finish.
Despite narrowly missing the playoffs by four points last year, the team hopes to build on a foundation of returning veterans in an attempt to catapult the club to their first playoff appearance since 1998.
That being said, the team should have no problems finding the back of the net, after scoring 39 total goals (2nd-best in the division) in 2006.
Last year’s goal scoring efforts, led by the Rhody Ram tandem of Dawid Badecki (7 G, 2 A) and Danleigh Borman (7 G, 2 A), will both be returning to the team this year. Although the club will be without the services of assist leader Jeffrey Gonsalves, (selected 40th overall by Toronto FC in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft), another Rhody Ram duo of Geoffrey Cameron (4 G, 1 A) and Lukasz Tumicz (4 G, 2 A) will be returning to the club’s potent midfield corps. Steady veteran Alonso Villasenor (CCRI) will be returning as well, and should be able incorporate his leadership abilities into a team which has, by and large, little turnover from the 2006 season.
There is no question that manager Mario Pereira has an eye for such talent, as he has seen two recent ‘Rays (the aforementioned Gonsalves and Nico Colaluca in 2005) jump to the ranks of MLS during this offseason alone.
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