University of Virginia Library

Players Of The Week

Booters Await Tourney Invitation

By Gordy Rawles
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Although gridiron heroics normally
provide ample subject for the
delegation of a fall athlete of the
week, how could anyone overlook a
soccer team with such a long list of
accomplishments as Virginia's 1969
squad. The result: Burris' booters
receive the honor of Players of the
Week.

With a 9-0-1 record and the only
undefeated season ever under their
belts, the determined young Cavaliers
have already made a name for
themselves in the Virginia record
books; nevertheless, they are unsatisfied
as they eagerly await a
possible invitation to the National
Collegiate Championships.

The outcome of the season was
fantastic, so much in fact that
several of the members of the team
remain incredulous of their own
achievements. Fred McGlynn, a
second-year outside right, could
only say, "We know we've done it,
but I'm just not sure that we realize
the full effect of it yet."

After the Cavaliers' first victory,
a sound 5-0 thrashing of the VMI
Keydets, Coach Burris was less than
ecstatic realizing that his team had
quite a few rough spots to smooth
out. "I'm pleased that we won, but
we still have a long, long way to go.
We have to settle down. This team
has the potential, but we haven't
done the job yet."

Indeed this team did have the
potential but the one point which
Burris or anyone else failed to
realize five weeks ago is that this
1969 version of the Virginia soccer
team also has the desire to develop
that potential.

A young, aggressive offensive
line, an experienced defense, and a
fourth-year goalie who finally had
the chance to prove what he could
really do - these were the keys to
the most successful soccer season
ever at the University of Virginia.

But there was more behind the
scenes that many a soccer rooter
may be cognizant of.

The addition of Ian Faulconer
and Jim Lewis, two graduate
students, to the coaching staff to
complementing Head Coach Burris
proved to be one of the important
factors in making a good team into
a great team. In the opinion of
Tri-captain Mike Sorenson, the
defensive unity, which shut out six
teams and yielded a total of only
five goals in ten games, could never
have shown such fantastic improvement
in co-ordination and teamwork
without Coach Lewis.

In praising the coaching abilities
of Coach Faulconer, winer Fred
McGlynn admitted, "I don't know
what he taught me, but the hours
he gave me made me into a
different soccer player." Ian Faulconer
taught him something -
maybe it was to lead the team in
scoring with six goals.

Although the coaches were an
integral part in the success of the
season, no one can deny that the
final credit must go to the men who
actually walked onto the field and
came off winners. There are eleven
of them - such names as Connor,
Mertenz, Kennelly, McGlynn, Bowman,
Ziehl, Showalter, Taylor,
Sorenson, and more. Each one of
them made a perfect season; each
one gave his all.

Confidence is the moral of the
story. Confidence in their teammates,
confidence in their coaches,
and confidence in themselves -
confidence was the essence of the
Cavaliers' success. More important
however is the confidence which
those eleven men have in the
future. It is not the soccer players
who wonder if they will merit a
berth in the National Championships;
it is not the soccer players
who worry about being prepared
for the State Tournament; it is not
the players who ponder about next
year's possible disappointment; but
it is those eleven men who are
confident that they are shooting for
and will win, the title of Soccer
National Champions.