The old cliche says that it’s okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. That’s the
motto the Buffalo State men’s soccer team is standing by entering the 2012 season.
Coming off a rough season in which the Bengals finished 1-8 in conference play (6-9-2 overall),
players and coaches on the team seem to be putting last year behind them. Their focus is on the
upcoming season.
“The goal is to have a winning record and get to the conference playoffs and nothing short of it,”
head coach Rudy Pompert said. “Mentally, we have to believe we can win at all costs and that
means offensively and defensively.”
After getting off to a hot start that saw Buffalo State win five of its first six games, the Bengals
faltered last season. They won just one game from that point forward. Coaches and players insist
the drop-off in the squad’s play was due to being young and making mistakes.
“We made a lot of freshmen mistakes last year as a team,” junior midfielder John Commisso
said. “We made a lot of silly mistakes and it cost us games.”
Pompert said he agreed with his midfielder.
“Probably half the goals we gave up last season were silly goals that were untimely and just were
self-inflicted,” he said. “We have to do a better job at cleaning up in those areas.”
The team lost five seniors, including co-captains Tony Schiappa and Thomas Karanas. Schiappa
was the team’s leading scorer last season, and though some teammates have referred to him
as “irreplaceable,” Pompert believes they have to cope without him.
“Those players are going to be tough to replace, but we have to move on and we have players I
feel can step in and contribute right away,” he said.
One of those players that Pompert alluded to was senior forward Phil Pinzone, who has already
been named captain.
“With losing (Schiappa) and (Karanas), I feel it’s my job to take on more of a leadership role
next season in our game management and the team as a whole,” Pinzone said.
Pinzone is one of six seniors on a team that is sure to be more experienced than last year’s. There
are also ten juniors on the squad.
Pompert said he believes the team needs to improve both offensively and defensively, but views
defense as the priority entering the season.
“We gave up way too many goals last season and I’d like that number to get down to one or less
goals allowed per game,” Pompert said. “If we can do that then we can dictate our offense but by
season’s end I’d like to be below 20 in terms of goals against and I think we can do that.”
In addition to Pinzone, the team will look to other players to step up including sophomores
Andrew Dugan and Marikos Habtemichael and senior Evan Johnson. All three finished top five
on the team in points. Pompert also expects incoming freshmen to contribute.
Junior goaltender Ben Spilman will be back in net this year but will face some competition from
an unnamed transfer in what Pompert called “a healthy competition.”
Aubrey Gibert can be reached by email at gibert.record@live.com.