Photo by: Jade Johnson
The Panther men’s soccer team sit with a 6-5 overall record. Despite the five losses, five games are left into the regular season before the Sun Belt tournament, they control their own destiny.
Three out of the five games are league games, which are in conference games. The Panthers are 2-0 in league play. The goal for head coach, Brett Surrency and the team is to be the number one seed in the Sun Belt Tournament.
“We want the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt tournament and the bye that goes with it,” Surrency said. “That bye is an advantage and we’d like to be in that position. The top goal is to win the Sun Belt regular season and be the champion.”
The team is focused on the job they have to complete, which is to try and out the rest of the teams remaining games. Surrency believes the team does not have to look over their shoulder as they control their path to the tournament.
“We don’t have to worry about what other teams do and can control what we can in our matches. We want to be playing our best at the end of the season to go into the tournament and put ourselves in the best position to win the tournament on the road.”
The team has been lighting up the scoreboard scoring 39 goals so far. Surrency knows his team is special on offense, but does not want the discipline of their defense to be overshadowed.
“The offense has clicked and we’ve been in the top 10 in the NCAA in scoring. That has been because of our depth and teamwork,” Surrency said. “We’ve had 13 players score a goal and nine make an assist, so it hasn’t just been one or two guys scoring. That depth has been a key. But don’t forget while it is important to score, it’s also very important to prevent goals. As the players understand the system, they learn to be in better positions to score.”
The Panthers have been successful this, however, being a young team accounting for 10 true freshmen. The players have had to learn on-the-go gaining experience from their mistakes. The team has only lost three games by just one goal this point in the season.
“With 10 true freshmen and redshirt freshmen, there is a lot to learn and you can really only do that by playing,” Surrency said. ”The next time they face a situation, they should be better at that. But we’ve really made a lot of progress from day one and as we continue to gain these experiences, we will only get better and better.”
Surrency believes the comradery of his team has shown at different glimpses of the season by overcoming injuries.
“Working together as a team is crucial, so overcoming injuries, games missed and becoming familiar with one another is challenging,” Surrency said.
The next match will be Oct.20 in Winston-Salem, NC at Wake Forest at 7 p.m.
