|
Photo Galleries are now on the "News" Page!
| |
.jpg)
The Saint Louis Lions soccer team is a
member of the Premier Development League of the United Soccer League.
President / Head Coach Tony Glavin
The St. Louis Lions are the newest member of the Men’s
Premier Development League of the United Soccer Leagues and their first game of
the season was played against the Des Moines Menace at the Tony Glavin
Soccer Complex in Cottleville, MO. Their
inaugural game was on May 13, 2006.
End of season summary:
The St Louis Lions concluded their inaugural 16 game PDL season on a high
note Sunday in Sioux Falls.
Although falling short of making the play-offs the first year team had plenty
to be pleased with.
The 1-0 defeat of Sioux Falls Spitfire extended an unbeaten run to 12 games. The
Lions were undefeated in the months of June and July, with the last defeat
coming in an away game against division champions Boulder Rapid Reserve on May
27th.
The Lions finished the season with a record of 7-3-6
"My expectations for the first year was to finish around .500. Making the
playoffs was never a consideration" said Coach Tony Glavin
"I had no idea how good or bad we were going to be. It took the first four games
for us to find our feet"
added Glavin.
In those first four games the Lions were 1-3-0. The first game of the season a
home game was against last year’s champion Des Moines Menace, and a home defeat
against Kansas City Brass. Sandwiched in between those games was the Lions first
ever PDL win a 3-2 advantage over Sioux Falls Spitfire. The fourth game that
Glavin talks about was in Boulder, the team’s first road trip and a 0-2 defeat.
"The first game against Des Moines we were very nervous, we never really settled
down, here was the PDL champion, and it was our first game, that would have been
a tough start to any ones season" said Glavin.
The second road game against Colorado Springs Blizzard was probably the turning
point in the season. The Lions built upon the 0-0 tie and their record until the
end of the season was 6-0-6.
"Things started to happen for us in that Colorado game" said Glavin
"Up until then we had no settled back four, Deno (Merrick) was moved to the
center of the defense, and that helped to solidify things, he became an ever
present there."
The arrival of Tommy Heinemann made a big impact on the team. The first game
Heinemann played was in Michigan against West Michigan Edge when he came off
the bench in the 70th minute and scored 2 goals ( and by all accounts should
have scored two more).
Heinemann went on to score 8 goals, one less than team scoring leader Lawrence
Olum who finished the season with 9 goals
" Having Tommy play up front gave us options we had been lacking, he could hold
the ball as well as score goals. The attack really started to click when Tommy
was playing up top" said Glavin
After the June 7th game in Kansas City against the Brass, Glavin began to feel
that his pre-season expectations of a .500 record, was selling the team short.
The 2-1 victory over cross state rivals was the first road win of the season and
after 7 games the team had a record 0f 2-3-2.
"I knew that with that win in Kansas City we were still one game short of the
.500 record, but it was the way we played that made me realize we can compete in
this league. We were two goals up and a should have had a third which would
have seen them off (the Brass). They scored a late goal and we ended up winning
2-1. But the result didn’t reflect the score, that to me was the turning point
in our season" said Glavin
Throughout the season the Lions played without any division one players ( with
the exception of a few games). The team was made up of NAIA, lower NCAA
division ,and high school players. In order to get a team together for the first
game of the season, May 13th , tryouts were held in frigid conditions through
out April. division one players were unable to try-out until May 1st.
"We needed players to form the team" said Glavin " It didn’t matter to me which
division of college they were playing in. I chose the players based on what I
saw on the pitch not by their GPA. The two high school players Zach Tierney and
Chris Anzalone impressed me enormously, they made a great contribution to the
team as a whole. This was a great experience for them, I believe they are going
on to play division one next season, and playing in this league will certainly
help them "
St Louis recorded six shut outs in the season, with the goalkeeping duties
shared by Brain Forrest and Brandon Saylor
"Going into the season I regarded them both equal , I didn’t really have a
number one. Brian started the first few games and when Brandon came in, he did
except ally well. The other goalkeeper we have Brad Dietrich is starting to
push for a starting place. He came on for his first PDL game in the final 45
minutes in our final game and produced a shut out. We are fortunate we have
great depth in that position"
"I am very pleased the way the season went, if some of those ties (6) had been
wins we would be in the play-offs now, and did you know only Chicago Fire
Premier and Boulder Rapid Reserve had fewer losses than us" said Glavin
Chicago Rapid Fire won the Great Lakes Division of the Central Conference with
one defeat and Boulder Rapid Reserve won the Heartland Division of the Central
Conference with two defeats ( one of which was by the St Louis Lions who
finished the season with three defeats)
"I would like this opportunity to say a big Thank You to the City of
Cottleville, all of our sponsors and to all the fans that came out to see us
play. The local community has been very supportive and all the volunteers that
helped make this a successful inaugural first season" Tony Glavin
|
