So I vowed to be a bit more on the ball and here it is, second week of the 91st and delivered in a timely fashion as well. I must digress already however, and say thanks to my friends Bennett Scarborough and Stan Cole for the lovely pic that was taken of my mug (Bennett) and then plastered on the web (Stan) with the initial 91st release... Are you kidding me? Not sure how that picture says a thousand words....more like, "hey look at this guy....he's a dweeb...."

But that's cool with me, any notion I may have had of being cool was smashed this past summer when I was cruising back to the Creek on I-95 South from the Jersey Shore in my mini-van with a luggage bubble on top....yeah, that's cool! If that wasn't a good enough chink in my cool-guy armor, one of my trusty assistants—ya know, the guys that you hire that are supposed to tell you how awesome you are and that you walk on water—has this exchange with me the other day:

I said: "Hey man, check these kicks out (showing him a pair of shoes on adidas.com). I'm thinking about getting them."

He said: "Yeah, not sure."

I said: "What do you mean...those things are hot."

He said: "Yeah, for someone younger."

Perplexed, I said: "Huh? Are you serious?!?"

He said emphatically: "Come on dude, you're old now."

OUCH! It's stung every morning I woke up since.

On to soccer! A split week, loss on the road to now #17 ranked Loyola and a win at home against South-Region foe Georgia Southern.

A tough one at Loyola. A 1-0 loss and both the team and myself were left a bit wanting at the end of the game. No doubt we did enough to earn a goal ourselves, but hats off to an extremely well-coached and disciplined Greyhounds side. I don't think I am lying when I say we had the statistical advantage as well as the lion's share of possession, but there is only one stat that matters in any game you play and that went to Loyola.

It was frustrating for both our players and coaches, but again credit to our opponent for being so hard to break down in the final third. It's no coincidence this team is ranked so high in the country. Their defending is impeccable (they've not lost in their last 13 games and only conceded 2 goals in that stretch...and as a matter of fact, you have to go back to the 2006 season to find their last home loss) and their front two were a handful for our backline. Much respect to the Greyhounds and all they are doing there!

That being said, we had our share of looks at their goal. A near miss from El Capitan, Justin Madrid, in the fifth minute off one of our nine corners, along with several looks at goal from Richard "Stop calling me Rod ‘the Bod' Stewart Coach" and Josue "Barra-barra" Soto. Our game is so much about moments and what you do in them. Loyola made the most of one of theirs, while we did not.

Next up, home against Georgia Southern. Our lone home-stand in the month of September and the bitter taste still in our mouth from our Wednesday game in Baltimore (where we played well, but didn't have anything to show for it—what a cruel game, but we love it!), fueled us for this game. A slow start for us and we had to deal with losing Kevin "Mr. Un-cut spaghetti for appendages" Orozco (more about that later...) to an ankle injury in the fifth minute. After a shaky moment where the Eagles got behind our backs and Aaron made a huge save to preserve the game at 0-0, we settled.

Two timely and tasty, might I add, second half goals; one off the left of Soto and the other off the boot of Khalil Johnson. It was quite possibly the hottest afternoon game I have been a part of, and it showed in the play at times. Fortunately, we were able to use the depth of our team and many of our guys got some needed experience. I was pleased with the 2-0 result and proud of the team's performance.

So 2-2 and moving into a difficult road stretch now, 3 games in 7 days. Away at UNC Greensboro on Wednesday, up in the mountains on Saturday for a 4 pm kick-off with App. State, then up to Colonial Williamsburg for the re-scheduled game against William and Mary on Tuesday. A tough stretch against some worthy opponents....on the road again....good old Willie Nelson take us home....

Have a good one and hope to see you on the road my friends!

Regards,

Coach Hess