Page 12
Interview: Herb Lauffer
Review of 1990 soccer season
Brad Kane
The Colleg an
On paper, the 1990 Behrend soccer season was not a bright
one. After all, L 4-11-1 record, a 1.3 goals per game average, and
a 2.65 goals allowed per game average are not the stuff dreams
are made of.
But don't tell Lions Head Coach Herb Lauffer that this year
was forgettable.
"When I look at how they (the team) played and how they
improved, I think it was a very good season," said Lauffer. "We
saw some people who individually matured a lot and who gained
confidence in their ability to play and began to play some of
their best soccer since they've been here. That bodes well for next
year because many of these players are returning."
The improvement Lauffer speaks of comes by way of the
differences between this year's team and last year's squad.
"Basically, the two teams are comparable," said Lauffer. "But
the thing I would say regarding this year's team is that they had a
lot of adversity to overcome. But I believe that this team from
the very beginning of the season until the end improved more
than any other team has in the past (under Lauffer at Behrend)."
Another source of improvement sprang from the constant
development of teamwork on the field.
Said Lauffer: "I think that this season was more rewarding in
the fact that the guys worked better as a unit and attempted to
play as a group a little bit more effectively. I think that that was
the most significant thing about the team's performance this
year."
But in the teamwork oriented system present at Behrend,
individual improvement took place as well. Coach Lauffer is
careful with his praise.
"When you single out players individually, you run the risk
of someone saying 'Boy, this
,Lauffer guy didn't think that I
improved very much,'" said Lauffer.
Some of the Lions deserve recognition for quality play. One
such player is sophomore Ron Peterman, the club's leading
scorer.
"His play has steadily improved," said Lauffer. "Ron's the
type of guy that has a tremendous attitude. I mean, he's a ninety
minute player and he continues to get better."
Lauffer also reserved praise for midfielder Sam Condeluci.
"As the year went on, he became stronger and stronger. He
became more focused in what he was doing. I think he was
confident that we were going to leave him out there close to
ninety minutes a game and that he could relax in that situation. I
think that he just grew under those circumstances tremendously."
Who else does Lauffer think has improved?
"I also think of Chris Filoon, who is a junior academically
but who is really in only his first season of intercollegiate
soccer. We started out using him at outside back. When we felt
there was some changes to be made, we asked him to take a more
responsible role by playing center back for us and he continued
to get better and better as the year went on."
The play of freshmen goaltenders Phil Double and Les Spear
was also lauded by Lauffer.
"I think that both of them got better as the year went on.
They were thrust into a situation when Tom Bajus (the normal
starter in goal) broke his foot. They're true freshman and they're
thrown into the fire. We said 'Hey, you've got to perform,' and as
the year went on their confidence went up and they began to play
better."
"We also saw Yasser Daoudi improve a lot," continued
Lauffer. :'He started to appreciate playing the ball off a little bit
more. Yasser's not a selfish player, but it started to make some
sense to him to look for other people and move himself into
positions where he could support what was going on."
Lauffer also appreciated the work of three freshman on the
squad.
"I think that the two we put on the outside, Mike Whiteman
and Mike Dalzall, showed improvement. I also think of Jeff
Marsden, who unfortunately had mono at the end of the season
and missed the last five matches. We put him in the first game
with about ten minutes to go in the rust half and he stayed in the
rest of the game. He started the next game and just steadily
improved from there."
In all of this improvement, Lauffer realizes that the club can't
rest on it's laurels.
"There's still a ways to go and they'd (the players) say that
too. The improvement has to continue and the commitment has
to remain. They have the character to do that and they have
shown a willingness to improve. Now, can we go to the next
level? Once you can do that then the record starts to show how
much they've improved."
The Collegian
Women's
hoop ready
to roll
(continued from page 10)
plaguing the club this year. Lisa
Butch, Assistant Coach, has been
out for several weeks due to
mononeucleosis, and she is not
expected to return for at least one
more week. There have also been
two freshmen out with stress
fractures and one more freshman
with pneumonia.
The loss of record setter
Michelle Madison is not expected
to be a problem this year, says
Banker. "We have a more
roundabout team now. We lost a
lot of rebounds and we lost a lot
of points when we lost Madison,
but we will look to every
position to score this year."
In essence, Banker is positive
and is looking forward to this
season. She said that the players
she has coming in mixed with
the players already there combine
well to make a good team.
Banker says that the team
"hustles and works well"
together. "We have a lot of
internally motivated players,
which is a coach's dream."
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