30 August 2001
CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, (309) 556-3206 and/or coach Dave Barrett, (309) 556-3343
 
 

IWU Men's Soccer Shoots for Steady Progress

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. ­ First-year head coach Dave Barrett has liked what he's seen in the preseason for the Illinois Wesleyan men's soccer team, which opens its season at the Wisconsin-Whitewater tournament this weekend.

The Titans, with 10 letterwinners returning from a team that was 9-9-1 last year, play Marian (Wis.) on Saturday at 3 p.m. and face the host school on Sunday at 5 p.m.

"We are making an effort to raise the standards and expectations for soccer at IWU," said Barrett, who has been an assistant coach at Yale for the past four seasons. "We have performance-oriented goals and show improvement from game to game. We want to have the best defense in the league, be dangerous and tough to beat."

Leading the returning players is senior midfielder Clay Scott (Gurnee, Warren HS), IWU's lone College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin selection last fall. Scott led the 2000 team in scoring with seven goals and 14 points, is 11th among all-time IWU men's soccer players with 23 career points and is 10th with 11 career goals.

"Clay is a clever player with a good understanding of the game," said Barrett. "He sees the field well and when he gets the ball, we are confident it will go someplace positive."

Junior Dan Lau (River Forest, Oak Park-River Forest HS) is an outside midfielder and striker who Barrett says plays at a good pace. "He has the ability to unbalance defenses by creating opportunities," said Barrett.

Junior co-captain Chris Bobowski (Darien, Benet Academy) and junior Szymon Krzyzanowski (Park Ridge, Maine South HS) return to anchor the defense, which allowed 1.8 goals per game and lost six games by two goals or fewer last fall. "Chris is a stabilizing force on defense and a good leader on and off the field," said Barrett. "Szymon is like an engine for the defense and we hope he can do a lot of the so-called 'dirty work' for us, applying defensive pressure in the midfield."

Barrett pointed to freshmen Alan Mila (Bartlett, Wheaton Academy) and Reed Grimwood (Eagan, Minn., HS) as keys to a successful future in the Titan defense. "Mila will be a good player here as he is strong and has a good sense for the game," said Barrett. "Grimwood is a steady, solid player who is learning quickly how to play at the college level."

In goal for the Titans will again be senior Adam Wachholtz (Newburgh, Ind., Castle HS), who had a 2.0 goals against average last season. Other goalkeepers are senior Andrew Christman (Bloomington, Normal Community HS) and freshmen Jeremy Witt (Waukegan, Warren HS) and Matt Robertson (Arlington Heights, Hersey HS).

Christman, who was 6-4 when he started in goal for IWU last fall, was the squad's "Most Improved Player" in 2000 as he allowed an average of 1.37 goals per game.

Barrett says the Titans have been concentrating on technical execution, making sharp passes, putting shots on target, and eliminating turnovers. "If we have a lot of low scoring games, we'll be very competitive and make good strides as a program," said Barrett. "We are starting to implement a style of play that will move us successfully toward the future."