It doesn’t take an expert to recognize that goal-scoring was a glaring issue for the Massachusetts men’s soccer team last season.
The Minutemen finished the year with a mere nine goals en route to a 12th place finish in the Atlantic 10, failing to qualify for postseason play.
Along the way, UMass finished dead last in the A-10 in nearly every offensive category. The Minutemen finished 11th out of 14 teams in total shots with 223, meaning they only capitalized on 4 percent of their attempts. This resulted in 11 shutouts, only one two-goal effort and a 4-13-2 record in 2011.
“The bottomline is we just weren’t a good finishing team,” said UMass coach Sam Koch, who is missing the early parts of the season while battling a form of cancer.
“Sometimes the ball hits the post and it goes out, sometimes it hits the post and goes in,” he said. “Your big years are when it bounces in and the bad years are when it bounces out. I think we just had one of those years where it was bouncing out more than it was bouncing in.”
Early injuries to starters throughout the season didn’t make things easier for UMass.
“We had an incredible amount of injuries,” Koch said. “When you have that many quality players out of your lineup, you’re team just isn’t as strong, and when some of your guys are your finishers your goal output isn’t as strong.”
Although Koch said he recognizes the problems with the offense from last season, he also firmly believes that the inability to create good chances stemmed from poor defense, which often failed to win the ball on the attacking end.
“If we win the ball on the attacking end, we’re in a much better position to score goals,” Koch said. “That’s something we didn’t do very well last year.”
Maintaining possession and finishing the ball are top priorities for Koch and company this season.
“You don’t win games without scoring goals,” Koch said. “We feel we have guys coming in that are ready to step up as known goal-scorers that can help pick up that slack.”
UMass had only six goal-scorers last season, but four of those players return to this year’s squad, including the only two multi-goal scorers: Brett Canepa and Josh Schwartz.
Canepa, a junior forward, led UMass in goals (three) and points (seven), while the rising sophomore Schwartz was second with a pair of goals and four points.
Schwartz is someone Koch is specifically looking to have a big year after a strong showing as a freshman last fall. Koch said the sophomore will be a key contributor for the Minutemen this season, but he needs to build up his own confidence in himself in order to really shine in his second season in Amherst.
A lacking offense made life especially difficult for senior goalkeeper Shane Curran-Hays, who posted a 1.23 goals-against average in 17 starts last season. Curran-Hays was a key reason why UMass was involved in 14 games decided by one goal or less despite the offensive struggles.
However, this year’s group may not have that same luxury in net with Curran-Hays graduating. Instead, the Minutemen will look to senior Brian Frame, who has two games of experience at the collegiate level, to carry the burden.
Frame’s inexperience will not affect the offense, Koch said.
Koch said players need to have less reliance on the goalkeeper to save the team in dire situations. Rather, he said, the team should focus on keeping possession.
“When we lose possession everyone is trying to win the ball back,” Koch said. “[Everyone] is going to be working hard defensively.
“As 11 guys on the field, our job is to win the ball and our goalkeeper is the last man,” he said. “So our job is to make sure we don’t have to rely on him. We should win the ball before it gets there.”
Whether or not all the parts will click this season is yet to be determined, but UMass will need more goal scorers if it doesn’t want to replicate last year’s disappointing mark.
Nick Canelas can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Canelas.
