University of North Carolina Athletics
Q&A With Men's Soccer Head Coach Elmar Bolowich
August 13, 2003 | Men's Soccer
Aug. 13, 2003
CHAPEL HILL - The 2003 edition of the Carolina men's soccer team, which opens practice Wednesday, will be one of the youngest in the history of the program, with 16 newcomers, including 14 freshmen suiting up for the first time. Despite losing their top top three scorers from a year ago, the Tar Heels return 2001 ACC Rookie of the Year Marcus Storey up front and talented goalkeeper Ford Williams in the net. Senior co-captains Sean McGinty and Grant Porter hope to lead UNC to its fifth-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Head coach Elmar Bolowich had the following thoughts on the season prior to the start of practice:
Q: What are your general thoughts and expectations for the upcoming season?
A: There are a huge amount of question marks about this coming season due to the amount of players leaving the program in the last two years. It's almost been a complete turnover of players. We have 16 new faces coming in, and I'm not sure right now who will play at which position. Those are the question marks that we need to sort out. In addition to that we don't have access to the Under-17 National Team kids (Corey Ashe, Michael Harrington, Jamie Watson) that are in Finland right now. They come back and then the next day we have our first game. We have to integrate them rather swiftly because the season is really short. There is no time in between to take some time off and sort things out. You have to be sharp in every game. The fact is that this is probably our hardest schedule that we have played, and we have only six home games. That will put us to the test and there will be a lot of adversity that we have to overcome. In a way, I'm looking at it as a positive because we have a very young team, perhaps one of the youngest in Division I. The fact that we play so many away games will put them to the test right away. We will know after the first weekend when we play St. John's and UConn, two nationally ranked teams, where we stand and what our weaknesses are. From there we will have a reference. I actually prefer the tougher opponents at the beginning because it gives you a true test. If you play some weaker teams, your weaknesses may be overshadowed.
Q: What role will the upperclassmen take with such a young team?
A: Not only did we lose quality players that had experience, we also lost all our leadership. The upperclassmen have to step in and have to lead by example. Right now it's going to have to be Sean McGinty and Grant Porter, who are the captains and who we look towards for leadership. Our group of juniors right now is expected to chip in - Tim Merritt, Ray Fumo and Marcus Storey. They need to start leading already. They don't have to be vocal leaders, but lead by example, meaning they have to set the standard. They have to remind the freshmen what our standard should be because they have championship experience. They were a part of that group that won the national title. They need to translate that back to our freshmen and sophomores and say 'this is what it takes and this is what we have to do.'
Q: How do you expect to replace the goal scorers lost from last year's team?
A: We don't know how we're going to line up offensively. Yes, a lot of goals are gone with David Testo and Ryan Kneipper. We have some tremendous talent coming in but they are younger. They'll need to make their mark and adjust to the level of Division I. But I think they will produce. I think there will be a good split of freshmen and upperclassmen scoring goals.
Q: What do you expect to see from junior forward Marcus Storey, the team's top retuning scorer?
A: Rather than looking to him for just giving us the scoring punch, which would be perhaps unfair pressure to him, I'm looking for him more to be a consistent player because that is really something that he was lacking in the previous years. That's something he needs to do now to get recognition and to be a guy that we can lean on. He doesn't have to always score the winning goal, but he has to play at the top of his game to always be a threat and feed other guys and to be the guy we can go to.
Q: How did you recruit 10 freshmen from Raleigh's ultra-successful CASL Elite club team?
A: It was a coincidence that it happened. I don't think it will ever happen again, getting 10 guys from one club team. The main reason was we had such a small group coming back and we needed depth. The kids wanted to come to North Carolina, so we welcomed those additions. The fact that they are so close by is a positive for us in that their parents will be here. It just adds to the family atmosphere that we have created over the years. But for them it is a great opportunity to play in a league like ours.
Q: What do you expect on defense following the losses of Logan Pause and David Stokes to Major League Soccer?
A; That was a big question mark for us and it still is. We don't know whether will play a four-man defense or whether we revert back to a three-man defense. It depends on the personnel. We are getting a transfer in Justin Sorsabal, who is a defensive player but I don't know how comfortable he is in which position and how comfortable he is in a three-man defense. Those are some of the unanswered questions, and I really can't tell right now. I need to have time with the team to sort those things out.
Q: What does sophomore goalkeeper Ford Williams bring to the team?
A: Ford as a freshman was very, very consistent. He's a very good keeper. The experience he has in addition to time with the Under-17 National Team and the Under-20 National Team, he knows how to deal with pressure. Being in goal, there is always pressure because if you make a mistake no one can cover for you. If it's somebody else on the field there is usually a guy who can erase that mistake, but in goal you can't. It's a very unique position, and he plays it very well because he has what I believe is the necessary mental toughness to overcome adversity.
Q: What do you expect from the Atlantic Coast Conference competition this season?
A: The ACC will always be strong and this year is not any different. There is a lot of parity in men's soccer. As a conference overall, I still think we are leading the county because from top to bottom the ACC is just so strong. At one point in time you may have five or six of the seven teams ranked in the top 25. That's a tremendous feat for our conference. Individually, the games we are about to play always go down to the wire.
