Getting Back to the Top of the Heap

Ian Lefebvre: Man with the Plan for Linfield Soccer

Any see that men’s soccer result the other day?

Linfield bounced Willamette 5-0 in Salem. Five different guys scored goals in the game. All in the second half!

Great win for the Wildcats and a sign that the program is building momentum under second-year coach Ian Lefebvre.

While Willamette is not to be confused with a title-contending team, beating any team on the road by such a lopsided score says that Linfield’s players are continuing to compete hard down the stretch of a long season that began with two-a-day practices nearly three months ago.

Linfield (9 wins, 9 losses) can clinch a winning season today with a victory over Pacific Lutheran. The Lutes themselves are fighting for that same winning season, entering the match with a 8-8-2 overall record.

The Wildcats lost three of their first four conference matches, but down the stretch, have won three of the last four contests. That includes beating Pacific 1-0, a team which surprised the Wildcats 3-2 in overtime they first time they met.

I asked Coach Lefebvre about the Wildcats’ late-season resurgance: “We went through some growing pains early on in the conference season and the guys are excited that we have had a little bit of success towards the end. They can see what could have been and what we have to look forward in the near future. We have had some key injuries and they guys stepped up against Willamette. This group is all about team. The focus is to get this team going in the right direction and start focusing on the little mistakes that we have made during the course of the season. The staff is really excited about the group that we have.”

For fans of Wildcats soccer, those are encouraging words. Were it not for those injuries, who knows? Linfield might have been right in the thick of the conference race.

It wasn’t that long ago that Linfield was competing in the NCAA playoffs. Three times this decade, as a matter of fact. Given time, Lefebvre will surely return Linfield to the top of the men’s soccer heap.

Time Flies When You’re Working Hard

Where does the time go? Why don’t I ever seem to have enough of it?

Since the fall sports athletes reported to campus on Aug. 21, it’s been one big wind sprint getting things operational. Morning, nights, weekends – anytime I could find an extra 15 minutes to work on Linfield athletics I did.

Rosters had to be finalized, season outlooks had to be written, and the athletics Web site had to be brought up to date for eight varsity teams. Football guide had to be completed, our sponsorship campaign had to be wrapped up, and student work crews had to be hired and trained.

Speaking of students, without a great work-study staff to help shoulder the load, this monster of a job surely wouldn’t get done.

The Wildcats’ first football game is this weekend and people are excited. I’m just relieved it’s on the road. But Abilene, Texas, is a long ways to travel for any kind of competition. Hurricane Ike is bearing down on Texas, but shouldn’t affect the football team’s travel plans. We’re flying to Dallas-Fort Worth, then driving the three hours over to “The Prettiest Town I’ve Ever Seen.”

The Linfield Football Guide, themed “Expect to Win” is due from the printer on Monday (Thanks to alum Eric Fricke and his staff at Print NW for their hustle getting this publication produced quickly). As is customary, we had a lot of last-minute editing and pagination to accomplish before we could say we were truly “Done.” It should be another collector’s item.

If you want your own copy of the football guide, we’ll have information on how to receive one by mail posted soon on the Web site.

Been busy organizing the radio broadcasts. Writing copy, working with sponsors, and preparing the schedule of commercials.

Soccer and volleyball teams are off to good starts. Volleyball is 4-0. Men’s soccer is 2-0 and women’s soccer is 2-2. Cross country squads are running well, too. Could be a great fall ahead.

Our sports info crew has also meeting to develop our “New Media” elements. This blog is the first deployment in a series of new wrinkles you’ll be seeing in the weeks to come.

Rockin’ and Rollin’

Time to get serious about Linfield athletics (not like we weren’t all along), but things reached a fever pitch on Thursday when close to 300 student-athletes report to campus to begin training.

Football, soccer, cross country and volleyball teams all arrive early in the day for a gauntlet of check-in stations. Those stops include securing housing, checking out equipment, meeting with coaches, having their photographs taken for the sports info guy, filling out NCAA paperwork, shopping the Nike and AQx equipment stores, and on and on. It’s enough to wear anyone out before they even get dressed down for the first practice.

Teams settle into their regular practice routines on Friday with the first competitions coming Aug. 29 when the volleyball and cross country programs make their season debuts. For those squads, time is precious. There’s not much time to get to know new teammates, learn the team philosophy and show their coaches they deserve playing time.

This much we know: Every coach is competitive and expects their teams to raise their levels of performance from the previous season. Which ones live up to expectations (and which ones don’t) will be determined in the weeks and months to come.