Warning: Losing can potentially be addictive and hazardous to your health.
The Northwestern men’s soccer team has been on a steady diet of losses the past two years, compiling a 1-31-4 record with zero conference wins. Meanwhile, the team has also become the butt of sports jokes all over campus.
But after Wildcats coach Tim Lenahan announced his first NU recruiting class Monday, when 12 players from eight different states signed national letters of intent, it appears that the team isn’t planning to be a laughingstock any longer.
“With the new class, there is a significant improvement of overall talent,” Lenahan said. “We’re bringing in a lot of team speed, mixed in with athleticism.”
The coach knows his team hasn’t exactly been exposed to a lot of winning. But with the squad now made up of mostly underclassmen, Lenahan knows that the team has to concoct a winning formula from scratch.
“There will obviously be some growing pains because there will be so many young players, but we are always looking to win,” Lenahan said. “It’s a building program, not rebuilding. For it to be rebuilding, there had to have been something there before.”
The Cats will add size to their 2002 roster, as six of the new recruits are at least six feet tall.
Lenahan is most excited about the leadership and upbeat attitudes of his recruits.
“We looked for players who understand and enjoy the challenges of building a program,” Lenahan said. “We feed off kids who have personality.”
With his new recruits, Lenahan will head into the 2002 season optimistic. The coach’s strong words and confident statements made it tough to tell that his team went 1-13-3 last season.
The new recruiting class includes players from some of the best club teams in the nation – including local products Brian Heckenbach, a goalkeeper, and defender Jaro Pylpczak of the Chicago Sockers, and midfielder Kevin Earnest of the Chicago Magic Soccer Club.
Heckenbach was valedictorian of his high-school class of 550 students, which fits into Lenahan’s winning scheme of smart and responsible players that are willing to “accept the challenge to work harder.”
Also part of the new class is Eric Brin, a standout forward for So Cal United, a top club team in California.
Other notable recruits are defender Brad Napper and midfielder Sammy Samwangu, eight-year captains on their club teams in Texas and New York, respectively.
Midfielder Paul Elkins, a current NU junior, was shocked to learn of the unusually large size of the recruiting class.
“I didn’t expect him to sign so many of them,” Elkins said. “But the coach picked players whose skill and athleticism fit well with his system.”
The new talent and energy will make competition for positions fierce come preseason workouts.
“The (current players) know that there’s going to be a lot of competition,” Lenahan said. “But they know that it’s just a by-product of the team growing.”
