The early season woes of the Florida A&M University club soccer team continued Saturday with a 10-0 loss to the Georgia Southern Eagles.
The intramural soccer team, which is now 0-3 on the season, was outmuscled early and trailed by six goals heading into halftime.
The second half yielded similar results. Missed opportunities and possessions by the Rattlers led to the Eagles extending their lead.
Midfielder Mark Nashed, a third-year pharmacy student, remains optimistic about the team’s performance, despite the slow start.
“I think we should be getting a couple of wins soon after a couple of practices,” Nashed said. “When we go to the tournament in Gainesville, I think we will do a lot better than we did last year.”
The team is looking at the loss to be constructive. It is still early on in the season and coaches Leon Prosper and Yves Anglade are trying to integrate new players on the field. Players who didn’t play much during the summer are now being asked to play in the long, grueling matches.
Defender Wilken Morestant, a fifth-year construction engineer student, believes the team hasn’t begun playing its best soccer.
“We’ve only been in practice for like three weeks, and soccer is a game of endurance,” Morestant said. “So as we get more practice in and get in better shape, we are going to do better.”
While the record can mislead some, Coach Prosper said the team is not far from notching victories.
“Technically, we are at a decent level,” he said. “We need to continue to build that togetherness so that each player can start trusting each other, know their position and support their team.”