Scott Wiercinski returned to his native Brunswick this year to coach the men’s soccer team. In his first two games, the Polar Bears defeated the University of Southern Maine, but lost a close game to Wesleyan four days later.
USM provided little opposition to the Bears, who walked away with a 5-0 victory. In contrast, the Cardinals controlled the game, scoring all of their goals before Bowdoin got on the scoreboard, finishing with a 3-1 victory.
Wiercinski was pleased with the win, but emphasized the team’s competition through the season will resemble that of Wesleyan more closely than USM.
“USM is a decent team but not what most of our NESCAC opponents are,” Wiercinski said. “The Wesleyan game was a good test for us in the sense that it was a bit more of an eye-opener in terms of the way things are going to be from here on out.”
Wiercinski has instituted a new style of play for the Polar Bears in his first year at the helm.
“We’re really trying to build our attacks and get a lot of players forward,” he said.
“We made some important mistakes that really cost us on the scoreboard,” he noted, “but from minute to minute we did a lot of things pretty well.”
At the same time, Wiercinski suggested the Wesleyan game did not show his team’s full potential.
“The last result didn’t show some of the progress we’ve been making,” Wiercinski said, “We didn’t play horribly against Wesleyan by any stretch.”
Captain Zach Danssaert ’14 expressed confidence about the team’s prospects.
“We’re pretty excited about the year,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of good players that came back. Everyone’s working really hard.”
He also acknowledged Wiercinski’s point about new playing styles.
“Formation-wise, people are playing a little differently,” he said.
In Wiercinski’s dissection of the Wesleyan game, he suggested that issues out of the team’s control impacted the game.
“We’ve been missing some guys from injuries,” he said. These injured players, along with redundancies the team has in certain positions, have led Wiercinski to use players at positions they do not normally play, he said.
Despite these problems, Wiercinski remained optimistic about his team.
“We have a lot of good players, and the guys have been working really hard in training. We’re getting better everyday, which is exciting. Their attitudes have been fantastic in terms of playing a little differently than they’ve been asked to play in the past,” he said.
The team’s first game highlighted some of its positive aspects, according to Wiercinski.
“The USM game went pretty well,” he said, “and I think in many ways our athleticism and our quality showed itself.”