After an 11-7-1 season, the most successful season in a decade, N.C. State’s men’s soccer team is working hard to combat the loss of four key seniors.
The 2005 Wolfpack were led by forwards Aaron King and Bryant Salter, goalkeeper Jorge Gonzalez and captain John Queeley, all seniors.
The 2006 version will be much different than the team Pack fans have become accustomed to seeing pile out of the team van and onto the Method Road field.
“It was tough being a freshman last year because we were led by such a dominant senior class, who really revitalized the program and are very gifted and talented,” assistant coach Oronde Ash said. “But I think there’s an adjustment period, and the kids are doing well. Opportunity, more than anything else, will dictate how far they go.”
But this offseason, State has been racked with injuries. One of those sitting because of injury is midfielder El Hadj Cisse, one of the Pack’s main offensive weapons.
Cisse injured himself last April, but played through the whole season until the injury bit him again late in the season. He had surgery on his meniscus last week.
“Right now I’m doing rehab for it, and I’ll hopefully be back in May so I can work hard to get back to regular form,” Cisse said.
Sophomore defender Hugh Cronin also recently sustained an injury. Cronin went to get X-rays taken Tuesday to see if there was a break in his foot after he hurt it in practice.
“It’s been really tough,” Cronin said of the injuries. “It’s been rare to actually have the whole team at practice and be able to play.”
The team started back to work in January, quickly going from conditioning two or three times a week to five times a week.
The Pack were led by a strength and conditioning coach and are now focusing more on specific soccer drills rather than weightlifting and running.
“It was a struggle at first, but I think most of the guys are getting back in shape. And it shows in the way we are starting to play,” Cronin said.
With the core group of seniors from last year now gone, the State coaches are looking for people to fill the leadership holes. But with injuries limiting the time many of the players can spend together, finding those leaders is a difficult task.
“It’s been hard to try to find leadership when you don’t have somebody out there consistently,” Ash said.
But both Ash and Cisse said there is new kind of team chemistry, different from the kind the seniors created.
“It’s hard to measure team chemistry in the spring, but right now there seems to be good chemistry,” Cisse said. “People are fighting for positions and rehabbing from injuries together. So hopefully we can maintain that chemistry next season.”
Cronin pointed out freshman Ronnie Bouemboue, the Pack’s only freshman starter, as someone who has developed nicely and avoided injuries throughout the spring.
“Ronnie is playing really well right now,” Cronin said. “He comes out every day and works as hard as he can, and it is really paying off.”
Bouemboue started all 17 games he played in and was fifth on the team in points with two goals and four assists.
“I know I still need to work on some things to help out the team,” Bouemboue said. “So I’m trying to motivate myself to keep working hard and keep getting better.”
He said the seniors taught him a lot about leadership, lessons he said he hopes to put into action this coming season.
“They taught me how to play in the college environment and how to push myself,” Bouemboue said. “They told me I’m a good guy and can be one of the leaders on this team.”
