August 10, 2005

Jamie Smith

On Aug. 6, the Hobart soccer team left the United States for a 14-day playing tour of Sweden. Senior back Jamie Smith (Cheshire/Cheshire, Conn.) is chronicling the team's experiences for the online home of the Statesmen.

Aug. 9 |

August 9, 2006

At noon on Monday, the Hobart soccer team arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, to begin our much anticipated Swedish experience. After a year of planning, fundraising, and parent help, we finally realized our goal of experiencing European soccer and culture. We were not only excited to see each other after a summer's absence, but also looked forward to experiencing firsthand the Swedish culture and great soccer talent. Following the untimely passing of our much missed assistant coach, Brad Wilby, this trip has taken on a new purpose. We have embarked on this trip with the goal of not only competing in every competition we have, but more importantly, we hope to build on the strong team bond and unity that Coach Wilby instilled in us, and bring this team even closer as he would have wished.

Our trip began with a light training session the day we moved into our training facility, the Boson complex. This facility is very nice and was just last week used by the Swedish men's basketball program. It was great to finally get out on the field as a team. The play was intense and provided a great foundation for the beginning of our trip. Following this training session, we met with our trip host, Joakam Frist, a friend of our coach, Shawn Griffin.

On Tuesday we had our first match. It was our one and only "home" game and we were excited to play a full field game. This match was against the division five team called Torstenslarjungar IF. They were made up of a wide range of players, from 18-25. At the half, we felt good about our 1-1 tie. The team was moving the ball around and the intensity of our defense was motivating. Opening the second half we broke out to a quick 3-1 lead following goals by junior forward Greg Davidson (Union Springs/Cayuga, N.Y.) and sophomore midfielder Philip Schoeniger (Lexington/Lexington, Mass.). In the end, the final result was a 5-1 win, and a great way to begin our trip.

Wednesday's match proved to be a much tougher opponent. Following a tour of the Swedish national stadium, we played the AIK junior team. This team was by far one of the strongest opponents we will likely see on this trip. The team was comprised of junior and developmental players, meaning that some of these youth players will one day be professional players in Sweden or elsewhere in Europe. Our team struck first with a goal by senior forward Tucker Crockett (Episcopal Academy/Rosemont, Pa.), but unfortunately this was followed by an own goal to wrap up the first half. However, once again our team responded in the second half with goals by Schoeniger and junior midfielder Brad Weinberg (Marcellus/Marcellus, N.Y.). Following another unfortunate own goal, our team was able to hold on to the 3-2 win. It was a great result and all the boys were happy to be competing at such a level.

The Statesmen on the pitch of AIK, one of the top professional teams in Sweden.