Blasts From The Past

The annual Soccer Alumni Game was played this past Saturday night, despite the very real fear of cancellation due to the monsoon that hit the area last week and dumped several inches of rain on Marshall.

Rain in August. In Marshall, Texas. What is the world coming to?

That's a subject for another blog, however. The Soccer Alumni Game is always a big event for men's soccer here, and there was an added attraction this year with the first Women's Soccer Alumni Game. Attendance and participation was a bit down for the women's game, but a lot of that is attributed to the newness of the idea as well as the fact the game was briefly cancelled on Friday before being back on again thanks to Marshall High School's willingness to let us use their turf field in Maverick Stadium.

I missed the game again this year, but I always have a good reason. It's typically played on the final weekend before the season opener, and it's always the last opportunity I have to take my wife on a real date before I go into ETBU hibernation until Christmas. Looking at the schedule, I won't have a Saturday available for anything other than Tiger athletics until the holiday season, so the Alumni Game usually has to take second place on this weekend.

But it's always a popular, exciting game. My good friend and unofficial assistant, Jason Soles, of the ETBU Admissions Office, serves as the coach of the Tiger Alumni. And with the weapons at his disposal, armed with several returning All-Americans from years past, well, Soles likes to claim that the Alumni Game is the toughest game on the Tigers' schedule every year.

This year apparently was no different. The current Tigers clipped the Alumni last season, and for a solid year I've had to listen to my buddy claiming the fix was on. Saturday night, it was former Tiger All-American Bryce Morrow scoring a goal in the opening minutes and then making it stand up for a 1-0 win, giving the Alumni the mythical bragging rights for at least another year.

It's got to be a strange night for Coach Alonzo, too, however. As coach of the current Tigers, the game was started a few years ago as a way to bring the old guard back and also to give the current team a very nice, competitive tuneup heading into the season. Knowing Alonzo, yes, his intention every year is to beat his old guys with his new ones. But also knowing Alonzo, he is full of pride every time he sees the old guys come back and work their magic on the pitch again. After all, there are a few of those alumni who helped bring back-to-back NCCAA national titles to ETBU in 1998 and 1999, and memories are always nice -- especially the good ones.

The Tigers will open on the road this Saturday over at Texas College in Tyler, and ETBU actually won't have a men's soccer home game until Sept. 13. The ladies will kick things off with home games Friday and Saturday, the first home games on campus for the new school year. Hope to see you there.