Encouraging Words for an Exciting Team

By carolinianweb on September 6, 2017 • ( 0 )

Sports_IsaiahHilaire_LeeroyMaguraushe_CarlosMoralesUNCGAthletics

(Left): Leeroy Maguraushe, UNCG Athletics / Carlos Morales

Isaiah Saint Hilaire
Staff Writer

Spartan men’s soccer midfielder Leeroy Maguraushe has a lot of confidence in his team, despite starting the season with two tough losses in close matches. When asked about his team in terms of their effort and play, Maguraushe had nothing but positive things to say.

“We got a lot of good players, we got a lot of talent, we just need to start to jell together. We did not have many exhibition games, so we’re just starting to get to know each other a little bit more.” He continued, saying “we’ve got a lot of variety in terms of international players and American players. We’ve got a very young team; we only have about three seniors at the moment so the team is majority juniors, sophomores and freshmen.”

It was very clear that he believes that his team will have a winning season. He believes that the lack of experience prevented them from being the best they could be. He does believe that they will persevere and get back on track in terms of their play.

He also believes that chemistry is a huge part of their success as a team. Leeroy talked about the importance of team chemistry.

“Yeah, chemistry goes a lot into how a team jells and how it plays. If you don’t know how your teammates move and stuff like that, then it’s going to be very hard to play together. I think it’s not more the reason why we’ve only scored one goal.”

It was very interesting to hear him say that as it really showed his passion for his team. Communication is key when trying to win with a group of players. If you’re not sure how that person will respond, its very difficult to say what you want.

When asked about if the next two games at home will make a difference, his response was “Definitely has a positive influence in being able to play at home, especially in front of the fans and the atmosphere. I feel like we did really well against High Point when we were at home; we were just really unlucky to the goals that were scored. Hopefully the atmosphere could help us and push us to win the game against UNC and also the game after that as well.”

He spoke about the game against High Point University and mentioned that they played pretty well but got very unlucky toward in the end of the game in losing 2-1. He also mentioned the benefits of being at home, such as the crowd being on your side and cheering you on. He elaborated and spoke about how the crowd usually responds to what they do in a positive way. He learned that the atmosphere wasn’t too bad and definitely great for the team. It’s always great when the crowd cheers for you; it definitely gives a team determination to play well in front of their fans.

Speaking with Leeroy Maguraushe helped build a better perspective of how the team operates. It was very interesting to hear the wonderful words of praise Maguraushe had to say about his teammates. It’s always nice hearing the players speaking so highly about one another. In other ways, it could also affect how the coach views his players. It can be the catalyst for how a team operates in being able to complement each other and not allow any negativity to surround them.

It was nice hearing the confidence Maguraushe has in his teammates. When that confidence is spread throughout the team, it reflects their play in knowing each other even more. The chemistry Maguraushe spoke about begins to flow. Maguraushe believes the Spartan men have a chance to win it all with the confidence and chemistry the team should have. We will see throughout the season if UNCG will indeed have chemistry for the rest of the season.