When Utah State University’s men’s soccer team walks onto the Aggie Legacy Fields on Saturday, it will be to play in the club’s first ever spring game — a match which marks what many players hope will be a new era for Aggie soccer.
The match* against first-time opponent BYU-Idaho begins at 4 p.m.
“This is our first spring season that the team has ever had,” said junior forward and team co-captain Matt Cannon. “So we are taking this opportunity to test certain players out and giving new players some experience for the fall season.”
Cannon said the spring games will give the Aggies an in-depth look at next year’s potential strengths and weaknesses.
“Spring is basically a transitionary period for us,” said senior co-captain Joseph Burt. “We are using these games to start looking for players to replace outgoing seniors and to strengthen positions that need reinforcement.”
Burt aims to show Aggie soccer fans a dynamic team on Saturday in an effort to provide the squad’s young players with valuable in-game experience.
“We'll cycle in combinations of players from last season and new guys so we see who works well together,” Burt said. “In the end our goal is to experiment and find what works best with the group of players we have.”
Andrew Nickerson, who will be joining Cannon as a co-captain in the fall, said he’s looking forward to seeing how the new players mesh together.
“It’ll be cool having a few more games with legendary captains like Joey Burt and Jordan Butterfield,” Nickerson said.
Returning players will bear extra responsibility for the Aggies this spring, as the club has been without a coach since Sherri Dever stepped down from the position at the conclusion of the fall season.
“I think it was mostly due to personal reasons,” Nickerson said. “Coach Dever had a busy schedule and wasn’t going to have a lot of extra time this coming season.”
Despite the potential setback, team captains aren’t overly concerned about the coaching vacancy.
“I’m not worried about it,” Cannon said. “A typical practice session runs the same with or without a coach. We had a great practice on Wednesday — the players are very focused and having loads of fun. It’s been smiles all around.”
Cannon said this past week’s practices were “encouraging” and the team has been functioning well under the direction of several player coaches.
Burt in particular is looking forward to the upcoming mini-season and being able to wear his USU jersey for five more matches before graduating in May.
“I love the game and love working to develop it in Logan,” Burt said. “We play the highest-quality and most entertaining soccer in the valley.”
Burt said it’s difficult for him to compare each of his four seasons to another, as each year has featured different people, different results and different leadership styles.
“The team was a lot of fun this season,” Burt said. “We had a lot of injuries that hurt our results on the field, but the team was very cohesive and I believe the core players coming back next year will have a lot of success.”
*Yes, I did just use "match" twice in quick succession, but it was that or "game" which I also just used, or some other synonym for "game" which just felt unnecessarily wordy.
