RIO GRANDE VALLEY – It has been a couple of weeks since The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men’s soccer team started their preseason and with their first regular match just days away, they are excited to put everything they have worked on to the test.
Their first test comes on Thursday when the Vaqueros open the season against Bryant University at 4 pm at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
“I think we have been almost two and a half weeks of training against ourselves hearing my voice every single day,” UTRGV Head Coach Bryheem Hancock said. “Now to finally play that regular season match. From day one, our focus has been on Bryant. Yes, we had an exhibition, but Bryant has been the main focus for us. As a team, there have been certain areas we needed to address, and I think we have done a great job of detailing those to our team by keeping it simple. I give a lot of credit to the guys. They absorb a lot of information and they have done the best they can. I am satisfied within the season with how it’s gone but now it’s the true test. The first match will tell us a lot about where we are as a group coming out of preseason.”
The Vaqueros bring back a solid core from last year’s team with the likes of Yusuf Cueceoglu, Jan Engels, Isaac Ochoa, Moiad Ankir, Jose Cantu, Martin Tellez and Michael Washington and have brought in 16 new faces into the fold.
Coach Hancock, who is entering his third season with the program, has noticed one big difference from his first two seasons, which is depth.
“I think overall depth has been the biggest difference so far,” Hancock said. “It keeps the level of every single day at a high level. It is super competitive out there. I feel like there are a lot of guys that can help us in the group, which is really important when you are going through the course of a season with a lot of games played twice a week, traveling, injuries, and all those things that happen within the course of the season. For me, I am pleased with our overall depth and quality of the group.”
While depth and quality have been the biggest difference from last season, there has been a certain quality that is shared throughout the team.
It’s a quality that not everyone is suited for and that is leadership. For Coach Hancock, that is one of the biggest strengths he sees for his team.
“I think the biggest thing is that we have a lot of leaders on the team,” Hancock said. “The guys who came back really sacrificed over the summertime, and you can tell by just how fit they came in. There were areas in their games that needed improvement, but I can say that every player that has come back has done that. you look at the guys we brought in. I recruited a lot of captains, a lot of guys that bring leadership and winning to the group. It is obvious from day one until now just the amount of leadership you see among the group. We have freshman that are talking to seniors, and they are helping them out where in the past guys might be quiet when they came in. That has helped everything we have tried to do, which is a comfortable feeling.”
Coach Hancock knows he is going to have to rely on his newcomers this season if they want to accomplish their goals of winning a Western Athletic Conference Championship and making it to the NCAA Tournament.
He has seen good things from his newcomer group throughout the preseason. All Coach Hancock can ask for is that they do the same thing they have done through the preseason into the regular season too.
“For a lot of them, this will be the first time playing Division I college soccer and for us we want them to bring what they have already brought to the table throughout the preseason,” Hancock said. “That is things they can control, like consistency, energy, when you are battling and doing your job and knowing your role. When they are not in, then we look for them to be supporting the group with energy on the sidelines because when they get their chance the other guys will do the same. That’s been the beauty of it, and I am excited to see it this Thursday.”
With such a large number of newcomers this season, the Vaqueros have relied on a couple of returners to lead and set an example for the team this season. Cueceoglu and Engels have been named team captains and have done a good job of getting everyone on the same page through the preseason.
Both captains will be key in pushing the group forward together and they have taken their job very seriously so far.
“We have two captains that we have identified after the fall season was done last year,” Hancock said. “Since then, Jan and Yusuf have done a great job of leading the group. Obviously, they had the returners with them first but since the first day of preseason, they have invited the new guys and have made them feel comfortable, making sure that everyone feels involved. They have done a great job of that and that will be a big help for the group going into the first two games of the weekend.”
The collegiate soccer season is packed with games in a three-month span and is almost like a roller coaster ride. There will be ups and downs and twists and turns.
Every team around the country will experience this this season, but the best teams know how to handle everything that comes in a season.
If the Vaqueros want to be in that upper level that they believe they can be, then they will have to do a good job of managing what comes their way this season.
“There are going to be easy games and there are going to be tough games,” Hancock said. “There is going to be adversity thrown at us with a little bit of unluckiness. All of those come within a season of soccer. Any team goes through it. It’s all about how you handle it. Not getting too high and not getting too low but even keel. We have to come out with the same mindset and focus every single day. We don’t want to cheat the game. If we can make be honest with our effort each day and focus, then I think we can have a very good season.”
The Vaqueros had just four home matches last season. After facing Bryant to open the season, the Vaqueros will host Oral Roberts to close out the opening week.
They will also host Texas A&M International, Omaha, Utah Tech, UNLV, Air Force, Grand Canyon, Incarnate Word, and Houston Baptist throughout the season.
There is a different feeling already at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex this season and Coach Hancock hopes that feeling is contagious in their play at home.
“I went to the first women’s soccer game and to have the press box, speaker system, and the banners that are around the stadium, it makes it feel like an enclosed stadium,” Hancock said. “You can see the facility has a whole transformation and it is exciting to see pictures and graphics but now to see things in place gives us that much more motivation. I look forward to our first match out there. Students should be back, so I hope we get a good crowd out there to go along with the drumline. That should provide good energy.”
The Vaqueros were picked to finish tied for seventh in the WAC this season in the preseason coaches’ poll.
The WAC is deep yet again as Seattle U was selected as the favorite in the poll. Grand Canyon, who was selected to finish second, is receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason rankings.
While WAC games are the important ones, Coach Hancock and the Vaqueros know they can’t worry about those games just yet.
They want to take it one game at a time with that one goal in mind.
“We like to focus on one game at a time, but our mission and goal is to win a championship,” Hancock said. “It’s the regular season. It’s the conference tournament. We want to give us our first chance at the NCAA Tournament to see how far we can push this thing. We are trying to keep it simple. We will focus on the first opponent that we play, which will be Seattle U, then we go to San Jose State 36 hours later. That is a bit away from us right now, but our focus will shift once we get closer but for us it’s us using these non-conference games with opponents that will play different styles that will mirror our conference opponents. We will use these games to see if we can pass the test to prepare us to win a conference championship.”
The Vaqueros are in a good place as they end the preseason and get ready for the start of the regular season. While there is a lot of work to be done at every level, Coach Hancock knows his team could not be where they are without the help of his staff.
Associate Head Coach Kyle TimmAssistant Coach AJ Maderoand volunteer coach Jorge Diaz have been working behind the scenes to help the team pull in one direction.
Coach Hancock is grateful for their hard work, and he sees how it is paying off on the field.
“My staff has done a lot of work behind the scenes to get this group to where they are right now,” Hancock said. “It’s a lot of work that doesn’t go noticed. It is something that I am surely thankful for. With the staff I have, I feel like I have the best staff in the conference, and I think the guys see that as well with the work they put in to make the job of the guys on the field easier. I really want to give them thanks for their hard work.”
The season is just days away and the anticipation of what is to come continues to build.
The Vaqueros are poised to turn some heads this season and the fun begins on Thursday.
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