Men's Soccer | 8/11/2010 9:27:38 AM

BARCELONA, SPAIN - RIT Head Coach Bill Garno gives his second report from Spain, where he and the RIT men's soccer team are training for the 2010 season.  Here is a day-by-day account from Garno, from Monday, August 9 to Wednesday, August 11.  Check back for post-trip updates from Garno and players, as they return from Spain on Thursday, August 12.  

Monday, August 9
We had our second training session with Dani Sanchez in the morning, where we received more great insight from him on the “Spanish Way”, and excellent effort from the team.  After practice, the team rested at the hotel all afternoon before heading off to our first “friendly” match at Barcelona University.

We played one of Barca's teams from it's Federacio Catalana de Futbol, CF Atletic Poble Sec (a last minute replacement as Palamos CF was unable to make the game).  The team was made up of 21-30 year old players, many who have previously played in the higher ranks of Spain's professional leagues.

RIT played well in the first 30 minutes, with even possession between the two sides. A misplayed air ball at midfield provided Poble Sec with a counter attacking attempt which they converted to take a 1-0 lead in 30th minute. The Tigers rebounded after going down and finished the first half down a goal.

In the second half, RIT got caught on two combinations in the middle of the defense shortly after making a few line-up changes, and found ourselves down 3-0. The team showed heart and energy and got a goal back to make it a 3-1 final. A good effort, but the training session earlier in the day definitely showed as we were a bit slow with our play.

Goalkeeper Sean Conway (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park), defender Sean Coots (Binghamton, NY/Johnson City), and senior captain Bret Dietz (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt) all played exceptionally in the game.

Tuesday, August 10
Our second friendly match in as many days was against,  CFS Premia de Mar  from the third division of Spain's professional ranks. Premia was a much superior team than the previous night, with two of the players in the line-up currently negotiating transfers to play with FC Barcelona, current champions of Europe. In the words of Dani Sanchez, who was in attendance at the game, we “impressed everyone with our play”. The team played well throughout the game against a team that was very much superior to the team we had played the previous day.

Although we gave up goal after another turn over to go down 1-0 midway through the first half, we fought back with a much better organized effort defensively and some very good possession. A handful of very good scoring chances were punctuated by Bret Dietz (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt) ripping a 30-yard curling free kick just over the crossbar with about 13 minutes remaining. We continued with pressure but were unable to score leaving the final score 1-0 in Premia's favor.

Despite the score, we played much better, and the coaching staff is more satisfied with the play of the team in this game. Bret Dietz (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt), Sean Coots (Binghamton, NY/Johnson City), and Sean Conway (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) again played exceptionally, and Jake Yates (Waynesburg, PA/Waynesburg) also had a very strong game playing both outside back and outside midfield for the Tigers.

Wednesday, August 11
We had a light training session in the morning at Barcelona University, our final session of the trip with Dani Sanchez. While the team is physically tired from the very demanding last three days, everyone is upbeat and ready to enjoy the balance of the day touring some of Barcelona's landmarks, strolling Las Ramblas, and spending a couple of hours at the beach before returning to the hotel to pack for our return trip Thursday morning.

Look for more photos and stories once the Tigers return.