I really ought to have gone to the Texas A&M match. At least that game had the high drama of neither team scoring a single goal,
keeping the madding crowds on the edge of their bleacher seats at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
I suppose there’s a note of misplaced sarcasm in that last sentence. Actually, a 0-0 tie is the opposite of tedious, and perhaps I would have seen a glimmer of that je ne sais quoi completely absent in last year’s team. Not that the 2007 Longhorns had any shame in their game. Coach Chris Petrucelli‘s teams never do. They were 16-4-5 on the season (6-2-2 in the Big 12) and made it to the third round of the NCAA tournament. But man, were they boring! I always felt a little sorry for the ambitious student reporter covering the team for The Daily Texan, though maybe I shouldn’t have. If nothing else, the experience was excellent training for the exciting realities of his first real journalism job – covering the sanitation department, say.
The UT team isn’t entirely to blame. God knows we all love the idea of soccer, as that Christian Lander dude pointed out in his brilliant Stuff White People Like blog. “Many white people will tell you that they are very into soccer,” he writes. The truth is, “white people don’t actually enjoy watching soccer, they just like telling their friends that they are into it.”
I can’t say that I blame them. Soccer undoubtedly has a certain European panache, instantly evoking baguettes, unfiltered cigarettes, existentialist philosophers, and memories of that really cute chick you actually picked up at the Louvre.
But never mind actually watching soccer – try writing about it. There’s an adage in sportswriting: The smaller the ball, the better the writing. And let’s face it: As balls go, the soccer ball is pretty big. The game just doesn’t give writers much to work with, and the UT squad seemed to give them even less.
Still, I am here to report that I did see intimations of flair in Texas’ 2-1 win over Iowa State Sunday – until, that is, UT took the lead early in the second half and reverted back to ho-hum form.
I wished they had just let ‘er rip. With 2007’s Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Kasey Moore, at sweeper and a rock-solid Dianna Pfenninger in goal, they can afford to. Fortunately, Moore and Petrucelli recognize this. With a young offense, they’re trying to become a more dynamic, more dangerous team. “We’re trying to score more goals,” Moore says simply enough.
But don’t just score more goals than the other team. Score more goals period. Take some chances. Take advantage of those tall freshman forwards.
Seriously, girls, what do you have to lose?
This article appears in October 10 • 2008.