Rosters are being finalized, finishing touches are being worked on in practice, and the soccer players are filled with excitement for the season ahead.
If last season could be described in one word, that word would be streaky. The Spartans looked hot out of the gate.
After a 2-2 draw with Clayton State in double overtime, they would go on to pick apart Coker and Florida Memorial each 4-0.
Keeping the momentum going they would beat Barry in overtime 2-1. The Spartans biggest win of the season came against Eckerd at home with a dramatic score line of 5-1. Halfway through the season the Spartans record stood at a pretty nice looking 4-2-2.
In the second half of the season, things started to go downhill. Tampa would lose two straight to Florida Tech and Lynn.
Things would get much better for the Spartans though as they began to turn things around on the road versus Nova Southeastern and Eckerd.
The Spartans would win with a score line of 3-1, and 3-2 respectively only to come down to lose the next three matches each by the score of 3-1.
The Spartans finished out the season with a 2-0 loss versus Lynn in the SSC Tournament. The final record stood at 6-8-3.
A season that started out so well was completely lost in the second half of the season. Tampa will look to rebound this year and show its dominance after making it all the way to the Sunshine State Conference Semifinal match two seasons ago.
The season ahead looks promising. The Spartans who traditionally are great playing at home open the season with their first seven games at home.
Tampa only plays five games on the road this season, with two of them back to back with Lynn and Saint Leo.
These are crucial games for the Spartans as they are both conference matches and should be a good determinant of where our team stands. Saint Leo is placed first in the latest preseason poll, with Lynn placed in third.
Our Tampa Spartans are placed fifth and will look to change that once the season comes around.
Tampa is lead by head coach Adrian Bush who is entering his 10th season in charge. Bush played for the Spartans from 1990-1994, and after graduating became an assistant coach. In 2005 he would get his chance to lead as head coach.
In 2008 he had his best season as a head coach leading the team to an unbelievable 18-4-1 record and reached the NCAA Final Four.
In 2009 he lead the team to a very similar record of 17-3-1 and reached the NCAA Quarterfinal.
After a down season last year, Coach Bush thinks that UT can regain its dominance in the Sunshine State Conference.
When asked about what will be done different this season, Coach Bush pointed out the fact that the team now has seven returning seniors, as compared to one last season.
Coach made it very clear to me that he showed no disrespect to the team we had last season, but says that we are much improved and show more maturity.
When asked about his expectations for this upcoming season Coach Bush said, “Our expectations are the same as every year. First and foremost we want to graduate our players, then we want to win championships.”
Jason Collister, a sophomore forward on the team shares similar expectations as his coach.
Talking about the upcoming season, Collister said, “We have high team spirit and morale and are able to overcome our preseason losses as a team. We have very high expectations. Our main goal is to maintain high intensity throughout the season and reach the NCAA tourney.”
The Spartans will look to get things underway when the season begins on September 4th versus Carson-Newman here at UT at 7:30 under the lights.
Ed Kerner can be reached at edward.kerner@spartans.ut.edu