University of Delaware Athletics
Men's Soccer Eager to Build Off Last Season's Success; Believe They Can Be Even Better in 2024
3/14/2024 1:30:00 PM | Men's Soccer
University of Delaware men's soccer head coach Tommy McMenemy took time to discuss the success his team had during the 2023 and how he expects to build off last year's team in 2024. The Blue Hens have four scrimmages scheduled throughout March and April and will host Wilmington University and West Chester University, while traveling to Navy and Lehigh.Â
From a coaching perspective, how do you build off of last year's nine win season?Â
First we need to avoid any feeling of satisfaction that may lead to complacency. We need to double down on the core values of our culture that gave us a chance to be competitive in the first place. It was obviously nice to learn how to compete and win in some big games, but the bigger lessons for us came in the games we lost or tied and we knew we could've been better in our approach. We need to learn from those moments if we're to become a more complete team.Â
What about last year's team allowed Delaware men's soccer to be so talented?Â
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The investment of the players in the spring and summer prior to the fall. Their fitness levels were excellent when they returned to campus for pre-season, and that allowed our staff to focus on our playing identity from day one. We also had a key group of characters in our senior class who were hungry to leave the program in a better place than they found it. Those guys set the tone for the returners and helped a talented group of freshmen understand the expectations immediately. When you align a group like that with a top-shelf Sport Performance team and incredible resources, it makes our life as coaches a lot easier.Â
ÂWhat changes are you interested in implementing for the 2024 team?
Our identity and principles will remain the same, we'll just increase the focus on the areas of our game model that we know we need to improve. Our biggest priority is to reduce our goals against average, and that can be done in a number of ways on both sides of the ball, including possessing and attacking more efficiently, and improving our team shape and communication in key moments defensively. Â
What has the team's off-season looked like? Â
The boys are working hard every day on the field and in the weight room. They've also committed to some great work with our leadership development team to establish their goals as a team, and to outline the behaviors required to achieve those goals. The long-term vision is to have the players drive the culture of the program, we're just trying to give them the necessary tools with which to do that.Â
How has last season's accomplishments had an impact on you as a coach?
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As a relatively new staff, I think another year playing in our conference and then competing in the playoffs just adds to our experience, which can only be a good thing. Our hunger honestly doesn't change - we didn't win anything so we're not content in the least. We've worked hard to recruit characters who want to win championships, so as a staff we can focus more on the process than the outcome. Our focus as a program is to learn and grow from both our successes and failures, and keep getting better each day.Â
ÂThe freshman class achieved a lot. How big is it for the team to have freshmen contribute early on?
Our young players did extremely well, but everyone contributed. Our seniors set the expectation, our juniors combined for 23 goals and our sophomore class contributed a ton of minutes in midfield. The fact is, we will play whoever we feel gives us the best chance to win the game. That all of our players understand and trust that is imperative because it naturally breeds healthy competition and accountability.Â
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