SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg men's soccer team flew to England for a unique training trip with the intent of experiencing British culture, playing games against local club teams and attending games played by some of the greatest professionals in the world. Perhaps most important, Head Coach Steve Dawson hopes that victories over two elite English club teams may provide some much-needed confidence to the Tigers, who have finished 10-7-1 and 10-7 the last two years but haven't been able to break into the top half of the highly competitive North Coast Athletic Conference.

The Tigers began the trip with their lone loss, a 2-1 setback at the hands of the London-based Hayes Football Club. "We were intimidated a little bit at first," Dawson commented. "As the game went on, however, we played much better. We played especially well the last 20 minutes of the game." Junior Mike Walsh (Springfield, Ohio/North) scored the Tigers' only goal.

Wittenberg bounced back in its second game, defeating Southport Football Club 3-2 for the team's first victory of the week. Senior defensive back Josh Curtis (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) pushed forward to score two goals for the Tigers, while junior forward Taggart Suddes (Ostrander, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) added the other goal.

The Tigers carried their momentum into the third game of the trip, playing their best match of the trip in a 3-1 victory over Chester City Football Club. The victory was that much more impressive considering Chester City Football Club is comprised of 17- and 18-year-olds training to become future professionals. Suddes, Walsh, and senior forward Brian Armstrong (Deleware, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) scored one goal each for the Tigers.

Wittenberg, which played its game against Chester City Football Club on a professionally kept field, has one game remaining against Northwich Victoria in Wales.

Outside of the tough game competition and two-a-day practices the Tigers have faced on the trip, the players attended a Manchester United game with more than 60,000 fans. The players also toured the facilities and met Joe-Max Moore, a member of the United States National Team who plays professionally in England.

Freshmen players reported to Wittenberg on Aug. 18 to begin training for the 2002 season with assistant coach Chuck Nickoson. The season begins with a scrimmage against Otterbein on Aug. 28 and then the annual Wittenberg Invitational on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

035-02