Men's Soccer is Spanning the Globe
What are the odds?
The answer often brings common terms to uncommon situations. For
example, the odds of winning an Olympic medal are 662,000 to 1,
while the odds of catching a foul ball at a major league baseball
game are 563 to 1. As for the odds of four players coming from New
Zealand to play soccer at an American university in the same year?
Well, those odds are pretty good if you're talking about the
Fairfield University men's soccer team.
New Zealand natives Adam Cowen, Michael Eagar, Michael O'Keeffe, and Johnny Raj travelled nearly 9,000 miles to play soccer at Fairfield University. The four freshmen have spent the last eight weeks getting acclimated to life in the United States.
"Our teammates have been so helpful," Raj said. "They've taken us around, showed us places, and introduced us to people we need to know on campus. You don't always get that in New Zealand. It's so much kinder in the United States."
The four players are not strangers to the United States, as they all have experience playing on the West Coast. While many East Coast residents may romanticize about living in the warm climate of the left coast, the New Zealanders never gave that a thought.
"The climate is more like holiday on the West Coast," Eagar said. "The climate here is more like home. We left New Zealand during the winter, so we turned up here without a fan or anything like that. I'm sure around Christmas time, we'll wish we were back home. Plus, we've been on the West Coast so we thought it'd be a good experience to be here near New York City."
The New Zealanders haven't made it down to New York City yet, as the life of a student-athlete doesn't allow for much travel. But Eagar was able to spend a little time on the road before the season began, a big difference from his experience on his native roads.
"I drove up to Oneonta for a visit which is three hours each way, so I've had a little time on the road," Eagar said. "It was a lot of freeways, plus the road signs here are a lot clearer here so that made the driving a little easier for me. Of course the big thing is driving on the right side of the road since I'm used to being on the left side of the road."
Getting used to things has been a common occurrence for the four lads, beginning with the field itself. The team trains at Alumni Stadium, which has an artificial turf surface, but plays at Lessing Field, a grass surface.
"I don't like the turf at all," Cowen said. "We don't have turf at home so that's been a little difficult. We knew that there would be turf, but we've had a tough time adjusting to it."
"But we play on grass at Lessing," Eagar added. "It's probably the nicest surface in the region, so we are very happy about that."
In addition to adjusting to the field surfaces, they have also been becoming accustomed to the skill level at the college level.
"Everyone is individually skilled here, real talented," Raj said. "In New Zealand, you may have a few good players. Here, everyone is at least decent. In the States, coaches are full time. The universities at home don't have soccer programs. Everyone in college soccer is really good. The game is quicker and everyone is big and more physical. They really emphasize the gym here. In New Zealand, players don't go to the gym unless they want to show off at the beach."
All four may have to spend additional time at the gym than what is currently required by Head Coach Carl Rees, since they have acquired a taste for a certain snack food that may not be the healthiest for any athlete.
"The donuts are really, really nice, here in America," Eagar
said. "They have them in the canteen (cafeteria) and we can't get
enough of them."
