Despite the fact that the GW men’s soccer team did not reach all of its goals this season, finishing 6-11-1 overall and 4-6-1 in the Atlantic 10, team members succeeded individually.
“They put in the effort,” acting head coach John McNamara said. “They were never a team that didn’t play 90 minutes.”
GW will lose key offensive players senior Omar Sigtryggsson and graduate student Matt Ferry. Sigtryggsson had 31 points this season with 14 goals and three assists. He scored 21 goals in only two seasons playing at GW.
Experienced senior defenders Alex Guerreiro, Scott Zmrhal and Hugo Alfaro will leave a gap in the Colonials’ defense that will have to be filled if the team is to succeed in 1998.
Two other seniors, Jamie Hadzima and Dave Aman, will be leaving the goalie position to freshman Andreas Kolazas and next year’s recruits.
“Andreas played the last game and got a win under his belt,” McNamara said. He also said there will probably be two new recruits next year and Kolazas “will have a chance in the spring” to prove he can continue at the position.
Senior Ben Ferry also will return next year because he was redshirted as a freshman. His 24 assists this year lead the nation and earned him a spot on the A-10’s All-Conference Team.
Also returning for GW will be junior Ben Hatton, who finished with nine goals and three assists, an improvement from the total of four goals and three assists in his first two years.
McNamara said Hatton and Ferry will play in the two forward positions together next season.
“Ben Hatton is an emotional player,” McNamara said. “When he’s 100 percent, not too many defenders want to play against him.”
McNamara said the team is “still solid in the midfield.” In addition to upperclassmen, he will be looking next year to sophomore Evan Nierman and freshmen Jeff Greenspan and Luke Fischer to continue their solid play from this season into next.
Another person who may return next year is George Lidster, who had been the head coach of the Colonials for 10 years prior to this season. He now is in England trying to gain American citizenship, but it has not been determined whether he will return to coach at GW.
McNamara said, “It’s nice to be in charge, to be able to pull the strings.” He said he hoped to be back next year.
Even if Lidster returned, McNamara said he would stay on at least until next fall “to make sure things were in order.”
