Nicholls State University hosted a men’s soccer game for the first time since the late 1980s as the men’s club soccer played their first game this past Sunday against West Bank Football Club.
The Colonels scored the first goal in the team’s history within the first five minutes of the game but were only able to walk away with a draw as West Bank FC tied early on in the second half. Nicholls was playing one man down after Gregory Ndzie received a red card in the final moments of the first half.
Parker Naquin scored the first goal when Caleb Jackson set him up right in front of the net for an easy.
“Caleb set me up with a perfect ball. It was easy on my part. I just had to flick it in there. It’s good to get out here and get some results. I just wish we could have come out with the win on that one,” Naquin said.
The team agreed that their play was a work in progress. The Colonels weren’t able to convert the number of changes that they had in the second half.
“Well, I think, obviously, the team needs work. The way we played was decent, but it was not exactly what we practiced, especially shooting. We had at least six or seven chances, clear cut chances, that were missed. As a coach, I take pride in not missing clear cut chances. We need to work on that. It’s disheartening,” Ebby Ezema, a volunteer coach for the team, said.
Despite being down a man through the entirety of the second half, the Colonels continued to attack and push for a second goal.
“Second half, because we were down a man, we had to play a little bit more aggressive, push up a little bit higher, challenge the guys better. I believe we had the better opportunities in the second half. We didn’t sit back. I don’t think we sat back at all,” Ezema said.
Ezema believes that the newness of the team is the reason for their struggles in their first game. He thinks that eventually they will be able to iron out the mental errors that plagued them in front of the goal.
“We deserve more than a draw. We deserve the [win], but we’ll just take the [draw] for now. It’s a work in progress. Some of these guys, they’ve just played soccer for two or three years. We’re working with them. Like Greg, we need to work on Greg’s technique. That red card was atrocious, but he’s not a terrible player. It’s just mental errors.”
However, Ezema pulled no punches when talking about the other team.
“We just need to stop playing to our competition’s level. These guys, they weren’t that good. We were better than them, and they know it. [The coach] told me that, so it is a shame that we only took a draw here, but it is a work in progress. We plan to take the three points next time.”
Nicholls will take the field again on March 1 against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette’s club team at noon and March 15 against Louisiana State University at 3:30 pm.