Soccer spring training and tournaments underway

The Nicholls State University soccer team has been working in the spring as a method for team and individual improvement.

The soccer team played in the Louisiana College Cup tournament last weekend at Moore Park in Lafayette, Louisiana. The Colonels played several Southland Conference teams in the tournament, including McNeese State University and Lamar University. The Colonels came in second place behind McNeese, with Lamar coming in third and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette finishing in fourth.

“It’s a time for them [the players] to improve themselves,” Nicholls soccer head coach Michael McBride said on the team’s spring events.

The Colonels will have another spring tournament coming up, this time in a seven versus seven format. This tournament will be held at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and, much like the previous tournament, will feature several Southland Conference opponents.

Along with a couple of tournaments, the Nicholls soccer team will spend much of the rest of the spring training. While they can’t train with the soccer team in those spring sessions, Nicholls has already brought in a few recruits for next fall semester.  McBride said that he still wanted them to be a part of the process as much as possible, even before officially being a part of the team.

“They’re being included in team communication,” McBride said.

The next fall season will be just McBride’s second as head coach of the Nicholls soccer team, but he said that expectations are already higher than last season.

“There’s a realization [on the team] that we’re going to raise the bar. Expectations are higher now that we’ve gotten to know each other,” McBride said.