Player Spotlight: Curt Ooton

For the first player spotlight, Curt Ooton agreed to let us reveal some intimate details about his life, passions, and hobbies. It was an interesting Q&A via text message. I have opted to include a word-for-word transcript.  Special thanks to Adam Hoskins and Mike Holly for helping me with the questions.

Facebook Personals

Age: 19
Height: 6'0"

Hometown: Kansas City, MO

High School: St. Pius X

Relationship Status: Single
Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Soccer Credentials
Preferred Position: Striker

Been with Truman FC since: Fall 2008

Current Club (back home): Queens Park Rangers U19
Favorite players: Robbie Keane (Tottenham), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid), Henrik Larsson (Helsingborg), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Favorite Clubs: Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, QPR
Favorite USMNT player: Clint Dempsey

Q&A (via text message)

Collin Koenig: First question: what player do you most look up to?

Curt Ooton: Is this on the team or of all pro players?

CK: One of each dude.

CO: For truman club team its you and for professionals its robbie keane...both because of the great leadership you show on and off the field and because of the excitement you get out of playing the game.

CK: Nice. Second question: if you could be any animal, what would u be?

CO: A lion for sure...its aggressive and powerful but smart and sly at the same time.

CK: What do you consider to be your greatest on-field attribute?

CO: Field awareness...knowing who's around me, how much time I have, where my teammates are, and what action should be taken next (pass, dribble, shoot, cross).

CK: What are your hobbies off the field?

CO: Fifa for the xbox360, facebook (yes that's a hobby), baskeball, reading, royals games, wizards games, playing cards, hanging out with friends.

CK: If you could be one deceased political figure who would you be?

CO: Benjamin franklin because he was a political figure and inventor

CK: Toilet paper: wad it or fold it?

CO: Gotta fold it

CK: Favorite classic rock band.

CO: Boston for classic rock...and machbox twenty for other rock

CK: Nice. What do u wanna be when u grow up?

CO: A physical therapist but a dream job would be a professional socer [sic, it's not like it's the sport we play or anything] player or sports anchor/broadcaster

CK: Me too on the broadcasting dude.

CO: It would be hella interesting and you'd get to be at all those games.

CK: Yeah man for sure.

Alright, well that wraps it up for the spotlight.  Thanks again to Curt for being the guinea pig. I hope to continue this segment in the near future.

Fall 2009 League Schedule

I'll admit, I lied. I said the next post would be a player spotlight but that is still in the works. I promise Curt gave me some great responses so look for it soon.

For the Fall 2009 Kansas-Missouri Soccer League (KMSL) season, eight teams have been divided into Eastern and Western divisions:

Eastern: Truman, Mizzou, Saint Louis University, Washington University (St. Louis)

Western: Kansas, K-State, Wichita State, Washburn

The format includes playing home-and-away matches against each divisional opponent with two additional matches against teams from the other division. The season concludes, for invited teams, with the Region IV North Tournament at Kansas State. FC Truman has been invited to the Region IV North Tournament in each of its two years of competition.  The winner of the regional tournament gains an automatic bid to the NIRSA National Tournament in Phoenix, AZ.

FC Truman's schedule (all games scheduled for 1 pm unless noted):

Sun 9/13 @ KU

Sat 9/19 vs. Wichita State

Sun 9/20 vs. Wash U

Fri 9/25 @ Mizzou, 7 pm

Sun 9/27 @ SLU

Sat 10/3 @ Wash U

Sun 10/4 vs. Mizzou

Sat 10/10 vs. SLU

10/30 - 11/1 Region IV North Tournament (Manhattan, KS)

11/19 - 11/21 NIRSA National Tournament (Phoenix, AZ)

Spring 2009 Recap: "We're like a controlled burn"

This is going to be a longer one, so bear with me (and keep reading).

FC Truman played four matches and had one scrimmage during the spring semester.  First up was the scrimmage against the Truman State varsity team that served as a tough tune-up before the spring tournament at Kansas State.  FC Truman fell 1-0 to the varsity team on a second half goal.

Next up was the Ed Chartrand Memorial Soccer Tournament at Kansas State University.  This was the second year we have competed.  The first year was a great experience, but this time around we were out to do one better and make the finals, as well as provide the departing players with one last chance at bringing home some hardware. For the 2009 edition, we were placed in a group with Pittsburg State (KS), McPherson College (KS), and Kansas State Alumni.  Initially, our hopes were high--this seemed like a manageable group compared to last year when we faced the likes of K-State and Nebraska in group play. However, we soon learned that we were going to face all three opponents in the same day. A tough pill to swallow for a marginally fit (to put it kindly) group of dudes, but, well, I'll let the results speak for themselves:

Game 1: Truman 1, Pitt State 0 (1-0-0 in group play)

Truman goal scored by Brandon Lamar (assisted by Adam Hoskins); cleansheet recorded by Martin Di Stefano.

It was an early one, and apparently Pitt State thought so too, as 4 or 5 of their players made a 20th minute appearance...to the complex.  We played well from the start, having the majority of the possession.  The game's loan breakthrough came from a late first half goal by Brandon Lamar, who one-timed home an Adam Hoskins cross into an open net.  We held on in the second half, controlling the tempo but failing to punch in a second (or third or fourth, as it seemed it could have been).

Game 2: Truman 1, McPherson College 1 (1-0-1 in group play)

Truman goal scored by Kyle Hood.

Our second game pitted us against an actual varsity team (apparently minus their departing seniors) in McPherson.  McPherson broke through first in the second half with well-orchestrated set piece that left us puzzled; without going into too much detail, let's just say it was controversial.  Fortunately, Kyle Hood banged home a loose ball in the waning moments to help us escape with a draw.

Game 3: Truman 2, K-State Alumni 0 (2-0-1 in group play)

Truman goals scored by Curt Ooton (2)  assisted by Collin Koenig (2); cleansheet recorded by Martin Di Stefano

The crowning achievement of our spring season, for what it's worth.  This game took place in Memorial Stadium in Manhattan, an FieldTurf field with plenty of room to get out and run wide. And, though it was our third match of the day, we took advantage.  We knew we had more legs than our competition and we took the game to them from early on in the match.  Curt Ooton scored his first Club team goal in the first half and then added a late second half clincher for the brace. This was a complete team effort and really validated our long day in the Kansas sun.  This win also clinched the group, earning us a favorable seed in the semifinals.

Game 4, Semifinal: Kansas State 3, Truman 0 (2-1-1 for the tournament)

A repeat semifinal exit was in the cards for us on Sunday morning.  After playing valiantly for three matches on Saturday, we unfortunately drew rivals Kansas State in the semis.  In addition to being fatigued from Saturday's games, our already thin squad was hit with two critical injuries to defenders Mike Holly and Bob Kearbey.  With only a few subs available, we wore down quickly in the cold, whipping wind as K-State had the lion's (wildcat's?) share of possession and created far more chances than we could defend (or muster ourselves). Interestingly, K-State went on to lose to McPherson 2-1 in the final.

We had plenty of fun while in Manhattan.  Highlights included Saturday night dinner at HuHot, meeting a man at our Super 8 hotel who had his reception there (at the Super 8) on Saturday night (we were invited, but declined to attend), and exploring the Aggieville district.  Congrats to the Women's Club team who got second place after losing 1-0 to Kansas in the final!

UP NEXT-----> Player Spotlight: Curt Ooton

Back to Business

Greetings everyone. My name is Collin Koenig and I'm the current President for Truman Men's Club Soccer. I'm taking over posts on the blog now that former President Adam Hoskins has moved on to law school at Minnesota. Look for a slew of posts over the next couple of days (weeks?) as I provide a few posts on the following topics:

Spring season recap
Departing players
Fall Schedule
TRYOUTS!
Player Spotlight

If you're a Truman student interested in playing with us, please let me know at collin.koenig@gmail.com.