The 12 men who tried out for the Penn men's soccer team yesterday afternoon had one important thing in common -- a love for the game of soccer.
Faced with the tall task of impressing Penn coach Rudy Fuller enough to earn a spot on the defending Ivy League Champions' roster, the players had roughly an hour to impress the coaching staff preceding the men's soccer practice.
"Everyone worked their tails off, we just want a shot to play with the big guys," freshman Paul Mul‚ of Bucks County, Pa., said. "That's all we can ask for is a chance, then it's up to us to show what we got."
The walk-on tryout consisted primarily of a five-on-five half-field scrimmage with one goalie, as Fuller and assistant coach Bob Butehorn evaluated play from the sideline.
"The type of university Penn is, you get students coming from all over the country and all over the world," Fuller said. "So we'd be naive to think that we're able to see everybody that has an interest in playing soccer at Penn. In my experience in past coaching positions, we've found some of our better guys through the walk-on process."
There was certainly a worldly feel to the tryout as players from Mexico, Colombia and Trinidad joined Americans from as far away as California.
Colombia native Pablo Echeverri felt the tryout format gave the players ample opportunity to demonstrate their potential worth to the Penn squad.
"It was as I expected, I think playing is the best way to look at the players," Echeverri said. "And that way [coach Fuller] is going to see what player he needs at each position."
The pervading motivation of the players coming out for the walk-on tryouts was to remain connected to the game that they love, even if they do not make the varsity team this year.
"I've been playing soccer for a really long time, and I'm not ready to give it up yet," freshman Charles Rayner said. "I was hoping to play with the varsity, but I'm definitely willing to go out for the club or whatever the next step is."
"I just love to play soccer -- I've been playing since I was five, and I just can't imagine not playing at all," freshman Garreth Evans-Gaspar said. "If I don't make it here, I'll try out for the club, too."
The tryout saw a small increase in number of players over last year's version. However, Fuller indicated that it was unlikely that a player from this session would make Penn's squad.
"I think that the level on average is probably a little bit higher," Fuller said. "I don't think there is any individual that is playing to the level that could help our team."
Despite the likelihood that no one involved in the walk-on tryout will make the team, it does not change Fuller's opinion on holding the open tryout.
"In the past we've had them -- in my first year in the fall of '98, I think we picked up seven guys because we were hurting for numbers." Fuller said. "It's just gotten, as the program has improved, more and more difficult to make it as a walk-on, but we'll always have them."
