BLUEFIELD, Va. — Note: This is the first in a four-part series on the recruiting classes of local college soccer programs.
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If you want to play soccer for Bluefield College, you need to know the recruiting checklist.
Addressing the incoming class of first-year players for the Rams, head coach Pete Dryer is quick to recap it.
“This year, I wanted to get guys that were, No. 1, committed,” he said. “They’d played club [soccer], they’d played high school at a high level, so they understand what a commitment to an elite program looks like.
“I wanted guys that were about the mission of the school, being a Christian school. Things that were all about service, about something higher than soccer. We got guys that are into that.”
“I want guys that can play, that have talent, that are able to handle the ball and can make good technical plays on the ball and are creative, and can create for themselves.”
Then there’s athleticism — especially looking at the athletes in the Mid-South Conference, which BC will join next summer.
Dryer said, “The conference that we’re in is athletic; the conference that we’re going to is VERY athletic. Guys that are big, they’re strong, they’re fast. So that’s something else we’ve got to keep up with, and hopefully be ahead of the curve on.”
Dryer was hired in early 2010 as men’s soccer coach. Only three months later, BC President David Olive asked him to step in as interim athletic director in addition to his coaching duties.
The “interim” part of that title disappeared on Friday when Olive made the appointment permanent.
After helping with the decision to jump up a notch to Division I of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Dryer knows the challenges that BC’s teams will face. But regardless of that move, he sought a top recruiting class for his soccer team.
“I wanted to kick it up, anyway,” he said on Friday. “In our last couple of years, we’ve been more on the losing end, which has been frustrating. So, just because of that, I wanted to bulk up our roster.”
He said, “We got beat up a little bit last year, so we want to make sure we don’t get beat up this year.”
With regard to Mid-South competition, Dryer said, “We’ve got a year to get ready for that. We also need to be competitive in the (Appalachian Athletic) Conference we’re in now, which we haven’t been, so much, the past few years.
“So I want to have a great year this year in conference. Then we’re going to have to keep that going. We can’t be satisfied if we have a good year, because the following year is going to be more competitive.”
He said, “We’ve got a lot of scoring options this year, which is a good thing, and our defense is coming along. We’ve got some guys who can convert to defense.”
Height has been a “big thing” out of the 2011 rookies, he said. Dryer is looking for a “big physical presence” from 6-foot-5 striker Pedro Frazillo, a Brazilian who played at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College and led the team in assists.
Recruiting Frazillo was “a little bit of a long shot,” Dryer said, but both player and coach apparently feel he “fits the mission of the institution.”
Dryer said, “He’s a Christian kid that wants to be at a Christian school, wants to compete at a high level, wants the opportunity to play maybe professionally someday. So I think he’s got a great chance, coming into an environment like this.
“He came out and visited and had a good time, was able to meet some of our players and got along great with them. He’s a very good talent and we’re excited to have him.”
A recent addition was 6-foot-3 midfielder Aaron Georgiades from Virginia Beach, whose sister Kara is a Bluefield College cross-country runner. Dryer said that “was a neat connection. I had a chance to talk to his coach as well.”
“I think he’ll come in and be a good leader, on and off the field. He’s a good player as well. He’s got good size; he’s 6-3. He handles the ball very smoothly in the middle.”
The recruits include at least four more players from in-state.
“Virginia has very, very good soccer,” Dryer said. “I know, here in this area of southwestern Virginia, [it] tends to be more of a football hotbed. But we do get guys who can play. Up in the Richmond area, northern Virginia, Virginia Beach, and even out of Roanoke, there are very good clubs, a good club system.”
Goalkeeper Jefferson Watson is from Woodbridge, Va., where he also played basketball and baseball at Christ Chapel Academy. A veteran of the Olympic Development Program (ODP), he is transferring from Valley Forge Christian College, where he spent one year.
Forward Dillon Bess of Alleghany (Va.) High School lettered for three years, helping the team to the Blue Ridge District championship. He has played two seasons with the Roanoke Stars club team and was described on the college website as a “very smart and technical player.”
Midfielder Jacob Mader, a native of Yorktown, Va., played for the Virginia Legacy club team and also for his alma mater, Tabb High School. Dryer commented at his signing in March about Mader’s “tremendous technical ability,” adding that he was “a very good possession player.”
Matthew Plucinski was a four-year letter-winner at Denbigh High in the Newport News area, and was named defensive player of the year. The versatile athlete also played up at forward for the Virginia Rush Peninsula Swoosh club team.
Center-midfielder Cody Snow of Yadkinville, N.C., started for four years at Forbush High School. He began at outside back on defense and as he matured, took over at center midfielder. Last fall had a team-high 14 assists and scored 12 goals.
As a junior, he made all-conference in tennis. His high school faculty voted him its outstanding senior.
Asked to assign a grade to his 2011 recruiting effort, Dryer said, “I’d love to say A-plus.” But he called it a “solid B-plus” with the final grade yet to be determined.
He said, “We’re very heavy on the offensive side, through the midfield. I think defensively is where I’d really like to focus more on. I didn’t get all of those pieces, but if I can get one or two more in the next week or two, I think this would definitely be an ‘A’ year.”
The busy coach was planning on attending an international recruiting event in Kentucky this past weekend to try for that final upgrade.
The Rams will scrimmage Southern Virginia University on Aug. 23 at East River. The first regular-season match is at Shawnee State on Aug. 27. BC’s first home matches are Sept. 1 against Washington & Lee, and Sept. 3 against Truett-McConnell, an NAIA school from Georgia.
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com
