Even though his season officially ended on Nov. 8, ETSU men’s soccer coach Scott Calabrese still has plenty of work to do.
Sitting atop his neatly organized desk are several inch-thick stacks of paper. On each page are 15 names of the top high school soccer players from across the nation.
Each of these players will be graded on their abilities and potentially recruited by most other Division I programs. Calabrese and assistant coach Ian Luya have three days to watch them and attempt to bring a few over to ETSU.
“There are a lot of good Division I programs out there, a lot of coaches who are all looking at the same players,” Calabrese said. “(The recruiting process) is really competitive.”
Competition is not something Calabrese is known to shy away from. The former professional of the United Soccer Leagues helped guide the University of North Carolina to a national championship in 2001 as an assistant. In 2002, he assisted the Carolina Courage of the Women’s United Soccer Association in winning a championship. He then helped Clemson University reach a mid-season No. 1 ranking and an appearance in the Final Four of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, also as an assistant.
After posting a collegiate record (as an assistant) of 89-33-10, Calabrese was finally able to drop the ‘assistant’ from his title to become the first head coach of men’s soccer in ETSU’s history. Given his experience, Calabrese was aware of the challenges he would face in building a Division I program from the ground up, particularly with a roster boasting 19 freshmen. Despite the weight of these challenges, his expectations remained high.
“Our goal was to immediately be competitive with Division I programs at a mid-major level,” Calabrese said.
The first six games of ETSU’s inaugural season met his expectations as the Buccaneers posted a record of 4-2.
“We came off a very successful preseason, and things were clicking for us,” Calabrese said. “We beat some very good teams in that time, and our confidence was high.”
For their seventh game of the season, the Bucs put their confidence to the test as they traveled to Chapel Hill to face UNC, ranked at No. 15 in the national standings. Calabrese could see that his team felt unnerved by the magnitude of the contest, as well as the ambiance.
“It was very intimidating for our players to play in front of UNC’s crowd,” Calabrese said, of the 1,406 spectators. “One of the advantages you have when you’re UNC is that you’re pretty much considered one of the elite schools in the country for athletics. When you play UNC, you’re always playing against the name. I think that took a little bit of wind out of our sails.”
The Bucs went on to lose 8-0. Even while suffering a staggering defeat, Calabrese was glad for his players to have had the experience.
“We lost a bit of confidence from that game,” Calabrese said, “but at the same time I think it was a real positive because it showed our players that this was the bar we’re hoping to get to.”
The loss to UNC led to a nine-game stretch of conference opponents, during which time the Bucs posted only one win versus seven losses and a tie. Calabrese credits the team’s youth and inexperience to the result.
“There are a lot of things, as freshmen, that they have to get accustomed to: exams, papers, classes, taking a day out, training every day,” Calabrese said. “In the end, I think that wore them down a bit.”
He added that the competitive nature of conference games made it more difficult for his young team to stay confident.
“There were five games in there that were decided by one goal,” Calabrese said. “When you play a series of games and you’re close and you don’t get the result, you do lose a bit of confidence.”
After a victory over Radford on Nov. 8, the Bucs finished their first season at 6-10-1, three points (or one conference win) shy of an appearance in the Atlantic Sun Tournament.
Although the Bucs missed their chance at postseason play, Calabrese remains optimistic for what the future of ETSU men’s soccer may produce.
“I think that we’ve achieved a lot of our goals in starting a program and taking that first step,” Calabrese said. “We’ve won six games against established Division I programs. That’s a pretty good start.”
As for his young team, he expects that the experiences of this season will only make them better-prepared for next year.
“These are all very young players for us,” Calabrese said, “who have the potential to get better through experience and to become physically stronger over the years.”
“This was the first step in the process, and the process now continues through our players improving and through recruiting, ultimately with the goal of winning the A-Sun conference championship.

Author