Monmouth seniors Ryan Kinne and Bryan Meredith are looking to finish their collegiate soccer careers with a bang. Each is in the midst of his last season with the Hawks, looking to lead the side to another historic run into the NCAA tournament.
Head coach Rob McCourt calls them the “fulcrum” of the No. 12 Hawks.
“Both of these guys have continued to mature," he said, "and the one thing I can say about them together is that they both work really hard at their game. Those are the guys that are always working hard in fitness, always doing extra work before and after practice.”
That hard work especially paid off last year, as the duo played a central role in Monmouth’s best season ever – an 18-2-2 record, Northeast Conference regular-season and tournament champions, and a win against perennial power Connecticut in a first-round shootout.
Kinne also garnered individual accolades, named to the NSCAA First Team All-American side, while also finishing as a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy.
While Kinne drives the offense from either an attacking midfield or withdrawn forward position, Meredith is the cornerstone of the defense – a tall, athletic shot-stopper in his third year starting between the posts.
This year, each player has picked up from where he left off in 2009. Meredith has conceded just six goals in 13 games, while Kinne has leads the Hawks with 10 goals scored.
“Ryan’s come up with some spectacular goals this year, whether it’s from set pieces or through the run of play, shooting from distances or a tap-in in front of the goal,” McCourt said, "and I think he’s continued to work on that stuff since he’s been here."
[inline_node:322089]This year, each player has picked up from where he left off in 2009. Kinne leads the Hawks with 10 goals scored, while Meredith has allowed just six goals in 13 games.
“He’s very talented in terms of athleticism, but he’s a soccer player through and through,” McCourt said of Meredith. “He’s got tremendous technical ability with the ball at his feet and also as a goalkeeper. His distribution is unbelievable – I’ve never seen a goalkeeper who can pick his head up and ping a ball to a guy 60 yards down the field and hit him in stride.”
Plenty of work remains in 2010, however. Meredith indicated that a lot of what the team hoped to do fell towards the later part of the season: conquering the NEC and securing a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“We started off this season in August with pretty high expectations for ourselves, and pretty much to this point, I feel like we’ve accomplished what we’ve wanted to,” he said. “A lot of our goals are down the road in November, but right now we’re on the right track.”
Meeting those expectations, particularly in the later stages of the NCAA Tournament, will be a big challenge for a small program. But McCourt, Meredith and Kinne are all confident that the team possesses the right mix of leadership, a role that they help fill.
And as the tournament and the season’s end draw near, McCourt faces the prospect of replacing his star duo for 2011.
“It’s difficult to imagine the program without those guys – it’s been four years of some pretty special moments for both guys,” the coach said. “Players move on and players have to continue to move on, but we certainly feel like those are two big holes that we’ll have to fill.
“I’ve been very fortunate in working with youth national teams and I’ve coached quite a few guys that are playing in the league right now, and if I were to compare Ryan and Bryan to some of those guys in the league at about the same age, I certainly believe that they are talented enough and have enough athleticism and determination to be successful in MLS.”
