“As a team, you couldn’t ask for a better trip,” said head coach Jero Zawislan, regarding his team’s road trip to California to kick off the season.
Not only did the Red win both of its games to begin the season 2-0, but it was able to experience what Zawislan calls, “a professional soccer environment,” attending a game between the L.A. Galaxy and the Vancouver Whitecaps and having the opportunity to meet with Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena ’73.
Junior forward Daniel Haber led the team with 3 goals throughout the weekend earning him the honor of Ivy League Player of the Week. Zawislan says that he is “very proud and very happy” when players win awards; however, he stresses the fact that any individual success is “the outcome of the whole team effort.” It is Zawislan’s mentality that, “every player on the team should be proud of the individual award because it is also a team recognition.”
When asked about his impression of Haber and how it has changed over the past three seasons Zawislan’s answer was simple: it hasn’t. Zawislan said that he is not surprised.
“When we recruit players we look not only for how the players are at that point … We look at their potential,” he said.
Instead of recruiting students purely based on talent, Zawislan said that he finds the players who have “very good character and commitment to improving,” undoubtedly a testament to his success thus far at Cornell.
According to Zawislan, his coaching at Cornell has been a “very enjoyable process.” He has, “a great appreciation for our soccer players and the program- what they do on and off the field.”
When asked to describe his team in three sentences, Zawislan had this to say: “The star of the team is the team itself,” “[The team is] hard-working and committed,” and “[The players] never give up and never stop playing.”
Zawislan makes it a high priority to credit his players, citing that they’ve “created the culture on and off the field,” “bought into the philosophy” and “improved the program day in and day out.”
Original Author: Skyler Dale