ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke RiverDawgs soccer team that takes the field Saturday in its season opener won't be the same as the one that takes the field later this month.
Six players, including former Virginia Tech midfielder Eric McClellan, will leave for other pursuits after this weekend, but new ones will be taking their place. They just have to finish the school year first.
``That's the nature of the Premier League,'' said Phil Benne, the RiverDawgs' director of player personnel, referring to the team's amateur alignment.
Roanoke will welcome 11 collegiate players to its roster by the time it plays its third United Systems of Independent Soccer League game May 25. The group includes three players with Jamaican national team experience, three with U.S. national team experience, the 1995 ACC rookie of the year (Duke's Jay Heaps) and a former national high school player of the year (Syracuse's Jeff Knittel).
Obviously, this year's RiverDawgs team, which plays the Jackson (Miss.) Chargers on Saturday, won't be the same as last year's 5-13 squad.
``The team we're putting on the field is stronger than any team we put on the field last year,'' Benne said. ``Last year we were talented from [players] 0 through 11. This year we're talented from 0 through 24.''
Mixing in with the local talent (Grayson Prillaman, Ian Spooner, Dustin Fonder) will be some quality players from faraway lands. There are the Jamaicans, Gary Ricketts, Anthony Waugh and Troy McClean, who were freshmen at Bluefield College last year but are said to be considering transferring to Virginia Commonwealth.
There's also Christian Rojas, a 19-year-old from Santiago, Chile, whom the Select League's Richmond Kickers sent here because he put them over their limit of five foreign players. Rojas, a midfielder, has been in the United States for five weeks and is relying on former Radford midfielder Edwardo Wissar (whose home is Lima, Peru) as a translator.
``I figured we'd be able to talk,'' Benne said of picking up Rojas at the airport, ``but we were just staring at each other.''
Although Rojas came to America to be a professional player, he won't be paid while he's with the RiverDawgs. Because most of the team members are active collegians, the RiverDawgs can only be compensated for their work at their summer camps.
Richmond is made up completely of professional players and competes in the USISL's Select League. The Select League is one rung below Major League Soccer, thanks to an agreement reached this year between the two leagues. After Select comes the Pro League, then Roanoke's Premier League. ``We're not a pro team,'' Benne said. ``We're an extremely well-organized amateur team.''
Roanoke got its front office in order in the off-season by hiring Audrey Iwanicki, sister of part-owner David Iwanicki, as director of operations. It also hired Amoreli Ronquilo to direct its marketing efforts. Patrick Henry High School boys' soccer coach Ed McMichael will coach the RiverDawgs.
The RiverDawgs have made plans to spread the word about the team by holding clinics or assemblies at local primary and secondary schools. Game-day promotions include soccer balls being kicked into the crowd whenever Roanoke scores a goal, and a halftime shootout for a $50 prize that requires contestants to kick a ball through both doors of a new van and into the goal. ``There's a bunch of ideas we're kicking around,'' said Audrey Iwanicki.
The team's goal is to average 1,500 spectators a game. It averaged 1,100 in 1995, its first season.
The RiverDawgs say another goal is to make the Premier League playoffs. To do that, they must finish in the top four of the Premier League Eastern Conference, which includes the following teams: Florida Strikers, Jackson (Miss.) Chargers, Miami Tango, Nashville Metros, Orlando Lions, South Florida Future, Birmingham (Ala.) Grasshoppers, West Florida Fury and Cocoa (Fla.) Expos.
Jackson (1-0) will play at Nashville the night before it meets the RiverDawgs.
``None of those teams is insurmountable,'' Benne said. ``One advantage of being in the Premier League is that we can pull the top college talent out of this region. And we're the only Premier League team in this region.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by Staff: Roanoke Riverdawgs.by CNB