NIU soccer coach Willy Roy had some very good things to say about his team Wednesday after its opening day victory—2-1 over the University of Erlangen.

“We defeated a very good technical team,” Roy said. “It was a team that was much more mature than ours.”

The average age of the German team was almost 26 years old. As Roy put it, the Huskies won the game with an “extremely good work ethic. It was a good beginning to the season.”

All eyes were on senior midfielder Todd Moore, who was playing in his first game since his knee injury early last season.

Moore played an excellent game and Roy was “happy for him. He was very active and took some pressure off the defense.”

Roy had some interesting things to say about his German foes. He said that the main difference between their players and his is that they (the Germans) grow up with the game (soccer) like we grow up with baseball.

That enables them to watch their heroes on television and copy them. They also play in more leagues, including semi-pro leagues, whereas most players here play in just one.

Without names like Markus and Karsten Roy, Frank Sparacino and John Lechner leading the team, Roy is looking for more team-oriented play. He is not looking for the individual standouts. That is what he got on Wednesday.

“It was more a team effort. We are going with a 16-man squad,” Roy said. “We do not have Michael Jordan.”

Hain was a factor with the footing and caused a few tripping penalties because people could not stop where they wanted to, but Roy said it had no effect on the score.