Jerry ZurekJust a few months after being pronounced the Head Coach of the Cabrini Men’s Soccer team, Glen Jaskelewicz is in the midst of sculpting a talented young team to represent the school. The 1993 Cabrini graduate is striving to return the program back to the successful institution it was before.
The young coach was thrown into the mix of the Cabrini soc-cer world in May of 2005 after the resignation of former Head Coach Doug Meder. Jaskelewicz was left basically with not one minute to recruit for the follow-ing season because of this late decision for a new coach.
“The recruiting season was already over when I was named coach. I had to rely of the former coach’s recruits,” Jaskelewicz said. This obstacle, however, has not slowed his strides with the men’s team.
Jaskelewicz himself has had quite a successful past with the school. He holds the record for the all-time leading point scorer in Cabrini Men’s Soccer history.
In response to opinions of the season being one of transi-tion and rebuilding due to the primarily young team, Jaskelewicz has opted to take his season one step at a time.
“First, I would like to make sure the team is a quality bunch of guys both on and off the field,” Jaskelewicz said. So far, it appears that the team has accomplished that first goal according to the new coach.
“Camp has gone better than expected in ALL areas. Every player has been focused and determined,” Jaskelewicz said. The transition as the new head coach has went quite smooth both players and the new coach agreed.
From the player side, team captain Ian McDonald has stepped into the leadership position with the full support of his teammates. “Ian has been the difference in terms of attitude for this team. He’s very positive and all his teammates respect him,” Jaskelewicz said.
The men’s team is in agree-ment that Jaskelewicz is a defi-nite improvement from the past years and he provides much needed leadership for this young team. With a more physical instructional approach, the team is said to have learned a great deal from the former Cabrini star.
The rivalries of the Pennsyl-vania Athletic Conference (PAC) were very present while Jaskelewicz was a Cabrini soc-cer player as well. Playing teams like Eastern University were huge events in the early 90s and have only intensified since then, according to Jaskelewicz.
As for the upcoming season, McDonald and the Cavaliers are aware of the task-at-hand and claims that the team is ready to fight for a respectable position in the PAC.
“With five seniors on the squad this year, we hope to be competitive. As my senior year, I wouldn’t want it to be labeled as a rebuilding season, but I hope the team will be successful for the years to come,” McDon-ald said.
