Related Departments
Related Topics
Related Articles
Goalie Dives Into Soccer
By Aaron Gray, Daily News-Record
Eastern Mennonite University soccer coach Roger Mast was serious when he scheduled a sit-down meeting with Tim Koehn, the Royals’ starting goalkeeper, before preseason practice started two weeks ago.
The topic: one of the senior’s extracurricular activities.
"Tim won’t be skydiving until late November," Mast said with a laugh. "Oh yeah, we made a verbal agreement. I just want him to live through the season."
EMU senior goalkeeper Tim Koehn stops a shot at practice.Photo by Nikki Fox, Daily News-Record
Koehn, a licensed skydiver who tallied 28 jumps over the summer, reluctantly agreed to his coach’s request. For now, at least, playing in front of the net again at EMU will have to satisfy his adrenaline fix.
"In soccer, the best feeling is when someone shoots the ball and I completely lay out and there’s nobody else, it’s just the ball that I see. I catch it and land and then everything else comes rushing back," said Koehn, who has amassed 199 career saves and 14 shutouts for the Royals. "With skydiving, you jump out and there’s nothing around you, but I can see everything.
"It’s weird. They’re totally different, but I treat them as the same."
Just as Koehn desperately relies on his parachute to open, the EMU defense will rely on its three-year goalkeeper when the Royals open the 2005 season at 4 p.m. today against visiting Gallaudet.
The Royals, who finished eighth in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference last season, lost their entire defensive backfield. Team captains Ted Erickson and Jason Good both graduated and Andrew Eshleman transferred to Penn State, but that hasn’t disturbed Koehn’s plans for the 2005 season.
"I guess I should be worried, but I’m not at all," the 5-foot-11, 165-pounder said. "I’m actually real confident about our defense. We’ve been working together during the preseason and we know what to expect from each other. We’re not going to have a hick-up in the back at all."
Returning senior midfielders Joel Shank and Adam Shank are big reasons for Koehn’s heightened confidence. The trio has played together since they were 5 years old, a journey that started in the local recreational soccer league, went through Eastern Mennonite High School and is now flourishing at EMU.
"They’re not even teammates anymore; they’re more like family – they’re brothers to me," said Koehn, who sports a career 0.83 goals against average. "This is more like the end of a dynasty for us. It’s going to be sad, but this has been what we’ve been working towards ever since we were little; we might not have known about it, but now, this is it."
Mast has run a 3-5-2 formation for the last three years, a formation that features two defensive midfielders – the two Shanks – who control possession in the midfield and drop back in defensive roles when needed.
They will lead a revamped defensive unit that may see sophomore Braden Long, a defensive midfielder last year, at the sweeper position. Junior Nathan Mishler and freshman Andrew Hershberger could also drop back to fill the void.
Mast predicted that of the 12 freshmen on the team, one or two might see time in the defense. Former Harrisonburg High School star Regulo Cardoso and EMHS standout Junior Kamandua join a freshman corps Mast said should have an immediate impact.
"I think we got two of the best players [Cardoso and Kamandua] the local schools had to offer," said Mast, who has been at the helm for 15 years. "The incoming players, overall, have been more solid than I expected. Against the returning players, they have held their own."
The ODAC’s preseason poll picked EMU, which was 7-9-3 overall and 3-6 in the league a year ago, to finish eighth in the 10-team conference.
EMU senior goalkeeper Tim Koehn.Photo by Nikki Fox, Daily News Record
"That’s about where I like it," Koehn said. "Teams will come here and be like ‘Oh, they’re only eighth’ and then we’re going to drive them into the ground. I think we’re really going to be the darkhorse this year."
Of the Royals’ 12 losses over the past two seasons, only one has been by more than one goal.
As for jumping out of airplanes, Koehn, who owns his own parachute, will have to put his hobby on hold.
"I’ve already talked to some buddies and on the weekend after the season is over, we’re all going back," said Koehn, who plans to get his instructor license later this year. "But I’m on a break, it’s all about soccer right now."
