To Boldly Go Where No American Has Gone Before

Ah so this is my first Managers Log. This is being recording at 30,000 feet. We are on our way to Arizona. Unlike the personal one this will be all about the team and everything related to whatever team I am coaching. So far the offseason has been really good for the team. Added a bunch new guys to the club. One of them is Kory Kindle joins us on loan from Colorado in MLS. He should be a major boost to the defense this season.

When it comes to transfers my goal is to find a few things. First willing players that would be fine playing at this level. That is hard since we are in a short season and the competition is quite shitty compared to the other US leagues. So with that I have a solution where I look for players based in the 6 state region of VA,MD,DC,PA,WV and DE. I first look to see if there are free agents and then look at the academies or youth teams of the state and go from there.

On the tactics front I have been working on two different formations. The reason I have picked two is because it is still early enough that if we have to scrap one we won't be panicked. I have been looking at a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3. Both formations are really handy in my opinion. Personally I believe the 4-3-3 will be the one. The guys have been looking pretty good using it. I love the fact that it is a possession type of tactic. My goal is to keep the ball.
The final note I would like to mention was our first preseason match. It was against our U20 squad. It was quite disappointing since the game ended in a scoreless draw. I shouldn't worry too much since it was only an easy going scrimmage. Hopefully the team will get better towards the time results matter.

PRESEASON WRAPUP: So after weeks and weeks of training I decided after reviewing with my staff as well as watching hundreds of hours of film our tactic for the season. I noticed that the team works really well together and their passing and other teamwork has been absolutely outstanding. With that I am going with my weird hybrid version of TIKI-TAKA that is a 4-3-3 with a lone striker. I noticed that the team responded the best with this formation and the results showed.

So we start out against the Baltimore Bohemians in this matchup we won comfortably 3-1. After that we traveled to Arizona for our little preseason training camp where we face our partner club the Arizona Sahuaros. We dominated them with a 4-1 victory. Training camp went by really fast and it was honestly enjoyable.

So after a few weeks off we get to our last three preseason matchups. These three matches were against three local well-known clubs. The first match was against a very good D.C. United Academy. They gave us the most trouble obviously since they are a part of D.C. United. We barely won by a score of 2-1. The next match up was against of our local rival youth academies. McLean is one of the teams here in Northern Virginia that we have to compete with to get people to play. This was also our first shutout in preseason. We destroyed them by a score of 3-0. Finally we face the Baltimore Bays. This was an easy 3-1 victory for us.
Many do not know this but we are actually partners the club in England. London based West Ham United have been a part of this club for a few years now. So you're thinking what the hell is he talking about this and why do I even care? Well your answers they have been cool enough to loan out a few players. The first person is American Sebastian Lletget who was with us last season and is able to be with us for one more season. The second person is a goalkeeper. 21 year old Raphael Spiegel will be joining us until our season is over. He will be an enormous boost to our goalkeeping that is good but needs work.

Awesome update and Hackett looks a star but his celebration does not look the best lol

2014-02-27 14:50#163333 jasonvilla4ever : Awesome update and Hackett looks a star but his celebration does not look the best lol

I think he is giving the finger lol.

A young River City Rovers side showed that you can win with kids as they came out on top against a much more experienced NOVA FC on a breezy evening at Hellwig Memorial Field in Woodbridge,VA. This would be Mike Korrigan's first loss in only his second game in charge.

NOVA's Talles got the Royals off to a flying start by scoring a well timed finish from close range, ten minutes in. Nine minutes later River City would answer when Nick Colquhoun then equalized with a deadly executed finish.

An error from RCR's Terry Wright allowed Royals captain Elliot Hacket to score a placed shot. Young striker Kyle Willis scored the game tying goal in the 64th minute. With that the two sides would stay even until the shootout.

It was not the day for the favored Royals as they looked tired in the shootout. Center Back Austin Fraser scored the game winner to get the Rovers to the next round against USL PRO side Rochester Rhinos. NOVA FC will now finish the rest of their season up looking to repeat as South Atlantic Champions.

Damn, unlucky on that loss mate! Good luck next time around though!

we all lose once in a while keep ur chin up

Hard luck Bayern, is the cup important to you though?

2014-03-03 01:42#163734 Louis O. : Hard luck Bayern, is the cup important to you though?

At this point no it's not but I was hoping to at least advance to the second round.

It was a pretty good start for NOVA in the start of the 2014 season. The boys played really well in their five matches. In the four PDL matches the club still has that winning streak in the league. Since last year when Abe Thompson was the coach the team has not lost in 14 matches. They also only conceded a single goal in the four league matches. Sadly the team's run in the Open Cup ended prematurely in a loss to Louisville based club River City Rovers.

On May 10th Mike Korrigan lead his club in to battle for his first time. In this match against Southern West Virginia the team came out on top in a 4-0 victory at home. 18 year old Aaron Rogers lead the charge with his two goals. Other goals came from Elliot Hackett and Chris Besagno.

The next match was against River City in Open Cup. Sadly things did not go as planned as the team fell to penalties. "It was a hard loss for the team as we worked hard all match, sometimes you have to just deal with it, soccer is not a friendly game at all."-Mike Korrigan. With that loss the Royals will now have a chance to focus on the rest of the South Atlantic Division.

Next up it would be a in state clash as the team traveled down I95 to face the Kickers U23 squad. We kept the match in control the whole time as we won 1-0. Striker Chris Besagno was the only goal scorer. "We had a chance to score more but just couldn't hit anything."-Chris Besagno. Finally the Royals would finish up the month with victories over the West Virginia Chaos (3-1) and Carolina Dynamo (0-3).

With six matches remaining the guys are looking forward to clinching their second PDL division title in club history. If they keep this streak going the club will be named champions around mid June as they face the Southern West Virginia King's Warriors on June 14th. During June the club will only have one home game against Richmond on June 21st.

My first month in charge has been really good well....except for the US Open Cup match. We should have won. I mean we had every opportunity to win but failed. The board is not really that happy since I was expected to make it to round two against Rochester. The league was good though. Winning all four matches and only conceding one goal!!!

Now this is the time of the year I was told to hate. Around June a bunch of my players might not be with the team anymore. The higher division clubs are known to poach the best players during this time. Now I understand why and see that it is a smart move but....It is so not fair when you are midway into the season and teams start calling you about taking your players for FREE that's right FREE. So my job right now is to convince the guys to stay and try some contract offers.

So now I've talked about everything I can about the season so far. There is one thing I really really really want to vent about. I seriously find it absolutely idiotic and archaic that this club has no means of legitimate media. We have no Twitter or Facebook. What is even more pathetic is that the local newspapers do not give a shit about us. I know we are just some small club but seriously not having a way to communicate with prospective athletes and supporters is just stupid in today's world. Have you seen our website? It looks like it was created back in the 1990s.

Finally in other news I have been enjoying myself managing and being a part of NOVA FC. Yes like every other job there are the positives and negatives. I can see now why I was chosen for this job. It's going to take a lot of work to make this club a lot more noticeable and welcoming to the surrounding community. I like this challenge and I hope things get better. Many managers are thrown right into the fire and don't know how to react. I feel with these trivial obstacles I can learn about how to handle many different things that might not be mine or the club's favor in my future jobs.

Well it was another grand month for the Royals senior squad as they won all of the matches for June. With two more matches to go before the PDL Playoffs the boys are looking to finish the season undefeated for the first time in club history.

With three of the four games being played away the Royals were looking to keep the streak alive. They did with full effort. The biggest match of the month was in Beckley,WV against the King's Warriors. Korrigan's squad had to climb back from two goals down to win the match.

After their match against the West Virginia Chaos in Charleston the Royals celebrated their second USL-PDL South Atlantic Division trophy. With two matches remaining they are mathematically the winners with 11 points separating them from second place Carolina Dynamo. This is Mike Korrigan's first trophy as a manager in the world of soccer.

"Being apart of NOVA FC has been a blessing, I am proud to get this club another championship but we can't celebrate yet. I want to win the playoffs!"-Mike Korrigan

NOVA FC will be wrapping up the 2014 South Atlantic Division at home for the final two matches. We will be facing South Carolina on the 12th and Carolina Dynamo on the 19th. The match against the Dynamo is fan appreciation night and there will be a jersey auction after the match. All PDL Playoff information will be available in the coming weeks

LAWRENCEVILLE,NJ- Second place Mid Atlantic side Central Jersey caused a major upset earlier today in the East Minor Semi Final as they beat the South Atlantic Champions Northern Virginia Royals.

Striker Dean Bernstein got Central Jersey off to a flying start by scoring a well timed finish from close range in the 5th minute. Bernstein's goal would prove to be the only score of the match.
The Royals looked extremely tired and wasted chance after chance. You could tell it was a hard match for the favorites as manager Mike Korrigan was pacing back and forth all match long. One of the eight shots for NOVA resulted to go on target.

"I am speechless right now and very upset, we played like crap and got our asses kicked in a way you don't want. I congratulate them but I still can't get over the fact we played poorly."-Mike Korrigan, Northern Virginia Royals, Head Coach.

For the Royals this is the clubs second year in a row that they have been eliminated at this stage of the competition. They will now have several months to fix what went wrong. Elsewhere the Central Jersey Spartans will now face conference rival Long Island Rough Riders in the East Final. Winner will go onto the Final Four.

Wow you do the hard work in the regular season and you lose that, tough break!

Well the end of July was such a disappointment. I still can't believe we lost this match. Too many wasted opportunities that cost us a chance to move to the next round. I could tell that the guys were as pissed as me. Our Captain Elliot Hackett blamed his lack of leadership on the loss. Well I applaud him for stepping up it was not just him it was the whole team.

Now that the season is over it is time for me to do player and coaching final evaluations. This will be important so I can see who was the best and weakest on the club. It helps with finding the right fits for next season or not. This week I will be looking over reports from the coaches and then I will be contacting the players individually to let them know what is going on.

A few days after the loss I meet with the board for my evaluation. They said for what it is worth I did a good job. In the Open Cup they are pissed at me. I was expected to get this club to the third round. The part that got me the most heat though was the playoffs. They expected me to win the whole thing. Well I failed and they said I am on a short leash next season. Well at least we went undefeated in the division and they are happy with that.