Sports Spotlight: Steven Miller ’12

Sport: Men’s Soccer

Hometown: Ivyland, Pa.

Major: Math and Sociology and Anthropology

Why Steven? He had a goal and an assist in Col­gate’s 2-1 victory over Patriot League Rival Bucknell to keep the men’s soccer team’s chances of hosting the Patriot League Tournament alive.

1. What kind of adjustments does the team have to make when playing in colder weather than you are typically used to?

Cold weather is actually an advantage for us over most of our opponents. We have gotten used to playing in the cold, so we actually look forward to the days when its 30 degrees and snowing because we know we are more prepared than our opponents for this kind of weather. We do not make any adjustments when playing in the cold. We prepare and play the same way we have all year.

2. How important was it to get the goal right before the end of the first half, consider­ing you had been able to establish control of the pace of play in the latter part of the first half?

It was extremely important to get a goal at the end of the first half. We have not scored many first half goals this season, so it was nice to have a lead at half time. We entered the second half extremely confident with the way we were playing and it really helped that we scored that late goal.

3. You guys locked up a Patriot League Tournament bid with the win. Are you hoping to possibly host or would the team rather not worry about things that aren’t necessary in control?

We would love to host the Patriot League Tournament, but this is highly improbable at this point. We will go out on Saturday and control what we can control and we will see what happens with the other games around the league. We will be focused on beating Navy and not worrying about things out of our control. At this point in the season, we are looking to build our momentum heading into the Patriot League Tournament, so we will focus on doing this against Navy.

4. Your last Patriot League game of the season is against Navy, a team that you may face in the Patriot League Tournament, as well. Are there any tactical changes you may make to your game given the chance that you may play them again so soon?

We will not make any tactical changes to our game because of the chance of playing Navy again in the semifinals. As I said before, we are just looking to get on a roll heading into the playoffs. We will continue to play the same way and focus on getting better at our game. We will not change how we play. We are confident that if we play our game, we can win any game.

Interview by Steve Urban