SeaWolves upbeat ahead of debut
Pro soccer season isn’t over yet in Orlando.
While Orlando City won’t be back in action until 2019, the Orlando SeaWolves of the Major Arena Soccer League are set to kick off their inaugural campaign later this month.
Before the regular season gets started, the SeaWolves — who recently named Orlando City broadcaster and Winter Park High coach Tom Traxler their first head coach — will host the International Challenge at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
The SeaWolves play the second match of the day, a 7:05 p.m. tilt with the Brazilian National Minifootball Team. It’ll be the SeaWolves’ first home game.
For fans, it’ll be their first glimpse of what the SeaWolves can do under Traxler.
“I’m excited to have him on board,” veteran MASL defender Joshio Sandoval said about Traxler. “He’s going to lead us to bigger and better things here.
“It’s unity. Unity from the entire club. From the president all the way down to the waterboy, you know? I believe once a team feels as if they’re coming together, the chemistry will dictate the rest of the season.”
Sea Wolves co-owner and general manager Chris Kokalis said the team’s roster has a lot of players who are new to indoor soccer. He fully endorsed Traxler as the team’s head coach and said Traxler has promised to “work harder than anyone I could hire.”
“We’re a new club,” Kokalis said. “We’re just getting off the ground. So having someone that understands where Orlando City went when they first started to where they are today, [Traxler] really has been not only a good ambassador for the club, a good friend, but also someone I think I’ll work well with in helping us achieve the goals we’re looking for.”
Kokalis added he’s made expectations clear to Traxler.
“He knows I’m a competitor and I want to win right away,” Kokalis said. “The roster that we’ve put together, there’s no reason this team can’t compete on the field. You’ve got a good core of indoor veterans [combined] with good young players who maybe aren’t familiar with the indoor game or haven’t had indoor experience, but with their outdoor careers, they were tremendous players.
“I think that it’s a learning curve for [Traxler], but it’s a learning curve for [the players] so hopefully, with my assistance, with some of the of the indoor veterans on the team, we all can work together as a family and hit the ground the running.”
Traxler isn’t shying away from those expectations.
“A lot of people may not know, and they think, ‘Suddenly, now he’s the head coach of the Orlando SeaWolves,’ but there’s never an overnight success. This is something that takes years and years and years of work to get to.”
He said the SeaWolves will play defensively sound soccer. That’s no small declaration, considering shutouts are exceedingly rare in MASL matches and score lines can sometimes look more like a low-scoring American football game.
“Chris Kokalis and I talked and it’s something that he stressed to me,” Traxler said. “He wants to be a solid defensive organization.”
Arena soccer has some key differences from the outdoor game. For example, each side has five players and a goalkeeper in play at any given time. There are timeouts, there are power plays (like in hockey) and the ball is almost constantly live due to the walls surrounding the field.
Those are just a few differences.
“I enjoy being on the ball,” said former Orlando City fullback Luke Boden. “It’s a small space. I enjoy passing. I enjoy moving. I’m just looking forward to playing again. I’m really looking forward to playing again, getting on the field and just enjoying my football again.” Pro Soccer USA