NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Men’s Soccer and Head Coach Alan Dawson unveiled their newest jersey combination Thursday afternoon, August 11, in preparation for the upcoming 2016 season.
Coach Dawson worked with Adidas to design the newest uniform, a long sleeve, slate gray color with white lettering and navy blue accents on the shoulders and sleeves. The new combination will go into rotation this season along with the traditional white (home) and the navy (away) jerseys. The team will don the new jerseys this season as the weather gets cooler.
“Our new jerseys signify a new beginning in the program,” said coach Dawson. “We have a lot of new faces, as many as twelve. Adidas gave us the opportunity to design the jersey whatever way we thought was best. I think the color scheme and the fact that it is a long sleeve makes it look very sharp, and the boys are very excited to get on the pitch wearing our colors.”
The team gathered for media day on Wednesday, August 10, where they had headshots, team pictures and various video clips taken in the jerseys for use this season. Seniors Alex Tiesenhausen, Christian Wirth, Cole Stringer, Jesse Miralrio and Nick Hutchinson donned the uniforms for the underclassmen, who had not seen the jerseys until they arrived for media day.
“It is always Christmas in August when preseason starts, because finding all the new gear in your locker is very exciting,” said senior Nick Hutchinson. “This is my first year in the four years I have been here that we have had long sleeve jerseys. Now we have all different colors, white, navy and gray. They are the newer Adidas models and we are excited for the cooler games to get here and wear the long sleeve jerseys. I am really excited.”
Reactions from the underclassmen were positive all around and excited for the upcoming season.
“I really like the new jerseys and the colors,” said sophomore Niko Klosterhalfen. “They are long sleeves and I especially like that I can roll them up. They are from Adidas, one of the best brands in the soccer gear. They look really good and as the saying goes, “You look good, you play good!”
Redshirt freshman Quinn Liebmann said, “they are great uniforms and I absolutely love them. They are a great quality, long sleeve uniform, which is brand new and we look super sharp. I am super excited to get out there and we are ready to perform and show that we deserve them.”
The Monarchs travel to William and Mary on Monday, August 15, for their first exhibition game at 7 p.m. and will host Army on Saturday, August 20, at 7 p.m. at the ODU Sports Complex in the second exhibition. The season opener is Friday, August 26, at 7 p.m. as the Monarchs host the Rebels of UNLV.