2012-13 MISL Season Preview
Friday, November 2, 2012
As the Wichita Wings entered the summer following their return to the MISL, Coach LeBaron Hollimon sat down to take stock of where his team had succeeded, and where it had come up short.
The Wings had put together a solid first season. In a tough division with established presences the Milwaukee Wave and Missouri Comets, the Wings had been competitive, but not enough to challenge for a place in the playoffs.
The reason for their competitiveness had been their defense, which had improved throughout the season, ending with a 12.25 goals-against average. That was fourth-best in the league, and allowed the Wings to remain in games until the very end. Where the team had struggled, though, was at the other end of the field. Only Norfolk scored fewer than the Wings’ 262 points, and when the side needed a crucial goal to push it over the top or gain a late lead, it wasn’t often forthcoming.
“Toward the end of the year, we were doing a fantastic job holding teams to 10 points or less, late in games, but we couldn’t win those games,” Hollimon said. “It was clear for us going into the offseason that in order to compete and challenge for top honors, we needed to bring in guys that could score and guys that understood the indoor game.”
Enter Geison. The 2012 MISL Most Valuable Player was the biggest offseason signing in the league, joining the Wings from the Comets after a standout winter that saw him lead the league with 90 points, and 37 goals. Coupled with the additions of Andrew Hoxie and Miguel Ferrer, both of whom finished with more than 45 points a season ago, the Wings appear at least on paper to be far more potent this season.
For Geison, though, how the team appears on paper doesn’t matter. A dedicated worker who has led by example in training according to Hollimon, the 26-year-old has been pleased by the way the Hollimon has led the team, and how his new teammates have come together in training camp.
“Beside the fact that they brought a lot of good players, they also are doing a very good job in training, so I don’t think they’re relying on all their good players, they’re going to do the work,” he said. “We’re having two practices a day, and I think this is a good thing that the coach is doing, making sure that the players that he brought are getting a lot of work done.”
After his breakout season, Hollimon is hoping Geison can continue to produce the sort of form that gave the rest of the league problems. With the introduction of Geison, and long-range threat Ferrer, to the club’s attack, the Wings coach believes his side will be more flexible in attack than it was in its inaugural season.
“He has the ability to break down defenses on his own,” Hollimon said. “He can take guys off the dribble, he’s got a shot that’s just lethal from anywhere on the field, and those were things that our team last year couldn’t defend because he could beat you in multiple ways.”
The first task for Geison and his new teammates will be to return to his old stomping grounds of the Independence Events Center, with the Wings opening the season with a two-game series against the Comets. With the expectation in the locker room that this newly configured side is capable of winning a championship, starting the season off on the right foot is the team’s main focus entering Friday night’s game.
“It’s going to be step by step,” Geison said. “We have to try to win Friday, win Sunday, game by game, make the playoffs. I’ll be very happy if we make the playoffs and then reach the championship.”