Men's Soccer Faces Leadership Changes

How much can leadership differences change a team dynamic? The men’s soccer team at Ohio Wesleyan went through a season of transition as Matt Weiss became the successor to Jay Martin, who had previously been the head coach of the program for over 40 years.

The graduating class of 2026 was the first senior class to play under Weiss, after having 3 years under Martin. While Weiss had been an assistant coach for over 10 years at OWU, differences are bound to appear through any type of change in position.

Weiss was very successful and committed a lot of his time to the program as assistant coach; he was able to implement his new ideas and was able to make the final decisions as he became head coach. 

Senior starter Tristan Ruiz de Somocurcio had a different role in the team playing under Weiss. He came to Ohio Wesleyan as a defender, and started in that role his freshman through junior year. However, his new role under Weiss was to play as an attacker.

While he had never played as an attacker before, he had a good season having 5 goals, and earning his first NCAC Athlete of the Week award in September.

“When we’ve practiced and played a certain way for 3 years, coming into your senior season with a new coach with different expectations can be hard. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s something that takes time to adjust to,” Ruiz de Somocurcio said.

“As long as the work ethic is there, sometimes being forced to try new things can really help you improve as a player.”

Senior captain Sam Whitman became the first communicator between the team and the new coaching staff. Whitman, being a leader in the team since his freshman year, had always been in communication with the coaching staff and was always able to give opinions on how he thought he could benefit the team the best.

“There were definitely differences,” Whitman said, “With Jay, everybody knew what was expected as we’d experienced the standards for 3 years straight. As a team, we were able to help the incoming freshmen get settled as we all knew what the program was like. This year, I had to communicate a lot more to make sure that everybody, including myself, knew what to expect and what the standards were. The freshmen weren’t the only people I had to help. I had to make sure that everyone knew the standards that were set for this team with a new coach and new ideas. It was tough at first, but communicating well with Weiss helped me and most of the guys caught on quick and were able to help as well.”