Wake Forest Athletics
Gold Rush: London Calling
9/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 15, 2002
By Jay Reddick
Brian Carroll feels like he got the full England experience for his first trip to the Old Country this summer.
"From the moment we got there, it was raining," said Carroll, who traveled to Europe to play "football" for the United States' Under-23 national team. There's no word on whether he also ate fish and chips in the London fog.
This marked Carroll's second summer of national-team soccer, after a trip to Argentina last year.
Carroll's previous U.S. experience helped him immensely in England. He said that he and his teammates felt more like a part of something bigger, instead of a bunch of top players out to show their stuff.
"It was one of the most exciting, fun trips I've been on," Carroll said. "Almost from the beginning, it felt like a team to me. We were mostly college athletes, with three or four pro players, but nobody was out for themselves individually. It really showed in our performance."
The team played four games (all in downpours) and won all of them on the trip. Carroll's personal highlight came in the first game against Bolton.
"That team was a really physical, tall team, as they all were," Carroll said. "A mental error on their part got us started - they got sloppy on a pass back to their goalkeeper, and I picked it off and scored. I also scored our last goal. It started us off on the right foot and gave us the confidence to know we can play at their level."
Left unsaid was the fact that the trip helped Carroll's confidence as he came back to Winston-Salem for his junior year. It's that poise, along with what coach Jay Vidovich calls Carroll's "professionalism," that has made Carroll into a Soccer America preseason first-team All-American, as well as a co-captain for the Demon Deacons.
"Late last year, I got a taste of what a captain is supposed to be," said Carroll, who wore the captain's armband in several games. "I really think the preparations I made for England prepared me to become a captain this year. I have a little more responsibility, off the field and on, but the hardest job is still making good decisions on the field."
Carroll did that in the first weekend of the Deacs' regular season, showing off much of his skills in a 2-1 victory over Akron. He assisted on the team's first goal, then got a steal at midfield and fed freshmen Ryan Alexander and Justin Moose for the winning tally.
"In our first two games (including a tie vs. No. 11 St. Louis), I think we showed what we're capable of this year," Carroll said. "But we certainly didn't show all we have."
Carroll spent almost as much time talking about teammates as himself in an interview. He singled out Wake Forest's reserves for praise in that first weekend and said the biggest surprise to him was freshman defender Michael Parkhurst.
"I had heard about him, but I didn't really know his personality," Carroll said. "I was surprised to see how calm and relaxed he was back there. Nothing he does will surprise me anymore."
Sounds a lot like a description of Carroll himself. That even demeanor and steady play has helped the Deacons' junior even though he has spent much of the last 24 months on a soccer pitch. Burnout has never been an issue.
"When you look at it, this is what I want to do after I leave Wake Forest, so I'm getting ready for that," Carroll said. "I put forth my best effort on national-team trips. Here, my job is a little different -- I need to do all I can to help the team win, but I can do that even better if I can raise the effort and level of play of my teammates.
"Fitness has never been a problem for me. I'm hoping to give more of myself so that we can go further, and maybe down the line, Wake Forest will be a destination for national-team coaches more often."
Carroll wants to bring visitors to Winston-Salem, but he also hopes to do a little more traveling over the next year - not only on more national-team trips, but with the Deacons in the NCAA tournament.
"How good we can be probably depends on how close-knit we become,"Carroll said. "If we commit to preparing for each game, and we become a family, it will help us go far."
