Injuries taking their toll on the Storm.

by Rusty Silber

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL--There was a point in the season the Chicago Storm was playing outstanding soccer and were in a good position heading for the playoffs.

 

However, the whole season changed around in a hurry when one of the Storm’s best defender Will Kletzien went down with an ACL injury.

 

The Storm at the time built a healthy 10-5 record. But with the loss of Kletzien for the rest of the season, Chicago (14-13) has gone limping into the other direction (4-8) in a hurry and trying to stay alive for a playoff spot with three games remaining.

 

The Storm suffered its worst franchise loss in its history on Saturday night and its first shutout at home dropping 13-0 to visiting Baltimore.

 

 "Either you have it or your don't," Chicago Storm coach Steve Morris said. "Right now we're in a funk. We're absolutely struggling right now and it will take a lot to get it right. There are characters in there (locker room). There right now trying to find their own character. It's going to take a lot of soul searching."

 

Injuries are taking its toll on the team over the last month and they keep adding up. So much where Chicago continues having a tough time getting healthy players ready to play. 

 

"It will take a week to try to get guys on the field," Morris said.  "There's too many guys in the infirmary and not enough on the field."

 

Outside of Kletzien, Gabriel Cigliano and Randy Soderman both were out with injuries Saturday. While Stephen Armstrong, Edgar Rivera, and Andy Rosenband are trying to see field time with some nagging injuries.

 

At the moment, Chicago is trying to get through all these problems of injuries and the mental part of the game. All it's doing is leaving a strain on the team and mistakes keep adding up in recent losses.

 

"All we've got to do is practice," Chicago Storm defender Chris Brisson said. "We just have to work on our defensive shape and get five behind the ball in certain situations. Right now we're struggling giving up goals.

 

"It's not a mental thing, we've just got to practice and get better with what we have. You can't worry about the guys who are injured. You just have to do your best."

 

Hopefully, there's a remedy out there before its too late.