Mike Peplinski
Midfield - Men's Soccer

As a midfielder, what are your primary duties and responsibilities?
A midfielder's responsibilities are endless. You need to create scoring chances for the offense and you must break up the opponents' attack. This year however, I will be spending most of my time in the back on defense. My main responsibility there will be to organize the team defensively.

Do the goal scoring and shot taking situations usually come down to the forwards?
This year, our team is looking for someone to step up on the front line and start scoring. Last year, we created a bunch of chances but couldn't find the back of the net too often. Our midfielders should be able to take some of the scoring load off the forwards this year. We have enough weapons on this team that numerous players should break into the scoring column.

What did the honor of being named to the 2001 First-Team All-Mid-American Conference mean to you?
Being named First-Team All-MAC last year was a nice honor, but it really doesn't mean a whole lot to me personally - considering soccer is a total team sport. I really don't care too much about all the individual awards they pass out at the end of the year. My attitude about the season will reflect solely on how this team has done - not whether I was picked for some award.

Last season, Bowling Green knocked UB out of the MAC Tournament with a triple-overtime victory. They also scored a regular season overtime win over your team. Does the September 29th game at Bowling Green have any additional significance because of those games last year?
Both games we felt we should've won. By halftime of each game, we were already down a player due to red cards. I'm not sure if we will take any different approach to this year's game as opposed to last year's, but I know our team still has a bitter taste about how last year's season came to an end.

Your team posted a 1-1-1 mark in its first home stand this year. The next one begins on October 13th with games against Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Kentucky. What do you hope to accomplish during that stretch of games?
With our next three home games coming up against conference opponents, we are looking to put ourselves in a good position to make a run into the playoffs. Hopefully by that time in the season, our team will be peaking and playing good ball.

How different is your team's approach when you are leading as opposed to trailing in a given game?
I think scoring first is a huge thing with this team. Since we have a lot of underclassmen on the team, we aren't quite yet as mentally tough as teams in the past. Scoring first gives our team a load of confidence and we tend to play with a more focused and intense attitude.

Generally, at what point in a game that you are trailing does your team go into an all-out attack mode?
If we go down a goal, we tend to start pushing more players forward a little bit at a time. I would say with about 10-15 minutes left in the game, everyone is attacking ­ always leaving our backs in a man-down situation.

What do head coach John Astudillo and assistants Dave Kreger and Dave Hesch bring to the table for your team?
I think we have a great coaching staff this year. Each coach brings a little something different to the table. I think it is a good blend of personalities and coaching tactics that enable them to get the most out of our team.

During the summer off-season, what types of workouts did you do on both an individual and team level?
This past summer, I tried to get outside and play as much as possible. Most of the time, I played pick-up ball with a few guys on our team that were around for the summer. Also, I played in the Empire State Games, which gives me some good, intense matches right before the college season. Most of the training this summer was on my own, because there aren't too many competitive summer leagues for college players any more.

What goes on at a practice now that your team is well into the season?
Now that we are midway through our season, our practices are a little different. They now consist of drills that will be preparing us for our upcoming opponent and drills that can help correct the mistakes we made in our previous games.

09/30/2002