Practice Notes 11/8

Some practice notes for you, my esteemed reader.

*Marshall Leonard, who originally injured his left achilles in a scrimmage vs. Boston College in April, was seen warming up and scrimmaging. Officially, he is listed as "out" for Sunday's game, and appears to be simply readying himself for the '07 campaign.

*For those of you who care, the team wore their usual zip-up training tops, with the exception of Steve Ralston, Jani Galik, and Taylor Twellman, all of whom sported the spiffy white practice jerseys.

*The training itself, compared to other training sessions I've attended, seemed a bit more spitired, with the colorful language above par for the course.

*The practice pitch resembled that of the EPL variety, with conditions (fog, drizzle and cool temps) more customary of an English countryside (or so I'm told).

*Twellman and Pat Noonan capped off training by playing a little "soccer golf," in which an orange traffic pylon located in the parking lot served as a "hole." Soccer balls flew among the writers and stadium personnel, as the two attempted to win the hole.

*Clint Dempsey scrimmaged at length, with him wearing a specially designated pinnie, one in which signified his playing offense on both teams.

*When asked about whether star midfielder/forward Clint Dempsey was going to play come Sunday, Nicol retorted “I have no clue...we’ll see what happens the rest of the week, particularly tomorrow morning.”

*Dempsey himself offered the following with respect to his availabily: “If I feel like I’m confident, I’ll play, even if I’m not 100%. Today was a good test with (the turf) being wet. Coach limited my touches, but I feel I was effective. I’m still a little rusty, still got a little bit to work on. At the pace I’m going, it looks like there’s a possibility I can play (on Sunday).” He added, “If I can’t contribute, there’s no point in me going out on the field. If I can’t make an impact, I shouldn’t be out there.”