A VERY QUICK STUDY Metros' Stammler learns his new midfield role quickly, stopping Revs veteran Ralston
Until Saturday night's playoff game, Seth Stammler hadn't played outside midfielder -- ever -- only as a central midfielder when he played youth soccer. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
East Rutherford, N.J. -- For the past several weeks, MetroStars midfielder Seth Stammler has been burning the candle at both ends.
At the beginning of the week, he has been a student at the University of Maryland as he tries finish up his degree in finance.
For the latter part, he becomes a professional soccer player.
"This is the best way to have it," said Stammler, who will be lost to the Metros through Wednesday of this week. "I'm still under scholarship."
When you're earning $28,000 a season, you have to take the money anyway you can.
When he returned to the team last week, Stammler became a student again, learning how to play outside midfield and to how to mark veteran right midfielder Steve Ralston out of the match of the Metros' 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution in the first game of their aggregate goals series on Saturday night. The Metros will defend that lead in Foxboro, Mass. on Saturday at 8 p.m.
"It's what I wanted to do since I've been in the league," Stammler said. "I'm just happy that I can help out the team any way possible. Obviously, we've got a good result so far. We've got to go to New England and finish it out, hopefully."
Using the inexperienced Stammler on the cagey Ralston in one of the most important match-ups was a bold move by interim coach Mo Johnston.
"I didn't want Ralston to give up any sort of crosses in," he said. "When he gets them in, then you see Twellman."
That's Taylor Twellman, the league scoring champion who had burned the Metros three times during the regular season.
The players could have not been more different.
Ralston, 31, is an excellent ball crosser, a 10-year MLS veteran who has set his sights on trying to make the U.S. World Cup team next year (Ralston scored the first goal of the 2-0 victory over Mexico that clinched a berth in Germany).
Stammler, 24, is just trying to make the Metros. His playing time last season was limited to exactly a minute due to injuries, had but 361 minutes this season under his belt entering the match. Stammler hadn't started in more than two months, or since the 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew on Aug. 14.
The 5-10, 165-lb. Stammler, a natural defender, had been used by Johnston as a midfielder on the reserve team, usually in the middle. Prior to Saturday he had never played outside midfield.
"Center mid in Under-12 soccer and that's about it," he said.
"I did it a little bit throughout the year in practice. I was excited, getting a chance to play in the playoffs."
Johnston gave Stammler a confidence boost.
"Mo's just been telling me that I've got the chance here," he said. "It's my discretion to do with what I wanted with it. I was determined not to let myself down or my teammates down and not let my family and friends down. At the end of the day, I just wanted to go out there and work as hard as I can and hopefully my guy wasn't going to score."
Stammler fouled Ralston early. "I wanted to get a foul under my belt early and just set the tone for the game," he said.
He did. Goalkeeper Tony Meola noted Ralston got perhaps four crosses into the area to Twellman, who was closely marked by defender Carlos Mendes.
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"When you're playing them, it always seems Ralston is crossing the ball into the box," Meola said. "We shut those two areas out and did a pretty good job tonight."
So, what was Stammler's secret to shutting down Ralston?
"You've got to be using anticipation with him," he said. "He's going to try to lure you in close, knock the ball, and get around you as quickly as possible. My thing is just to be always on my toes. You can't approach him thinking that he's just going to hold on to the ball."
Michael Lewis can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. He will only answer letters and e-mails that have names or are signed.
