Sea Gulls gain great experience from European soccer tour
SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University men’s soccer team kicked off its 2007 season with three friendly matches played overseas in Europe during the month of August. The Sea Gulls visited Amsterdam, Cologne and Nurnberg where they went 1-2 in their matches.

"This was a great opportunity for our team to experience another culture and to interact with other players and coaches from the both The Netherlands and Germany," said SU coach Gerry DiBartolo. "The places and sights we saw was an unbelievable experience."

SU lost its first two matches 1-0 but rebounded to win its finale, 4-0. Excelsior Rotterdam out of Amsterdam and Fortuna Dusseldorf from Cologne both got the better of the Sea Gulls while Salisbury was able to best DJK Nurnberg-Eibach of Nurnberg.

"Our matches were against three quality opponents that provided some exceptional competition," said DiBartolo, who is in his 26th season with the Gulls. "The highlight was having the opportunity to play in the main stadium field at Fortuna Dusseldorf. The stadium seats 15,000 and the field was perfect."

In addition to the three friendly matches SU also experienced a training session with the under-21 coach from Feyenoord Rotterdam.

"The training session was great," said DiBartolo. "His ability to show the players the Dutch training style really was a tremendous opportunity for the players. All-in-all this was a great experience that allowed many of the players to come together as a team and experience new soccer styles, food and culture."

The Sea Gulls opened their season 1-0-1 at the 8th Annual Elmer Lord Memorial Classic this past weekend. Salisbury returns to action on Wednesday, September 5, as they travel to Chestertown, Md., to face Washington (Md.) College at 7 p.m.

Europe '07 Trip Pictures

The SU men's soccer team take a moment to pose with the coach of the Feyernoord Rotterdam club. The Dutch coach ran a very nice training session for the Sea Gulls on Wednesday afternoon.

The Sea Gulls outside Ajax Stadium in the Netherlands

The Sea Gulls inside Ajax Stadium.

SU and the FC Excelsior-Rotterdam club, from Amsterdam, after their 1-0 game.

Salisbury went 1-2 on the Europe trip.