WASHINGTON TERRACE -- Mike Hickman doesn't make any bones about it.
The owner and head coach of the Ogden Outlaws doesn't feel like his team came close to achieving the goals it had for itself during the 2011 campaign.
"I think there are a couple of words that sum out our season: inconsistent and mental lapses," Hickman said. "There were some games we played really well throughout the season, but ended up losing because of mental lapses. There we only a couple of games that I felt we just didn't show up prepared.
"We did end up improving upon our record slightly from the previous year, which was a plus."
Ogden finished the 2011 season at 2-9-4, but played its best soccer at the end of the season, carrying a four-match unbeaten streak until ending their season with a 4-2 loss.
That unbeaten streak included the team's first-ever home field victory over in-state rival Brigham Young, with Outlaws and Cougars drawing their four-match season series 1-1-2 for the first time.
"I was very proud of the way we played against BYU," Hickman said. "They were some of our better games of the season."
One extremely disappointing aspect of the season, Hickman said, was the team's penchant for giving up penalty kicks.
Despite the 2011 disappointment, Hickman is already planning forward moves as the team prepares for the summer of 2012 and its seventh season.
"We will continue to train and play some tournaments with the players that are local," Hickman said. "This should help with the inconsistency we experienced this last season. This should make the integration of the college players easier, and hopefully we'll be able to play in May like we do in July."
The team is also planning on having local tryouts for a 16- to 20-year-olds soon, and will be taking a U20 team down to Mexico to face some advanced competition and have a chance to play in front of scouts from several premier Mexican professional teams, including Pachuca of the Primera Division.
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