Although the men’s football team has had some close shots and has dealt with some tough losses lately, Head Coach Peter Haugen keeps one goal for the team in mind and that is constant improvement.

Haugen believes there is great leadership with the juniors and seniors on the team and feels they are all improving each week. Coach Haugen explains the mission of the team is always winning the next play; his goal for them all is to consistently improve as a team as well as on an individual level.

“Regardless of what happened to you yesterday, or regardless what happened to you the last play, you are only going to be as good as your next play,” Haugen said.

He looks forward to observing how the team handles adversity, the wins and the hardships. With a close call on the game against St. Olaf, Haugen explains how the team was not scoring in the red zones and fulfilling a few open spaces for touchdowns.

“It’s about scoring the points and making the touchdowns,” he said.

As far as the rest of the season goes, he expects to see improvement and build on the team’s successes. He wants to continue to improve and expects everyone to improve upon their performance from the previous day’s practice.

“That’s what good teams do, regardless of their circumstances they continue to get better,”Haugen said.

Quarterback Muresuk Mena says his goals as a player are having a better season than last year and giving his best mentally as well as giving his best through his actions every day for the team.

“[I try to]Put my team in the best position to win,” Mena said.

He looks forward to hanging out with his fellow teammates this season and just having fun and making the most out of every day of his last year here at Gustavus. As a senior player, he enjoys giving advice to first year players as well as the rest of his teammates.

“Work every day as hard as you can… working hard, trusting and believing in your teammates,” Mena said.

As of now, he is enjoying the practices as they work on speed as their focus.

“You know what you’re going to do, and you go do it as hard as you can,” he said.

He believes everyone has confidence in dealing with situations in the game and that they are ready for anything. Personally, Mena has certain tactics he uses before games to give himself a boost. Some include a short nap, some fruit, a bagel, talking with his mother and listening to Barry White to relax. Mena hopes to look back and be happy about the team and his accomplishments with no regrets. Mena says football has helped him focus and develop as a man and that is what he enjoys most about it.

“We are on the track to being really good”, he said.

He hopes everyone can see and believe that the football team will come up to be successful.

First-year Outside Linebacker, Zack Martinez, says his goals for this season are to play more and hopefully start next year on the team. Looking forward to winning, he also looks at improving as a team: making more wins than last year and having success. He says their team is all about going one hundred percent. He feels they are very well-prepared for the Family Weekend game and the next after that.

“Coaches make sure we don’t take a step back and we go forward,” Martinez said.

He hopes to gain skills to better himself physically and talent wise on the field as well as to get more comfortable with the speed of the game. Before the games, Martinez listens to music to get himself hyped. Martinez also looks to Linebacker, Joe Haas on the team as inspiration and looks up to him as a player who is a great example of  how to improve his game. Martinez says at this point improving is about shaking the unsuccessful plays off and focusing on the next step.

“We have to think about the future, not the past,” Mena said.