Centre College players had a chance to bond daily on a two-week trip to Germany. (Centre College Soccer Photo)
Drew Davidson was a scorer for Cumberland County (Tenn.) High School and had 84 goals and 23 assists in three soccer seasons. His 41 goals in the 2021 season rank as the fifth best single season scoring mark in state history.
“I did score a lot but I also was not playing in a super strong division and a lot of responsibility was on me to be the main scoring threat,” Davidson, a Centre College junior, said. “In college, it is a completely different style of play. It’s more physical and not as much time on the ball.”
Davidson, a team captain this season, started 18 of 19 games his freshman season and played 1,612 minutes playing in the defensive line — a change for him — where coach Jeb Burch does not often substitute. His sophomore season he started nine games and played 692 minutes in 16 games after moving back to his more natural position. “As the season went on, I struggled and that led Jeb to trying other things and giving other players more opportunities,” Davidson said.
In 2023, he started 16 of 18 games and played 1,116 minutes and had three goals against Hendrix. He was the team’s second leading scorer.
“I worked hard in the offseason to be the main starting guy and I contributed more,” Davidson said. “Hopefully this year will be even better as I am in my more natural position, more like high school.”
The Colonels open the season Friday against Franklin in Louisville at 5:30 p.m. and then play Hanover at 5:30 p.m. also in Louisville before returning home to host the annual Bob Allen Nissan Classic Sept. 6.
Centre spent two weeks in Germany recently practicing and playing three exhibition matches that Davidson knows helped the team in various ways.
“It helped us get closer as a team. We spent a lot of time together normally but in Germany it was us together all day every day,” the Centre senior said. “You would hang out with guys you do not normally hang out with as much, eat every meal together, train together.
“Normally we do not start parking until later in the season. I think the time in Germany could help us peak four or five games sooner. Fitness-wise, it helped. We are a little sharper in our play than normal for this time of year.”
Centre will play better competition during the season than it faced in Germany but Davidson believes being able to learn other players’ tendencies and seeing how everyone likes to play as well as how players played together was a huge head start going into the season.
Davidson also liked that Burch let assistant coach Xavier Tomlin have more responsibility and do some “solo coaching” to help the players build more trust in him.
“A lot of us played on the same summer team but the Germany trip helped both on and off the field,” he said. “This is the best I have felt about a team here going into a season and the most I have believed in our team since I got here.”
He appreciates being named a captain and the respect it shows teammates have for him but knows he still has to produce like any other player.
“As captain I have a few more responsibilities. I have to lead a little better and be fully in tune with certain things we are trying to do as a team. But I cannot let it get to my head or affect the way I treat people. I still have to play and do my job,” he said.
He knows each player will remember certain parts of the Germany trip more than others whether it might have been riding go-karts, playing at the water park or taking a bike ride.
“Those random times we did not what we were doing and were just exploring were fun too,” he said. “I think the biggest shock to everybody immediately was that you have to pay for water (at meals) and we did not realize it was sparkling water. We eventually caught on about asking for regular water at no cost. The air conditioning also was not as strong. It just was not very cool
“The food is pretty different. We didn’t eat a lot of German food. Where we were, we ate more Italian. It was just kind of weird getting used to some things but it was a great trip for us as a team and should really help us this season.”
