Coming straight from class, junior defender Nathan Sabich arrived a little late to men's soccer practice on Monday.

As Sabich got out of his car, he noticed something different about the way his team's workout session was going.

"When I got there, the guys were doing scrums," Sabich said.

For those not familiar with rugby, scrums consist of a mass of players, shoulder to shoulder, pushing each other back and forth across the field.

And that was just the warm-up.

After stretching for a few seconds, Sabich was thrown into the mix for the Golden Eagles' next drill.

Standing next to his partner, sophomore defender Mike Carlson, Sabich had one goal — to sprint away from Carlson as fast as he could.

Carlson's job? To tackle Sabich by the legs before he could get away.

In this drill though, slide tackling was not allowed. The coaches wanted football-style, wrap-your-arms-around-and-drive-your-partner-to-the-ground tackling.

"I think Coach wants us to be more physical," said freshman forward Duncan Silvert-Noftle. "We need to change our mentality because we haven't been attacking the goal hard."

Having been shut out in five of the last six games, the Golden Eagles would seem to be in need of a change in offensive approach.

They also may have been searching for a chance to vent their frustration after losing to Pittsburgh 1-0 on Saturday and falling into last place in the Blue Division of the Big East.

Head coach Steve Adlard gave his players such an opportunity at practice Monday.

"People were having fun out there," Sabich said. "It felt good to get some aggression out."

Ripped shirts, sore necks, and bruised backs aside, resorting to rugby and football drills got the message across.

"It just reminds us that it's a contact sport," said senior midfielder Blair Kohlmeyer. "We shouldn't be afraid to hit someone on the field."

The team went straight from pushing and tackling each other into shooting drills.

Coincidence? The players think not.

"We need to be more aggressive around the box," Kohlmeyer said. "We need goals."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 13, 2005.