Byline: Kim Baxter Staff writer
When the Syracuse Salty Dogs folded last October, rookie defender Jason Perry found himself in an uncomfortable limbo.
Since it was his first year in the A-League, he was focused on playing and playing well. But when the team announced that its two-year run in Syracuse was over, he suddenly found himself without a job and a bleak future.
He had no agent. He had no offers. He had just assumed he would return to Syracuse the following spring. Since there was no draft to send the now-former Salty Dogs to other teams, he was left hoping the phone would ring with an offer for anything, even if it was just a tryout.
But the phone stayed silent, so he eventually resigned himself to returning home to Detroit and entering the real world. He was going to look for an internship in advertising or join his father's real estate business.
But then Laurie Calloway, his coach at Syracuse and the current Rochester coach, salvaged Perry's season and called with an offer for the Raging Rhinos.
'I was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,' Perry said recently. 'At first, I didn't think I would be playing again. Coach Calloway called and they were saying they wanted me to come to Rochester. That was that. I kind of jumped on it because I knew I wanted to play again.'
Play again he has, along with a number of former Salty Dogs who have rebounded from the team's dissolution with a successful season this summer.
Perry is one of five former Syracuse soccer stars, including coach Calloway, who have migrated to the Salty Dogs' chief rivals, the Raging Rhinos. They've not only joined Rochester, but they're leading the Rhinos (15-7-6) into the playoffs that start Friday against Montreal.
Montreal, last year's champions that ousted the Salty Dogs from the postseason, features former Syracuse midfielder Lars Lyssand. Two other Dogs also found their way onto other A-League rosters this year. Tim O'Neill played for the Virginia Beach Mariners and Machel Millwood played for the Atlanta Silverbacks.
These players' success after the Salty Dogs fiasco - the team folded hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt after just two seasons - is a testament to the potential team Syracuse would have fielded this year.
The Salty Dogs just missed the playoffs its first year. Last season, they topped Virginia Beach in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Montreal. And the players were expecting big things in this third season.
'From a player standpoint, (I feel) extreme bitterness,' said Syracuse native and former Dog Ryan Hall about the break-up of the team. 'We made it all the way up to the final four. To not have a chance to go for it the following year ... ''
Calloway was especially distressed to see the end of the Salty Dogs. Besides setting down roots in Central New York by recently purchasing a home in Jamesville, he was one of the primary architects of the Syracuse team.
'I feel very proud of the fact that we established a nucleus of good players, some who were just starting out their careers,' he said. 'They found their way into the game, which hopefully they'll look back on the Syracuse experience as a good one as well as a stepping stone into their careers.'
As frustrating as it was to see the end of the Salty Dogs, Hall said the uncertainty from year-to-year is part of playing professional soccer in the United States.
'There's just no money in soccer, and it's hard to set your heart to a team coming back when the reality is that it's never set in stone until it's done,' he said, adding that his indoor team in Cleveland will likely fold. 'Although a lot of players would have liked to come back to Syracuse, the reality of soccer in America is that at the lower levels, it's not that secure. We move every six months, bounce around from team to team. It's hard to really settle down some place and hope the team will be there in the next couple of years because in reality, teams fold and pop up every year.'
It just so happens a new soccer team is hoping to pop back into Syracuse for next summer. The Monolith Athletic Club has received approval from Onondaga County to bring a team to Syracuse and have that team play its home games at Alliance Bank Stadium.
There's still multiple hurdles left to clear before an Oct. 1 deadline, but it's clear that a new team in Syracuse will not be met without thoughts of what transpired last year.
'We just all became casualities,' Calloway said. 'I don't think that the was the intent, but in retrospect, the Dogs should have started one year later and been better funded and more prepared. It's easy to look back and evaluate in hindsight. Most of all, the fans really accepted me and the team and I just hope one day it does come back. The city, with their response, deserves a soccer team.'
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PHOTO
Photo courtesy of the Rochester Raging Rhinos
LAURIE CALLOWAY, the coach of the Rochester Raging Rhinos soccer team, walks the sidelines during a recent game. Calloway is the former coach of the Syracuse Salty Dogs.
