UP AGAINST THE WALL
Special to the Ironmen
Written by Danielle Weiss, Rider University

Imagine there is a six foot man running toward you full force. Imagine that his only objective is to get a soccer ball in the back of your team’s goal and your only job is to stop him from doing so.

This is what Ironmen defender Ryan “The Brick Wall” Hall faces every single day. Hall, who is from Great Falls, Virginia, is the team’s top defender this season with a total of 13 blocks, the highest number of blocks on his team this far.

“My job as a defender is to help out the goalkeepers; if you can get a block or save a goal from being scored, it can help out the offense,” Hall said. “Being a defender leads to counter attacks, but you must basically sacrifice your body.”

Surprising to some, Hall, whose first love is football, was named a first team all district football player at Herndon High School and actually received more football offers than soccer offers when he was going into college. Thankfully, for fans and the Ironmen, Hall decided to peruse his soccer career.

“I started playing soccer at the young age of five, and even though I miss playing football, I never regret choosing soccer, I love it,” Hall stated. “It was just a better choice for me, given my size and my body.”

Hall went on to play soccer at Syracuse University and played his rookie pro season with the Cleveland Force.

“It was rough at first; the first year I spent two to three months on the bench,” he said. “However, it was good because Cleveland was loaded with older players and veterans. It’s a whole different step mentally from playing soccer in college to playing soccer professionally, but I learned a ton by just watching and being around it.”

The year following his rookie season, Hall and now Ironmen head coach Omid Namazi advanced to the MISL Championship Series.

“Although it was not my most memorable, it was my most fulfilling experience. To work so hard and get that close and to just fall short of winning is always rough. But I’d have to say that my first professional game and my first goal I scored [takes the lead] for the most memorable experience I’ve had,” he continued.

Hall and the Ironmen, who are part of the Xtreme Soccer League (XSL,) are a very close knit team. Hall alone lives with seven other players.

“It is great to live with my teammates. It is kind of like a fraternity- there is always something to do, always something going on,” Hall said. “Sometimes you get into little arguments but that doesn’t impact the way we play the game, its business.”

Despite the team being so compatible with each other, the XSL is comprised of only four teams. This means that sometimes players get traded and switched around.

“It’s a love loss on the field and is never easy when someone gets traded, but it’s the nature of the game and the business. It’s a small community so you do get to see them which is good, but on the field, they are your opponent. After the game, you can go up and buy a beer together, but on the field, it’s a different story,” he stated.

Aside from playing soccer, Hall tries to spend as much time as possible with his family. He has an older brother who is like his best friend and his parents, along with the rest of his family, are very supportive of him playing soccer at this level.

“Of course they are very supportive of me playing. They support every decision that I make, but they are cautious of me playing because they don’t want me to get hurt,” he concluded.

With many more games to go and dedicated fans following his every move, Ryan “The Brick Wall” Hall must keep up the good work of taking down anyone in his path. Hopefully by doing this, he will help lead his team to victory over the brave souls that try to surpass him. Ironmen fans alone however know that this is just simply not possible.

Danielle Weiss is currently a junior at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She is spending the semester interning for the New Jersey Ironmen in the Communications Department.