Cosmos Q & A: Hunter Freeman

The Cosmos (2-2) face a must-win situation against first-place Minnesota United (4-0) at Hofstra at 7:30 p.m. Monday if they want to have a chance to win the NASL spring title. Defender Hunter Freeman talked about the team's challenges and his career.

After last season people looked at this team being invincible.

HF: Any time you win a championship you're going to have big expectations. The way we did it, coming together and winning a championship so quickly with only two guys having played together before, it's pretty special.

It's the first time we lost two games in a row. From the outside everyone thinks we're crumbling to pieces. It's not that way. We've got to find a way to get results. There is no way we're holding our heads down and thinking the spring season is over or we have to do a total makeover. We've got to refine a few things and keep our confidence. And find ways to score goals and not give up early ones because that's what hurts us.

What is the mood?

HF: The mood is good. The guys are disappointed with the results. We're [peeved] we lost two in a row. But that's a good thing. If we were walking around complacent because the stats showed we outplayed other teams, dominated possession and had more chances, that would be a concern.

How important is success in the U.S. Open Cup against MLS teams?

HF: Everybody's looking to compare us to a team in that league. We just want to be successful. It's another competition where we have a chance to win a trophy. Regardless who we play, whether it's a PDL team, a USL team, another NASL team or MLS team, we step onto the field, we want to win. It would be great to step on against an MLS team.

As a junior at Virginia, you led Division I with 21 assists. Yet, you didn't take corner kicks professionally until last year.

HF: When I was younger in MLS, a lot of times those duties are handed to veteran guys. On every team we had some pretty good guys to do the same thing. What am I going to say to a guy like Clint Mathis?

Quite frankly, we should score more often. With me, Marcos [Senna] and Ayoze [Garcia Perez], we have dangerous service. We have big guys that are good in the air. It really kind of baffles me and all of us on why we don't score more on those.

If you weren't in soccer, what would you be doing?

HF: I would be a professional golfer. I love to golf. They make a lot more money than I do. They play on these beautiful courses all over the world.

What I would do if my career ended today? I would definitely be involved in soccer. Coaching interests me. I have a notebook of drills, plays, certain things that coaches along my career have said to the team. There are positives ... you can pick up from every coach.