Head coach Dan Donigan and the Billiken men’s soccer team were six minutes away from defeating one of the top teams in the country Aug. 31, when they faced off against Southern Methodist University on the road.
But the match-up against the No. 8 Mustangs is only the first of three important top-20 match-ups that will take place in the next two weeks. The Bills travel to Duke University this weekend to compete in tournament play against NC State University tonight and No. 2 Duke on Sunday. Following the tourney, the team returns home to play No. 4 Indiana Sept. 15.
“We are in for a challenging weekend against two very good teams,” Donigan said. “NC State doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It is unfortunate that they play in the top soccer conference in the country, and I think they will surprise a lot of teams this year.”
NC State tied then-No. 1 UCLA 2-2 in its first exhibition match, and is not the type of team to be taken lightly. The Wolfpack (2-0-0), who have historically contended for Atlantic Coast Confernce titles, struggled last season finishing with a 6-10-1 record. This year, though, the Pack return seven starters and boast one of the best recruiting classes in the country.
Heading into the game, SLU has a 2-0-1 record all time against the Wolfpack. Their last meeting was in 1995, when the Billikens defeated NC State 5-1 on a neutral field hosted by Indiana University.
Even though the history between this rivalry favors SLU, the Billiken mentality is to take one game at a time, according to senior midfielder Brian Grazier.
“We aren’t even focusing on Duke; all our energy is geared toward the NC State match at this point,” he said.
In preparation for the match, Donigan has worked to improve SLU’s defensive shape and organization, the areas that gave them problems in the preseason exhibition matches.
“We were positioned wrong in the first couple matches, so now we are working on compacting the field and staying connected in order to make the field smaller,” Grazier said. “When we push up, we push up everything; and when we defend, we defend everything.”
When the Duke match rolls around on Sunday, the Billikens will compete against a team that is returning 10 of 11 starters from last year. Additionally, a pair of Hermann Trophy candidates will battle it out in the midfield, as SLU junior Eric Sweetin and Duke senior Michael Videira were both named to the 29-member Watch List last year.
“Duke is one of the premier teams in the country, and we are interested to see how we match up,” Donigan said. “It has to be a tremendous motivation for those [Duke] players to send coach Rennie out on top.”
Donigan decided that before this weekend, the Billikens needed to keep things simple by having composure on defense and on the ball and stressing mental toughness.
“Basically, our mentality heading into these matches is that, even when the game isn’t going our way, we still have to pull out a win; we still have to pull out a result,” Grazier said. “It’s not always going to be a pretty game, but we always have to be tough on the road and stay organized.”
The Bills will enter the tournament this weekend with a new ranking, following their 1-1 draw at SMU. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America bumped the Billikens up nine spots from 21 to 12 in the latest poll after drawing No. 8 SMU. In the game against the Mustangs, SLU notched the first goal from junior Dado Hamzagic near the beginning of the second half.
When the SMU keeper blocked his shot, Hamzagic one-timed the subsequent rebound into the net to give SLU the 1-0 advantage. The Mustangs would go on to score on a penalty kick in the 84th minute to equalize the match.
“Last year we lost to SMU 3-0,” Grazier said. “So this year this year, we just wanted to head down there and get a result against them on the road.”
