When it came time to face off against No. 2 ranked Indiana University last weekend, the Billiken men’s soccer team was not prepared to lose in front of their own fans, on their own pitch.
The highly anticipated Nike Soccer Classic tournament, which featured three top-20 teams with No. 19 SLU, No. 16 Creighton and Indiana, took place in Hermann Stadium. The Billikens had history on their side in this tournament, as SLU is 42-4-3 all-time in home openers.
“Preparing for the weekend, we knew we had to take it one game at a time,” sophomore midfielder Josh Aranda said. “We didn’t treat Indiana as a bigger game, but we knew we had to win. We had to stay organized the entire match, and when we got breaks, we had to counter fast.”
Unlike the Duke game the week before, when the Bills were unable to put away their chances, SLU came out on top against Indiana 2-1, with goals from junior forward Kyle Patterson and senior midfielder Brian Grazier.
“In the Duke game we were a bit unlucky,” Patterson said. “We capitalized on our chances in the Indiana game and didn’t let them go to waste, like we did in the Duke game-that was probably the major difference.”
From the score, it seems that the Bills didn’t play as well in the Duke game, but Aranda said SLU was able to move the ball well despite the 0-2 loss. Grazier later described the game against Duke as one of the best SLU has had in recent years.
“We kept the pressure high, and we had hard runs toward the goal. The difference was that we were trying to create more chances, whereas against Duke we were possessing the ball but weren’t able to put it in the back of the net.”
Indiana struck first in the game on Saturday night, burying a shot from 20 yards out in the 26th minute. Grazier responded with three minutes left in the half by tapping in a cross from Dado Hamzagic, and Patterson scored the game winner after Indiana turned over the ball deep in their defensive end.
“Kyle Patterson was overpowering tonight,” head coach Dan Donigan said. “Indiana had possession, but he took the ball away and scored-I’m very happy and pleased with how we played.
“To get a win over a top-10 team like Indiana is a great result. We made one mistake, and [IU’s] Brad Ring scored a beautiful goal, but I liked how we bounced back and tied the game before halftime on Brian Grazier`s goal,” he said.
Patterson described the Indiana game as ‘free-flowing,’ since it was fast-paced and back and forth, with a lot of chances to score. One minute the Hoosiers were on the attack, and the next the Billikens would counter with an attack of their own.
“We did everything that we needed to do,” Patterson said. We kept passes where they needed to be, kept our composure and had a really good performance from all over the field, not just from one position.”
Because of his efforts both offensively and defensively, Josh Aranda was named co-MVP of the tournament. Additionally, Patterson, Calum Angus and Ross Kaufman were SLU’s selections onto the All-Tournament squad. Becuase the A-10 is not the strongest conference in the nation, it’s important to get results in both conference and non-conferense match-ups, to build a record for the post season, according to Aranda.
“We don’t play in the most competitive conference in the nation, so we always got to get a result,” Aranda said. “Once we do get into more conference play, we have to stay organized and not get caught up; we have to make sure we play Billiken soccer, finish our chances and play smart soccer.”
Donigan said he expects the game against Bradley tomorrow to be another difficult, competitive match.
“Anytime you play on the road against a team like Bradley that already has some quality games under its belt, you can’t expect anything but a very difficult challenge,” he said.
In response to the victory against Indiana, Patterson said that the team needs to maintain its intensity heading into the next couple matches.
“Now we’ve proven that we can be one of the top teams in the country if we play to our potential, so we have to continue this by going into every game knowing we’re gonna get a result,” Patterson said.
