After starting its season with two exhibition wins, the men’s soccer team hit its first rough patch this season with two ties in the LMU Soccer Classic last weekend.
The Bills came home without a loss against top tier soccer squads from around the West Coast, but senior goalkeeper Pat Disbennett said the weekend was a little disappointing overall.
“It’s unfortunate that both games ended in a tie; we should have won,” Disbennett said.
On three different occasions the Bills found themselves down a goal-once against San Diego and twice against Loyola Marymount.
In both games, the team rallied from the deficits to even the score. Head coach Dan Donigan said the team would have like to come out with a pair of wins, but the way it fought at the end of both matches speak directly to its drive and competitiveness.
“For two straight games, our guys capitalized by scoring a goal late in regulation that we so desperately needed, and that is encouraging,” Donigan said.
The two double-overtime matches, a combined 220 minutes of game time, took a toll on the Billiken lineup, according to Donigan. Because of injuries and an ejection, SLU will look to players off the bench to fill voids on the field.
Senior Calum Angus sat out the first game because of a lingering leg injury. Senior midfielder Dado Hamzagic sustained an ankle injury over the weekend and freshman Alex Johnston was ejected due to two yellow cards.
“From a personnel standpoint, we have plenty of players that can fill the positions of injured players,” Donigan said. “It just means we have to dip deeper into our roster, but everyone else is healthy.”
One of the weekend’s highlights was senior forward Brandon Barklage’s tying goal with less than three minutes to play against Loyola Marymount.
Barklage, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, ripped a shot from about 35 yards out.
“I got a pass from [Rob] Viviano out wide on the left, touched it five yards or so in front of me and just took a rip. Fortunately, it ended up in the upper 90.”
Even though the weekend did not go as planned, Donigan said the team is happy with its position after the weekend.
After spending the weekend in Los Angeles, the team will turn around for two more road games this weekend in Omaha, Neb., to compete in Creighton’s Diadora Challenge. The team will match up against UC Riverside and Portland.
Donigan said the team must transition to this weekend and play two quality opponents.
Barklage said the team knows what it needs to improve on in order to be successful.
“Mostly, we need more intensity,” Barklage said. “We need to come out strong against these teams this weekend and get it done,” said Barklage.
UC Riverside currently stands at 0-2-0 with losses to two top 25 teams in California and UCLA, while Portland has a 1-0-1 record. Disbennett said the team should expect the same level of competition as this past weekend.
“We had a couple slips in our first couple games, but it would be nice to come away from the games this weekend with a couple victories,” Disbennett said.
