The number of ties for men’s soccer may have surpassed its number of wins, but the team is still unbeaten at 4-0-5. And, you can thank the Bills’ defense for that.
Saint Louis University’s back line shut out two consecutive Top-5 ranked opponents last week. Junior back Rob Viviano, who played all 220 minutes in a defense that held both No. 3 Northwestern and No. 5 Creighton scoreless, said the shutouts were a team effort.
“There’s no one player that makes more of a difference than another when defending; everyone has to do their part to make it happen,” Viviano said. “It starts with the forwards, then midfield, defense and ends with the keeper; it takes 11 people defending.”
SLU leads the Atlantic 10 Conference in fewest goals allowed (4), goals against average (0.40) and shutouts (6). The last time an opponent managed to score on the Bills was Portland at the beginning of September, and the team is unbeaten through its first nine games for the first time since 2001, when SLU began the year 10-0-0.
Junior back Tim Ream landed on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Men’s College Team of the Week for his work on defense. Ream was inches away from notching the game winner against Creighton with a laser shot on target that was narrowly deflected by the keeper.
“[Ream] has certainly been a great presence for us,” head coach Dan Donigan said. “He is also creating great chances for us by joining the attack out of the back. Our entire back line, along with our goalkeeping, has been strong all year.”
With non-conference games over, which are arguably the more difficult games of the season, the team is ready to focus on putting the ball in the net. SLU shut out two top teams, but those same teams held the Bills scoreless as well. Both games last week ended in a 0-0 tie after two overtimes.
“At the same time, we need to put more emphasis on our attack,” senior midfielder Eric Sweetin said. “In the next games, we won’t have to focus on defense as much as last week, so that should lead to more offense.”
Since other top teams across the nation posted losses last week, Donigan said he was pleased that the team’s defense held up, despite earning its fifth tie of the season.
“We are not losing games,” Donigan said. “For me, that is an achievement. People may be unhappy with five ties right now, but they would be even more unhappy with four ties and one loss.”
The key to upcoming matches, according to Donigan, is to not have any letdowns against inferior teams; the team “has to keep plugging.”
“We want wins, but we haven’t lost,” Sweetin said. “To have no one beat us is huge going into conference.”
The Bills’ A-10 schedule begins tomorrow against La Salle and continues on Sunday, Oct. 12, when the Billikens head to the Bronx to face Fordham.
