Saint Louis University’s men’s soccer team has high expectations heading into this year’s conference play. Coming off of a 7-2 Atlantic 10 conference record and a conference tournament championship last year, the Bills are looking to once again stake their claim as the best in the A-10.
The Billikens, tabbed by the league’s coaches as the favorite to win the conference title, head into league play with a 2-3-2 record. Fresh off of a tough defeat at the hands of the Clemson Tigers, the Billikens travel to Duquesne this Friday to kick off their quest for an A-10 regular season championship.
“We have the same expectations [as those coaches do],” head coach Mike McGinty said. “The preseason ranking from the other coaches is flattering, but we don’t pay attention to it. It doesn’t matter if we’re picked to finish first or third. We try to win every game we play in, to be regular season champs, to boost our RPI; we just play every game to win.”
The road will be anything but easy, though. If there is one word to describe the conference as a whole, that word is parity.
Six A-10 teams came out of nonconference play with records of .500 or better, and the rest of the league has relatively similar records to each other. With the exception of the top six teams, every other squad has posted either one or two wins.
The preseason favorite Billikens have gotten off to somewhat of a slow start, but recent history has shown that SLU takes its game to another level when conference play rolls around.
Last season, the Billikens posted a pedestrian 5-4 nonconference record, but proceeded to rip off nine wins in 11 games against conference foes. Much like last year, the Billikens played through a grueling nonconference schedule this season, squaring off against the likes of No.6 ranked Louisville, No.7 Tulsa and No.16 South Florida.
The Bills took both Louisville and South Florida to a draw, while dropping a 4-1 decision to 2009 national quarter-finalist Tulsa.
“[The tough nonconference schedule] prepares us. It lets us test ourselves, get better and work on things we need to work on. It gives us a clear picture of who we can count on and what we need to develop,” McGinty said.
The stiffest challenge to the Billikens for A-10 supremacy on paper is shaping up to be the Charlotte 49ers.
Ranked No. 25 nationally in the College Soccer News preseason poll and picked to finish second behind the Billikens in the A-10, the 49ers have shown flashes of brilliance in defeating No.11 Wake Forest, but ultimately finished their nonconference slate with a 5-4-0 record.
Their 15 points thus far this season (three points for a win, one for a tie) have them among the league’s best, tied with Fordham and St. Bonaventure.
In SLU’s only meeting with Charlotte last year, the Billikens dropped a tough 2-1 decision at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The potential of the opponents, which the team will see later in the year, does not faze the Billikens yet, though.
“I haven’t looked too closely at all the teams in the conference. We’re just focusing on the next opponent, not trying to look too far ahead past Duquesne,” McGinty said.
The Bills face Duquesne and St. Bonaventure’s this weekend.
The Dukes come out of nonconference play with a 4-3-2 record, tied for second-best in the conference. Led by freshman Simon Gomez (six goals), the Dukes looked impressive in a 2-1 loss to No. 15 Michigan State and a scoreless draw with No. 21 West Virginia. The Dukes finished 4-4-1 last year in A-10 play, never playing the Billikens.
Next up for the Bills is St. Bonaventure, another squad that posted a winning nonconference record, finishing 5-4-0. Last year the Bonnies posted a 5-4-0 clip in conference play. This matchup marks the first time the Billikens have competed against St. Bonaventure since the 2008 season, when SLU beat the Bonnies 4-0.
After traveling to Duquesne and St. Bonaventure, SLU closes out a grueling three-week road trip against Richmond, George Washington and Charlotte. Richmond and GW finished their nonconference slates with 1-7-1 and 2-7-0 records, respectively.
But the Billikens know that there is no such thing as an easy out in A-10 conference play.
Last season, the Billikens took out both squads en route to their 7-2 conference finish. The two matches against Richmond and GW precede perhaps the toughest matchup the Billikens will face in the A-10, a date with the Charlotte 49ers on October 22 in North Carolina.
Upon their return home on Oct. 26, the Billikens get a break from A-10 action when they square off against University of Missouri- Kansas City, then host their final four regular season conference games. Temple, Saint Joseph’s, Rhode Island and UMass all head to Hermann Stadium this year to take on the Billikens.
The most intriguing matchup comes against the Rhode Island Rams, who have had trouble living up to their projected fourth-place finish in the A-10. The Rams posted a 2-6-1 nonconference record, failing to live up to the preseason hype. Rhode Island has proven to be a tough out for the Billikens in recent years, though, with SLU squeaking out a 3-2 victory in the first round of last year’s A-10 conference tournament.
Temple, who finished 2-5-2 in nonconference play, opens up the A-10 action at Hermann Stadium. Last year, the Bills knocked off the Owls 1-0. Saint Joseph’s notched their first win of the season against Iona, but ultimately finished their nonconference schedule with a 1-7-0 record. Unfortunately, the Iona win for the Hawks was their first win in two years.
The Bills will close out their A-10 season with a game against the Massachusetts Minutemen. UMass, despite returning 10 of 11 starters, has grinded through their schedule up to this point, posting a 1-3-5 record.
With such a wide open league heading into conference play, the Billikens are poised to strike. If recent history is any indication, the best is yet to come from this young squad.
“We’re just focusing on getting a good result and on ourselves, seeing how we can get better in the long term,” McGinty said.
And it all starts with conference play this weekend for the Billikens.
