In the men’s soccer team’s first 13 matches of the season, the Braves managed to score only eight goals. The squad was 4-7 and found themselves entering the heart of their conference schedule.
It was a rough start offensively for the Braves, to say the least. The youth of the squad was exploited often for much of the season, and there seemed to be little offensive flow.
Now, the team has a chance to clinch a share of the Missouri Valley Conference title thanks to four straight conference wins and a boom in offensive. By outscoring opponents 12-3 in their last three matches, the Braves sit atop the conference with a 4-0 record and are heading into a home match against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville tomorrow evening.
“Let’s be candid; if you told me that we would be 4-0 with this team going into the last two [conference] games of the season with a chance to win a conference championship, I would’ve told you, ‘Wow, something must’ve really broke through for us,’ which it has,” head coach Jim DeRose said. “We are in that situation now. It’s a real testament to the upperclassmen that we have and the job they’ve done.”
One of those upperclassmen, senior Grant Bell, has taken on a role as a leader and has said that leading has been made easier by the willingness of the freshmen to learn and improve.
“They’re always coming in ready to learn more,” Bell said. “It doesn’t make it too tough on the upperclassmen when you’re dealing with that every day.”
The win against Missouri State last Saturday was certainly a combined effort by the elders and youth of the team. The scoring was started in the eighth minute of the game when Bell and senior Joe Morales collaborated on an assist to set up junior Alex Garcia for a goal.
The Braves’ scoring efforts were aided by sophomore Richard Olsen and freshman Frank Bak, who each netted goals en route to a 3-2 win.
The boom in goal production has been simple, as DeRose said he has reiterated often over the last couple weeks; It’s as easy as just putting the ball on net.
“It’s so simple and it doesn’t matter the sport,” DeRose said. “In baseball, if you put the ball in play, good things will happen. I think it’s the same thing here. It’s about getting the guys to understand that it doesn’t have to be a great shot, but it just has to be on goal and good things will happen. So, there’s been more of a change in mentality than it has been anything coaching-wise that we’ve mixed up. “
The early season struggles seem to be long forgotten by some, but the effect of that tough schedule, playing multiple ranked teams and high quality opponents is evident to the team.
“Those games were very important,” Bell said. “Coach DeRose always schedules those kinds of games so we can learn from them, and even though we go through those tough losses, it’s always a learning experience and it gets us to where we are now.”
DeRose also emphasized the positive impact the merciless schedule has had on the players.
“It’s something philosophical that I’ve believed in for a long time here,” DeRose said. “To be very truthful, we could build a schedule…that would guarantee us 10 or 11 wins. If you’re afraid to be 5-13, you’ll never be 13-5. You can’t schedule yourself to an NCAA tournament with weak teams. We just believe in playing strong teams.”
The competition will get stronger, however. The three remaining teams the Braves play have a combined record of 28-11-6. The task to win the conference title may seem a bit daunting after looking at that, but Bell said the Braves are just “taking it one step at a time.”
“We don’t want to look too far ahead,” Bell said. “I think this weekend against SIUE we’ll really have to focus in and play one of the best games we’ve played all year.”
