Benedictine University (4-2 Win)
After playing a solid 90 minutes against Aurora on Monday, we continued
to roll with a goal in the opening 3 minutes, followed by 2 more unanswered
by halftime. The reserves went on and added to the first half and
we played a decent 45 minutes. Then the training wheels fell off
and we came out in the second half and scrambled to secure the win.
We allowed Benedictine to score before we played for a spurt and put our
4th of the night in... then we disappeared again and allowed them to notch
a second goal. With a minute left, we conceded a penalty kick and
fortunately, Reggie Lara made the save. I was hoping that we would
gather some momentum going into Friday's game against the 12th team in
the country and CCIW perennial powerhouse Wheaton College. I don't
know what the outcome will be. If we come out like we did against
Aurora then we have a great chance of winning... like the Benedictine game
we have very little chance of keeping Wheaton from hanging 10 on us.
I hope the boys decide to play a full 90 minutes Friday.
Aurora University (2-0 Win)
The #8 team in the region visited us for a Monday
night game on campus. We came out and played a different formation
and changed a few things up and got the result we needed. Steve Perona
has been suffering with lack of energy due to the effects of having mono
this past summer. So he has been limited in his minutes. But
he came out and gave us 20-25 minutes hard and scored the game winner 5
minutes into the second half. I think that Aurora looked at our record
and thought that it was going to be a breeze for them to come in kick it
around and idle home with a win. Our team has shown it can play with
some of the best teams and we don't tend to give up easily, which is a
great quality to have in a team. The second goal came in from our
leading scorer and co-captain Chris Miller. We got in behind them
on the right flank, knocked the ball around a bit, freshman Spencer Nedved
layed a ball off for Chris who slotted a ball over the keeper into the
top corner to lock the victory. Aurora is a very good team.
I don't think they will overlook the Titans in the future.... Benedictine
on the 12th ...
Elmhurst College Round 2 (2-1 Loss)
We traveled up to Elmhurst to give it another try.
This time we played a sub par first half and allowed 2 goals. EC
came out with more energy and desire. A lot of residual energy from
their victory over Augie midweek. We came out in the second half
and played much better, we had a number of chances, Jeff Carqueville played
outstanding and created 3 or 4 excellent chances for us, including the
PK that gave us our only goal. We were too inconsistent for the 90
minutes and need to focus on playing for as long as it takes and not allowing
the other team to gain so much momentum in the game. Our conference
record dropped to 0-2-2 which is disappointing. We had a chance to
win conference, but now are looking to get into the top 4 to gain post
season play in the CCIW conference tournament. We let a big opportunity
slip through our fingers.
Millikin University (0-0 Draw at MU)
We travelled into Decatur for a mid week CCIW match
against Rival Millikin University. They have had the better end of
the results over the past few years and we were determined to get something
from this game. Ideally we would have liked to step in and
walk out with 3 conference points, but we didn't. We did come out
with a point and in this league, a road point is good. This was the
third CCIW opponent that we took to overtime. We came out with the
same result as North Park game, but had chances to win. I felt that
both teams could've won the game. They had a couple of really dangerous
chances to put us away and either missed, or Ryan Smith came up big in
the net. We had a couple of excellent chances to win. Chris
Miller hit a tremendous free kick that shook the cross bar, Matas Cyvas
knifed a ball, added to the attack, and ripped a dipping shot that just
missed. Colin Aubin had a clear look from 20 in overtime that just
missed wide and Mark Opal was dangerous and got around the end slotted
a ball across the box... it rattled around like a pinball machine, but
Millikin ended up clearing and we ended up with th 0-0 draw. We can
take a lot of positives from the MU game... 1. competing against a conference
foe who is predicted to finish better than us. 2. played a
very complete game on both sides of the ball with few let downs.
3. we kept our emotional level high and steady. We had few
ups and downs emotionally and I was pleased with the consistency we showed.
Elmhurst Round 1
Our first go at Elmhurst began well, we were playing with confidence and
they were unraveling a bit... but the heavens opened up and Zues threw
a few bolts around and the game was postponed until the following Saturday.
We will prepare for Millikin next...
IWU 1st half Wrap up
It is the half way point in my first season with the Titans and I will
say that we have been up and down. The funny thing is we tend to
compete with some of the best competition thrown our way (Chicago, Augustana,
North Park) and yet struggle with the teams that we should be beating (Webster).
Fortunately for us, we have the remaining 5 CCIW games coming ahead of
us and we can achieve one of our goals set this season by winning those
remaining games in the CCIW. We travel to Elmhurst this Sunday to
play a team that has similar issues of competition. I believe it
will be like the North Park match where it is two teams going at it from
the opening whistle. Both teams, Elmhurst and IWU are fighting for
respect in the conference. It would appear that after finishing as
high as they did last season, that they are upset with being put lower
than North Park and Augustana in the preseason polls. We are trying
to set a new standard of excellence which means that 7th in conference,
which is what we are predicted to achieve this season in the CCIW, is NOT
an acceptable finish.
We played well and with a lot of energy in our opening tournament with
a decisive victory over Lawrence and tying a strong Concordia of Wisconsin
team. That weekend showed that with a bit of focus we can achieve
our goals and objectives set in the preseason. We won the Titan Classic
for the first time in our history. We then went to Webster and played
a strong first half, but couldn't finish the match and allowed 3 goals
to a team that out worked us. We are a team that is trying to play
to our strengths and hard work and fitness are a couple of our strengths.
To roll over and play a poor second half was extremely disappointing.
We came back and took apart a team in Knox that had good athletes, but
we had more depth than they did and we were able to impose our game on
them. The game that most impressed me was the next game which pitted
us against the #10 team in the country (at the time) University of Chicago.
Traditionally, we have had tough battles with Chicago and this game was
no different. We changed up tactically and went with a three forward
front that allowed us to pressure their backs. We hadn't really trained
this and give the boys credit, they listened, didn't panic if things were
tough and played a solid game. 2-1 with chances for us to tie it
shows us that we are a strong program on the rise.
The schedule didn't get any easier as we began a road schedule of 7
games at conference foe Augustana. Again, we shifted formations throughout
the game sometime with 3 up top, sometimes with 2. The boys played
hard and smart and we came back to tie the game and send it to overtime...
unfortunately, late in the second overtime, with tired legs, we missed
a clearing opportunity and Augie finished their chance and won 2-1 with
the golden goal.
The most disappointing game of our season so far was our game at Washington
University. They are perennially a national powerhouse and are similar
in a lot of ways to Chicago. We went there and allowed ourselves
to give them easy opportunities. We weren't focused and had very
little energy and would have been better off leaving some of the players
on the bus. We played as if we didn't want to be there... 4-0 was
the result of our lack of focus. The captains and seniors met with
the team and decided that this was to be the last time we had this happen.
Fortunately we have stuck with that plan and came out in the last two outings
with a fire under our back sides by playing a tough double overtime tie
0-0 with CCIW opponent North Park and handling MacMurray 5-0.
We next head to Elmhurst to continue our quest to the CCIW championships
and ultimately to the NCAA national tournament. I plan on updating
my comments page after each of the remaining games of our schedule.
I thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and please feel free
to contact me with any questions.
Until next time, all the best...