By Nick Bond
The hump? This team is over it.
No, but seriously, it seems as though our men’s soccer team has finally turned their season around. Through strong offensive play, a well put-together defensive strategy and a newly found penchant for capitalizing on mistakes, the men seem to be on the road to a playoff berth with five games to go in conference play.
A solid, if not spectacular performance against the Monarchs of Old Dominion, punctuated by a crafty goal off the foot of Brett Carrington – his sixth of the season – leaving the Pride undefeated in their last three games, all conference clashes.
The Pride, despite being out shot, were able to keep the ball out of the back of the net, and more importantly, kept the Monarchs to only two shots on goal, with 5 shots missing the target.
Most importantly, the Pride garnered three precious points for their performance. These points are important, because with the eight points the team now has, it puts them in the thick of the playoff race. Although only the top four teams in the league make it into the playoffs, because of their recent success the Pride find themselves only four points behind the No.1 seed – if the season were to end today – and two points out of the final playoff spot.
Their final five games are not cupcakes, however, as their first game is away at George Mason – a team that has played well at home so far this season (4-2 overall, 2-1 CAA) – on Wednesday night. Any point the Pride can pull out of Fairfax County will help as they return for two home games against the College of William and Mary, on Saturday, and Towson the next Wednesday.
Depending on the result against George Mason, the Pride’s game against the Tribe of William and Mary could be a watershed game in terms of the Pride’s potential participation in the playoffs.
A point ahead of the Pride at press time, a loss to the Tribe could be the death knell for the Pride’s playoffs hopes, especially if the Pride loses to George Mason on Wednesday. Though in the interest of full disclosure, the Tribe find themselves challenging CAA leader UNC-Wilmington Wednesday night, so it does remain to be seen if there will be a shift in standings.
If the Pride manages to tally victories against either or both, they could see anywhere between a two to six point swing in the standings, which would serve them greatly in their mission to make the playoffs.
If one assumes that they win at least one of the two, they would enter their game against Towson – a team no better than the Pride statistically- with 11 points, definitely putting them towards the head of the pack with easy home game before heading off to finish their regular season with two road games.