By By Dave Diamond

HONOR THY SENIORS

The Pride’s home game on Friday evening will serve as Senior Day for the graduating players of 2005. It is sure to be an emotional pre-game ceremony, considering these graduates were all major contributors to the Pride’s miraculous Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance last season. Goaltender Mattias Gumbrecht, defender Billy Chung, midfielder Jason Gates and captain Matthew Telling will all be honored. All of these players make up a veteran core that head coach Richard Nuttall and the rest of the returning Pride will sorely miss. On the bright side, also considered a senior is Pride leading scorer Michael Todd, but he does have another year of eligibility remaining and is expected to return next fall.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

When the Pride began the season, many could consider the team an offensive juggernaut, perhaps relying on Todd and forward Constantinos Christoudias to outscore opponents, an impression that is no longer valid. Defenders Gary Flood, Billy Chung and Corey Gudmundson have gelled in the brisk October games and become the backbone of the Pride’s success. In addition to manning an impressive four consecutive shutouts, the Pride has only allowed two goals in its last seven games, one of which came on a penalty kick to William & Mary.

“The defense in terms of the back four and the goalie have been excellent,” said Nuttall, who did not just attribute that to defenders. “But it’s also been excellent in terms of the whole team working hard to defend as one.”

OCTOBER CLASSICS

The unbeaten weekend concluded an October schedule that saw the Pride flourish to near the top of the CAA Standings. The Pride went 6-1-2 last month, with its only loss coming to Old Dominion, who sits among the top three nationally in NCAA men’s soccer. The team outscored opponents 16-5 in October and has not been scored upon since Oct. 16.

More impressive is the caliber of victories for the Pride, which played five overtime games last month.

Competitive Balance

The CAA playoffs are shaping up, but besides Old Dominion’s locking up of the first seed, not much else is solved. A testament to the depth and competition in the CAA, nine teams still have a chance at one of the six playoff spots going into the final week of play. The only three teams eliminated are Georgia State, Drexel, and Delaware.