Tonight is the biggest game in the history of the UMass men’s soccer team, and it is appropriately getting its due from the national media.
The New York Times had an absolutely lights-out solid article about the potential disbanding of the soccer team in the early ‘90s. It also gives some good background on the school’s scholarship situation and how truly amazing this year’s run has been for the Maroon and White:
Men’s soccer at UMass is allotted only 2.2 of the 9.9 scholarships allowed by the N.C.A.A., and that money is spread among 26 players. In a preseason poll, the Minutemen were forecast to finish 10th among the Atlantic 10 Conference’s 14 teams. Only once before, in 2001, had UMass qualified for the N.C.A.A. tournament. And now it is two victories from a national championship.
From John McCutcheon:
“If all you did was submit budgets and photos of your facilities, you wouldn’t need to play the games,” John McCutcheon, UMass’s athletic director said. “But that’s what makes sports so exciting and unpredictable.”
… and a little bit of humor:
At the Atlantic 10 tournament in Dayton, Ohio, the Minutemen ate their meals at a sandwich shop inside a Wal-Mart.
“When Olive Garden discontinued the $8 Never Ending Pasta Bowl, Coach was visibly upset,” Brown, the defender, said with a laugh.
From ESPN.com, the outlook is a little less positive, but realistic nonetheless:
Alas, the nightcap between unseeded UMass and No. 5 seed Ohio State (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU) might not be as pretty to behold. The Minutemen’s run to Cary has been nothing short of miraculous, but there is no disputing the fact that they lack the top-end talent and pedigree of the three other squads. Thirteen of their 25 contests this season have been decided by a single goal, and they allowed more than one goal in a game just four times this season. So if coach Sam Koch’s charges are to upset the underrated Buckeyes, bunker ball (and another big game from keeper Zack Simmons, who was lights-out against Illinois-Chicago) is how UMass will punch its ticket to the final.
Don’t count on that happening.
Good luck tonight boys, you’ve already made any and all UMass athletics fans incredibly happy and proud, but then again:
“If we’re going,” Simmons, the goalkeeper said, “we might as well come back with some hardware.”
