All the training, travel and hard work has been in preparation for this stage of the season as the Massachusetts men's soccer team will find out if they're ready for conference play.
This Sunday the UMass Minutemen (2-5-2) travel to Kingston, R.I., to face off against the Rhode Island Rams (4-4-1), in the Minutemen's first Atlantic 10 conference game of the season.
The conference games take on a greater level of importance because it's the conference records that determine seeding and placement for the A-10 Championship, rather than the overall record.
The top six out of 14 teams will advance to the conference championships, so typically a team must win six out of nine games in order to qualify. This makes conference matches more important than other games.
"Do the math, obviously we want to get the momentum going in the right direction to start with…we don't want to start going backwards," UMass coach Sam Koch said.
This opening matchup pits two teams that appear to be fairly equal, particularly in terms of common opponents. UMass defeated Boston University 3-2 while URI lost 4-0; the Rams beat Hartford 1-0 while the Minutemen lost 1-0; Siena beat URI 2-1 and lost to UMass 1-0, and both teams played Vermont to a 0-0 tie.
"Both teams want to start conference play going in the right direction, so it's going to be a very intense game. I think we're pretty evenly matched. Even though their record is better than ours, I think records go out the window once conference play starts," Koch said.
Both teams are closely matched in terms of statistics. URI has scored one more goal (eight) than UMass (seven); however, Massachusetts has allowed one less goal (11) than Rhode Island has (12).
The Minutemen have been preparing for the conference games by scheduling very difficult non-conference games. Tuesday night they faced off against the No.1 ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-0-0), and played them closely in a 2-0 loss. A 2-0 loss is a pretty good result against a team that has outscored opponents 38-7. Not that the Minutemen took any pride in a loss.
"The Wake Forest coach said we were the first team that was upset and disappointed at the end of the game. I think he felt that the other opponents had players that were happy Wake Forest hadn't scored more on them or whatever," Koch said.
The Minutemen's major weakness throughout the season has been the team's inability to score goals. They've been shutout in five of the nine games they've played while averaging less than a goal per game (.77). UMass has shown the ability to create chances, but they can't seem to take advantage of their opportunities. Midfielder Ben Arikian's penalty kick that clanged off the post on Tuesday against Wake Forest epitomized their season offensively.
Still, a slump can't last forever, and if the Minutemen can continue to get opportunities, sooner or later they'll finish them. Koch hopes the team will break its slump on Sunday.
"We have to keep doing what we've been doing. [If we] keep knocking on the door sooner or later it's going in. We just have to keep focused and doing what we have been doing," Koch said. "I think the methods we have been using have been successful and we have to keep at it."
Koch feels that his team has improved a great deal over the last two weeks and believes that it's rounding into shape. He feels that the team's ball movement has been better. They're using the width of the field better, creating more chances and cutting down on their errors.
"One thing I've seen over the last three games is that we've been eliminating our own mistakes. The more we eliminate those silly mistakes as far as playing simple and playing the way we face, we will [be able] to keep moving the ball. [This] will give us more time to create more opportunities to score," Koch said.
Scott Feldman can be reached at Sfeldman@student.umass.edu.
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