The University of Denver men’s soccer team has found success against top-20 teams in the country and looks to beat Alabama A&M this weekend.
Only one junior and one senior are in the starting line-up.
The younger players have have questions about how they size up when playing the better teams, said Head Coach Chad Ashton. “After the first 15 minutes or so it is nice to see some light bulbs go off in the players’ heads and realize that they can play with the guys [from top-20 teams] and beat them.”
The team beat Tulsa and Northeastern, but has lost when playing worse teams such at Missouri-Kansas City. This created some up-and-down points in the season.
But overall, the men are in a good position at this point in the season considering such a young team, Ashton said.
“The first three games were difficult and we could have won since we were outplaying the other team,” said Ashton. “The first game we won [against Wisconsin-Milwaukee] was the first game that I felt we were outplayed.”
Ashton wishes he could have at least two of those first three games back because two more wins would put the team in the top-10 in the West, but the team continues to take it one game at a time.
The players won’t be able to go easy against A&M and will be looking for a win this weekend.
A win against Alabama A&M would give the team more confidence heading into a series of five conference games before the conference playoffs being Nov. 13.
Even though Ashton doesn’t look down the road to the playoffs, he believes that the conference is wide open.
“Right now we need to get better and get healthy,” said Ashton. “Our ultimate goal is to win conference.”
Starting a team of mostly freshmen and sophomores has changed the dynamics and chemistry of the team.
“It is a difficult transition any time you bring in new bodies,” said Ashton. Although “this is the closest knit group since I’ve been here. The older guys did a good job of getting everyone together and practicing before the season started.”
As for the next few games, Ashton said, “Right now we’re playing very well and feel like we can beat anyone. We need to focus and come out flying in order to win the next few games.”
The men play their next game against Alabama A&M Sunday at 11 a.m. at Pioneer Field before taking on San Jose State Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.
The team will begin play in hopes of a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Nov. 13 in Sacremento, California.
