A once promising season for the youthful Massachusetts men’s soccer team may have been derailed by inexperience and missed opportunities in recent weeks, but a little home cooking might be just what the doctor ordered.
“It’s just nice to be at home,” UMass coach Sam Koch said after practice on Wednesday. “You sleep in your own bed, you don’t have to travel and you’re playing on a field you’re used to and comfortable with.”
Comfortable may be an understatement for Koch and his players, who have struggled mightily on the road, but bring a 3-1-1 record at Rudd Field into the weekend’s pair of home matches.
First up for the Minutemen (3-5-2, 0-1 A-10) is a Friday showdown with Atlantic 10 rival Saint. Joseph’s at 3 p.m. The Hawks, (4-7-0, 0-2 A-10), whose four wins are a marked improvement for a program that has struggled to put together victories in recent years, have also been scuffling of late, falling to 15th place in the conference after dropping their past two matches.
But Koch knows that Friday’s matchup is still a tough draw for his club.
“Traditionally, they’re not as strong as most of the teams in the league,” Koch said. “They’re a better team, I think, this year, so we’ve got to be ready to play.
“It’s a key game for us – we’ve got to play well. We’ve got to finish our chances. We have a couple injuries, and everybody’s got to be ready to go from the start.”
Crucial to getting off to a fast start against SJU will be the ability to capitalize on early scoring opportunities, something that eluded UMass during the team’s most recent loss to Rhode Island on Saturday.
“We missed two good chances in the beginning,” Koch said about the loss. “If we put those away it’s a different game, but we didn’t. Goals are so important.”
The good news for the Minutemen, then, is that opposing teams have netted 22 goals in 11 games against the Hawks so far this season, a total good for second-to-last in the A-10.
A continuing trend for UMass this season has been the defense’s trouble in picking up opponents at the half-way line. Koch said he hopes see his team improve in this area on Friday.
“(One thing) we have to do better than we’ve done is, defensively, shutting people down in the midfield,” he said. “We just haven’t done that well.”
Waiting for scoring opportunities of his own will be Saint. Joseph’s sophomore forward Alex Critzos. Critzos, who is looking to score for a third consecutive game, has led the Hawks in goals, shots and points for each of the past two seasons.
Slowing Critzos and the St. Joseph’s attack will crucial for the Minutemen if they’re exit the weekend with their first A-10 victory, as Sunday’s 1 p.m. match-up with third-place Temple will likely prove the more difficult of the two.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Koch said. “It’s always a battle with them.”
Koch was quick to heap praise for impressive work and fitness levels on the visiting Owls (6-4-1, 2-0 A-10), who are scheduled to visit URI on Friday before making their way to Amherst to close out the weekend.
“They work awfully hard off the ball, “he said. “It’s going to be a 90-minute game. From the first second to the end of it, they’re going to keep coming at you.”
One thing is certain for UMass this weekend: Senior goalkeeper Brian Frame, should, quite literally, have his hands full.
Temple is paced offensively by the A-10’s leading shot taker (with 59), freshman midfielder Jared Martinelli. Martinelli, who has earned conference Rookie of the Week honors three times already this season, leads the nation’s freshmen with 19 points and seven assists.
Temple’s impressive youngster, like Critzos, will enter the game against UMass on a hot streak, having scored three goals in his last three games.
Sunday’s contest with Temple will be the Minutemen’s first real opportunity to test its mettle against one of the A-10’s upper echelon teams. A challenge imposed by a team of that caliber has the potential to serve as a distraction for a young team, but the Minutemen know better than to look past its Friday opponent.
“My feeling right now is I’m just focusing on St. Joseph’s,” Koch said. “We’ve got to worry about the first one, then we’ll worry about Temple afterwards.”
Daniel Malone can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Daniel_Malone.
