Villanova Preview
November 07, 2007 01:01 PM | General
November 7, 2007
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| Marlon LeBlanc |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When the West Virginia University men’s soccer team plays host to Villanova in the first round of the BIG EAST tournament tonight at 7 p.m. Head Coach Marlon LeBlanc says his team will face a Wildcat squad playing with a sense of urgency.
“I think the main challenge they present is the fact that they know they need to win the BIG EAST tournament to get into the NCAA tournament,” LeBlanc says.
While the Mountaineers (12-5-1, 7-3-1) have come on strong to close the season, posting a 4-0-1 record in their last five games, Villanova (10-8-1, 5-5-1) has gone the other way, posting a 1-6-1 record in the last month of the season.
However, in postseason play the slate is wiped clean and the Wildcats will also have the extra incentive to send Head Coach Larry Sullivan out on a winning note. The veteran coach is stepping down at the end of the season after 17 years at the Philadelphia-based school. These intangible factors are not lost on LeBlanc.
“They are playing for their lives and they are playing for their coach. It’s a team that has knocked off some pretty good teams along the way this year,” LeBlanc said. “They are dangerous but no more so than any of the teams we have played this year. If we just prepare the way we have been preparing for every game we will be OK.”
Villanova is a defensive minded team that will pack it in and then try to transition and counter attack offensively.
“They are a little more direct. Defensively they will sit in a 4-5-1 so they are going to bunker in front of us,” LeBlanc said. “In the attack, they try to transition pretty quickly but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before this season.”
After struggling to score for much of the year, the West Virginia offense has come on of late, scoring three goals in two of its last three victories. While some have pointed to LeBlanc’s insertion of Jason Bristol into the lineup prior to the Uconn game as the reason for the offensive outburst, the second-year coach simply thinks it has been a matter of good luck.
“I’m not really sure it was the changes necessarily. I think we have just been a little bit more fortunate in front of the goal. It hasn’t been that we haven’t been creating opportunities. They just haven’t been going in,” LeBlanc said. “Now they have started to go in. We have stuck with the same game plan and you’re seeing it pay off right now.”
If the offense continues to produce, the Mountaineers should make some noise in the postseason. The defense, which has been a constant all season, can set the school record for shutouts in a season with their next clean sheet. The Mountaineers also lead the nation in goals against average.
“I think defensively we are a solid team. We don’t give up a whole lot of shots and we don’t give up a lot of dangerous opportunities,” LeBlanc said. “Defensively we just have to remain compact and limit teams from doing what they want to do.”
Any coach wants his team to peek at the end of season and LeBlanc believes his group is doing just that.
“I think we are starting to find our form. Our backs were against the wall when we were sitting at 8-5 wondering what do we do now,” LeBlanc said. “We’ve reeled off a 4-0-1 record over the last couple weeks so I think we are starting to hit our stride. We are playing our best soccer of the year.”
The meeting between WVU and Villanova is the 19th in the all-time series. The Mountaineers own the series advantage with an 11-8 record which dates back to 1972. The two squads last met in 2005 when the Mountaineers fell 2-1 at Villanova. The two teams have not yet played each other in the postseason.
The winner of tonight’s match will advance to the quarterfinals to face No. 2-seed Louisville. Kickoff from Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
