Head coach Bryan Davis thought last Friday the season was over. It was not until Friday afternoon that the Raiders were given new life.
After losing on Nov. 12 to Cleveland State in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Championships, the players returned home to go on with their academic lives. Davis was starting to make his plans for the 2014 season.
But after revelations came out Friday afternoon that Cleveland State used an illegible player in its win over WSU, CSU was forced to forfeit the contest. Since CSU had not played its semifinal contest at UIC which was scheduled for Friday evening, WSU took CSU’s spot in the tournament.
Davis had a handful of hours to gather his players and take the five-hour bus trip to Chicago to take on the league’s top team.
After 90 minutes of scoreless soccer last Saturday, freshman Jacob Stovall was called for a handball in the box. This allowed UIC to score on a penalty kick to win the game.
The Raiders finished with a 6-11-2 record. Of those 11 losses, nine were by one goal.
As Davis reflected on the season, the Raiders put together a pair of wins and a tie going into the postseason.
“We all held it together and ended on a really good note,” Davis said. “We had some good results this year. You tie Ohio State, tie the University of Kentucky and beat San Diego State, you’re doing something right. Those are three strong results at three very good teams.”
The Raiders lose six seniors this season including key defenders Derek Zuniga and Greg Marchand. Despite their departures, the core of the team will be back next season including leading scorer Brett Elder and freshman forward Eric Lynch who was second on the team in scoring.
“It is very hard to have a lot of young players on the field and win games in college soccer,” Davis said. “It is so frantic, it is a short season, it is frenetic. I thought our freshmen did a good job adjusting for that.”
The Raiders also made a change between pipes this season as freshman goalkeeper Tyler Blackmer took the starting job from Craig Feehan five games into the season. Blackmer made a number of impressive saves and had a solid 1.42 goals against average.
“He brought good energy and a good presence about him,” Davis said. “Being a goalkeeper, it is not a position you change lightly. It is a confidence and rhythm position. We gave Craig an opportunity to make a run at this season but he had a couple struggles so we made the change… We gave Tyler the time he needed to take the job and he did well with it.”
