The Review

Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Justin Bleiler Tadjalli (above) and the Hens have five goals on 143 shots.

With a tough schedule this year, the men's soccer team (2-10-1, 2-4 Colonial Athletic Association) stands near the bottom of the CAA and watches its playoff chances slip away. The Hens began the season with a loss at then-No. 4 Duke, starting their season out roughly and have seen the problems transcend into conference play with a 5-0 loss against Virginia Commonwealth in its first conference game and three more losses since.

Delaware faced tough opponents to open the season, as its competition has posted an 82-64 overall record as of Sunday night. The Hens are currently 10th out of 12 teams in the conference after losing to UNC-Wilmington but beating Georgia State over the weekend. Delaware could have improved to 3-3 in the CAA if it won both weekend matchups, putting the Hens closer to conference playoff contention.

Everything must go Delaware's way for the Hens to advance to the playoffs, which begin Nov. 13. The team needs to win its last five games against conference opponents, which would give them a 7-4 CAA record.

Delaware junior midfielder Bill Paugh remains optimistic even with the hard task that lies ahead.

"Five is the magic number. If we are able to pull off five wins, we're basically in the playoffs," he said.

Head coach Ian Hennessy, who creates the non-conference schedules almost entirely by himself, said he put together a tough schedule against many elite teams, with preparation for conference play in mind. He admits the Hens have generally had trouble closing out games.

"A lot of these guys come from very strong soccer backgrounds and I think every athlete worth his salt will always want to play against a better competitor," Hennessy said. "What's the point of having winning records against teams that don't challenge you at all? What does that say about you as a program, and as players?"

Paugh said even with the season in a downward spiral, the team needs to face the toughest opponents possible when preparing for conference play.

"I think Ian [Hennessy] is going to keep scheduling us against tough, non-conference opponents because it just makes us that much better to close out the season strong," Paugh said. "I don't think our morale is down at all just because of the standings. We're a lot better now than we were when we started the season and it's now that really matters."

Continued...

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