Men's soccer enjoys brief stay at top before being upset by William Woods

October 15, 2008
By Marcus Johnson
Sports Writer

Remember the date: October 8, 2008. This was the day that the UIS men’s soccer team stunned the number three team in the country, Hannibal-LaGrange. This was a team that hadn’t been scored on all year, but the Prairie Stars came into their house and beat them 3-2.

“I’ve been extremely happy,” midfielder Adam Findley said. “It was a big win for us, it really showed what our team is capable of. As far as the rest of the team, the intensity and heart we played with during the game and the celebration after, definitely shows how big the win against HLG was.”

With the conference season almost coming to the end and the Prairie Stars being towards the top of the conference, it’s somewhat a different feeling for the team. Throughout the whole season, the team has been vying to be in first place in the conference. Now with them currently being tied in first place, they have teams hunting them down to try and take over the top spot.

On Oct. 11 the team learned the hard way what carrying a bulls-eye on your back feels like. The team traveled to Fulton, Mo., to play William Woods, a team that was 1-3 in the AMC heading into Saturday's play.

William Woods rushed out to an early 1-0 lead within the first five minutes, and eventually outlasted the Prairie Stars to win a close game on the strength of a goal at 77:48.

The loss will complicate the team's standing in the AMC because it now stands with two losses in the AMC, behind Hannibal-LaGrange and McKendree.

Jakub Piotrowski feels that every since the McKendree game the team has been capable of, “capable of doing some major damage” in AMC conference. But you can’t just rule out the other teams in the conference just because the Prairie Stars beat the number one team. Piotrowski said that the team has what it takes to run the table in the conference but there are a few things that the team has to do in order to accomplish this.

“First of all we have to be prepared mentally and physically for every single game—not just conference games. We don’t need any upsets or surprises, this is soccer and anything is possible that is why we need to stay focus at all times and try to take one game at a time.” Piotrowski said.

Piotrowski said that The Prairie Stars have all of the confidence that they need in order to succeed and win the conference and also make it farther than that. “I truly believe that we as a team have what it takes to win our next games and much more. Our goal is to go to the National Tournament this year but we still have a long way to go. However, if we are going to play hard and smart for the rest of the season we might reach our goal sooner then later.”