After a two-game home stand to begin the season, the men’s soccer team will take their perfect record to Pittsburgh for the Duquesne Invitational.
The Falcons have begun the season with plenty of excitement featuring a 2-0 shutout against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis followed by an 8-0 rout of the University of Findlay.
However, the Falcons understand that both Niagara and Duquesne feature division-1 squads who will show up ready to play.
“These are definitely different teams than we’ve played already,” head coach Eric Nichols said. “They know how to win games, so their gaps will be few and far between.”
The Falcons realize that their chances of another 8-0 victory isn’t probable, but they will look to compete as a team for the entire 90 minutes.
In order to do this the Falcons will look to fix the few areas of concern from the first two games. With a combined score of 10-0 for the first two games there hasn’t been much to correct, but there were “a couple moments defensively” that the Falcons will look to clean up, Nichols said.
Offensively, the Falcons have been undeniably great, especially sophomore Pat Flynn. However, the team is certain that Flynn will now become a focal point for opposing defenses.
“These teams are both solid defensively, but I’m sure they’ll be a little more queued in on Flynn after those games,” Nichols said.
While the Falcons have garnered an outrageous six goals from Flynn in the first two contests, they are not concerned about their ability to step up should he be taken out of the game.
“We’re not really looking for anyone specific to step up,” Nichols said. “We have a bunch of guys who we know can play, so we’re not worried about it.”
The Falcons are not going into the weekend with worries about Niagara or Duquesne, but they do realize that they won’t be able to take their foot off of the pedal in the second half.
“We know we have to be ready to play for the entire 90 minutes,” Nichols said. “We’ve had some leads early on, but we are not going to be able to get comfortable in the second half against these guys.”
The team is eager for their first road trip and will look to continue attacking the box. If they continue to put the ball on frame they will continue to score goals, Nichols said.
The Falcons will look to continue their winning ways when they take the field Sept. 5 against Niagara at 3 p.m. and again on Sept. 7 against host-school Duquesne at 2 p.m.
“The next goal is the most important goal and we just go from there,” Baraldi said.
