Rutgers coachDonigan remains confident heading to Big Ten tourney
There are some who will call Dan Donigan supremely confident, and otherswill say he is just plain delusional.
Either way, you have to love his optimism.
Donigan’s Rutgers men’s soccer team enters the Big Ten Tournament with no conference wins this season, but the former Steinert great is convinced theKnightswill beat Northwestern in Saturday’s play-in game (noon) and upset top-seeded host Michigan in Sunday’s firstround match at 1 p.m.
The coach points to last year, when Michigan beat RU in the play-in and nearly missed upsetting Maryland in an overtime loss. He pointed to several years ago when the Knights won a Big East play-in game, upset top-seeded Louisville and reached the semifinals.
“We’re really excited about going into the weekend,” said Donigan, whose teamis splintered into three different flights to Michigan Friday due to last-minute bookings. “We honestly, truly believe we can beat both these teams. That’s themindsetwe’re going into it with. Anything is possible in these games.
“Certainly, if you’re the one seed you’re looking at it as a major advantage, but if you’re looking at it fromour position you know what you gotta do and the kids are more resilient than you think. They just go out there and take care of the first game. They show up and they play the second game. You’d be surprised how much they have left in the tank in that second game. It’s a dangerous game for anybody. But you’ve gotta take care ofNorthwestern first. That’s all we’ve been focused on right now.”
Obviously, the question is, what gives Donigan such confidence after going 4-12-1 and 0-8 in the regular season?
His first reason is the Knights will have had nine full days off by the time they meet Northwestern. They have had a chance to allow injuries to heal. That leads to the second reason, which is that it allowed Rutgers time to prepare while using the various adjustments the coaches have made.
“We’re going to change up our formation a little bit, throw a little wrinkle into things, which I think really suits us well for our personnel, Donigan said. “You’re always looking at your personnel and trying to figure out what worked well last time, what didn’t work and how we want to fix it moving forward. Not to give things away, butwe’ll definitely have a little change in formation and change in personnel.”
VIKESRULEREGION
Mercer County Community College completed an upset-laden run to claimthe NJCAA Division I Region XIX Tournament championship.
After topping Harcum two weeks ago, the Vikings knocked off top-seeded Essex, 3-1, this past Saturday in the regional final.
The victory puts Mercer (17-3-1, No. 15 nationally) in the four-teamNortheast District Championship this weekend at Monroe CC (Rochester, NY). MCCC faces Massasoit Saturday. Since the Northeast sends two teams to theNJCAANational Tournament, Saturday’s winners will both receive bids, and meet on Sunday for the district titleandahigher seed in the nationals. Monroe-Rochester playsMonroe-Bronx in the other semi.
BRONCS LOSE SHOWDOWN
First place and a top seed in the MAAC tournament was on the line Wednesday night and it was host Fairfield that prevailedwith a 3-0 win over Rider.
The result gives the Stags (11-4-2, 7-1-2) the top-seed, a first-round bye and home field advantage throughout the tournament, while the 2nd-seeded, two-time defending champion Broncs (11-4-2, 6-2-2) have a firstround bye and a semifinal home game against the Canisius-Iona winner on Thursday.
Itwas a toughweek for the Broncs, as the entire team and coaching staff attended Nick Pratico’s funeral mass on Monday. Nick’s brother, Mark, is a Broncs assistant, and even on the saddest day of his life, Mark was loyal to his team.
“The day of the service, Mark was still sending us text messages about what kind of cleats we need for Wednesday,” said seniorNick Oakley, a Notre Dame grad. “That just shows the type of guy he is. He really does have an insane amount of personal strength.”
In talking about the team turning out at the mass, junior Mike Wherley said, “It showed the respect and admiration everyone had for Nicky and coachMark.”
The Steinert graduate feels that the Pratico family will fuel Rider’s adrenaline rush in the tournament.
“For us as a team, that’s our driving force now, to playfor coachMarkforNicky and thewhole family,” Wherley said. “That was our drive today (at the funeral), seeing everybody there at that ceremony, all over the church, behind the vestibules. It shows it’s not just coach Mark’s family that was affected by the situation.”
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