This weekend, the AU Men's Soccer team will host Patriot League postseason action for the first time in school history.
The Eagles assured one more homestand this season by dismissing Lafayette, 3-2, in an overtime thriller Saturday to win their first PL season title.
With the title comes the right to host this weekend's Patriot League tournament, featuring an AU rematch against the Leopards Friday, with the winner playing Bucknell or Lehigh in the final.
And with that home-field advantage comes - or so the Eagles hope - a better chance to win the tournament and secure an automatic birth in the 48-team NCAA tournament field.
Neither the 2001 squad, which advanced to the round of 16, nor the 2002 squad, which advanced to the round of 32, won the regular-season PL title. The last AU team to win a regular-season title was the 1997 squad, which played in the Colonial Athletic Association, and ended up advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals. AU moved to the PL in 2001.
Though the news is good, the challenge now is to keep a level head. Because for the Eagles, who finished the regular season 12-5-2, 6-1 in the PL, hosting the tournament is only a means, not an end.
"The biggest thing is just to maintain our understanding that we won the league, but just for the right to host," said Shawn Kuykendall, a senior midfielder and the team's leading scorer with six goals and seven assists. "We didn't win anything yet."
Right now, the Eagles are ranked eighth in the Mid-Atlantic Region, which is expected to garner between seven and nine berths into the NCAA tournament, according to AU head coach Todd West.
"It's all about making the NCAA," West said. "Right now we're ranked eighth. If we lose and we're at eight, do we drop?"
The tournament committee gave the PL three berths in 2002, when AU went despite losing in a PL semifinal. But last year, only Lafayette, the tournament champions, got in, even though regular-season champions Bucknell had beaten then-No. 1 Maryland.
AU doesn't have that type of impressive win on its r?sum?. And just because it finished tops in the PL doesn't mean the season was a cakewalk.
"The Patriot League is the Patriot League," said senior forward Sean Albright. "It's pretty darn direct. It's a lot about heart, battling, and trying to get a lucky goal. You've got to make your own luck."
AU has been pretty good at that this season, taking six of 12 victories this year by one-goal margins.
The Eagles' regular-season clashes with tournament opposition were each one-goal affairs: the Lafayette win, a 1-0 win at Lehigh on Oct. 2, and a 1-0 loss at home to Bucknell on Oct. 24. While the Eagles should be confident in their ability to win close matches - they've won six matches by just a goal this year - they shouldn't take anyone in the field lightly.
"We've got to be scared," Kuykendall said. "Do we respect those teams enough, and can we be scared of them enough to have 100 percent focus? If we do, I think our talent will carry us through."
The Eagles should come into Friday's semifinal feeling that their record proves they are the tournament's most talented side. But, as Albright mentioned, the Eagles must win not only the battles of talent and tactics, but of toughness as well. And they must win those battles against the same Lafayette team - seeded fourth in the tournament - they just defeated Saturday.
Toughness was certainly a factor in Saturday's win. Playing on a field that Albright said had lumps and depressions similar to AU's practice field on Massachusetts Avenue, the Eagles strayed from their midfield strength and played the Route 1 football preferred by their opponents.
While the Eagles used their wings with some success in the second half, Albright said, they hope to utilize Kuykendall and the rest of the midfield more fully on Friday. And they are also trying not to think about the sports convention that says it's hardest to beat a team twice in back-to-back matches.
"Historically, that is the saying," Albright said. "But I think the implications are different, because it's the Patriot League semis. (And) it's the seniors' last hurrah" at Reeves Field.
Both Albright and Kuykendall said playing at their home park, which is wider and better maintained than most in the PL, will give the Eagles, who thrive by keeping the ball on the floor, an advantage against Lafayette, and should they advance, in the final as well.
Kickoff for AU's semifinal is set for 1:30 p.m., but could be delayed if the preceding semifinal between Lehigh and Bucknell, which starts at 11 a.m., goes into overtime or even penalty kicks.
AU, as the top seed, had the option of playing in the earlier or later match. While West said he liked the idea of playing earlier because it would give his players more time to rest before the final should they win, ultimately, the team wanted to play the later match.
"We haven't played an 11 o'clock game all year," Kuykendall said. Playing the later game "allows all of us to get a little more rest and a later breakfast."
The team typically eats four hours prior to kick-off, so an 11 a.m. start would have meant a 7 a.m. meal time.
With a win over the Leopards, the Eagles would play the Lehigh-Bucknell winner on Sunday. Both those teams finished with 4-2-1 marks in the PL. Some Eagles would likely relish a rematch with Bucknell, which not only beat the Eagles for their only PL loss, but did so on AU's Senior Day.
Kuykendall, however, said he doesn't want to let revenge ruin the bigger picture.
"You always want a shot at the team that beat you," he said. "I'd love to beat Bucknell, but Lehigh is a talented team too. I respect both teams."
For AU, respect is what it's ultimately about. In 2003, the team had more talent, but not nearly as much respect for the league. That team was burned and failed to qualify for the PL postseason.
These Eagles have respected their opponents throughout, in the process becoming more adept at winning those often ugly PL matches. They hope to show that respect, and those results, for at least two more games.
