SOUTHFIELD, Mich.—The Lawrence Technological (Mich.) University men's soccer team (1-5) opens up conference play this Saturday, September 28th, vs. an opponent who will be looking or some revenge. The Blue Devils will be traveling to No. 15 Madonna (Mich.) University for a much anticipated matchup. The two teams met last year in the semifinals of the WHAC Tournament, where the No. 4 seeded Blue Devils knocked off the No. 1 seeded Crusaders, 1-0. The match is scheduled to kickoff at 2:00pm EDT.
Entering this match, the Blue Devils are coming off a tough six game stretch of non-conference opponents. They have gone up against five top 30 teams in the NAIA. Head Coach Will Dyer notes that this stretch has helped the Blue Devils figure some things out entering conference play, "(I) think it showed us where we need to be mentally and physically for conference play." The Blue Devils, in their most recent match, won their first game of the season, but this does not change their mindset in practice this week, "Nothing's changed, continuing to concentrate on us and not so much the other team we play," is what Dyer had to say.
In their last match, the Blue Devils defeated Taylor (Ind.) University by a score of 2-0. The defense was the story in this game for the Blue Devils. They did not allow a single shot on goal from the Trojans. The offense of the Blue Devils was not absent from the matchup either; Nico Rodrigues and Mario Colella both found the back of the net to propel the Blue Devils to a 2-0 win.
Madonna enters the Saturday matchup going 0-1-2 in their last three matches. However, the Crusaders have not yet to lose a match at home this season. The strength for the Crusaders is their defense and their goal keeper. Senior Joe Smith, has started all six games in the net and has a save percentage of .946. If the Blue Devils are going to get the ball into the back of the net, they are going to need to capitalize on their scoring chances.
This should be quite a treat for those in attendance. In the 2019 WHAC Preseason Poll, these two programs came in at No. 1 (Madonna) and No. 2 (Lawrence Tech.). As always, Dyer continues to preach this message to his players, "Trust the process, believe in each other and be ready mentally and physically…"
