The Simon Fraser Clan men’s soccer team has been making so much history of late, including its berth in the NCAA Div. 2 national Final Four which opens today, that head coach Alan Koch and company just took it all in stride Tuesday when they answered a media request for an interview at their hotel just outside of Augusta, Georgia.
Seems that none other than the New York Times wanted to get the full story on the first international school to gain full membership in collegiate sports giant, and what better setting than at a national championship event, where Koch and his players have never shied away from waving the Canadian flag.
“We’ve been away from home for a number of weeks now, so the guys are getting a little more used to the daily press,” explained Koch, whose team had been asked to describe its Canadian journey to U.S. media outlets throughout its qualifying round play in both San Francisco and Phoenix.
The Clan (19-1-1) opens play at 11 a.m. Thursday (Vancouver time) in the second of two national semifinals, taking on Michigan’s Saginaw Valley State (17-2-4). In the other semifinal, Mercyhurst (Erie, PA) faces Lynn (Boca Raton, Fla.) at 8 a.m. The two winners meet in the national championship final on Saturday ( 9 a.m.).
Simon Fraser was denied the ability to host any NCAA tournament games despite being one of the top four-ranked teams, based on the fact that not all of the U.S.-based teams had secured passports for their players.
So instead, the Clan spent almost two straight weeks on the road, beating every challenge put in front of them en route to qualifying for the national semifinals.
“The frustrations of not being able to host, we’ve turned it into a positive for us,” said Koch on Wednesday, after seeing his team bond at a different level after being forced to play the role of post-season nomads.
“We are close bunch of guys as it is,” added the Clan’s GNAC Player of the Year and former Capilano University standout Mike Winter, “but when you live with the same guys 24/7 for two weeks, you do get really close and there is a real sense of comaraderie on this team.”
And none of that is going to hurt against a physical, defensive-minded Saginaw Valley State team today.
“They are incredibly sound defensively, and they have one of the best keepers in the country,” said Koch of the Cardinals. “But I think we’re finally over the travel and I think the guys are feeling relaxed and confident.”
And, as top goal-scoring threat Carlo Basso said, the kinship on the team is so strong right now, that team members just want to keep playing for each other.
“It’s like we said before the (national quarterfinal game), that we’re a family, and if lose, a part of the family is going to go away and you’re not going to see your brothers,” said Basso, referring to the team’s core of graduating seniors. “That is what we have been embracing, saying that as a family we can do this.”
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