FORT WAYNE – Well, sure, Saint Francis expects Indiana Tech to look for a slice of revenge this time around. Whether it gets it remains to be seen.
After all, it was at last year’s National Soccer Festival when the Cougars not only took a 1-0 victory off Tech but did it in milestone fashion to boot.
On a Friday night last August that was made for memories, the victory was the 100th of his Saint Francis career for coach Mitch Ellison, who kept the ball as a keepsake and who begins his 12th year with the Cougars.
A year later comes another Friday night in the 7 p.m. rematch with Tech. It’s the middle contest of a five-game schedule that opens the college portion of ShindigZ National Soccer Festival that will run through Sunday afternoon at Hefner Fields.
With Wisconsin playing at 6 p.m. and Indiana going at 8:10, the Cougars are flanked by a pair of Big Ten teams; and yet Ellison is convinced that’s right where Saint Francis belongs.
It’s not that he’s insisting that his team can run with the nation’s elite soccer programs; it’s just that men’s college soccer is still men’s college soccer, played on the same-sized pitch with the same kind of ball.
“It’s brought us more exposure,” Ellison said of the festival that begins its 11th year. “They get to see our teams play. When you watch the teams play, what it does is it makes them recognize that there’s not a big difference. College soccer is college soccer. It’s faster, there’s a lot more energy, powerful, it takes athleticism. And it’s not just the Division I teams; all levels give you that kind of energy. That’s helped me and my program.”
Eventually over the three days, all Big Ten teams will play, as will Duke of the ACC, Notre Dame and Louisville.
But Ellison is particularly grateful that festival organizer Terry Stefankiewicz hasn’t forsaken his local roots and that Saint Francis, Tech and IPFW are still part of the show.
“It helps a lot,” Ellison said. “Terry’s done a nice job of bringing in teams, and when he’s brought in teams, he hasn’t left us out of it after he got us involved. What that’s done is it’s let people see that even though you bring in the Big Ten and these other schools from the ACC, it hasn’t negated the fact that he’s allowed us to be there. That’s brought us recognition.”
So there are the Cougs and Tech, sitting in the rocking chair seat between the Badgers and Hoosiers.
“It definitely gives us an edge,” Cougars goalkeeper Nick Morken said. “When you’re on the field, you can feel it more, plus it’s under the lights, the whole atmosphere.
“Last year was a really big game and it was a close game and all the people there goin’ crazy and having a good time. People are walking around, you see your family and friends. A lot of us have friends that play for a lot of bigger schools, so they get to see us play a little bit. It definitely gives us an edge when we go out there, and it’s definitely a different type of atmosphere that we don’t get to play in all the time.”
