Nov. 9, 2010

By: Robert Ivory

In today's world of social media, anybody can write almost anything about nothing.

Through the muddle of that nothing, you can find some very positive ideas and true words.

Nothing can be truer than men's soccer goalie Brad Stuver's post last week that said, `possibly the best week of my life.'

In all consideration, you have to agree with him.

"It has been a great week," Stuver said before training Monday night as the team readies itself for Detroit in the first round of the Horizon League Championship.

The Vikings host Detroit on Tuesday (Nov. 9) night at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.

It all started when the Vikings did the unthinkable and beat the then top-ranked team in the nation, the Akron Zips, 2-1 at Krenzler Field on Oct. 30. As emotional of a win as it was for the Vikings, it was the beginning of a fantastic week.

"It took us about a day," Stuver said when asked how long it took to refocus their attention on Butler. The Vikings took on the Bulldogs on Friday (Nov. 5) of the same week and the Bulldogs were ranked sixth in the country

"As soon as we got back to practice, we could definitely go on to number six and compete," Stuver said.

During the week, Stuver had even more motivation as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) selected him as their player of the week. In any other week that may seem outrageous, but it worked well for the man that guards the post of the Vikes.

As great as the award may seem, that is not the goal for Stuver.

"As a goalkeeper, the personal accolades come with team success," Stuver said. "Without the team, the personal accolades don't mean anything. As a team, we are going to look past everything and try to win the tournament."

On Friday, Stuver and the Vikings took the field at Butler and 110 minutes later, came away with a scoreless draw to complete their 2010 regular season.

"The Butler match was definitely more important, the game meant something for our seed in the tournament and it proved to us that we can win in the tournament."

The win solidified a winning season in the Horizon League (4-3-1), a top half of the table finish and a first-round home playoff matchup.

Stuver has looked at his masterpiece last week and is looking to make it two great weeks in a row with a win over Detroit tonight at Krenzer Field.

"The morale is so high right now," he said. "You can tell in practice we are having so much fun, the play is more crisp, and basic the team is coming together as one."

"I am going to say that it is close to the best week in my life," Stuver said. "We have worked so hard to get here and just seeing it payoff is great."