With one game left on the schedule the Pilots are just one win away from claiming their first West Coast Conference title in 14 years. Needless to say, when the Pilots face off against St. Mary’s at 7 p.m on Saturday night, it will be one of the biggest games on Merlo Field in recent history.
The Pilots missed out on their first chance to claim the outright conference title on Sunday afternoon when they lost a nail-biting game to Pacific by a score of 1-0. It was their first conference loss and their second loss in a row after they rattled off seven straight wins, but the team was still in good spirits on the flight back home from Stockton.
“The team is very optimistic and excited for Saturday,” head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt said. “We knew it was never going to be easy, we would have obviously loved to close at Pacific, but the good news is we get another chance at it.”
The loss at Pacific that hindered the Pilots from claiming the conference championship was their fourth game in 10 days and now the Pilots are getting some much needed rest.
“We’re recovering, we need to get our legs back so we’ll have a couple days off and a couple recovery practices,” Carlin-Voigt said. “Then we’ll start gearing up and putting together a good game plan to win the game.”
The Pilots’ game plan and execution will need to be better than ever on Saturday as they face off against a team that currently sits in third place in the WCC standings with 12 points after a 3-1 win against Gonzaga boosted them out of the middle of the pack in the conference.
For the Gaels, there is also a lot at stake on Saturday night. A win would put them in a tie with the Pilots for the top spot in the conference. A loss would mean no better than a third place finish for Saint Mary’s for the second year in a row.
For senior midfielder Eddie Sanchez, a win on Saturday would mean his first win against Saint Mary’s in his college career. Not to mention the WCC title that would accompany a win on Saturday would signify the turnaround that the program has undergone in his time on The Bluff.
In his sophomore and junior seasons combined, Sanchez and the Pilots managed only one win in the tough West Coast Conference.
Despite all the pressure that rides behind this game, Sanchez is staying cool calm and collected headed into Saturday.
“There’s no need to be nervous, it’s just another game,” Sanchez said. “We’ll approach it the way we have been every other game, it’s just another World Cup final for us and that’s the only way to approach it.”
That mentality comes naturally for a team that wasn’t supposed to even be in this position at this point in the season. Experts picked the Pilots to finish sixth in the conference in 2016, but the team’s unexpected rise has shocked some, but the players use that as fuel.
“We’re ahead of expectations and there’s no pressure on this group,” Carlin-Voigt said. “Not many people expected these guys to do anything this year so I know they’re going to have an edge, I know they’re going to have a chip on their shoulder.”
The mental edge will be present for the Pilots, and they hope that having a home game to close out the season and the West Coast Conference title will bring fans to Merlo in droves on Saturday.
“There’s a reason that we’ve done so well at home this year and it’s because of the fans,” Carlin-Voigt said. “We really need to pack Merlo and defend Merlo and we can’t do this without our fans.”
The fan support doesn’t go unnoticed by the players either and it provides them with an extra boost on the field.
“The 12th man obviously makes a huge difference, we’ve seen it all throughout the season,” Sanchez said. “It makes a big difference and it’s something that we’ll need big-time this weekend.”
All the pieces are in place to make Saturday’s game a historic one for the Pilots. They have a chance to win their first WCC title since 2002 and they’re looking to find themselves in postseason play again after a seven-year hiatus.
