The Bulldogs are currently in limbo. They have a chance to make the Gulf South Tournament, but they could also drop out of the tournament and these next four games will be their last.
They are currently sixth in the conference with a 2-3-1 conference record, but the bottom three teams in the conference eligible for postseason play, including Union, all have two wins and some have not played as many as Union. With eight eligible teams in the conference, six of those will play in the conference tournament. This means that Union could still come in last in the standings.
Union’s last two games against Mississippi College and Delta State were games the Bulldogs had a good chance to win. Instead they tied Mississippi College and lost to Delta State. The loss may have been due to tired legs since the team had to go into double overtime against Mississippi College on Friday, Oct. 9, then played Delta State the following Sunday afternoon.
Players and Coach Clovis Simas were shocked playing Mississippi College by the first goal—a ball that looked like it was going over the goal the whole time then hooked hard into the top corner of the goal at the last second.
“We had control during both games,” Simas said. “We were the superior team, and [the other teams] had some lucky shots.”
Regardless of what happened, those games would have given the Bulldogs a bit of a cushion to make the playoffs had they won. According to Coach Simas, the team will have to win two of the last three conference games, and all of those are on the road against teams ahead of Union in the conference standings. One of their upcoming opponents, Lee University, is currently ranked fifteenth in the nation.
The main problem for the Bulldogs this season has been finishing. They are outshooting most of their opponents but still rank last in offense with 1.083 goals per game. The closest team to them averages 1.5 goals per game.
Union worked a 10-day rest period into their schedule, which they plan to use to prepare for the final push towards the postseason.
Simas said they will have to work on consistency, finishing, chemistry and confidence. To help work on all four of these pieces of the game, the coaching staff has split the team into four smaller teams that will scrimmage against each other and run plays, and they get points for different pieces to the game. For example, scoring a goal may be worth 10 points and playing good defense and stopping an opponent’s run would be worth two. The points will be added up and a reward will be given the team with the most points.
This helps coaches work on plays with less players on the field, giving them a little bit more control and space for players to get used to making the runs. It builds chemistry by allowing players to get a lot of playing time with people they don’t normally get to play with and let them spend a lot of playing time with them.
This competition within the team is helping build team camaraderie. Since some of the players were not at school until the very beginning of the season this has been important in building up some of those relationships.
“This is the first time I feel like we’re a team,” Clayton Martin, senior sports management major and team captain said. “We’re all talking and communicating well and just having fun together.”
Understanding and playing for each other is going to be vital for a team that will have to gut out some tough wins.
The Bulldogs play at home tomorrow at 5 p.m.
