soccerfanatic
Active member
The Big Sky has just released its pre-season soccer poll. The good news is: nobody will be gearing up to play Idaho State. Idaho State was picked to come in sixth out of eight teams.
The low ranking reflects the fact that the other coaches know that ISU lost a bevy of talent from last year. However, ISU returns six starters, a host of talented reserves, and a strong recruiting class. Further, although ISU did not make the tournament last year, they had a fantastic record against non-conference teams and just hit an offensive slump during conference play. They had the best defense in the conference (only giving up 3 goals in 7 games,) but over five games had two 1-0 losses, two 0-0 ties and one 1-1 tie. Given that the Bengals scored an average of more than two goals per game in pre-season play (wihtout playing any patsies), to end up with a 2-2-3 record (.500) was remarkably unlucky.
ISU was also written off in the polls two years ago, but finished first in both the regular season and Big Sky Tournament, and lost in a close overtime game in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Look for ISU to shock the conference again in 2008. Be a believer! Support the Bengals in their quest for Big Sky gold this year.
The low ranking reflects the fact that the other coaches know that ISU lost a bevy of talent from last year. However, ISU returns six starters, a host of talented reserves, and a strong recruiting class. Further, although ISU did not make the tournament last year, they had a fantastic record against non-conference teams and just hit an offensive slump during conference play. They had the best defense in the conference (only giving up 3 goals in 7 games,) but over five games had two 1-0 losses, two 0-0 ties and one 1-1 tie. Given that the Bengals scored an average of more than two goals per game in pre-season play (wihtout playing any patsies), to end up with a 2-2-3 record (.500) was remarkably unlucky.
ISU was also written off in the polls two years ago, but finished first in both the regular season and Big Sky Tournament, and lost in a close overtime game in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Look for ISU to shock the conference again in 2008. Be a believer! Support the Bengals in their quest for Big Sky gold this year.