Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week Lars Thorstensen and The University of Memphis men’s soccer team will be looking for their third straight victory of the season Saturday night when they face conference foe and 4th-ranked St. Louis.
“This is definitely the biggest game of the season. There is no question about that,” Thorstensen said Thursday.
During Thursday’s practice, the team seemed to be working feverishly, obviously recognizing the magnitude of Saturday’s game. Players were slide tackling and running to near exhaustion while one had only a piece of his practice shirt left after the workout.
“We have been practicing hard for two weeks to prepare for this game — it’s huge,” Thorstensen said.
The men’s team has suffered through a tough start, going 0-4-2 through the first six games. Since then, though, Memphis has beaten East Carolina and Vanderbilt on consecutive days and is hoping to have turned its season around.
The main reason for the turnaround has been the emergence of Thorstensen, a proven senior leader.
“He’s an impressive player, and when he’s playing well, our team plays well,” head coach Richie Grant said.
Thorstensen scored three goals in the two wins last weekend, one of which proved to be the game-winning blast against Vanderbilt.
For his efforts, the senior forward was honored with his second C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award in as many years since making the transfer from Lambuth
University and the NAIA division.
Thorstensen, who will, no doubt, be a factor in Saturday’s game, said he hopes Memphis’ speed will cause St. Louis to change its game plan.
“(St. Louis) might be forced to change up their defensive formation if they want to keep up with some of our faster players.”
Both Grant and Thorstensen said they’re not happy with the way the Tigers’ season has gone so far.
“It has been a poor start, but the last two games have been good,” Thorstensen said. “We are starting to play cohesively.”
Yet Thorstensen said he’s not content with is his own execution.
“I have had ten opportunities to score and I should have finished on all of them. I don’t spend time thinking about the three of them I managed to put in the goal. I think about the seven that didn’t end up in the back of the net.
“This (game) could easily make or break our season. If we win, we’ll know we have what it takes to compete against teams at the highest level. But if we don’t, the road back will become a lot longer.”
Said Grant: “You don’t get many chances in the big games, like St. Louis. We might only get a couple opportunities to take advantage of the game.”
Sophomore goalie Josh Isaacs said Thursday’s tough practice and others like them will be worth it if the Tigers can turn the season around.
“Practices are hard, but if we beat SLU, no one will mind going ever again,” he said.
Said Thorstensen: “It doesn’t get any bigger than this.”
