“Teams can give up when their backs are against the wall, but our guys have really stayed strong and been connected,” first-year coach Alex Van der Sluijs said.
“We could’ve felt sorry for ourselves. But we talked about how there’s two types of people: there’s warriors and there’s victims. We choose to be warriors.”
The Raiders stormed to a 5-1 home win over NKU on Wednesday — matching their goal total last month while going 0-4-2 — and got the help they needed to earn the sixth seed in the tourney.
They’re 4-8-4 overall and 3-4-2 in the league and will face third-seeded IUPUI at 1 p.m. Sunday in Indianapolis.
“The one thing we ask of our team every day is, ‘Can we be loud, can we play together and can we play hard?’ You can’t have great games every game, but you always can do those things,” said Van der Sluijs (pronounced Vander SLICE).
“We’re excited about the opportunity to keep going. It’s amazing to feel like you’re at the end, and then get some life back in you.”
The Raiders, who were the No. 2 seed last season but lost their first match, had some misfortune this season. Leading goal scorer Reece Allbaugh, a senior from Pickerington, missed four games in October with a concussion.
Two other key players, freshman Felix Ezekwuka (mononucleosis) and sophomore Uche Odemena (fractured foot), have season-ending ailments.
But the league is ultra-tight. Oakland won the title by going 5-3 and earning 15 points, Green Bay, IUPUI and Detroit Mercy tied for second with 14, and Purdue Fort Wayne, Wright State and Robert Morris (which missed the tourney on tiebreakers) had 11.
“If you look at our conference, it’s about as unpredictable as it gets. The last day of the league, four teams could win it, and every team could get into the top six. That’s how wide open it is,” Van der Sluijs said.
“I feel confident in our chances to win it all. These games usually come down to who makes the least mistakes and then has a moment or two of brilliance.”
Van der Sluijs is hoping the Raiders have solved their offensive woes. They’d been out-scored 29-17 until the last game.
But fifth-year player Jacob Adams scored two goals against the Norse after connecting just once all season, while fifth-year player Dominic Ruffolo, an Alter grad, notched his first of the year, and junior Conner Osterholt, a Carroll product, had his second.
The Raiders are looking for their first tourney win since capturing the title in 2019. They won an NCAA first-round game against Notre Dame that year before falling to Michigan on penalty kicks.
“Obviously, it’s now a survive-and-advance mentality. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. It’s all about getting a result,” Van der Sluijs said.
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