When asked to characterize his senior class, coach Tim Lenahan pauses.
It’s not that it is a group lacking in character - a win against Michigan on Saturday would mean they have gutted out the most Big Ten wins of any NU (8-6-2, Big Ten 2-2-1) class. The difficulty is that, on the whole, the five seniors are remarkably quiet, seamlessly blending in with their teammates.
Sure, there is Piero Bellizzi, whose jocular personality and expressive play is hard to miss. But Bellizzi is more the exception than the rule.
Save for this weekend’s senior game when they will be honored at Lakeside Field, it is a group of players not accustomed to fanfare.
“Unlike in the past, there’s no one dominant personality,” Lenahan said. “As a whole, well, that’s the thing: I tend to think about them as a collective group rather than as individuals…. They work really well together.”
It’s an unassuming group that was forced to assume a daunting task this season. After losing a dynamic and dominant senior class that tallied the most wins in program history and reached the NCAA Tournament a record four consecutive years, there was a considerable void to be filled in terms of leadership. This year’s seniors had the experience coming into the season, thanks to a strong group of returning starters that includes all-time leading goal scorer Matt Eliason, center back Cody Stanley, midfielder Jack Hillgard and Bellizzi. But the question remained as to how the group would lead the team vocally after losing both the on- and off-field presence of a class that featured ruthless defender Mark Blades and the inimitable goalie Misha Rosenthal.
They have answered that question definitively, if not emphatically.
“It’s kind of a joke that we were the worst freshman class ever,” Stanley said. “We were all quiet and awkward. We didn’t really get it yet. We’ve grown a lot since then. But there’s still no crazy personalities; we’re just a bunch of quiet guys. A bunch of hardworking guys.”
It’s a workman mentality that has come in handy as Lenahan has asked many of his seniors to not only step up in terms of leadership but also to play unfamiliar roles. With NU’s playoff dreams resting heavily on the success of Saturday’s matchup and its Big Ten tournament performance, there has not been much time for a learning curve either.
Take Eliason, for example. Coming off a 2009 season in which he netted a season-high 13 goals and offered up 19 assists, Eliason was one tally short of becoming NU’s all-time leading goal scorer – a title he earned this September.
The statistics read a little different this year with Eliason notching just three goals and five assists. After switching to a five-man midfield this season, Lenahan pulled Eliason back to a more withdrawn attacking role to allow junior Oliver Kupe, who leads the team with eight goals, to be the more physical, attacking target.
Eliason has assumed the role graciously, playing a more nuanced rather than net-focused role. His long throw-in that yielded NU’s first goal in its 3-2 loss to then-No. 25 Indiana on Sunday gave him another title - all-time leader in career points.
“I mean I’d still rather be playing forward,” Eliason said. “But over the course of the last few games I’ve gotten the hang of it, and I’m feeling more comfortable. Oli and I are connecting really well.”
Defensively, Hillgard, who spent most of last season in the midfield, has had to play center back with Stanley. After sophomore center back Jarrett Baughman went down with a concussion against then-No. 15 Ohio State, Hillgard stepped in to anchor the back line with his former club teammate.
Against the Wolverines (10-4-3, 3-2-0) this weekend, Hillgard and Stanley will have to lead an NU defense charged with containing a lethal Michigan attack that features goal-scoring brothers Hamoody and Soony Saad as well as Justin Meram. Combined, the three players account for 26 of the team’s 33 goals.
Last weekend’s mission to contain Indiana’s leading goal scorer Will Bruin proved too great a challenge, and Bruin walked away with two goals and an assist in the Hoosiers’ conference championship clinching win.
But Stanley said they are ready this time around, especially since NU can’t afford any more losses if it wants to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. For the seniors, it would mark the first time in their career that NU has not earned a spot in the 48-team field.
“This team still has some soccer left in them,” Lenahan said. “You’ll see, they’re going to make some noise before the season’s over.”
