With Stanford’s men’s soccer team ready to take on Loyola Marymount (LMU) in its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2009, The Daily’s Dylan Fugel chatted with Kevin Cacabelos, the Sports Editor of the Los Angeles Loyolan, to get perspectives from both sides heading into Thursday’s first-round matchup.
Dylan Fugel (DF): How impressed have you been by what has seemed to be a pretty comfortable trek through the West Coast Conference this season? It seems that LMU was easily the cream of the conference. Did you expect such a season?
Kevin Cacabelos (KC): Though LMU ended its season winning eight of its final nine games, a handful of these games did not come easy, with all eight wins coming down to one-goal differentials. LMU’s ability to play from behind and depend on its defense to stay in matches has been key to this team’s success. In the preseason, the team was picked to finish third by the conference’s coaches in a wide-open race. The coaches and players were both confident at the start of the season because of the strength of the defense, so I’d definitely say the team expected and envisioned the success this year.
DF: What kind of style does LMU play? What type of game favors the Lions?
KC: LMU is a defensive-minded team that usually doesn’t try to force the issue on offense. The team’s two center backs, junior Ryan Felix and redshirt junior Craig Nitti, stand at 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-5, respectively. Not many teams want to serve the ball directly in the box to challenge the Lions, forcing opposing offenses to attack from the perimeter. On offense, the team wants to use junior midfielder John McFarlin and freshman forward Adrien Perez to pick its spots. If the team is attacking an opposing defense directly, it will look to get the ball to strikers like junior Dylan Seedman and junior Juan De Rada.
DF: Who are the Lions’ key players?
KC: As for key players, Nitti and Perez were All-WCC first team selections, while Felix and junior defender Jack McCracken were named to the All-WCC second team. On offense, the team’s best players are McFarlin and Perez. As a freshman, Perez has proved to be the team’s most potent scorer. The forward has collected 25 points on 10 goals and five assists this season. He has an incredible ability to dribble through defenses and keep the ball “sticky” to him.
DF: What are LMU’s weaknesses? Is there anything in particular that has given the team problems this season?
KC: As for weaknesses, as weird as it sounds, this team hasn’t developed a true killer instinct. It hasn’t beaten a team by more than one goal since its 4-0 shutout against Santa Clara in early October. At times, when the team’s offense has come out strong, its defense didn’t play up to its potential. On the other hand, the team’s latest 1-0 loss to Gonzaga showed how its offense could stall when its defense plays superbly.
DF: How do you think LMU will adjust to the level of play in the postseason, considering that it comes from a conference in which only it qualified for the tournament? Does it have experience playing teams at a comparable level to that of Stanford?
KC: The team faced No. 15 seed Cal State Northridge in an exhibition in August, losing 2-0, while also dropping a 1-0 result to UC-Santa Barbara during the nonconference season. I don’t think it will have a problem traveling and playing on the road — it has a 6-3-1 road record — but it definitely hasn’t faced the same level of competition that Stanford has. It’ll be interesting to see if it can elevate its level of play against a battle-tested Stanford team.
Contact Dylan Fugel at dfugel ‘at’ stanford.edu and follow Kevin Cacabelos on Twitter @KevinCacabelos.