Nick Bibbs said it will be the biggest game of his life. Wednesday against Louisville is unlike any other game the first-year Division I midfielder has ever prepared for.

That’s because he’s never played the No. 2 team in the country before. And it’s also because a Big East tournament spot is on the line.

‘I get nervous before every game, but this one, you know, I think I’m more excited for,’ Bibbs said.

With that mindset, the Orange (2-8-5, 0-4-3 Big East) prepares to take on its highest-ranked opponent in 10 years when the Cardinals (12-0-2, 7-0-0 Big East) arrive at SU Soccer Stadium Wednesday for a 7 p.m. start. Syracuse has two games remaining in its regular season, and the team is still in contention for one of the final two spots in the Big East tournament. Though no one on the SU roster will deny that Louisville is the better team, the players are now faced with the challenge of trying to steal a result against one of the nation’s best teams if they want to get into the postseason.

Bibbs is one of those players. Along with goalkeeper Jeremy Vuolo, Bibbs acknowledged that Louisville is supposed to come here and beat SU. As the No. 2 team in the nation, that’s its job.

‘They’re a better team, I’ll just put it out there,’ Bibbs said. ‘They’re a better team, but we’re going to try to outwork them and get a result.’

Outworking the Cardinals is something no one has been able to do this season. Louisville has won its last eight games heading into Wednesday night — the exact opposite of how Rutgers limped into Syracuse over the weekend, riding an eight-game losing streak.

But those Scarlet Knights, the worst team in the Big East, came away with their first conference win of the season after trouncing the Orange 3-0.

Vuolo chalked that loss up to mental errors. If Syracuse truly expects to ‘outwork’ Louisville, then those mental mistakes have to be eliminated.

‘The difference between these good teams, great teams, bad teams is that one split second of a lapse of concentration,’ Vuolo said. ‘And that happened three times on Saturday. We’re going to look to be sharper mentally for the whole 90 minutes and not have any mishaps that might cost us the game.’

Sentiments that were echoed by SU head coach Ian McIntyre.

‘We know we’ve got 90 minutes where we’ve got to bring our ‘A’ game,’ he said.

In reality, Wednesday night’s game is shaping up to be very one-sided. But not in the way you might expect.

The Cardinals have already locked up a spot in the Big East tournament. They’ve already locked up the Red Division’s No. 1 seed in the tournament. And they’ve also secured the Big East regular-season title.

In essence, all they have to play for is seeding in the NCAA Tournament. This fact, Vuolo said, could provide an advantage for Syracuse. Especially if the Cardinals rest some of their starters in anticipation of an easy victory over the Orange.

‘I’d love them to think it’s a day off,’ Vuolo said. ‘That’d be great. I’d love them not to respect us and to come in here and think they’re going to roll over us. We’ve all had this on our calendar circled in red since the beginning of the year.’

Prior to Saturday’s disappointing loss against Rutgers, McIntyre told his players not to focus on the Big East standings. He urged his team to take everything one game at a time.

That changed, Bibbs said, in preparation for the Scarlet Knights. For the first time all year, McIntyre called it a must-get-a-result game.

Syracuse let that chance slip through its grasp, and now it has to live with the consequences. That means stealing at least one point from the nation’s second-best team.

‘We didn’t get a result, and we made our lives hard,’ Bibbs said. ‘So we’ll have to deal with it.’

Yet somehow, someway the Orange is still alive and in contention for a spot in the Big East tournament. Even though it has fewer overall wins than any other team in the conference, and even though it has fewer goals than any other team in the conference.

The team’s biggest goal, advancing to postseason play for the first time since 2005, is still reachable. And Bibbs and the rest of the players are trying to channel a year’s worth of effort for one crucial push Wednesday night.

‘As coach said, the season is about making memories,’ Bibbs said. ‘And I think if we beat Louisville, it would be a great, great memory for this team.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

Published on October 26, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13