After two straight trips to the national semifinals, including one trip to the national championship game, the University of Charleston men's soccer team resumes its quest for a national title Saturday when the top-seeded Golden Eagles kick off Atlantic Region play against No. 4 seed West Chester at 7 p.m. at Schoenbaum Stadium.
As the team has prepared for the tournament, coach Chris Grassie has tried to keep his team in the proper mindset for the task at hand in the postseason. He knows the team is aware of the stakes that come with a win-or-go-home tournament, so the main objective has been to keep UC loose but focused on what lies ahead.
"You don't really talk to them too much about losing or what's at stake because they know, you just have to focus on keeping the good times going," Grassie said. "We don't do much tactical work leading up to these games, we just try to make sure things are upbeat and that the spirit of the team is where it needs to be."
Charleston has plenty of familiarity with the three teams that join it in the region, which is made up of third-seeded Mountain East Conference foe Urbana and another Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference team, No. 2 Mercyhurst.
Mercyhurst came to Charleston to take on the Golden Eagles in its second game of the season, a match that UC comfortably won by a score of 4-1. After last week's 2-1 victory in the MEC tournament championship game, UC has topped Urbana in two of three meetings this season.
West Chester is the only team in the region the Golden Eagles haven't faced yet this season. But through his general familiarity with the program as well as a trip to watch them in a 6-1 loss in the PSAC tournament, Grassie is confident that UC will be prepared for what's ahead as the Golden Eagles look to once again win the Atlantic Region of the tournament.
The Rams come into the tournament with an 11-4-3 record and, before falling to Millersville in the conference tournament, ended the regular season on a seven-match unbeaten streak.
West Chester will have its hands full against a Charleston team that Grassie believes is built to thrive in postseason play and has been playing some of its best soccer as the postseason has started.
"[West Chester] moves the ball quite well, they have some really talented players," Grassie said. "They have some pace up front, some hard-working blue-collar midfielders. Against Millersville, they looked good in the first half but kind of collapsed in the second half, so hopefully we can take advantage of that.
"This will be their first time here in a while so we want to put the pressure on them early and let the occasion get to them."
It's a different looking group than the one Charleston brought into the NCAA tournament a year ago. There are some players in different roles, players stepping up down the stretch of this season, and now is the time they get to start on their journey to reach the ultimate goal they had at the start of the year.
"The team has worked all season, we've learned all season," Grassie said. "Now is the time to just kind of let them go and let them take over here when it matters the most."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.