Western men look to continue turnaround

Like everyone on the Vikings men's team, Bardsley, who scored 28 points last season and tied a school scoring record for goals by a freshman with 11, comes into the season with high expectations.

"We don't talk about getting to postseason as much as we talk about playing our best soccer every day and continuing to improve throughout the whole year," WWU coach Travis Connell said. "But it's kind of an unspoken expectation."

Two years removed from a two-win season, a trip to the postseason in 2008 would be nothing short of astounding. But it's something Western, coming off a 13-6-1 campaign last year, is confident could happen.

"There's a lot of talent on this team," Bardsley said. "We brought back a lot of players and have some really good freshman coming in. I think we're at a point where we should be the No. 1 team in the conference. I think it would be a letdown if we weren't."

Western certainly should have the experience to challenge for a Great Northwest Athletic Conference title. The Vikings return a starter at every position except goalkeeper, 10 starters in all, and add senior midfielder Joel Grossman, who missed all of last season with a knee injury.

"We have 10 starters back, but that doesn't mean they've nailed down those starting spots this season," Connell said. "There's a lot of competition for playing time on this team. I think some of these players are going to have to get used to not playing a full 90 minutes because we have so many players who could step in there. This is as deep a team as any that has been here."

It's the kind of deep, talented team that's capable of completing the sort of turnaround Bardsley envisioned when he first decided to play for Western. If there's any weakness with this group it could be overconfidence, Bardsley said, but after winning just five games total in 2005 and 2006, that's unlikely.

"I knew we had a great team when I first came up here," Bardsley said. "There was always a lot of talent on this team, the challenge was just putting everything together and last year we figured that out."

Despite Western's success, last season was still a building year for the Vikings. And finishing third in the GNAC likely won't be good enough to reach the postseason. Last season's conference champion, Seattle University, has moved off to Division I, but runner-up Montana State-Billings will be strong again, as will Seattle Pacific University.

"Losing Seattle U. will help," Bardsley said. "But Montana State Billings and SPU will both be tough. Still, I think we have to be the favorites."

Connell, though, is quick to point out that just because a team is tabbed a preseason favorite, doesn't mean they automatically qualify for postseason play. There's still a lot to be done before WWU can think about playing in the national tournament.

"Things can change quickly," Connell said. "It's amazing how thin that line is between two wins and 14 wins. We really weren't that far off. And it's the same with this team. They could either continue to excel, do great and go all the way, or they could go the other direction. We don't talk about our expectation as getting to the tournament. We just try to get as good as we can each day."

Reach Joe Sunnen at joe.sunnen@bellinghamherald.com or 756-2862