Buffs eying unprecedented opportunity this spring

Soccer championships are played in the fall, right? Not in 2020-21, the year of you-know-what.

With so many postponements and cancelations, plus all the other unique scenarios that athletics teams have faced over the last several months, the spring season is looking to be quite different. Many fall championships have been moved to the spring, and leagues are allowing fall teams to play portions of their regular season, even conference games, during a period of time when they would normally be doing offseason training.

For the Milligan University men's soccer program, there will be another unique element to the spring season: the Buffaloes will be playing for the Appalachian Athletic Conference regular-season championship.

Milligan (7-1) wrapped the fall with an exciting finish to upset previously unbeaten Reinhardt (9-1) with a goal in the last five seconds of regulation. It put the Buffaloes in control of their own destiny, as wins in each of their last two matches, scheduled for later this spring, would lock up the Buffs' first AAC title since winning it back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.

Head Coach David Lilly recalls what he told the team after defeating Reinhardt.

"I told them I could not be more proud of them. They set high goals and had to back it up when it counted. Reinhardt has been winning championships and competing at a national level for some time now, and we want to be where they are. You don't get to that level overnight, so the guys deserve a lot of credit for putting in the work to get to this position we find ourselves."

Lilly says the players did not know Reinhardt would be the last game of the fall. They were fully expecting to travel to 8-1 Tennessee Wesleyan for a game that would be equally important. Instead, Lilly told them the season was finished for now and they would go their separate ways until picking it up again in the spring.

"The job isn't finished," Lilly says. "We knew we would have to operate at a very high level to put ourselves in this position. We've sacrificed a lot, worked exceptionally hard, and we can't lose that focus now. While we are really happy with the work we have done, the stakes have gone up and we need to make the most of this opportunity."

Milligan's spring schedule features four games, starting and finishing with nonconference games. The two middle games will have strong implications for the AAC crown as the Buffs face CIU (4-5) at home on Wednesday, March 10, and Tennessee Wesleyan (8-1) on the road on Thursday, March 18. Tennessee Wesleyan was rated as high as No. 16 nationally last season and entered this season as the AAC preseason favorite.

"We've never been in this situation before but it's an exciting opportunity," Lilly says. "We typically use our spring semester to get prepared for the upcoming fall semester. Obviously now we have to pick up where we left off and play very meaningful games. We are looking forward to it."