Monday, Nov. 5 marks a big day for 32 collegiate soccer teams across the country.

At 12 p.m., the NCAA selection committee will release its picks for the 1990 NCAA Soccer Tournament.

The day is notoriously known to uncross the fingers of NIU soccer fans, and according to one coach, the Huskies can pack up their gear now.

His name is Joe Clarke, Saint Louis University’s arrogant head coach, who owns a spot on the weekly Midwest Coaches poll panel.

Coach Ego projected NIU out of the post-season picture by virtue of “inconsistency in the region.”

Clarke claimed NIU hasn’t beaten a “major team” or a team to get in the playoffs.

Evidently, Coach Clarke heard little about NIU’s tie with national powerhouse Indiana University.

Yet the coach was quick to dub his team as the region’s best, despite the fact that the same IU team visited his Billiken squad and returned to Bloomington with a 2-1 victory.

The Huskies did only manage to knot with the Hoosiers, but hospitality is where NIU miscued.

An NIU own goal coupled with the lack of illumination sealed the deadlock. NIU coach Willy Roy wanted to play out the overtime period, but IU’s Jerry Yeagley, another coach traveling first-class on Arrogance Express, was eager to escape the Huskie headache.

Huskie Soccer Field been equipped with lights, NIU and the 2,051 fans in attendance may have lit up the scoreboard and obtained a win over Clarke’s version of a “major team.”

NIU has toppled two other Top-20 teams this year. The Huskies defeated No. 13 Akron University 1-0 in Ohio. NIU also went to and tipped the 20th ranked University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers, 2-0.

Last season aside, the last time an NIU soccer team had a legitimate shot at a NCAA bid was in 1984. The Huskies completed the season with a 13-5-1 ledger, yet got snubbed when it came bid time because of NIU’s schedule outside the region, or should I say lack of national schedule.

The following season NIU traveled abroad. Even last season, the Huskies finished with a 14-4-2 record and still didn’t get an invitation, due to the lack of national competition. This season NIU journeyed to play national contenders.

It’s all politics when it comes to soccer. It takes a so-called prominent individual like Coach Clarke or a Yeagley to call the shots. First it’s travel abroad; now it’s play more in the region.

IU will get in this year and so will SLU. A triumph over IU and even SLU wouldn’t have guaranteed a playoff berth for NIU; nevertheless, it’s Clarke who should still seek some help.

Perhaps if a DeKalb doctor prescribed some medication for Mr. Clarke, the label would read: open mouth, insert soccer ball.