The exhibition games are finished but the preseason is not over.

Men’s soccer coach Willy Roy says his team still has two days to prepare for Thursday’s regular-season opener at St. Louis University.

Roy was “looking for some kids to step forward” during the exhibition doubleheader Saturday. He was especially happy with the play of the goalkeepers, including Danny Green’s stop of a Frank Sparacino penalty kick.

Roy was also happy with the all-around defensive play led by senior Dave Weichman and sophomores Ken Hoffman and Jay Konrad.

In the first game on Saturday, Roy played a freshman-sophomore team against the Sting/Alumni squad. He wanted to give everybody one last chance to play before the regular season starts and likes the way the younger players have been performing.

“The freshmen are starting to get used to being away at school,” Roy stated, “so that pressure is off of them.” Roy explained that a big problem freshmen have is not that they can’t play the game but that they have trouble adjusting to life away from home.

Roy has also been happy with the play of freshmen Brian Reinheimer and Charles Martel.

In the second half of the Alumni game Saturday, Roy mixed up the starters with the younger players to give players a chance to play together that do not normally do so. This caused a bit

of confusion on the field because unfamiliar faces were together, but Roy just wanted them to have fun.

Today will be the final practice before the Huskies travel to St. Louis. The starting lineup is pretty well set except for goalkeeper, where Roy is “leaning toward Dan Green right now because he has more experience” although he is happy with the play of Jeff McCall. He described the two as “Dan and Dave” from Reebok fame.

Thursday’s game will take on a little different tone than that of Saturday’s games. You will not find Dave Weichman wrestling John Lechner at midfield or Willy Roy Jr. stopping for a chat at the press box in the middle of a play. St. Louis is ranked second in the nation after finishing fourth last year in the NCAA tournament.

Right now Roy is more concerned with the way the team plays than the score because to him this is still the preseason. “After the game I might sleep better or I might sleep less,” Roy said. “We know what we have to do.”