Never tell me the odds.

For the Charlotte 49ers Men’s Soccer team, the last few weeks has been an uphill battle, and they have yet to reach the top. When Xavier scored in overtime a month ago to end Charlotte’s bid for an Atlantic 10 Championship, the idea of playing in the College Cup wasn’t on anyone’s minds. Would the team fizzle out in the NCAA Tournament like in 2009? Would they be on the outside looking in like last season? Nothing was certain, but now all that stands between the 49ers and a National Championship is two games of soccer.

Today the Niners face the second seeded Creighton Blue Jays, who come into the match having allowed only five goals over the entire season. Those kind of defensive numbers would intimidate other unworthy opponents, but these are the kind of statistics Charlotte takes head on. Darren Mattocks of Akron had scored 21 goals (in 22 games) coming into the 3rd-Round of the NCAA Tournament, Charlotte held him and the Zips scoreless. Connecticut hadn’t lost at home since 2009 until they hosted the 49ers, who coincidentally broke their own losing streaks in shootouts. The storyline for the 49ers postseason seems to be going against the grain and proving that statistics mean nothing on the pitch.

The 49ers will need to be aggressive to find the goal today. Gibson and James will have to use their speed and skills to leave Blue Jay defenders behind them, and make crisp passes to open up the attack. Freshman All-American Guiseppe Gentile will have to find a way to be the Niners miracle worker again, hopefully many times. When given eight minutes to tie the score against the 3rd best team, we found a way to score in three. We have what it takes to get these two wins, and it all starts today.