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St. Joseph’s goalie Will Pike is optimistic about facing powerhouse Wesleyan: “We all know we can win.”

That first conversation was as telling as it was memorable.

Steve Babineau was hired on short notice to coach the men's soccer team at St. Joseph's College. He phoned one of the team captains, and asked a simple question: "What do we have here?"

Said senior defender Greg Cavanaugh: "I told him it was 'GNAC or bust.' It was the first time I had ever talked to him. We'd been planning this for a long time."

And just like that, the Monks set off to make history.

On Saturday St. Joseph's will play in the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time in the program's history, after knocking off Emerson for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference title last Saturday. The win earned the team an automatic bid.

The Monks will face Wesleyan, the No. 1 team in New England, and No. 4 in the country, at 11 a.m. in Middletown, Conn.

"It's a big stage for us," said Babineau. "A first for my players. A first for the program. A first for me personally. We know what we're up against. But these guys love to compete and they want to win. We're going down with that attitude."

The Monks are 14-7-1, Wesleyan is 11-1-4, 6-0-3 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

Against the teams' three common opponents this season – Amherst, Bowdoin and Wheaton – Wesleyan was 2-0-1; St. Joe's 0-3.

"Everyone likes a good underdog story," said Cavanaugh. "I don't think many in the NCAA world think we can beat them. We certainly think we can."

Factors that bode well for St. Joseph's?

Goalie Will Pike of Gorham was recently named the 2009 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the conference in almost every goalkeeping category. He has 11 shutouts this year.

"We all know we can win," said Pike. "We just have to go out and do it. They look similar to us, pretty defensively oriented. They gave up seven goals and scored 20 in their conference. We gave up only four or five in the conference."

St. Joseph's has outscored opponents 31-20, and the defense has allowed just 286 shots against, while getting 306.

"We pride ourselves in defending and incorporating new guys into what we're doing on attack," said Babineau.

On Saturday, freshman Jack LaFreniere scored twice in the second half in a 2-1 win.

"We're a very defensive-minded team," said Cavanaugh. "We've stuck by that all season. We knew if we scored one goal we were going to be tough to beat and if we score two it will be nearly impossible."

The Monks are one of three Division III men's teams from Maine in the tournament.

Bowdoin earned an at-large bid following with an 11-4-1 regular season, and first-round NESCAC victory over Trinity. Bowdoin faces Plattsburgh State (13-2-5) at 6 p.m. today in upstate New York.

Husson beat Castleton State College 3-1 for the 2009 North Atlantic Conference men's soccer championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. 

Husson (9-8-2) faces Williams College (14-2-1) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

• Seven St. Joseph's soccer players were named to the 2009 men's All-GNAC team.

Pike, Andrew Cushing of Hampden and Cavanaugh earned first-team honors. Doug MacCallum and Paul Robbins were voted to the second team. Michael Sanfilippo and Tim Davison were named to the third team.

• Five women's soccer players were named to the all-conference team: Shannon Fitzgerald, the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year and Mikayla Call of Portland were named to the first team.

Brianna Jordan of Scarborough was named to the second team, and Jessica Needham and Anna Willis of Gorham were named to the third.

BOWDOIN

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