As always I think predictions are silly and Adam is right in saying that
however they are predicted, they will be totally wrong ;)  But I will add
my .01 about the team I know...
 
Several people said that they doubted the Saints would have the offense or
the defense next year to compete well and that Heffler will keep them in
the playoffs...with this I probably would have to disagree...Considering
the experience level of the Saints defense this year (which did not do well
in the middle of the season and thus looked bad statistically), they did
quite well...I do not know if SLU had the youngest defense in the league
technically or not, but if not, it was close...John Poapst played only the
first half of the season on defense (when they were stronger) and then
switched to offense...he was the only junior or senior in the group...the
other's were composed entirely of freshmen and sophomores...people said it
was a "fluke" that the Saints had the good run at the end and I am not sure
about that...to me it seemed more evident that the defense finally
developed after the switch of Poapst with maybe 12 games left (and of
course that Paul Difrancesco started scoring again;))...by the last 5-6
games, the defense was back and playing strongly...Heffler was a big factor
as well, but I would say the combination of Heffler and the young (but
getting older) defense will be a strong point for SLU next year...
 
I cannot disagree with the offense, unless Prier really steps up or Poapst
(at his offensive position he was on fire the last 5 weeks), it will be a
long season offensively...but it was this season, so there really is
nothing huge in that...with better defensively play and more experience, a
few goals could be all that are needed to lift the Saints a couple of
positions higher this year...and lets not forget that a little change could
be all that is needed;) in the last two seasons combined the Saints have
lost over 20 games by one goal or 2 with an empty net...here is hoping that
trend stops in the positive way this upcoming year:)
 
Kevin Todd
SLU '96
VLS '00
 
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