Photo courtesy of University of Michigan

By AVI CREDITOR

Many view Michigan's run to the College Cup as somewhat of a Cinderella story.

Not Wolverines coach Steve Burns. He's seen this coming for quite some time.

"When I was interviewing for the job, I had a vision in my mind what I wanted to do given the chance with our program," said Burns, the only coach in Michigan soccer's 11-year existence as an NCAA Division I sport. "Play in our own stadium with a team that is perennially in the Top-20, competing and winning Big Ten and national championships. We've taken a lot of those successive steps going forward."

Just two more victories stand between Burns and his ultimate goal, something that would cement a meteoric rise for college soccer's new kid on the block.

"Michigan has a great athletic tradition, and it's about time that our soccer program has lived up to that tradition and hopefully we can only go higher," said freshman striker Soony Saad, a cornerstone recruit for the program.

Saad is a member of the United States Under-20 player pool and was the 2009-2010 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year after a baffling 76-goal season during his senior year at Dearborn High School.

Saad has scored 19 goals and assisted on five others so far during his freshman campaign. He is probably the most-highly regarded player ever to suit up for Michigan, leading an ever-growing list that contains current senior standout Justin Meram (16 goals) and FC Dallas 2009 first-round draft pick and U.S. U-20 midfielder Peri Marosevic.

"I find that your prayers get answered when you have good players," Burns said.

While Meram and Saad garner the headlines, Michigan's engine just may be its creative central midfielder, Saad's older brother, Hamoody.

"For the finishers that Soony and Justin are, Hamoody is the creative force," Burns said.

Hamoody Saad, a sophomore, was the maestro behind the golden goal against Maryland in the quarterfinals, finding another gear going down the left side, turning the corner and placing a pinpoint cross into space for Brazilian freshman Fabio Pereira.

In addition to the offensive trio, the Wolverines boast a starting midfield of decision-makers who are all comfortable with the ball at their feet. Behind them is a gritty defensive unit, which protects an aggressive goalkeeper in Chris Blais.

"We have four midfield players who can all play themselves out of a telephone booth," Burns said. "When you have players with that techinical ability and awareness, you can absorb pressure from a good team and not get flustered.

"The biggest thing we recruited for, we wanted to raise our soccer intelligence on our team."

The emergence of the Wolverines and the ability to attract top-tier recruits could forever change a Big Ten landscape that has long been dominated by Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State.

In the last two years, Michigan has had consensus Top-10 recruiting classes, and the results are starting to show.

One factor that has helped Michigan's rapid growth and drawn top recruits to Ann Arbor is the construction of its state-of-the-art soccer complex on campus.

The 2,200-seat stadium is at the center of the $6 million complex. It was opened this season, and it is a major selling point to prospective recruits.

"The athletic department is second-to-none and has really stepped up with the resources we need," Burns said. "We have an incredible soccer complex now on campus, and that happened within nine years of the program coming around."

The next hurdle for the Wolverines to clear is the latest in a line of biggest games in program history, when they try to tame national juggernaut Akron in their NCAA semifinal matchup. When the two teams met back on Oct. 19, the Zips pounded the Wolverines, 7-1. Michigan hasn't lost since then.

"In anything you do in life when you're humbled, you have to take a real strong look at what you can do to get better," Burns said. "Akron exposed us for not being a good-enough team defensively. That's the silver lining in all this. From that point we have focused every day on how we defend and the principles of defending. The team has really responded to that."

Added Soony Saad: "When we played against them last time, we weren't ready. We came into Akron with hope, but we weren't confident. Now we're on a nine-game winning streak, and we've had a team that's been growing. We have a lot of depth in our team, and everybody is peaking at the right moment. I feel like it's going to be a different outcome."