One of the best matches I have ever seen at Lorenz field in Corvallis was when Indiana University came to town to challenge the OSU men's team in the 2005 Diadora Classic. The Hoosiers where the defending national champions and number one ranked team in the country. Watching the Beavers compete against such a prominent soccer university was a real treat.

Indiana's lineup was full of professional and national team prospects. Current MLS players Brian Plotkin, Jacob Peterson, Josh Teluda, Jed Zayner and John Michael Hayden all took the field for Indiana that day. Freshman Lee Nguyen had already represented the United States in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship as the only high school player named to the team. He currently plays for top flight Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.

The match was something special to watch. The Beavers turned in an incredibly brave performance to match Indiana's skill. Ryan Johnson (San Jose Earthquakes) assisted by Alex Asai and Alex Christensen from a Brett Gardner corner kick put OSU up by two goals with forty minutes left. Indiana and the boy-wonder Lee Nguyen really showed their class by coming back to draw the game at 2-2.

After the game Ryan Johnson of OSU expressed his feelings about big matches like this. “Playing against a number one team without any fear is the only reason why you play. You don’t want to play against the second-best team or the worst team. It’s good for all the freshmen that came here to realize that we’re playing these kind of games. This is why we came here and these are the kind of games you live for.”

After looking over OSU's preseason schedule I can't help but wonder where did those big non-conference games go? Before the difficult Pac-10 season begins, the Beavers will have played Humbolt State, Howard, Gonzaga*, Oakland*, Michigan*, Marist, Adelphi, UMKC, Cal State, Bakersfield and Loyola Marymount. Only three of those teams* had a winning record last season. They were a combined 24-41-11 in conference play. At 1-11 in conference last year I don't expect Loyola Maramount present the kind of challenge that Ryan Johnson was describing.

I hope the Beavers gain some good chemistry and confidence from these matches because they have some patsys on the horizon.