Even with the DePaul men’s soccer team still searching for their first Big East conference win in 2013, head coach Craig Blazer remains optimistic about the team’s mindset going into the final two matches of the season.

“The mood of the team is good,” he said. “We believe that with these group of guys we can win.”

After drawing with a ranked St. John’s team at the time in the conference opener, DePaul followed the game up with six straight conference losses, including their most recent loss 1-0 to Villanova at home.

Some of the losses were close, such as losing to a ranked Providence team in overtime and earning a tie with St. Johns; however, there have also been more brutal losses, such as a 6-0 loss to Big East leading Georgetown and a 3-0 home loss to Xavier.

Regardless of the results, Blazer has seen some good performances from his team and improvement as the season has gone on.

“We know, and the guys feel that, most of the guys, their arrow and their performance is pointed up,” he said.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Blue Demons in their last two matches, travelling to Creighton and then hosting the second-place Marquette Golden Eagles on Senior Day.

“We’ve been preparing all week for this game,” he said. “It’s going to give us an opportunity to play against the best.”

While the results leading into the final two matches haven’t been what the Blue Demons had hoped for at the beginning of the season, Blazer is hopeful that the team’s six game losing streak will end against Creighton.

“The score lines have not been what we’ve expected,” he said. “However, we are working extremely hard to get a result against Creighton.”

Blazer said the performance in the match against Creighton will give the team a good idea on how they’ll do against Marquette.

“We’ll see how we stack up against Creighton and then Senior Day is always an emotional day,” Blazer said. “We have seven seniors that have put so much into developing the DePaul soccer program and it being their final match is going to be very emotional.”

With the Blue Demons having already been eliminated from Big East tournament contention, the final two matches against Creighton and Marquette will be played for pride, especially Senior Day.

“(Senior Day) is one game that everyone puts something into,” Blazer said.