By Paul Gully

Special Projects Editor

Photo Credit: BOB KNOSKA/The Oakland Post

Senior Steve Clark rolls toward the Summit League Tournament having recorded 10 shutouts.

Steve Clark is alone in a locker room. It’s just minutes before the Oakland University men’s soccer team’s second round match in the Niagara University Tournament in New York. His eyes are closed. His iPod is set to The Killers’ “Smile Like You Mean It.” OU’s senior goalkeeper and team captain (and student body president) is going through a little pre-game mental preparation.

He flows from the Warrior 2, his favorite yoga pose, to the Updog, focusing all his thoughts on the upcoming 90-minute battle. “I’m good. In fact, I’m too good,” he tells himself. As he finishes up his routine a few minutes later, he lets out a pumped-up yell, spins around and opens his eyes.

Turns out Clark’s no longer alone. The Grizzlies’ opponent, Coastal Carolina University, has entered the room and have just caught the end of Clark’s pre-game yoga display. Clark doesn’t say a word and walks out of the room to join his teammates. He’s ready to go.

The Golden Grizzlies end up winning the Niagara tournament handily, beating Niagara University and Costal Carolina. Clark makes a total of eight stops during the two games, but both opposing teams are able to put one by him, something that most of OU’s opponents this year have been unable to do.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 190-pound product of Mason, Mich., has put together a season that ranks among the best in the country. Clark’s 10 shutouts put him in the top five in the nation; his goals against average (0.584) ranks 12th in Division I competition; his save percentage (.839) 22nd.

His coaches attest Clark’s stellar season to his commitment, work ethic and a desire to succeed that is second to none. And all these things are true. But these qualities existed last year when his goals against average was nearly double this year’s (1.03) and had he almost half as many shutouts (6).

Clark attributes his improvement to being more mentally prepared. And in a sport where a goalkeeper may only see a minute or two of real action during a 90-minute game, a sharp mind can be the difference between reacting a split second quicker to punch it wide.

“I think the mental side of sports sometimes gets neglected. You spend all this time working on the physical aspect of the game, but it doesn’t matter how good you are physically if you can’t prepare yourself mentally when game day comes around,” Clark said.

“I really focused on my mental game this year because I’ve always been a really good soccer player, but just some days I wasn’t very good because my mind let down my body. I read a couple books and I actually started doing yoga,” he said.

Clark has come a long way, both on and off of the soccer field since his arrival on campus in 2003, from living in a tent to being a pro soccer prospect and student body president.

Though he was an All State goalkeeper his senior year at Mason High School on a team that was among the best in the state, there wasn’t major interest in Clark by college programs. He was only recruited by a few schools and received just one scholarship offer, a partial ride, from the University of Cincinnati Bearcats.

Oakland offered him a spot as a preferred walk-on.

“They pretty much told me, ‘We’re not going to give you money, but you’ll have a spot and a chance to someday play,'” said Clark.

Because he was paying his own way through college, he chose OU — it was lighter on the wallet.

Clark redshirted his first year and didn’t see a second of playing time the next. Waiting for someday was a lot tougher than Clark had originally anticipated.

“It was rough. I went from being ‘big time’ in high school to coming here, where no one thinks you’re good. It’s hard to work your butt off in practice and then see the team go on trips and have to stay home because you don’t travel with them [as a redshirt],” Clark said.

“I went pretty crazy. I was edgy, temperamental; I was borderline out of control because I wasn’t playing.”

To make matters worse, during Clark’s second year at OU, he spent a few months living in a tent in the woods after issues with his financial aid and apartment arose unexpectedly.

“I was left with $400. I could have probably asked my parents for money, but I’m from a small town and I wanted to go through college myself,” Clark said.

So with his remaining cash, Clark bought a tent and got a meal plan from Chartwells. He grabbed a few blankets, turned his car trunk into a makeshift closet and put a bar across his backseat to hang clothes on and spent nights there for a few months.

Eventually, Clark moved in with a friend as he moved up the depth chart.

During his redshirt sophomore season, Clark was able to take the field in two games. He started 15 the following year. By 2007, he was an All-Summit League first team goalkeeper.

“I have to give Steve a lot of credit. He’s worked very, very hard. As far as I’m concerned,

he’s one of the top goalkeepers in the country,” said men’s head soccer coach Gary Parsons.

“And he’s got the talent to play professionally.

The team’s assistant coach Eric Pogue, who recruited Clark in high school, shared Parsons’ sentiments. “I think one of the question marks with Steve in the past was that everyone questioned his focus,” Pogue said. “And I think he’s done a tremendous job, on his own, of making sure that he’s more mentally prepared.”

Last year’s team set the standard from which all subsequent teams will be judged. The team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship tournament, further than any other team in any sport in OU athletics’ history.

And after last year’s run, the team’s goal is the top prize at the NCAA Tournament.

“I expect to make the national championship, to be completely honest. And you know, maybe some will think that that’s kind of a lofty goal … but I know what our team is capable of better than anyone,” Clark said.