Going to be a frantic finish

Maybe I should be asking how well Amherst plays with a lead

Looks like Rothert is subbing as usual - he did that 2 years ago against Camden when they were down then brought a whole crew of starters back in with 15 to play and they blew Camden's doors off with 2 quick goals

Agree - they are never out and that last save kept them in it

Wonder if Rothert sticks with his sub pattern or shortens the bench. Rummelhart and Lenke are very dangerous

Wow - Loras was starting to get some momentum before that goal

How well does Loras play from behind?

Whoa - huge save for Amherst!!

Yeah - VERY strong wind that night ... The kick was way up in the air, got into the jet stream and the keeper came out and realized too late how far it was carrying, turned and watched it go in. But yes, very windy night in San Antonio

Oh c'mon Kickin - enjoy this.  It doesn't happen every year. Plus, Loras is going to make me look like a prophet tomorrow. Go look at my response on Nov 25, 2014 to one of your posts.

My prediction: Loras 1-0 on a late goal by Rummelhart off a rebound from a shot by Lenke. Then you can put all those participation medals in the drawer forever

Agree - where's Keegan Balle when you need him?

Does that surprise you?

I wish Rummelhart would have brought back the mohawk

They'll frustrate Amherst - should be a pretty chippy game though. May turn into a rugby match

Yup - here it starts ... 2 guys high and everyone else behind the ball. Not enough elite skill on Calvin to break down the defense

And no one ever accused Loras of playing beautiful soccer - just brutally effective

I think Calvin needs to score in the first 10-15 minutes or Loras will go into their shell and leave one player high - and then it will be over

Correct myself - they did go up 2-1 on Camden late in that game in 2013

Am I mistaken or is this the first time Loras has had a lead at the final 4?

Quote from: D3soccerwatcher on November 23, 2015, 07:41:09 PM

Quote from: Mr.Right on November 23, 2015, 06:17:08 PM
The sweeper has to commit to be effective. So when you penetrate on the wing, he has to come towards the ball. A cross takes him out of the play along with all the other defenders on the strong side

You assume the sweeper commits late.  A good sweeper commits earlier, and is right there to challenge should his outside back get beaten.  Also, you can put your target right up to the sweeper, but a good experienced sweeper will be pulling the offside trap all day long and totally disrupt the target's runs.  Once you've got the target looking to stay onside instead of making his runs, you've won much of the battle already.  Also there is nothing stopping the sweeper from simply walking the target right back up to the stopper.  There are all kinds of tactics that a sweeper can use to control a deep target - no problem.

I think you do what Messiah has done to the Loras sweeper - make him irrelevant. Figura - who I have great respect for - was made irrelevant when they played in 2012. Against teams that play more direct, the deep sweeper is very effective as they can just sit back and clear the ball all day while frustrating the opponent. And I would guess those are the vast majority of teams that Loras plays during the regular season and hence why they play that way - allows them to pile up a bunch of wins.  However, a strong possession team like Messiah played in front of him all day. So their strongest defender was pretty much left taking GKs and free kicks from the back. Those long, booming kicks he kept making were easily defended and played right to Messiah's strength. Carter Robbins just kept trapping the ball and re-starting the Messiah attack back up field. Loras seemed to think the long ball was the way to play as the game progressed but all that did was keep the ball away from Cavers. Hey - the deep sweeper will win a lot of games against teams playing direct - and Loras has certainly taken advantage of that over the past 10 years - but against the right team, it can be made ineffective. Now, is Calvin ... or Amherst or Oneonta the type of team to be able to do it? We will see in a couple weeks.