Plenty of good US players but a US college education is very attractive to international players that no longer have pro chances. Conversely the US players is finishing up college at 21-22 vs the internationals starting at the same ages

Quote from: EnmoreCat on December 10, 2024, 06:21:18 PMThe Amherst players that can read, do also.

What a post!! LMAO

Quote from: Kuiper on December 06, 2024, 01:31:26 PM

Quote from: Hopkins92 on December 06, 2024, 12:53:47 PMDitto, especially the part about conference titles. Most teams post their goals on a white board or team notebook or whatever and winning the conference title is absolutely a huge deal to them.

You can see it the celebrations after they win. They go nuts.

To some of us old heads who have seen those banners hung a number of times, we might be less impacted. That's just a natural reaction. But there are folks in the Centennial who see this post as fairly annoying. Not my intent, but I would understand someone taking issue with the perceived arrogance.

Quote from: Another Mom on December 06, 2024, 12:42:21 PMCompletely agree with everything you wrote @jknezek.

I think most of the discussion on this topic is really about the psychological proposition that happiness is all relative or relative to expectations, which in the context of a team or program might be relative to what you and your cohort have done and what your school's teams have done in past years.  If Cal Tech Coach Duncan Gillis had written on the whiteboard the first practice that first season that the goal was a national championship or even a conference championship (or even making the conference tournament), it might have been so unfathomable that it would have failed to motivate the players.  I'm sure he set goals that would not have satisfied most teams.  For many, many teams, the season is absolutely a success if the team just makes the conference tournament or beats its biggest rival.  The burden for a successful program is the goals get bigger and the chances that you will reach them get smaller.  It is far more likely that every season the coach will have to console the team and convince them that they had a great season even though they failed to achieve their goals.

Honestly, every coach has to be jealous of Wisconsin-Superior. This is the most successful season ever for them and they improved from last season in a very measurable way. They beat defending national champion St. Olaf and qualified for the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history.  Last season, they lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to St Olaf by a 7-1 score.  That is a massive turnaround.  They might have a few regrets if Amherst wins, knowing that they scored two goals on them and took them to the last minute or two of double OT before losing, but the glow of getting farther than you have before and improving over last season is a far different feeling than the relief of doing what you were expected to do.

agree 100% that it is all about expectations. for my UMW example the guys got to a final four two years ago and followed that back up with what they would say are disappointing S16 appearances since the Natty was their realistic goal. Now if you had reversed the order and this year was their F4 shot then i am sure they would felt less disappointment

Quote from: Hopkins92 on December 06, 2024, 12:53:47 PMDitto, especially the part about conference titles. Most teams post their goals on a white board or team notebook or whatever and winning the conference title is absolutely a huge deal to them.

You can see it the celebrations after they win. They go nuts.

To some of us old heads who have seen those banners hung a number of times, we might be less impacted. That's just a natural reaction. But there are folks in the Centennial who see this post as fairly annoying. Not my intent, but I would understand someone taking issue with the perceived arrogance.

Quote from: Another Mom on December 06, 2024, 12:42:21 PMCompletely agree with everything you wrote @jknezek.

Anytime you win a trophy and can hang a banner it is a big deal no matter what level you are talking about

a bit disappointed that Jordy Santana did not get recognition on any of these teams. He was the one player that was not replaceable in the starting 11 for UMW (would regularly play 80+ minutes). Just goes to show you that a CDM is not valued as much as attacking midfielders on these lists.

As someone who has a kid that had a F4 followed by 2 S16, it is quite an achievement to make the F4 - very difficult.  The UMW F4 team was not nearly as good as the two S16 teams but you being really good is not enough - you need luck/fortune/moment of brilliance and a hot keeper to make it to the 4.

nah - perfectly ok to ignore VAR. camera angles are suspect and make the VAR review just as subjective as the call on the field

Quote from: Kuiper on December 05, 2024, 07:20:00 PM

Quote from: gocamels on December 05, 2024, 07:16:15 PMLooks like Nuhu got injured during the bad celebration LOL after the horrible use of VAR. Slo-mo made it look 100x worse, not a great angle either. How can there be VAR in the F4 after no VAR all season?? Harsh call

VAR was available all season under a new rule.  It's just that the facility had to have sufficient cameras to run it and most schools did not.

not sure this location has sufficient cameras either, tbh

nice finish there by Midd #4

nice #32 - cynical kick to the head

Quote from: stlawus on December 05, 2024, 06:10:20 PMThis game is really horrid quality.

definitely not the beautiful game

FWIW - 27 deg in Roanoke

Kyle Stenzel also played for the USL2 Charlottesville Blues this past summer with a few of UVA and UMW players

interesting podcast with discussion on D3 soccer + other sports https://open.spotify.com/episode/6vdBxitN6k35NAOE8S6rab?si=FyJptOucRhaeEqIR76wiXg&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A4rOoJ6Egrf8K2IrywzwOMk&nd=1&dlsi=2e2baf3dbe1d48c5

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on November 23, 2024, 03:43:51 PM

Quote from: eaglesoccerdad on November 23, 2024, 03:15:55 PMTough end to the career of all the seniors & 5th years (including my guy) but super proud of them.

9 grad and 8 seniors, wow. I'm sure some seniors might be back, but that is lot of players to lose. Great run.

Thanks. The seniors are also done - used all 4 years of eligibility.