MIAA chat

sflzman · August 31, 2010, 10:22:32 AM

The other thing about the MIAA is that everyone dislikes Calvin and Hope so much, that you never know who could pull off an upset and mess up the whole thing. Like KZOO/Albion last year.

sflzman · September 02, 2010, 05:25:23 PM

Alma defeated Baldwin-wallace 4-3 last night. Jessica Swan looked great, scoring 2 goals. Alma did have to come back from a 3-1 2nd half deficent after scoring an own goal. Alma's Freshman, Taryn Handyside, scored the game winner.

Calvin won as well, 1-0, where freshman Danielle Carter, scored the only goal.

Dark Knight · September 02, 2010, 10:04:05 PM

Wow, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win is amazing.

Calvin started four freshmen including Carter, who scored the game's only goal in a header off a corner kick, and who is going to be a force to recon with. Several other freshmen also got playing time. Excellent play by Aquinas' keeper kept the score from being about 3-0. As a whole, the team looked a little rough and disorganized -- what you'd expect in a first game from a team that's half freshmen, I suppose.

Next up for the knights: #2 Washington University, who knocked them out of the playoffs last season. This game would be very tough at the end of the season, let alone now.

sflzman · September 04, 2010, 09:52:13 AM

Scots head to Ohio for a set of two this weekend. Play Greenville (IL) at Neutral site, and then @Capital. Then down to St. Louis for games with Wash U and Webster...Alma droppped 2-0 against Washington last year.

Dark Knight · September 11, 2010, 08:40:23 PM

Calvin defeated #10 Wheaton today at home for the first time since 1988, by a score of 1-0. Calvin had a couple more shots than Wheaton, but Wheaton had some mighty good chances too, maybe more than Calvin.

The first half was rough, and the knights were lucky to come out of it without having given up a goal. The knights made some adjustments in the second half--forwards pulling back a little to relieve pressure on the middies, middies containing more rather than trying to poke the ball away and getting beat-- that really changed the flow of the game. I thought the knights dominated most of the second half.

That's a great result for a team starting 5 freshmen, with about 3-4 others coming in off the bench.

sflzman · September 13, 2010, 09:43:02 AM

This weekend the Scots lost a heartbreaker to #3 WashU. They were tied 0-0 with 8 minutes remaining (or 9...) when they got called for a foul (which wasn't) on washington's 40 yard line (imagine a fball field) the goalie stepped up to take the kick. On 4 bounces it popped over Alma's goalie's - who had picked up 13 saves already - head and into the goal.

On Sunday they beat webster on a header 1 minute into the game. It really should have been 3-0 or so Alma dominated the game.

DIIIdad · September 13, 2010, 11:40:30 AM

Quote from: Dark Knight on September 11, 2010, 08:40:23 PM
Calvin defeated #10 Wheaton today at home for the first time since 1988, by a score of 1-0. Calvin had a couple more shots than Wheaton, but Wheaton had some mighty good chances too, maybe more than Calvin.

That's a great result for a team starting 5 freshmen, with about 3-4 others coming in off the bench.

Looking forward to the Sweet 16 rematch between Augie and Calvin on 9/18. Augie is having some trouble scoring (despite scoring 9 goals this past weekend), but they haven't allowed a goal against yet this season. This should be a good game regardless of who wins.

Dark Knight · September 13, 2010, 04:21:43 PM

Quote from: DIIIdad on September 13, 2010, 11:40:30 AM
Quote from: Dark Knight on September 11, 2010, 08:40:23 PM
Calvin defeated #10 Wheaton today at home for the first time since 1988, by a score of 1-0. Calvin had a couple more shots than Wheaton, but Wheaton had some mighty good chances too, maybe more than Calvin.

That's a great result for a team starting 5 freshmen, with about 3-4 others coming in off the bench.

Looking forward to the Sweet 16 rematch between Augie and Calvin on 9/18. Augie is having some trouble scoring (despite scoring 9 goals this past weekend), but they haven't allowed a goal against yet this season. This should be a good game regardless of who wins.

I'm thinking low scoring. Calvin has only given up 1 goal so far this season. Wish I could be there.

What style of soccer does Augie play -- direct? Ball control?

DIIIdad · September 14, 2010, 10:32:03 AM

Quote from: Dark Knight on September 13, 2010, 04:21:43 PM
I'm thinking low scoring. Calvin has only given up 1 goal so far this season. Wish I could be there.

What style of soccer does Augie play -- direct? Ball control?

I think they're still trying to figure it out. They seem to like to possess, but I think Coach Mejia would prefer to play more direct.

It seems strange to see my own comment about the team struggling to score - they are averaging 4.2 goals per game, while giving up 0 on the season. It's just that they've missed so many ducks inside the six. At times they try to be too perfect.

Augie should be tough with a week of practice before this game on Saturday night. Injuries may play a role though as several starters were hurt this past weekend.

Looking forward to the game.

Dark Knight · September 16, 2010, 08:35:45 AM

Calvin has an extremely tough schedule before the conference season starts. Calvin plays 5 teams that are in the top 25 or receiving votes and is 3-1 against these teams so far. All of the teams Calvin has played are in the top 100 of D3 or equivalent according to Massey's ratings of last year.

All of Augie's opponents so far have been below average, i.e. below #200, according to Massey, with the exception of Kalamazoo, rated #68 last year. And that's the game Augie didn't win--at home. With no wins and one tie against above-average teams, I think Augie remains basically untested. This will be a good test for Augie. Also a good test for Calvin as Augie is currently the highest-rated opponent Calvin is scheduled to face this year.

DIIIdad · September 16, 2010, 11:06:02 AM

No question that Augie hasn't been challenged yet this season. Even in the draw with Kalamazoo, Augie held Kzoo shotless for a 72 minute stretch. Augie outshot Kzoo 26-8 for the game, but just couldn't finish. Thus my concern about their scoring (despite a 4.2 goals per game average).

The scoring average is also somewhat diluted by the fact that in the last two games, Augie played 29 and 34 players respectively.

The next two games will be telling as they host #13 Calvin on 9/18 and undefeated #18 Loras on 9/22.

Dark Knight · September 19, 2010, 10:43:53 AM

Well, it doesn't get much more low-scoring than that. The stats looked pretty similar for both teams. How did it look in person?

sflzman · September 19, 2010, 09:22:18 PM

Alma steam-rolled a less-than-impressive North Park team today 4-0. Jessica Swan took a few more steps towards becoming Alma's all-time points leader, cumulating 1 goal and 2 assists

DIIIdad · September 20, 2010, 12:15:24 PM

Quote from: Dark Knight on September 19, 2010, 10:43:53 AM
Well, it doesn't get much more low-scoring than that. The stats looked pretty similar for both teams. How did it look in person?

This game was a track meet from the opening whistle. I thought Calvin controlled play for the first 5 minutes or so, but that Augie really took the run of play from that point. I was actually surprised to see that the shots were only 11-9 in favor of Augie. I recall two shots by Calvin early in the first few minutes, but I don't think they really had any opportunities other than a couple of corners the rest of the game.

The Calvin goalie came up huge in the second half and made an incredible save when she stopped a beautiful give and go play by Augie. I'm still not sure how she made the save. She made another huge save in OT when she stopped a direct kick from just outside the 18.

Augie definitely had the better chances, but couldn't finish. Even though it was a 0-0 draw, it was an exciting well-played game.

Dark Knight · September 21, 2010, 11:43:50 AM

Calvin scored 20 goals in the first 8 games of last year and gave up 5. This year they've scored 9 and given up 1, and they have a slightly better record.

Scoring less than half the goals so far this year isn't too surprising, given that 46% of goal scoring didn't return this year and the team is half freshmen.

More surprising is having given up 1 goal this year compared to 5 last year, despite an equal number of shots on goal.

Last year Calvin's goalie saved a respectable 80.3% of shots on goal. This year freshman goalie Ashton Hearn has saved an amazing 97% of shots on goal so far. For comparison, the goalie with the best save percentage in DIII last year saved 95.5% of shots on goal.