MIAC 2014

[GarbageGoals33]

The MIAC regular season opens up today.

CarlEton @ GAC: 1-3 to the Gusties in this one.
MAC @ UST: 0-2 UST
Hamline @ SJU: 1-4 SJU
St. Olaf @ Bethel: 2-0 Oles
SMU @ Augsburg: 0-3 Auggies.

[gustiefan04]

CarlEton @ GAC: 0-2 Gustavus with the win. CarlEton's struggles to score continue
MAC @ UST: 1-0 MAC. Early season upset special
Hamline @ SJU: 1-3 SJU should have no trouble with the Hammies
St. Olaf @ Bethel: 3-0 Oles handle a hapless Bethel
SMU @ Augsburg: 0-1 Auggies sneak by SMU.

[gustiefan04]

GAC up 2-0 with 12 minutes to play in first half.

[GarbageGoals33]

3-0 now to GAC.  My feed is miserable unfortunately, very choppy, a lot of buffering.

Hopefully GAC continues to pile it on.

[gustiefan04]

Same. feed is lousy today...

[repete]

Apparently Stretch has had systemwide issues lately.

[KICKIN95]

I have noticed the same thing repete, stretch must be trying to save some money, curbing back the ol' bandwidth usage.

[GarbageGoals33]

I had an opportunity to watch GAC vs. SJU this weekend.... What an ugly match.  SJU took GAC out of there game by playing very physical and playing dump and chase soccer.  This style of play was no different than years past with SJU.  Officiating didn't lose this game for GAC, a lack of quality possession and flow to the game ultimately hurt the Gusties.  I do bring the officiating up though because it was miserable.  There were no instances where a call eliminated a goal scoring opportunity, etc.  But, there were at least 7 no calls (1 GAC tackle and 6 SJU tackle) on a cardable tackles, one of which should have been a straight red card against an SJU player for a late, knee high, tackle from behind late in the first half.  It was an absolute horror tackle that knocked the GAC player out for the last 60 or so minutes of play.  GAC will need to rebound and limit the losses and draws if they want to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.  This GAC team should be a top 3 team in the region but they simply aren't playing up to their potential. 

[repete]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Finally, a whine that doesn't get better with age.

[GarbageGoals33]

repete, I suppose you felt the need to chime in because your hard-on hasn't gone down from the Johnnies vs. Tommies football game last weekend... SJU soccer has had the same coaching tactics for 30 years, kick the ball hard, run fast, slide tackle, repete.

I don't doubt the SJU players have the ability to play soccer, unfortunately their coach holds them back from playing "the beautiful game".

I still believe GAC will win the regular season title as well as the MIAC playoffs.  GAC has played a difficult non-conference schedule and has earned some pretty good results.  If they go without a loss the remainder of the season, which is very possible, they should be able to snag an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament if they don't win the conference tournament.

[gustiefan04]

I tuned it for the SJU @ GAC game on Saturday.

And I agree, the Johnnies did not deviate from their typical tactics. GAC struggled to get anything going against a bigger, more phsycal side. GAC will need to learn to cope against these tactics in the future in order to win the MIAC and make a good run if/when they make the NCAA's. Too often GAC was rattled by the phsyical play and seemed to be more concerned with getting after the ref at times. One player on the bench was even issued a yellow for dissent after a hard foul by SJU.

While I feel the ref could have kept better control of the game, bottom line is GAC needs to learn to play through this type of game, and get the result.

[repete]

There were some amazingly enjoyable parallels between the fb and msoc: Two in a row on the road, streaks ended, victories against a "more talented" foe, etc. But bottom line here: St. Middleton obviously knew what was coming and GAC was ill-prepared to handle it. Fool me once ...

Until GAC adjusts, it's a formula that works. And when facing a team with a technical edge, it's a legit tactical response. Apparently SJU was also pretty smart about gauging and playing with the limits of the officiating -- as they were set by that crew that day.

GAC's current position in the MIAC is built largely on its technical edge, Middleton brings in and develops some great skills. But it would interesting to see how the Gusties (or any top MIAC team) would do in a better league. I see a lot of CAC ball live and it's clearly a step above. A legit question: How does GAC change tactically when they are technically outgunned?

[GarbageGoals33]

I am not the coach of GAC so I do not know the answer to your question.

In my opinion, this GAC team is probably the most talented team GAC has had since 2006 or 2007.  I do not see GAC being technically outgunned until maybe the Elite 8 or Sweet 16 if they do in fact make it that far.  Soccer is a crazy game so results like the SJU one happen regularly.  When it comes to a match up of  Try-hards vs. Talent the try-hards will find a way to pick up the occassional win or draw.  SJU will not be a threat to win the conference with their style of play, but, as you have seen in the GAC and Loras matches, they will stick around because of their "style"

[Durantula]

Now that most non conference games are done, Anyone know the overall record of IIAC vs MIAC? I feel like someone put that on here last year and it was interesting.

[repete]

Since you pin SJU's style on Haws Sr. ... apparently his teams that won four of the 10 league titles in the '80s were talents not try-hards.

I've only seen GAC on video, but potential Elite 8 talent? I'd love to see a MIAC team with a deep run no matter who it is (well, perhaps not UST), but it looks like a down year. Not a single vote for league teams in the d3 or nscaa polls.