2016 Great Lakes Region

[PaulNewman]

Before we get further into the tournament stuff, I do want to indulge in one shameless plug for Kenyon.  At times I've been hyper-critical and there are things I sometimes question.  I don't know if that ever bothers any Kenyon folks who may browse through here, but I feel I've more than made up for occasionally being critical or "negative" by basically advertising the program on this site for the past four years.  That said, I do want to congratulate the Lords for doing the NCAC double two years in a row and winning the NCAC tourney 3 years in a row.  The four year ride the Lords have enjoyed now rivals any period in Kenyon soccer history.  In 2014 everything fell right for Kenyon until the painful Sweet 16 exit.  They were ranked #1 regionally every single week and #2 in the country for most of the season.  The last two years in some ways have been more impressive because both years the Lords have had intense pressure on them constantly for the latter halves of each season due to the SOS conundrum, dealing with high rankings and super-high expectations but somehow finding themselves in must-win or almost must-win situations over and over and for the most part delivering.  They also have prevailed at a time when the NCAC is more competitive than ever.  It used to be OWU by a mile and then everyone else.  This year there were five teams that could have been NCAA teams and that had the potential to beat each other on the day.  Kenyon found a way to end up on top even though it wasn't always pretty.  Congrats to the players and the coaching staff, and best of luck in the tournament.

[Midwest Soccer]

Agreed with NCAC. Hats off to the KC Lords. Anyone else wonder why Amolo and Glassman didn't start the 2OT vs Oberlin? And then a freshman who is in their place buries the game winner....bold move that paid off.

[PaulNewman]

Agreed with NCAC. Hats off to the KC Lords. Anyone else wonder why Amolo and Glassman didn't start the 2OT vs Oberlin? And then a freshman who is in their place buries the game winner....bold move that paid off.

Not sure.  Also can't remember if you have to be on the field at end of game to take a PK or not.  Brown would have wanted Amolo in for that and maybe he was going to give the frosh 3 or 4 minutes and then put Amolo and Glassman back in.  Definitely good to have some secondary scorers emerging but I get nervous when they are fully subbed and the field begins to tilt the other way.  Will be interesting to see if Amolo gets more minutes as he seems to be in good form overall.  Also would be really great to see them not give a goal in the first 5-10 minutes of games and instead grab momentum by scoring first.  A brief review of Maryville shows that they have a couple of kids who have scored a ton of goals with a bunch of assists and a few others with at least 4-6 goals.  The Maryville star striker is a transfer from Berry and the star midfielder is a former Tennessee high school POY and NSCAA high school All American.

[Mr.Right]

You do not have to be on the field anymore to take PK's. I will say I have seen time and time again that a coach puts in a "good" PK taker that in practice buries them every time but is not a good field player or good enough to play many minutes or any minutes. The coach puts in a "cold" player that has not played in the game and I have seen time and time again these "cold" players choke. If I were a coach I would never put a cold player to take a PK rather relying on a player who has been through the game and is more focused than the cold player...Guarantee you will see that happen in this tournament and the "cold" player will choke. If it happens the coach is the only guy that should get blamed

[GLTrt]

Maryville is a very strong attacking squad. Baker and Lucas are two of the more dynamic players I have seen in a while. Baker took last year off and Lucas took a year off after transferring from Berry College a couple of years ago. I think them against Kenyon is an interesting match up, especially because Kenyon is so strong defensively.