2016 NCAA Tournament

[Shooter McGavin]

Desperation mode here for OWU as they are essentially playing a 2-5-3 for the last 10 minutes of the game.

[Mr.Right]

They are pushing numbers forward BUT have not had a really dangerous chance yet...5 minutes left

[Shooter McGavin]

Big waste of time with that shanked scissor kick attempt. Would have liked to see him head it back across into the mix. Chewed up a minute off the clock.

[Shooter McGavin]

2-1 CMU final. A solid game to start the tournament season!

[Mr.Right]

OWU season ends and personally that was a very average OWU side. They were athletic as usual but lacked a real creativity in midfield in this game. The UAA starts off well as they usually do BUT can they get past the Sweet 16 / Elite 8 this year. Let's wait and see.

[Mr.Right]

Now we wait for a 1:30pm match-up of 2 teams with a GREAT winning % but low SOS in weak leagues. I have not seen either team this year so I am looking forward to it. I just wish CMU's stream was a tad better...Interestingly, OWU played both these teams and drew ONU and beat Calvin early early in the season. It doesn't matter now for OWU but it gives us some results v common opponents

[Ryan Harmanis]

A little disappointing for OWU. I try to keep a little perspective, as they started 5 freshmen and played another 5 today, but would have liked to see them play better.

I don't want to make this about the referee, but he lost control of this game midway through the first half. CMU's coach completely lost control - and I mean completely. He went nuts on the ref, leading the 4th official to tell him to sit down, but he was so far gone that he pretended to sit down only to run back almost onto the field and start screaming at the ref once the 4th official walked away. He did that multiple times until the ref finally carded him. I thought that affected the referee and the entire game. The ref had a quick trigger on OWU for the rest of the first half, and then in the second half seemed to try to make up for it with a quick whistle on CMU. First half fouls were 12-4 OWU, second half 11-5 CMU. I usually think a game is going to be bad if there are more fouls than shots. Today? 21 shots, 32 fouls.

The PK for CMU was soft but fair, as there looked like minimal contact but the OWU player stuck his leg out. The second goal it looked like a deflected clearance bounced to a CMU player, who played it back across the goal into the space where the OWU centerback had stepped up and another player ran in to finish it. Overall, OWU started well but CMU dominated the final 20-25 minutes of the half - the entire period after they tied it.

The second half was poor from both sides. OWU started better and built a lot of pressure, mostly through free kicks. That eventually led to that inexplicable "dangerous play" call from the referee. That call is only warranted in two instances, really: (1) a very high kick or (2) a player laying on the ball. Neither of those things happened, and the reactions of players on both teams suggested every one of them thought it was a PK. The ref awarded an indirect free kick, and CMU blocked it on the goal line.

From there, CMU got back to the way they'd been playing in the first half. They were very good on the ball in midfield and a little faster to most 50-50 balls. The ref missed another odd call, as the ball went out of play for an OWU throw, but there was no call. CMU played the ball in behind and the linesman flagged offside immediately (the OWU bench was going nuts), but the ref failed to notice for almost 45 seconds, until after CMU had scored and celebrated.

From there, OWU went very direct and CMU countered accordingly. CMU could have scored 1-2 more but couldn't finish. OWU, for their part, did not create any more clear-cut chances. CMU's GK handled crosses very well and the defense kept everything in front of them.

Congrats to Carnegie for a big win and good luck tomorrow. OWU has some work to do, but I'm glad these young guys (12 of 18 who played were freshmen or sophomores) have the experience heading toward next year.

[Domino1195]

Video stream froze for the entire second half - not sure if it my location, if we slammed their server - very sad.  CMU has a lot of size and they really made midfield play difficult for OWU.  I wasn't sure how the layoff would affect them but they weren't the sharpest today.  If there was a deciding variable I thought the 50/50 challenges went heavily towards CMU. Officiating comments below not a reflection on CMU's preformance - they did what they needed to get the win.

Interesting observations about the officiating - stopping play in the first half to give a card for dissent!!??!?  CMU had the ball in their third - restart in the attacking half - I thought that to be an unnecessary and emotional reaction by the CR.  Moments later he cards the CMU bench, and moments later a demonstrative signal for the penalty (was the PK that obvious?  If the OWU player swept the feet from under the CMU player - he let that go twice earlier in the first half when it happened to OWU players).  Subtle - but signs of too much emotion from the CR.  He also called Romanelli for a dangerous play in the first half.  Not that these plays don't exist - the LOTG still acknowledge their existence - but you can count on one hand the number of times this season an IFK is awarded for "dangerous play" in the EPL.  I hope over-involved officiating doesn't enter into other games.

[Domino1195]

Interesting, Ryan - I was typing my response at the same time as you - yours came through first. 

[Domino1195]

WOW!!!! You can clearly hear the whistle BEFORE the ball goes in!!!! Officiating is leaving its mark on these first two games!!

[Shooter McGavin]

WOW!!!! You can clearly hear the whistle BEFORE the ball goes in!!!! Officiating is leaving its mark on these first two games!!

ONU players were going nuts. Unbelievable how poor the officiating has been and its only game #2!!! 

[Shooter McGavin]

Crunch time here for ONU. 10 minutes to go down 1-0. They have been pushing but no real threat on goal. This has been a good game and should honestly have never been a 1st round game. Sweet 16 or Elite 8 caliber match-up and very sad for one team that will end up going home way too early.

[Shooter McGavin]

1-0 Calvin final. CMU vs Calvin tomorrow afternoon at 1pm. Based off today I would guess 2-1 Calvin but it is @CMU. Should be a great game.

[PaulNewman]

Tough outcome for ONU.  My video froze when Calvin got the goal so I don't know if it was a good goal or not.  ONU tried like heck to get one back but just could not break through the Calvin defense to get clean looks.  I remember one really good chance but not many.  Calvin always surprises me.  They look like a bunch of white kids who got cut from the JV high school basketball team, maybe partly because of the Penn State-like nondescript uniforms, but they are extremely cohesive, close very well to the ball, tackle hard and win the ball, commit smart, tough fouls that they don't apologize for, and almost always win.  Two very good teams.  Hard to see CMU getting by Calvin unless it's in OT or PKs.

In the first game, CMU looked like the stronger team (when my video wasn't frozen).  Credit to CMU for overcoming the early deficit.  OWU just never was as dynamic as I expect them to be all year.  Actually their best game might have been the draw with ONU, which was a really good game.  The CMU coach I think is probably a disciple of Jeb Burch at Centre, as Bowman went to Centre and then coached at Transy for a number of years until going to CMU.  My sense is that Jeb is a real character as well.   I remember a game two years ago when Rochester was playing at CMU and the two benches were going crazy for most of the game.  The audio was on so you could hear someone from the Rochester area, I think the head coach, screaming over and over for someone to go get the CMU AD down to the field. 

[Mr.Right]

Ahh...Such a difference in the F&M stream compared to the CMU stream...Really good stream and announcers...F&M and Geneva knotted up at 0-0 20 minutes in...


As a type this F&M slams home a goal to take a deserved 1-0 lead.