2016 NCAA Tournament

[Ommadawn]

Just found the video of the second goal in Rutgers-Newark's 2nd goal against ETown - what a hit. They have a camera at the back corner of the goal and usually when you see those videos it just shakes and bounces up but this one you can hear the shot hit the back metal part of the goal. Pretty cool.

https://youtu.be/RLzybL5nArY?t=44s

I was interested to see that both goals were scored with Rutgers-Newark going in the "uphill" direction of the field (there is a distinct slant to the field that, over the course of a game, likely confers a slight advantage to the "downhill" team).

[Mr.Right]

Just found the video of the second goal in Rutgers-Newark's 2nd goal against ETown - what a hit. They have a camera at the back corner of the goal and usually when you see those videos it just shakes and bounces up but this one you can hear the shot hit the back metal part of the goal. Pretty cool.

https://youtu.be/RLzybL5nArY?t=44s

RUN is the REAL DEAL...That might be the goal of the year.....If they can tighten up defensively they have a chance to win it all.

[GabWirz]

This is footage of the 2 red cards and the headbutt that should have resulted in a 3rd red from the Umass Boston - Haverford game.  As a former player it's sad to think that the careers of the Haverford seniors were ended in PKs by a team that exhibits this kind of behavior. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ypZO-ULHFxA&feature=youtu.be

[Flying Weasel]

Wow!  I can hardly believe my eyes!  Those aren't mere red cards offenses, those are over-the-top red card offenses.  I'd be perfectly content with the team being expelled from the tournament/forfeiting that game.  Somehow their coach needs to be held accountable.  To reach this point of the season and have three different players that undisciplined and out of control is inexcusable.  If you can't rein in your players, you shouldn't keep starting them and giving them playing time. Deplorable and disgusting and completely disrespectful to the game, their opponents, the referee, tournament, etc.

[blooter442]

I've been looking for this just out of my own curiosity, so I'm glad there is video of it. Completely unacceptable. Of course there will always be a certain extent of "afters" in highly contentious situations but this goes far beyond that. Just to get a sense of who the head coach was, I watched a couple of post game interviews, and I personally did not get the sense that he runs a tight ship as far as keeping guys in line. Maybe I'm drawing conclusions too easily but any coach with any sense of dignity would not tolerate that kind of behavior for a second.

[phillyfan12]

Wow!  I can hardly believe my eyes!  Those aren't mere red cards offenses, those are over-the-top red card offenses.  I'd be perfectly content with the team being expelled from the tournament/forfeiting that game.  Somehow their coach needs to be held accountable.  To reach this point of the season and have three different players that undisciplined and out of control is inexcusable.  If you can't rein in your players, you shouldn't keep starting them and giving them playing time. Deplorable and disgusting and completely disrespectful to the game, their opponents, the referee, tournament, etc.

I completely agree with your assessment of the situation. Seems actually ridiculous the game was allowed to continue to be entirely honest. I was there for most of the game and thought it should have been forfeited at the time but I didn't even see the headbutt that goes completely unpenalized. That is a surefire red card offense in itself so they should have been down to 8! Maybe this is just me but I feel like its a pretty bad look for the NCAA to let this team continue to play in the tournament after their deplorable conduct. I'm not sure whether they would just forfeit and Tufts would move on (seems unfair to Trinty/Kenyon who would have to play a rested Tufts team) or if they would somehow let the Fords back into the tournament but Umass Boston should be punished for their conduct, starting with their coach.

[oldonionbag]

Wow. That is not a good look for UMB at all.

[Domino1195]

Still not sure how Williamson is eligible to play college soccer, given his past playing experience.  Of course, his future college career is over.  Not sure how USSF will view this incident but aggression towards officials in USSF sanctioned matches results in a lifetime ban.

[Mr.Right]

They are not going to forfeit the game or allow Haverford to continue to play. Haverford should have won the game and BLEW IT themselves.

I think UMB might have to suspend or fire their Head Coach Beverlin..He is responsible for the players that he brings in and their actions..Honestly, Everything would have been fine had Williamson not headbutted the ref.. I have no idea what the hell that was for...The Haverford player was jumping on his back so he got frustrated and threw him which is a Straight Red and be done with it. Once he went after the ref he cost himself his own career and quite possibly his coaches.

Im sorry but is it not ironic that we have a former Amherst player being the prime cheerleader of this whole cause and continuing to bring this up. The same Amherst player whose teammate #15 Max Fikke THREW A BALL at full speed into a Williams players sternum because he was upset that he was standing in the way of his long throw. There have been plenty of poor/ bad sportsmanship instances from Amherst and Serpone that I think it is not really the best look that we have Amherst alums taking this stance. My advice is to look at your own house first

[oldonionbag]

I do have a question though, is Williamson suspended for life for something like that? How does that work? I've never seen a game in which there's been a physical attack on a ref. What happens next - I'm genuinely curious.

[FelixCloudy]

They are not going to forfeit the game or allow Haverford to continue to play. Haverford should have won the game and BLEW IT themselves.

I think UMB might have to suspend or fire their Head Coach Beverlin..He is responsible for the players that he brings in and their actions..Honestly, Everything would have been fine had Williamson not headbutted the ref.. I have no idea what the hell that was for...The Haverford player was jumping on his back so he got frustrated and threw him which is a Straight Red and be done with it. Once he went after the ref he cost himself his own career and quite possibly his coaches.

Im sorry but it is not ironic that we have a former Amherst player being the prime cheerleader of this whole cause and continuing to bring this up. The same Amherst player whose teammate #15 Max Fikke THREW A BALL at full speed into a Williams players sternum because he was upset that he was standing in the way of his long throw. There have been plenty of poor/ bad sportsmanship instances from Amherst and Serpone that I think it is not really the best look that we have Amherst alums taking this stance. My advice is to look at your own house first

I believe I was one of the first to post about UMB's behavior, and I have never set foot on the Amherst campus.  The UMB coach should MINIMALLY be sanctioned by the NCAA, and the team should not be permitted to advance in the tournament.  I agree also that Haverford had a chance to win with UMB down 2 players in the last twenty minutes, and did not take advantage.  But take a look at the user comments in the YouTube video.  The UMB players are boasting that they are advancing, not Haverford.  As far as UMB is concerned, their egregious behavior worked perfectly.  This is a game tactic encouraged by the coach, pure and simple - and it worked.

[rudy]

They are not going to forfeit the game or allow Haverford to continue to play. Haverford should have won the game and BLEW IT themselves.

I think UMB might have to suspend or fire their Head Coach Beverlin..He is responsible for the players that he brings in and their actions..Honestly, Everything would have been fine had Williamson not headbutted the ref.. I have no idea what the hell that was for...The Haverford player was jumping on his back so he got frustrated and threw him which is a Straight Red and be done with it. Once he went after the ref he cost himself his own career and quite possibly his coaches.

Im sorry but it is not ironic that we have a former Amherst player being the prime cheerleader of this whole cause and continuing to bring this up. The same Amherst player whose teammate #15 Max Fikke THREW A BALL at full speed into a Williams players sternum because he was upset that he was standing in the way of his long throw. There have been plenty of poor/ bad sportsmanship instances from Amherst and Serpone that I think it is not really the best look that we have Amherst alums taking this stance. My advice is to look at your own house first

Game should have been forfeited as soon as headbutt incident occurred and game given to haverford. I would not be surprised if NCAA mafe this decision after the fact.

[phillyfan12]

They are not going to forfeit the game or allow Haverford to continue to play. Haverford should have won the game and BLEW IT themselves.

I think UMB might have to suspend or fire their Head Coach Beverlin..He is responsible for the players that he brings in and their actions..Honestly, Everything would have been fine had Williamson not headbutted the ref.. I have no idea what the hell that was for...The Haverford player was jumping on his back so he got frustrated and threw him which is a Straight Red and be done with it. Once he went after the ref he cost himself his own career and quite possibly his coaches.

Im sorry but it is not ironic that we have a former Amherst player being the prime cheerleader of this whole cause and continuing to bring this up. The same Amherst player whose teammate #15 Max Fikke THREW A BALL at full speed into a Williams players sternum because he was upset that he was standing in the way of his long throw. There have been plenty of poor/ bad sportsmanship instances from Amherst and Serpone that I think it is not really the best look that we have Amherst alums taking this stance. My advice is to look at your own house first

Mr. Right, I'm not sure what video you watched but I see no Haverford player jump on anyones back...

Also, I just looked up the video again to look at the comments and am disgusted by whomever is commenting on behalf of the UMB team. Calling the Fords a homophobic slur is down right deplorable and you can't bring up the topic of race and say they were racists when they themselves are using egregious homophobic slurs. Moreover, I was at the game for most of it (as I've mentioned before so sorry for those who are tired of hearing it) and never once did I hear anything at all negative from the Haverford fans. I heard one bit of anger that #25 got away with a cheapshot headbutt but it was not racially charged nor directed at any UMB fan in the stands. It is simply natural for a fan to be upset that their friend got headed in the temple.

To comment and claim they were chanting something along the lines of "build that wall" is deplorable and completely fabricated. Also, from what I gather Haverford is one of the most liberal places in the entire country so to think that they would be chanting for something that Trump campaigned upon seems unlikely because, not to make this too political, but it would seem that more of Haverford would have been behind Hillary Clinton as opposed to Donald Trump.

[PaulNewman]

Too many different things flying around at one time on something that has multiple layers.

Mr.Right was RIGHT that there is a culture clash and that we're talking about kids (and men) from very different backgrounds than fill the rosters of many of the elite (and mostly white) colleges.  I know a kid from the Cape who was one of best players in Cape summer league year in and year out who played for UMB a couple of years ago and often had to miss games because of work.  That said, UMass has given them a chance to go to college and play soccer and quite remarkably UMB, a state school, paid for them to go out to Washington state last year.  And Haverford also is one of the more liberal schools in the country.  It's also a very privileged school right up there with Williams, Amherst, Midd, Bowdoin, etc. 

Mr.Right was WRONG trying to be contrarion by first minimizing very bad conduct in the NJAC games and with Montclair in particular as just good, regular Jersey entertainment, and then again in his initial defense of the UMB behavior as just good entertainment that the rest of us bourgeois folks aren't clued in or street smart enough to understand.  The Montclair kid ruined his own season and that of us his team.  It was a big deal and completely inexcusable for a sixth year player especially in the 90th minute when your team already has the game in the bag.  Shouldn't have been shrugged off as typical Jersey behavior that fans should jut sit back and enjoy.  You can't act like everyone deserves a pass  or somehow compare these incidents to Amherst.  (BTW, throwing a ball at someone is a far cry from kicking a ball with full force at someone's face at close range and really a far cry from very intentional head-butting.)  The UMB kids disgraced their team and school and the coach must be held accountable.  Violent conduct isn't just chippiness or grittiness from kids we allegedly don't understand.  There are standards about behavior for soccer across the globe regardless of economic status.  I am about as far left on the political spectrum as they come but no one does these kids any favors by explaining away behavior that should not be tolerated.  Doing so only serves to feed the voracious appetites and arguments on the far right against multi-multiculturalism and increased opportunities for the disadvantaged.

The UMB coach is the same age or even younger than Williamson, unless he had some gaps in his education.  He played at a community college before he moved on, and he has coached community college teams.  His ability to relate to, recruit, and want to coach his UMB kids is laudable.  But there is a responsibility.  If you read the UMB write-up of the Haverford game you can see hints at excusing what happened based on how much Haverford was fouling.   Surely Williamson has been dealing all years with teams trying to slow him down.  At any rate, if for some reason the NCAA doesn't take action then UMB certainly should.  Williamson certainly should not play again this season and probably should never play again at UMB.  The videos of the coach that bloots referenced suggest he is pretty immature, basically goofing his way through every interview.

My understanding -- I think based on posts here -- is that a forfeit was contemplated at the time the ref was head-butted during the game.  Once the game was allowed to continue after consultation with the NCAA I don't see how Haverford could be let back in.  And Mr.Right is RIGHT that Haverford should have closed out the game even if most of us agree the game should have been terminated with Haverford given the win.  Once that didn't happen Haverford had more than 20 minutes to get a goal 11 versus 9.  Once the minutes ticked down and they got to PKs the dynamics obviously then strongly favored UMB.  The beneficiary is Tufts.  Can't blame Tufts as they had nothing to do with it, but no we are where we are.

As a brief editorial note, it's truly amazing how on edge everyone in the country is to the extent that we can see and feel it even on a  D3 soccer site.  I see it at work everyday where perceptions of the world (and factions of people) could not be further apart, we see it on the news, we see it in the surging hate crimes since the election, and we see flares here.  Interesting (and troubling) times.

[Mr.Right]

I am not defending UMB's antics at all. I do not believe they will be forced to forfeit because it is to late...I do believe the coach should be suspended or even fired.

My main point is that it is very ironic that we have former Amherst players being the first to comment on this teams antics and the antics of their bench. They have the least amount of credibility on this issue and BTW................. there is a HUGE difference at a player throwing a ball FULL SPEED into a players sternum(He could have been killed) then drop kicking a ball into another player(while absolutely stupid he could not have been killed)....I am commenting on the game live and did not get a chance to see full blown replays and zoom-ins.