2017 Season - National Perspective

[firstplaceloser]

sad part is rowan was giving it to them and messiah was worried. messiah refuses to play balls in behind and just let themselves get pressed and rowan capitalized. rowan with doherty awake is an entire different team than doherty quiet on the field. first half and second half were a different rowan teams. messiah has definitely lost that elienstatus and just play good soccer. #6 for amessiah best player on the field. rarely turned the ball over and controlled the game. probably best midfielder in the nation right now.

[Ejay]

sad part is rowan was giving it to them and messiah was worried. messiah refuses to play balls in behind and just let themselves get pressed and rowan capitalized. rowan with doherty awake is an entire different team than doherty quiet on the field. first half and second half were a different rowan teams. messiah has definitely lost that elienstatus and just play good soccer. #6 for amessiah best player on the field. rarely turned the ball over and controlled the game. probably best midfielder in the nation right now.

I agree - 2nd half was a different story.  As I predicted at HT, Rowan came out pressing. Made a big difference. And Messiah, like so many possession teams, simply refuses to shoot the damn ball.

[rudy]

sad part is rowan was giving it to them and messiah was worried. messiah refuses to play balls in behind and just let themselves get pressed and rowan capitalized. rowan with doherty awake is an entire different team than doherty quiet on the field. first half and second half were a different rowan teams. messiah has definitely lost that elienstatus and just play good soccer. #6 for amessiah best player on the field. rarely turned the ball over and controlled the game. probably best midfielder in the nation right now.

I agree - 2nd half was a different story.  As I predicted at HT, Rowan came out pressing. Made a big difference. And Messiah, like so many possession teams, simply refuses to shoot the damn ball.

Messiah outshot Rowan 16-14. So i guess Rowan also refuses to shoot the ball? I don't understand the criticism. Rowan is a top 20 team..regardless of polls. Going on the road to play them should be a tough game. Messiah dominated first half and Rowan had the better play in second half. Both goals for Rowan were not in the run of play...a free kick goal and a throw in with nifty flick and goal. Any team would be challenged to go beat Rowan on their home turf. I'd give both teams credit for giving it all they had and expect both teams to be in the tournament when all is said and done.

[truenorth]

I'm curious...how does anyone have a crystal ball and know that a specific player...let alone a specific team...is the "best in the nation" among over 200 teams and over 5,000 D3 players?

[firstplaceloser]

I'm curious...how does anyone have a crystal ball and know that a specific player...let alone a specific team...is the "best in the nation" among over 200 teams and over 5,000 D3 players?

playing your whole life and coaching and competing at the highest level of D3 soccer and watching my fair share of D3 games this year (so far) i think i can accurately pick a player to be one of the best players in the nation at his position. he's a division one athlete and soccer player. it's that simple.

[firstplaceloser]

sad part is rowan was giving it to them and messiah was worried. messiah refuses to play balls in behind and just let themselves get pressed and rowan capitalized. rowan with doherty awake is an entire different team than doherty quiet on the field. first half and second half were a different rowan teams. messiah has definitely lost that elienstatus and just play good soccer. #6 for amessiah best player on the field. rarely turned the ball over and controlled the game. probably best midfielder in the nation right now.

I agree - 2nd half was a different story.  As I predicted at HT, Rowan came out pressing. Made a big difference. And Messiah, like so many possession teams, simply refuses to shoot the damn ball.

Messiah outshot Rowan 16-14. So i guess Rowan also refuses to shoot the ball? I don't understand the criticism. Rowan is a top 20 team..regardless of polls. Going on the road to play them should be a tough game. Messiah dominated first half and Rowan had the better play in second half. Both goals for Rowan were not in the run of play...a free kick goal and a throw in with nifty flick and goal. Any team would be challenged to go beat Rowan on their home turf. I'd give both teams credit for giving it all they had and expect both teams to be in the tournament when all is said and done.

i don't think we were really criticizing anyone of the teams. just giving our honest outlook from being at the game. they are both top 10 teams(my crystal ball just told me). messiah just doesn't take many risks which is fine but they let rowan press them in the second half which put them
on their heels. i wouldn't be surprised if this was a sweet 16 elite 8 matchup

[Ejay]

I'm shocked Messiah had 16 shots, but if that's the case, they should have had 30.  Way too many times they were in the box and tried to play one extra pass.  Too much ticky tack inside the 18. Their left wing or MF (#11 maybe?) had several opportunities to shoot but frequently turned it around to restart.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity (TX) record home winning streak comes to a shocking end tonight as they lose an OT tilt to the University of Dallas, 3-2. Chima Ogueri had a brace and scored the winner on a breakaway.

[Falconer]

I'm curious...how does anyone have a crystal ball and know that a specific player...let alone a specific team...is the "best in the nation" among over 200 teams and over 5,000 D3 players?

playing your whole life and coaching and competing at the highest level of D3 soccer and watching my fair share of D3 games this year (so far) i think i can accurately pick a player to be one of the best players in the nation at his position. he's a division one athlete and soccer player. it's that simple.

The player in question, JR MF Samuel Ruiz Plaza, is indeed the most highly skilled Falcon on this year's roster. I can't say whether he was the best player on the field today, since I was unable to get the stream to work at all. However, in the games I did see this year he has been the dominant player, and last year (on those rare occasions when he played healthy) he was often the dominant player, though on several occasions it was D3 POY Jacob Bender, who was IMO perhaps the greatest all-around player in Falcon history. Plaza is also a two-way player. Last year vs Etown he marked Gilbert Waso, who is probably the most dangerous player in the region, and pretty much took Waso out of the game.

And yes, Plaza is a D1 level player, though not the only one on the roster. He was a regional HS AA and All-Midwest as well. He doesn't have the size to be target or the speed to be a winger, but his ball skills are high level and his motor also. The Falcon most like him in recent years is Brian Ramirez, who might have been the best overall player on the most recent great Falcon teams. Ramirez was more dangerous on free kicks, but otherwise they are about even. Ramirez has been playing professionally in Sweden and Guatemala: https://twitter.com/bxila

[firstplaceloser]

I'm curious...how does anyone have a crystal ball and know that a specific player...let alone a specific team...is the "best in the nation" among over 200 teams and over 5,000 D3 players?

playing your whole life and coaching and competing at the highest level of D3 soccer and watching my fair share of D3 games this year (so far) i think i can accurately pick a player to be one of the best players in the nation at his position. he's a division one athlete and soccer player. it's that simple.

The player in question, JR MF Samuel Ruiz Plaza, is indeed the most highly skilled Falcon on this year's roster. I can't say whether he was the best player on the field today, since I was unable to get the stream to work at all. However, in the games I did see this year he has been the dominant player, and last year (on those rare occasions when he played healthy) he was often the dominant player, though on several occasions it was D3 POY Jacob Bender, who was IMO perhaps the greatest all-around player in Falcon history. Plaza is also a two-way player. Last year vs Etown he marked Gilbert Waso, who is probably the most dangerous player in the region, and pretty much took Waso out of the game.

And yes, Plaza is a D1 level player, though not the only one on the roster. He was a regional HS AA and All-Midwest as well. He doesn't have the size to be target or the speed to be a winger, but his ball skills are high level and his motor also. The Falcon most like him in recent years is Brian Ramirez, who might have been the best overall player on the most recent great Falcon teams. Ramirez was more dangerous on free kicks, but otherwise they are about even. Ramirez has been playing professionally in Sweden and Guatemala: https://twitter.com/bxila

couldn't have said it any better. i know talent when i see it and that kid is legit

[Falconer]

I'm shocked Messiah had 16 shots, but if that's the case, they should have had 30.  Way too many times they were in the box and tried to play one extra pass.  Too much ticky tack inside the 18. Their left wing or MF (#11 maybe?) had several opportunities to shoot but frequently turned it around to restart.

Since I didn't see the game, I can't comment on how they looked tonight. However, the tendency to over-pass is a core Falcon affliction, not just this year but in many other years as well. The shots not taken that I most often notice are open ones from just outside the box, not inside the box. Several players have the ability to bury those, but for some reason will look for someone else closer to the goal who might not be open. A frustrating thing to watch from the stands. Nothing bad can happen when you take those, so why not?

[firstplaceloser]

I'm shocked Messiah had 16 shots, but if that's the case, they should have had 30.  Way too many times they were in the box and tried to play one extra pass.  Too much ticky tack inside the 18. Their left wing or MF (#11 maybe?) had several opportunities to shoot but frequently turned it around to restart.

Since I didn't see the game, I can't comment on how they looked tonight. However, the tendency to over-pass is a core Falcon affliction, not just this year but in many other years as well. The shots not taken that I most often notice are open ones from just outside the box, not inside the box. Several players have the ability to bury those, but for some reason will look for someone else closer to the goal who might not be open. A frustrating thing to watch from the stands. Nothing bad can happen when you take those, so why not?

Perfect example was when Ramirez took that shot in the 2013 final and it deflected off our defenders head and in. have to shoot whenever it's open

[Mr.Right]

Trinity (TX) record home winning streak comes to a shocking end tonight as they lose an OT tilt to the University of Dallas, 3-2. Chima Ogueri had a brace and scored the winner on a breakaway.

That's a Pool C berth gone. Didn't Dallas beat Trinity once a year or 2 ago and had a 1-0-0 RvR and snatched a Pool C out of the West. People were complaining that they got a Pool C with only 1 game v ranked.

[rudy]

I'm shocked Messiah had 16 shots, but if that's the case, they should have had 30.  Way too many times they were in the box and tried to play one extra pass.  Too much ticky tack inside the 18. Their left wing or MF (#11 maybe?) had several opportunities to shoot but frequently turned it around to restart.

Fair assessment. But I have seen many teams just take shots that have  very low percentage chance of scoring on so sometimes being patient and looking for a better shot is not a bad thing. 

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity (TX) record home winning streak comes to a shocking end tonight as they lose an OT tilt to the University of Dallas, 3-2. Chima Ogueri had a brace and scored the winner on a breakaway.

That's a Pool C berth gone. Didn't Dallas beat Trinity once a year or 2 ago and had a 1-0-0 RvR and snatched a Pool C out of the West. People were complaining that they got a Pool C with only 1 game v ranked.

They did defeat Trinity on their home turf two years ago but their body of work (8-8-2) didn't qualify them for a Pool C.   Colorado College in 2012 was the last SCAC team to be awarded a Pool C (despite losing in the second round of the conference championships) but they didn't defeat Trinity that season.

First home loss for Trinity since 2013, btw.