2021 Game Notes

[Hopkins92]

Wheaton V Rutgers Newark
Newark
Bias? – The camera angle is making this unwatchable.
Link – Men's Soccer vs Wheaton - YouTube

   Sorry, I can't watch.  Recording from field level.
   Wheaton 0, Rutgers Newark 1
   12 minutes

Top notch of the line

[SimpleCoach]

Connecticut v Mitchell
Mitchell
Bias? – Watched one multiple times and didn't know the other was a college.
Link – Think I am figuring out this LINK thing

   Don't think this is a marquee matchup, but a number of folks thinks I need to keep looking at Connecticut as a nationally ranked team, or at least than 19th, where I have them ranked.
   Mitchell already playing with fire with playing it out of the back against Conn.  Not that they aren't doing well, but they are doing this just outside their 18.  Conn has pressed and recovered the ball and has gotten into dangerous spaces.
   Conn is all over Mitchell.  Don't think Mitchell has crossed midfield.
   Have to give Mitchell credit.  Conn is the much better team.  Would have been easy for the Mitchell coach to have told his guys to just launch the ball out.  But no, they are actually trying to connect out of the back.  Conn is not giving them any room to breath, and maybe Mitchell knows this is a game where they don't really have a chance, but I like that they are working the ball in very tight space and trying to get out without breaking out the Good Kick.  They will be the better team for it.
   Conn is having difficulty breaking Mitchell down. They are getting into the area but it's so congested.  If I were the Conn coach, I would spend some time moving the ball around to draw them out.
   Mitchell tries to break out, but they don't have anyone up top to get the ball to.
   20 minutes in and Connecticut Keeper just touched the ball for the first time.
   Conn is very imprecise once they get to the 18.  Wild shots, not setting anyone up, lacking depth in the attack, forcing passes.  Makes it easy for Mitchell to defend.
   And like that Mitchell commits a foul in the box and Connecticut is awarded a PK.  Was a bit of a scrum, but clearly the Conn player was tripped up.  Connecticut#12 steps up to take it and buries it to the Mitchell Keepers left.  Connecticut 1, Mitchell 0
   Mitchell just too inaccurate with their passing, especially when they finally get on the attack.
   The amount of opportunities Conn is having, I would have expected more  goals than just one coming from a PK.
   When Conn keeps the ball moving quickly, Mitchell is no match.
   Halftime.  Connecticut 1, Mitchell 0.  Not much to say really.  Mitchell is out matched, but thought Conn would have scored more.
   Am out.

[ConnAlum]

Appreciate the Conn analysis, Simplecoach. If you have time to catch Otterbein v. Wilmington tonight that will be the best game to watch all day imo.

[SimpleCoach]

Appreciate the Conn analysis, Simplecoach. If you have time to catch Otterbein v. Wilmington tonight that will be the best game to watch all day imo.

It's on the list of games I need to watch. 

[Mr.Right]

If you look deeper into the boxscore Conn was playing with 11 reserves. 3rd game in 5 days against an 0-10-3 MItchell. This Win is a Loss for their OWP and it will take the Tufts match just to even out the OWP

[SimpleCoach]

If you look deeper into the boxscore Conn was playing with 11 reserves. 3rd game in 5 days against an 0-10-3 MItchell. This Win is a Loss for their OWP and it will take the Tufts match just to even out the OWP

I figured as much.  It didn't look like the same team.  I don't know the players, but did notice that I didnt recognize most of the players I had watched in previous games.

[SimpleCoach]

Franklin & Marshall v Haverford
Haverford
Bias? – One does not play soccer, the other tries.
Link Look at that, another game link

   Corner for F&M 1 minute into the game.  Ball is sent far post in the six.  Haverford Keeper goes up for the ball .... And it goes right through his hand.  F&M player right there to head the ball into the back of the net.  Franklin & Marshall 1, Haverford 0.
   Am only 5 minutes in and don't think I can watch much longer.  My eyes are bleeding.
   How can I explain this game?  Run, run, kick, kick harder, header, kick, throw in.  That sums it up.
   I think Haverford tries to play, but F&M is a destroyer of the game.
   I think the F&M coaching staff is responsible for an egregious dereliction of  duty.  This is not soccer what they pretend to play.  This is more akin to the ancient Mayan game of Pok Ta Pok.  Think any mention of the game of soccer should be removed from their website. 
   If Haverford can be quicker on the ball, they should know that and F&M player is going to press them and dive in, they should learn to use that momentum against them.
   Starting to see some nice Haverford combinations.  Sorry, can't see the numbers to highlight players.
   After the goal Haverford has learned to settle the ball down and deal with F&M's Neanderthal ball.
   I feel dirty even for ranking Franklin & Marshall in any poll, and may even go so far as to not ... on principal.
   F&M does not make subs to change the dynamic of their play.  They make subs to because someone is not running enough.  I find it amusing considering all the spam the coaches send out about how they like to play.  And yes, it is officially spam for me.    No better than the emails I get from that Nigerian Prince who wants to give me 5 million dollars in exchange for my help.
   Haverford tries to move the ball on the ground, but the pressure makes them cough it up.  They need to be quicker at shifting the point of attack.
   The way F&M plays, they chase to the ball.  Proximity to the ball is what matters.  So they play as a team very concentrated around the ball.  If I were the Haverford coach I would purposely go side to side for a while, and quickly, just to have them chase and open up the field and spread F&M out.
   F&M does not have midfielders, they have field goal kickers.
   Haverford just had they first real play on goal, went wide, but it was a series of good one touch passes that catches F&M out of synch because they chase the ball instead of marking the man.
   16 minutes left.
   I know they don't win but I am rooting for Haverford.
   Another great opportunity for Haverford on a set play and the keeper comes up with the save.
   And this is how you have to play to beat the F&M Swarming Bees.  Ball gets cleared out by the F&M defender (What else did you expect?) and one of Haverford's center backs gets the ball in Haverford's half.  Takes a touch around a on rushing F&M bee and puts a pass to midfielder at the middle stripe.  Takes a touch and since the F&M midfield had stepped up high to chase the original ball, the Haverford outside back makes the run down the line and receives the ball on the run just past midfield.  He one touches a pass to a midfielder further up the field, with 15 yards from the nearest F&M bee, takes a touch and slots a ball between the F&M center and outside bees.  Again, F&M spends more time focused on the ball than the man.  The Haverford center forward runs between the two center backs and slots it past the F&M Keeper who comes off his line.  Franklin & Marshall 1, Haverford 1.
   There are 12 minutes left.  I am happy Haverford leveled, but I can't punish myself anymore.  I think I am going to lodge a complaint against F&M to the UN Human Rights Council.  No soccer loving fan or player should be exposed to this sort of thing.

[Hopkins92]

That's glorious. Pok Ta Pok? Hilarious.

[Maine Soccer Fan]

I'm a beekeeper and a soccer fan. I think you've done a disservice to bees by comparing F&M to them. Bees give us a honey and pollinate our fruit trees!

F&M gives us Neanderthal ball. Maybe hornets is a more apt comparison?

Be thankful you don't live in NESCAC land.

[Ejay]

What's sad is that Wagner's resume is outstanding and I'm sure has many recruits and their parents salivating...

3 year captain at Messiah
Three-time NSCAA/Adidas Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year
Second All-Time in Centennial Conference Wins
Four NCAA Sweet 16 Appearances
Two NCAA Elite Eight Appearances
Sixteen Straight Winning Seasons
Coached 10 All-Americans, Three CC Players of the Year, One National Defender of the Year

[Hopkins92]

I've said it elsewhere this week: You can play this system in American high school and college ball. If you were limited to 5 subs per game, you simply couldn't sustain that style of play. You don't need All Americans or All Conference players to run around with your hair on fire for 15-20 minutes.

I watched just about that entire game and Haverford are a bit unlucky to not get a result. That said, you have to finish for that system to work and F&M definitely has guys with a nose for the goal. They just do what they need to win, very consistently.

[Centennial1]

Franklin & Marshall v Haverford

   I think the F&M coaching staff is responsible for an egregious dereliction of  duty.  This is not soccer what they pretend to play.  This is more akin to the ancient Mayan game of Pok Ta Pok.

Quote of the day.

    I think I am going to lodge a complaint against F&M to the UN Human Rights Council.  No soccer loving fan or player should be exposed to this sort of thing.

Wait a minute, are you suggesting that the F&M coaching staff is responsible for the collapse of Mayan civilization? I think you are!

I think I agree!

[SimpleCoach]

What's sad is that Wagner's resume is outstanding and I'm sure has many recruits and their parents salivating...

3 year captain at Messiah
Three-time NSCAA/Adidas Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year
Second All-Time in Centennial Conference Wins
Four NCAA Sweet 16 Appearances
Two NCAA Elite Eight Appearances
Sixteen Straight Winning Seasons
Coached 10 All-Americans, Three CC Players of the Year, One National Defender of the Year

As far as I am concerned, that's the equivalent of the offer I got from the Nigerian Prince-in-Exile.

[SimpleCoach]

I'm a beekeeper and a soccer fan. I think you've done a disservice to bees by comparing F&M to them. Bees give us a honey and pollinate our fruit trees!

F&M gives us Neanderthal ball. Maybe hornets is a more apt comparison?

Be thankful you don't live in NESCAC land.

I beg forgiveness of Bee's.  I promise to do better.

[SimpleCoach]

Otterbein v Wilmington
Wilmington
Bias? – Watched both a number of times.
Link – got this LINK thing down pat.

   OAC contest.
   Oh my gosh.  18 seconds in and Otterbein scores.  Ball out to the wing.  Typical, Wilmington defenders are more focused on the ball, and don't pick up the player running down the wing, who receives a pass and puts it across.  Puts it behind defenders and big Otterbein#9(?) hits it far post.  Otterbein 1, Wilmington 0.
   Double oh my gosh.  Wilmington levels.  Ball out wide and is floated in to the 12.  Wilmington#6? Out jumps his defender Otterbein#12 and gets on the end of cross.  Header floats to the near post.  Otterbein Keeper could only watch.  Otterbein 1, Wilmington 1.
   Both teams seem pretty evenly matched.  Otterbein is definitely looking to get the ball to the fee of big Otterbein#7 so he can hold it up and drop it back to a midfielder.  He is good at that.  Wilmington seems to have a more balanced attack and doesn't mind getting the ball out wide on either side, but does prefer the left.
   Both teams have had an opportunity on goal that easily could have made it a 2-2 game.
   Feel like this game is a just reward for watching the ritual sacrifice of soccer that F&M performed against Haverford.
   Neither defense has figured out how to stop the other from getting to the 18.
   Otterbein shows a little more patience with the ball.  Wilmington tends to jet forward.
   Otterbein needs to be less casual in the back.  Otterbein#12? Got stripped of the ball.  Wilmington forward took the ball and hit it off the post.  Should have been another goal.
   Wilmington#6? is a heck of midfielder.  Vazquez?  Sorry, Wilmington #s are hard to decipher.
   Otterbein has some players that make set pieces dangerous.  Someone is always on the end of the ball that is delivered.
   This is a very good game of soccer.  I could quibble with some judgement errors and choices of what players make, but credit to both teams.
   Wilmington#23, right winger, is a handful when he gets the ball to feet.
   Silly foul leads to a free kick on the sideline about 25 yards from the end line.  In swinger.  Not sure what the Wilmington defense was doing, but the ball is floated near post where two Otterbein players are running with their defenders behind them.  Keeper is frozen in his spot.  Looks like it was an own goal on a deflection by Wilmington#42?, who also kept, I think, the Otterbein players onside.  Apparently they did not touch the ball, since the player who is awarded the goal was Otterbein#6?.  Otterbein 2, Wilmington 1.
   And halftime.  Otterbein 2, Wilmington 1.  Entertaining with some good play by both sides.  My faith in humanity has been restored.