2021 Game Notes

[backheel18]

Again, my bad, that first sentence was more of an aside and the rest of the post was what I was invested in.  And even in that first sentence, the key part was the there are more factors to consider than beautiful soccer.  And I thought you didn't watch basketball!  Anyway, sure, other sports have styles of play like bball that fans sometimes like or don't like...but imo soccer is unique in the extent to which "beauty" and "playing the right way, etc. can dominate the focus.

Any thoughts on the rest of that post?  I obviously trying to underscore that imo there are more factors to consider relative to the wisdom of changing sub rules.

My thoughts on the overwhelming number of small colleges in this country, and the need many of them have to create oversized rosters of sports teams to keep the doors open, would not be very popular on these boards.

May not be popular, but it is the unfortunate truth.

[PaulNewman]

Again, my bad, that first sentence was more of an aside and the rest of the post was what I was invested in.  And even in that first sentence, the key part was the there are more factors to consider than beautiful soccer.  And I thought you didn't watch basketball!  Anyway, sure, other sports have styles of play like bball that fans sometimes like or don't like...but imo soccer is unique in the extent to which "beauty" and "playing the right way, etc. can dominate the focus.

Any thoughts on the rest of that post?  I obviously trying to underscore that imo there are more factors to consider relative to the wisdom of changing sub rules.

My thoughts on the overwhelming number of small colleges in this country, and the need many of them have to create oversized rosters of sports teams to keep the doors open, would not be very popular on these boards.

LOL, you're just not gonna let me get the W.  I'm guessing you don't think W&L should close its doors, and I'm contending that W&L soccer would not be better off with more restrictive sub rules (or Messiah/Tufts/Chicago/Amherst/Williams).  But I concede. 

[jknezek]

Again, my bad, that first sentence was more of an aside and the rest of the post was what I was invested in.  And even in that first sentence, the key part was the there are more factors to consider than beautiful soccer.  And I thought you didn't watch basketball!  Anyway, sure, other sports have styles of play like bball that fans sometimes like or don't like...but imo soccer is unique in the extent to which "beauty" and "playing the right way, etc. can dominate the focus.

Any thoughts on the rest of that post?  I obviously trying to underscore that imo there are more factors to consider relative to the wisdom of changing sub rules.

My thoughts on the overwhelming number of small colleges in this country, and the need many of them have to create oversized rosters of sports teams to keep the doors open, would not be very popular on these boards.

LOL, you're just not gonna let me get the W.  I'm guessing you don't think W&L should close its doors, and I'm contending that W&L soccer would not be better off with more restrictive sub rules (or Messiah/Tufts/Chicago/Amherst/Williams).  But I concede.

In the end, I care little about what the sport does for the college. Sports should be a sideshow, not the enrollment driver they became. As for the sub rules, I care a great deal about how soccer is taught and played, I care very little for it's potential to land and keep students paying enrollment.

As a youth I was on a few select teams where I was the 16th, 17th, 18th player. I was just good enough to make the teams, not good enough to play much. But I still played, I still tried to get better and crack the line up, and I still enjoyed it.

Coach P. did me a favor pointing me to other activities at W&L. That is what I remember, and am thankful to him, for the most. I wasn't a transfer risk because I wasn't at W&L to play soccer. I was there because it was the best school I got in to and I wanted the degree for the rest of my life.

[PaulNewman]

Yeah, as a last clarification for anyone who may be following this (as you're seizing on things I wrote ancillary to my primary points), I'm not one of the posters focused on recruitment and retention.  I'm on record (at my own risk) of not being a fan of super-large rosters.  I only included that because I know a number of others find that important in terms of the solvency of the schools they love.  Not unsympathetic but not my issue.  I was going to Davidson (or W&L) whether I played tennis or not.  My kid was going to Kenyon or Colby whether he played soccer or not.  Apparently we just very strongly disagree about whether D3 soccer does or should play any significant role in the state of soccer at large and in the USA.  If D3 soccer reflects progress in the quality of youth soccer and training and is a beneficiary therein, that's great, but I don't believe that D3 soccer has any responsibility at all for being an originator or source of that progress.  And we disagree about whether sub rules have any significant impact on the state of play in D3 or otherwise, or whether the impact, even if there is one, is substantial enough to override the high negatives of limiting the # of subs allowed and getting rid of one re-entry.  I do care about students having as rich a college experience as possible, including athletics if they so choose, and not as a sideshow but as an elective, yet valuable part of the experience, and I see no compelling argument for professionalizing D3 athletics or for making D3 an extension of the professionalization in the Academy model.  I don't care much about what soccer does for the school.  I care about what being part of it does for the person (and selfishly whether I'm happy at the end of the season).  With extremely rare exceptions, if you're choosing D3 you're choosing a terminal career with soccer. The idea that Bates College with a typical roster of 25-28 players would have to limit itself to 3 subs, and only on a very limited basis given a lack of re-entry, is appalling to me.  Imo that's a recipe for program failure and not just a few unhappy kids.  I see in a quick google search that there is extensive pressure to make a move to 5 subs (from 3) permanent at the highest professional levels across Europe and England.  All that said, I will totally concede that the state of soccer and its future in the USA are not things I spend a second worrying about, and that is tangential to the fact that I do wholeheartedly appreciate "good soccer." 

[SimpleCoach]

In an effort to get this discussion back on track, and at the risk of being somewhat simplistic ... Soccer is good.

Will be trying to get to as many games as I can today.

Games on the docket for today -

• La Verne v Claremont Mudd Scripps
• Chicago v North Park
• Susquehanna v Catholic
• Moravian v Scranton
• St. Olaf v Concordia Moorhead
• Randolph Macon v Washington & Lee
• Tufts v Connecticut

Look at that... made a list. If I should add any games to this, please let me know.  Happy to.

[PaulNewman]

Not sure how you can watch so many, so please consider optional or pick a couple out of these...

Western CT vs UMass-Boston 12:00

MIT- Babson 1:00

Hobart-Vassar 3:00

Montclair-Rowan (classic Jersey streetfight) 7:00

Wabash-OWU 7:00

Calvin-Hope 7:00

Carthage-Dubuque 7:00 (Dubuque most of us know little about and they are surging)

[Ejay]

In an effort to get this discussion back on track, and at the risk of being somewhat simplistic ... Soccer is good.

Will be trying to get to as many games as I can today.

Games on the docket for today -

• La Verne v Claremont Mudd Scripps
• Chicago v North Park
• Susquehanna v Catholic
• Moravian v Scranton
• St. Olaf v Concordia Moorhead
• Randolph Macon v Washington & Lee
• Tufts v Connecticut

Look at that... made a list. If I should add any games to this, please let me know.  Happy to.

MId-Atlantic games you didn't list that have massive playoff implications:
Gettysburg - Haverford
F&M - Ursinus
Drew - Elizabethtown
Alvernia-Stevenson
Eastern-York
Lycoming-DeSales

[fishercats]

+1 for reviews of

Calvin v Hope
North Point v Chicago

[Gregory Sager]

+1 for reviews of

Calvin v Hope
North Point v Chicago

An outright bribe! I like it!

[SimpleCoach]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  There is only one game that I am hesitant to watch ... and it is now a matter of principle ... F&M v Ursinus ... but will watch for the sake of Ursinus.

[PaulNewman]

SC, you are incredibly accommodating.  You keep getting requests to do more, to add this or that, etc...the Karl Malone of D3 soccer...always deliver.  I'm half-expecting to wake up one morning and someone's asked you if you would mind picking up their dry cleaning lol.

So, I'm assuming it's strategic or simply pragmatic, but your protocol seems to be watching 1st halves and then moving on to the next tilt, and so many of the higher profile, more competitive games are often 0-0 at the break.  Wonder what would happen if you watched more 2nd halves as opposed to first halves.

[SimpleCoach]

SC, you are incredibly accommodating.  You keep getting requests to do more, to add this or that, etc...the Karl Malone of D3 soccer...always deliver.  I'm half-expecting to wake up one morning and someone's asked you if you would mind picking up their dry cleaning lol.

So, I'm assuming it's strategic or simply pragmatic, but your protocol seems to be watching 1st halves and then moving on to the next tilt, and so many of the higher profile, more competitive games are often 0-0 at the break.  Wonder what would happen if you watched more 2nd halves as opposed to first halves.

@PaulNewman, you are too kind.  I have 14 games for today now.  And I've had multiple UberEats requests, but no dry cleaning!

My watching is purely pragmatic at this point.  At some point, maybe starting next week, and definitely in the league and NCAA playoffs, I am going to start doing full games, but fewer.  I kind of have a good idea of how everyone plays, and have a lot of validated data in my pass ratio analysis that I can start "enjoying" games rather than plod through some of them.   

[SimpleCoach]

In case anyone cares, other than me, from a pass ratio perspective on 153 games to date ....

ALL AVERAGE - 153   
Passes   39
Bad Passes   9
Pass Ratio (Passes:Bad Passes)   4.45
Attack Ratio   35%
Passes per Minute   3.9

To give you some perspective.  Highest ranked team, of course, is Messiah with a 7.64:1 pass ratio.  The team that "Builds from the Front" ... Franklin & Marshall has a pass ratio of 3.76:1.  Maybe not a surprise, Amherst is even a sadder example of this exercise ... with a 2.55:1 pass ratio.

By end of today, will be adding roughly another 25 games to the spreadsheet.  I don't expect any real impact on the averages.  Maybe at the end of the season, if I can figure out a way, I will post a link to the spreadsheet.

[SimpleCoach]

Franklin & Marshall v Ursinus
Ursinus
Bias? – I am not a fan of Building from the Front.  And bears scare me.
Link – Pennsylvania Amish/Mennonite Death Match

   I am dreading this game.  So, looking forward to seeing F&Ms midfield play through the middle.
   I mean, the first pass F&M had was back to the keeper and it was so poor the F&M Keeper had to dive/slide to get to it so he could clear it out of bounds.
   I will try very hard not to be sarcastic.
   Ursinus seems to have a game plan of not backing down to F&M.
   F&M looks to spring F&M#12 down the middle.  F&M #41 is dangerous on the right wing.  Kid can play.
   What?  Referee just gave an Ursinus player a red card.  Not sure I am understanding?  5 minutes in.  F&M can now play the way they want.
   And they still can't connect.
   Ursinus has an uphill battle on this one.
   I saw a couple of Ursinus players go down in the box, and right after the one player got the red card.  Not sure if it had to do with that, or what was said.
   I am not counting passes in this game.  Between video and how much the ball is in the air, I've given up.
   I am theorizing here.  What if you played 3 in the back, 3 in the middle, and 4 up top?  The 4 up top mark man to man, then go mano a mano everywhere else.  Play like this against F&M.
   Being a man up, am surprised at how few chances F&M has created.  Everything is about springing F&M#12.  And they have yet to accomplish that.  25 left in the half.
   F&M definitely has more of the possession.  Ursinus is defending tight and trying to get forward.  They do have to be careful on the fouls.  Already a number of cards.  They may end up 2 men down.
   Ursinus just got away with a bad header back to goal that got picked off.  Open goal F&M#12 got the pass to score and he mi**** it wide.  I have a theory.  If you don't work on connecting in practice, you don't know how to connect with the ball.
   Am not sure Ursinus can hold out like this, unless F&M just continues to be so careless with the pass while building from the front.  And they have already made a number of mistakes in the back that they have been lucky not being punished for.
   Halftime.  Scoreless. 

[tjcummingsfan]

I was baffled by that Red as well, but in the box score it looks like it was a second yellow.  I'm still not sure what it was for.

And I had the same thoughts about F&M's playing style, it really didn't matter much that they were up a man and kept their same style... and the result showed it.  They eked out a 1-0 win, scoring on a header off a throw in.