Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Bearcat Press]

Thanks for the very helpful information (and confirming that someone else is reading this thread).  I've been keeping tabs on the Northwest Conference because they generally play a few California teams each year, but I'm a little more plugged in to the SCIAC.

Willamette tied Puget Sound 0-0 and Pacific Lutheran beat Linfield 4-0 on Sunday.  They switch opponents on 11/5.  One would think Willamette has the upper-hand since are playing the weaker Linfield squad, who they beat 4-1 earlier in the season, but Pacific Lutheran beat Puget Sound 4-0 earlier in the season and Linfield has been known to frustrate stronger opponents, like when they beat Whitman 1-0.

On paper, Willamette is much better than Linfield, but Bearcats/Wildcats is a heated rivalry no matter what the sport, plus it'll be senior day in McMinnville.  I wouldn't be at all shocked to see it come down to the wire.

As an alum from a time when Willamette was consistently the worst team in the NWC, it's been very fun to watch the program slowly, steadily get built up over the past decade into a consistent contender. I really hope they can finish it off this weekend.

[Kuiper]

At 2:30 pm (Pacific), LaVerne takes on Pomona-Pitzer in the first game of the SCIAC quarterfinals.  On paper, Pomona-Pitzer is the stronger team, finishing 7-6 overall and 6-5 in conference, while LaVerne was 4-13-2 overall and 3-7-1 in conference.  Nevertheless, LaVerne upset Pomona-Pitzer in their only matchup, 1-0 back on 9/21.  Pomona-Pitzer plays a beautiful passing style when they are on their game and they have creative passing out of the back, particularly from freshman Niclas Ulrich, that they have probably scored some of the best passing sequences for goals in the conference.  Lots of diagonal runs etc.  LaVerne can pass reasonably well, but they've only scored 8 goals in conference all season, compared to 20 for Pomona-Pitzer.

One other curiosity.  SCIAC has updated their standings and they now list the second team in the conference as "TBD" instead of "Occidental"

https://www.thesciac.org/sports/msoc/2022-23/standings

I'm sure it's just a typo, that will be changed by the time anyone checks the standings, but with the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps situation this year, I'm never quite sure.  Maybe Occidental has decided their oil baron namesake has become embarrassing and they are changing their name?  LOL

[Coach Jeff]

At 2:30 pm (Pacific), LaVerne takes on Pomona-Pitzer in the first game of the SCIAC quarterfinals.  On paper, Pomona-Pitzer is the stronger team, finishing 7-6 overall and 6-5 in conference, while LaVerne was 4-13-2 overall and 3-7-1 in conference.  Nevertheless, LaVerne upset Pomona-Pitzer in their only matchup, 1-0 back on 9/21.  Pomona-Pitzer plays a beautiful passing style when they are on their game and they have creative passing out of the back, particularly from freshman Niclas Ulrich, that they have probably scored some of the best passing sequences for goals in the conference.  Lots of diagonal runs etc.  LaVerne can pass reasonably well, but they've only scored 8 goals in conference all season, compared to 20 for Pomona-Pitzer.

One other curiosity.  SCIAC has updated their standings and they now list the second team in the conference as "TBD" instead of "Occidental"

https://www.thesciac.org/sports/msoc/2022-23/standings

instead of TBA to be announced later....maybe it should TBN....to be named 

I'm sure it's just a typo, that will be changed by the time anyone checks the standings, but with the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps situation this year, I'm never quite sure.  Maybe Occidental has decided their oil baron namesake has become embarrassing and they are changing their name?  LOL

[Kuiper]

At 2:30 pm (Pacific), LaVerne takes on Pomona-Pitzer in the first game of the SCIAC quarterfinals.  On paper, Pomona-Pitzer is the stronger team, finishing 7-6 overall and 6-5 in conference, while LaVerne was 4-13-2 overall and 3-7-1 in conference.  Nevertheless, LaVerne upset Pomona-Pitzer in their only matchup, 1-0 back on 9/21.  Pomona-Pitzer plays a beautiful passing style when they are on their game and they have creative passing out of the back, particularly from freshman Niclas Ulrich, that they have probably scored some of the best passing sequences for goals in the conference.  Lots of diagonal runs etc.  LaVerne can pass reasonably well, but they've only scored 8 goals in conference all season, compared to 20 for Pomona-Pitzer.

Tied 1-1 in regulation and going to OT.  LaVerne scored an early goal, beating the GK to the near post (on a shot from the far side of the box where he does have to worry about the far post and likely got beat leaning that way) and then packed it in.  Pomona-Pitzer's goal was on a 1 v. 1 after a great pass on a diagonal run.  Difference in the game has been LaVerne gets to the ball first more often than not and Pomona-Pitzer's passing game requires precision that hasn't always been there.  Apparently, Sean Donovan, one of their regular starters at MF, is injured, so that has hurt them.  If this gets to PKs, LaVerne's keeper might have the edge.  He's made at least two great saves, while Pomona-Pitzer's keeper is a freshman playing in only his second game (which is an interesting situation we saw with Wesleyan and other teams this year).

UPDATE:  Pomona-Pitzer advances on PKs.  They hit all of their kicks and the freshman P-P GK saved one of LaVerne's.  They play at Occidental Friday evening.

[MNBob]

MIAC conf tournament today:
Bethel 1 Carleton 0
Saint John's 1 Macalester 0

Tomorrow:
Saint John's vs Gustavus
Bethel vs St. Olaf

[Kuiper]

Second SCIAC game tonight between Redlands and Cal Lutheran also goes to OT 1-1.  Regulation ended in chaos as a Redlands player was drawn over to the corner flag in defense of a corner kick because the Lutes had two players over there.  One pulled out right before the kick though and the Redlands player was too close and it hit him.  Ref gave him a yellow, which was apparently his second and Redlands will have to play OT down a man.

UPDATE:  Cal Lutheran wins in PKs as their GK, Davis Sharts, saves three shots in the shootout.  They advance to play at Chapman on Friday.

[MNBob]

UPDATE:  Cal Lutheran wins in PKs as their GK, Davis Sharts, saves three shots in the shootout.

That's impressive! Was it more of a case of bad shots or great saves?

[Kuiper]

UPDATE:  Cal Lutheran wins in PKs as their GK, Davis Sharts, saves three shots in the shootout.

That's impressive! Was it more of a case of bad shots or great saves?

All of them were good saves.  One was all the way to the post and he just tipped it around.  The other two were more like 1/3 of the way in and at the right height, which is the GK's sweetspot, but the GK still had to go the right way.  It was an impressive shootout performance.

[PaulNewman]

UPDATE:  Cal Lutheran wins in PKs as their GK, Davis Sharts, saves three shots in the shootout.

That's impressive! Was it more of a case of bad shots or great saves?

All of them were good saves.  One was all the way to the post and he just tipped it around.  The other two were more like 1/3 of the way in and at the right height, which is the GK's sweetspot, but the GK still had to go the right way.  It was an impressive shootout performance.

You just reminded of something I wanted to post last night but didn't want to admit I was watching Redlands @ Cal Lutheran at almost 1:00 am.

Not sure if the right words for the Cal Lutheran announcer are "next level" or "fantastic" or just "wildly entertaining."  He got extremely excited about goals for both teams, but he was almost beside himself as they moved into the PKs...paraphrased, lines like "you can feel the thickness of the tension in the air," "this place is electric," etc.  But the grand moment was immediately after the Cal Lutheran player buried the last PK to win the shootout with a classic Yankees call, ecstatic and probably with tears in his eyes...."Kingsmen WIN!  Kingsmen WIN!  Kingsmen WIN!"  The 75 or so students there stormed the pitch for a raucous celebration.  @Kuiper will know the details, but advancing against Redlands clearly was considered a huge deal for the Kingsmen program.

[PaulNewman]

It's almost like the soccer matters to the teams on the West Coast just as much as teams on the East Coast and in the Midwest.  Who knew??!!!

[MNBob]

MIAC Saint Mary's coach resigns.

[Gregory Sager]

UPDATE:  Cal Lutheran wins in PKs as their GK, Davis Sharts, saves three shots in the shootout.

That's impressive! Was it more of a case of bad shots or great saves?

All of them were good saves.  One was all the way to the post and he just tipped it around.  The other two were more like 1/3 of the way in and at the right height, which is the GK's sweetspot, but the GK still had to go the right way.  It was an impressive shootout performance.

You just reminded of something I wanted to post last night but didn't want to admit I was watching Redlands @ Cal Lutheran at almost 1:00 am.

Not sure if the right words for the Cal Lutheran announcer are "next level" or "fantastic" or just "wildly entertaining."  He got extremely excited about goals for both teams, but he was almost beside himself as they moved into the PKs...paraphrased, lines like "you can feel the thickness of the tension in the air," "this place is electric," etc.  But the grand moment was immediately after the Cal Lutheran player buried the last PK to win the shootout with a classic Yankees call, ecstatic and probably with tears in his eyes...."Kingsmen WIN!  Kingsmen WIN!  Kingsmen WIN!"  The 75 or so students there stormed the pitch for a raucous celebration.  @Kuiper will know the details, but advancing against Redlands clearly was considered a huge deal for the Kingsmen program.

I appreciated the enthusiasm of the CLU student PBP broadcaster, but he needs to step up his game. It didn't bother me that he doesn't have much of a grasp of soccer lingo (every long pass was "a clearance" and every penalty kick in the shootout was "a shootout"), but it did bother me that he didn't identify the Redlands players. He usually called each of them "the Redlands player" and occasionally identified them by number. The task of the PBP announcer is to describe the action on the pitch, and you're not doing it properly if you're not identifying the players involved in that action.

Nobody asks you to memorize the opposing team's entire roster. Simply have an online or printed roster in front of you, and identify the players by looking at it as you go. A soccer game is 90 minutes in duration, so it won't take you that deep into it to learn the names of the opposing team's starters as you identify them by number and (generally) by where they are on the pitch. It typically takes me about 10 minutes of game time before I stop looking at the roster, although I have to start re-checking it once subs come in.

It's not rocket science. But you're not doing your job if you're not identifying the players.

[Hopkins92]

Sorry for the OT, but just wanted to say a couple of things:

* - The guy that called the Hopkins - Dickinson game last night was very good. Clearly not a student-run operation. Special props for pronouncing this guys name properly all night: Will Sangpachatanaruk. And there are some other tricky names on both rosters and he did a good job, not just with numbers but calling players by name regularly. Very professional call and it was clear he was familiar with both teams.

* - I didn't hear it as much last night, but one thing has struck me with guys that don't really know the game that well... Constantly telling me how much time is left in the half/game. Like... I've got a clock/timer right there on my screen. I guess you can give them grace and say they are helping out those listening to just audio, but... Nah.

And I still marvel at how accessible all these games are now. As recently as 2017 (when I started on this board) it was so much more difficult to find the streams and they were often behind a paywall. At this point, it's the rare game at a neutral site that aren't streamed... And of course, there's PayWall U up in New York.

[PaulNewman]

Greg, I had the sound down low until the PKs but I did repeatedly hear him refer to, I suppose generically each time, "a Bulldog" or "the Bulldogs."  I also would have never guessed he was a student PBP guy.  He sounded older to me and like he embraced being "the voice of the Kingsmen."

And yes, the JHU guy was excellent. 

[EnmoreCat]

UPDATE:  Cal Lutheran wins in PKs as their GK, Davis Sharts, saves three shots in the shootout.

That's impressive! Was it more of a case of bad shots or great saves?

All of them were good saves.  One was all the way to the post and he just tipped it around.  The other two were more like 1/3 of the way in and at the right height, which is the GK's sweetspot, but the GK still had to go the right way.  It was an impressive shootout performance.

You just reminded of something I wanted to post last night but didn't want to admit I was watching Redlands @ Cal Lutheran at almost 1:00 am.

Not sure if the right words for the Cal Lutheran announcer are "next level" or "fantastic" or just "wildly entertaining."  He got extremely excited about goals for both teams, but he was almost beside himself as they moved into the PKs...paraphrased, lines like "you can feel the thickness of the tension in the air," "this place is electric," etc.  But the grand moment was immediately after the Cal Lutheran player buried the last PK to win the shootout with a classic Yankees call, ecstatic and probably with tears in his eyes...."Kingsmen WIN!  Kingsmen WIN!  Kingsmen WIN!"  The 75 or so students there stormed the pitch for a raucous celebration.  @Kuiper will know the details, but advancing against Redlands clearly was considered a huge deal for the Kingsmen program.

I appreciated the enthusiasm of the CLU student PBP broadcaster, but he needs to step up his game. It didn't bother me that he doesn't have much of a grasp of soccer lingo (every long pass was "a clearance" and every penalty kick in the shootout was "a shootout"), but it did bother me that he didn't identify the Redlands players. He usually called each of them "the Redlands player" and occasionally identified them by number. The task of the PBP announcer is to describe the action on the pitch, and you're not doing it properly if you're not identifying the players involved in that action.

Nobody asks you to memorize the opposing team's entire roster. Simply have an online or printed roster in front of you, and identify the players by looking at it as you go. A soccer game is 90 minutes in duration, so it won't take you that deep into it to learn the names of the opposing team's starters as you identify them by number and (generally) by where they are on the pitch. It typically takes me about 10 minutes of game time before I stop looking at the roster, although I have to start re-checking it once subs come in.

It's not rocket science. But you're not doing your job if you're not identifying the players.

It gets better when you are  then hoping for decent pronunciation, but don't get it.  Most of the rosters have guides for that, but it may as well be in a foreign language...