2022 Season Game Notes

[Gregory Sager]

The Firebirds seemed to try and get all ten field players behind the ball and give both teams half field before they started to challenge them.  Are they coached to play that way or are they hoping not to lose by too many goals.  Must try to go to goal.  NCAA are encouraging ties but I think this is a mistake to play that way.

Carthage has a new coach this year. This may simply be his style. It's certainly not the way that the Firebirds played under previous head coach Steve Domin.

[Coach Jeff]

Hey all.  New episode of Around D3.  Make a few comments of the sad news out of York College this past week at the end.

Around D3- The Power of Prayer

Thanks @Jknezek and @Christan Shirk for the tie data.

SC.

York Men played very well under the very difficult situation.  Please continue to remember them in your prayers.

[PaulNewman]

Bookstore update....finally got response to my email today...

We don't know for sure when Kenyon College's bookstore first opened for business.  But we have good reason to celebrate the bookstore's 188th birthday today, August 3.  This is the date in 1825 when Philander Chase wrote a letter asserting the need for such a store.  "We must have a bookstore belonging to the Institution," he said.  But the store was more than just a glimmer in his eye.  Chase's letter describes sourcing, shipping, pricing and other business details in terms that are not unfamiliar today.


And also directed me to this...

Finefrock estimates that students come into the bookstore, on average, seven to nine times a day. They'll pop in to play chess, write term papers, meet up with friends, check out the newspapers, and chat with professors. It's a general store, living room, kiosk, unofficial student center, and coffee shop rolled into one. "We're a de facto student union," claims Finefrock. He has been told that the bookstore bears more traffic than a downtown Cleveland office building.

The bookstore wasn't always the campus center that it is today. It has a varied history nearly as long as that of the College. In fact, as reported in Publishers Weekly, the American Booksellers Association recently saluted Kenyon's as the longest continuously-operating college bookstore, and the third-oldest bookstore of any kind, in America. At 172 years of age, the bookstore has never been in better health.

Created after four years of planning, the bookstore was the brainchild of Philander Chase, founder and first president of the College. In a letter dated August 1825, Chase sought funds to establish a bookstore at Kenyon, for, he wrote, "school books cannot be had in our poor country `bookstores.' . . . Is every young man to send hither and thither for a book and perhaps be obliged after all to send to the East before he can be accommodated? Surely not. We must have a bookstore belonging to the Institution . . .," with the profits to support a scholarship fund.

Housed in a log cabin, the bookstore opened in 1829. After several intervening moves, it took up residence in its current, center-campus location in 1968.

The store has been most successful during those eras in which it has sold a broad, if not bewildering, range of merchandise. In the 1860s, for example, a former store manager, one Mr. Putnam, received a letter praising the store's astonishing variety of wares, everything from "squirrel traps to gingham dresses." And books, of course.

Anyone interested in the full text of Philander Chase's 1825 letter to Reverund Boyd, click on link below...

https://digital.kenyon.edu/chase_letters/535/

[Shamrock]

Interesting to consider the challenges that a student faced when attempting to obtain an education on the western edge of the country in the early 1800s.

Where do I get books?

[SimpleCoach]

Connecticut @ Amherst
10.19.2022

-    Conn insists working out of the back, in spite of Amherst pressure.
-  Looks like a windy, chilly day.
-  And a PK is called.  A soft PK against Conn.  I think the call is pretty lame to be honest.
-  And buried to the right of the Conn Keeper.
-  Amherst 1, Connecticut 0
-  15 minutes left in the half.
-  So many forced balls.  For Amherst, that's a tactic, for Connecticut it's a killer.
-  Don't know the back story around the Keeper situation, but Connecticut#1 is a poor decision maker.  Come out or stay.  His distribution.  He is a good shot stopper.
-  I don't understand how Amherst gets away with so much shirt grabbing without a call.
-  Think whatever confidence Connecticut had in reserve from being National Champions is totally gone.  Plays with neither confidence or conviction.
-  For someone who hates tequila, Amherst is the Patron of Tequila.
-  Not sure if this is the game plan, but distribution out of the back consists a lot of launching the ball up to the forward, who invariably does not win the ball.
-  Halftime.
-  Conn needs to hold the ball for stretches and force Amherst to chase for awhile.  They do well in possession.  Start of the 2nd they have held on to the ball for the first 7 minutes.  When they force it they look like an average High School team.
-  Conn doing better forcing Amherst to start deeper because they have to defend.
-  I don't understand the corner that goes to the near post that doesn't get over the first defender.
-  With 25 minutes left, it's devolved back into the game that was played in the first half.  Conn forcing it, and Amherst using its size to defend, and then go on the counter.
-  Certainly an entertaining, hard fought contest now.  Let the bodies hit the floor ...
-  Not the first time I have said this, Amherst Keeper is terribly inconsistent and inaccurate when punting.
-  Seriously, Amherst got lucky.  Playing pulls down Conn#14 when he is on the break.  Make the case that it should have been a red, instead it's a yellow.
-  And on that same play, Keeper comes out on the cross from the free kick... drops it and Conn puts it in the back of the net for the goal. 
-  Amherst 1, Conn 1.
-  This gives me an aneurism seeing this.  He is 6 foot ginormous and can't hold on to the ball, which tells me he didn't have good control of it EVEN if he was knocked, which I am wondering if he was since they really didn't protest or go nuts on it.  This to me is elementary.  It's a decision he made to catch it.  So he should have caught it.  If he decided the traffic was too much so he decided to punch the ball, then punch it to the moon.  He either made the right decision, but failed to execute.  Or made the wrong decision, and cost the team the goal.  Either way it's all on him.   Give me a smart, athletic 6 foot keeper over one who is 6 foot ginormous but can't catch, or doesn't have a mind for the game.
-  So, tweaked by this I am done watching.

[Kuiper]

Connecticut @ Amherst
10.19.2022
-  And on that same play, Keeper comes out on the cross from the free kick... drops it and Conn puts it in the back of the net for the goal. 
-  Amherst 1, Conn 1.
-  This gives me an aneurism seeing this.  He is 6 foot ginormous and can't hold on to the ball, which tells me he didn't have good control of it EVEN if he was knocked, which I am wondering if he was since they really didn't protest or go nuts on it.  This to me is elementary.  It's a decision he made to catch it.  So he should have caught it.  If he decided the traffic was too much so he decided to punch the ball, then punch it to the moon.  He either made the right decision, but failed to execute.  Or made the wrong decision, and cost the team the goal.  Either way it's all on him.   Give me a smart, athletic 6 foot keeper over one who is 6 foot ginormous but can't catch, or doesn't have a mind for the game.
-  So, tweaked by this I am done watching.

Sounds like I didn't need to reference a "Simple Coach-like reaction" in my reference to this play on the NESCAC thread (quoted below).  Simple Coach gave us the real thing!

"That Conn College goal was a classic illustration of why height does not mean a GK is good with balls in the air.  Not sure why the Amherst GK couldn't hold onto the ball.  My guess is @Hopkins92 will have a Simple Coach-like reaction to that one being why his prediction of a Mammoth win didn't come true"

[SimpleCoach]

Connecticut @ Amherst
10.19.2022
-  And on that same play, Keeper comes out on the cross from the free kick... drops it and Conn puts it in the back of the net for the goal. 
-  Amherst 1, Conn 1.
-  This gives me an aneurism seeing this.  He is 6 foot ginormous and can't hold on to the ball, which tells me he didn't have good control of it EVEN if he was knocked, which I am wondering if he was since they really didn't protest or go nuts on it.  This to me is elementary.  It's a decision he made to catch it.  So he should have caught it.  If he decided the traffic was too much so he decided to punch the ball, then punch it to the moon.  He either made the right decision, but failed to execute.  Or made the wrong decision, and cost the team the goal.  Either way it's all on him.   Give me a smart, athletic 6 foot keeper over one who is 6 foot ginormous but can't catch, or doesn't have a mind for the game.
-  So, tweaked by this I am done watching.

Sounds like I didn't need to reference a "Simple Coach-like reaction" in my reference to this play on the NESCAC thread (quoted below).  Simple Coach gave us the real thing!

"That Conn College goal was a classic illustration of why height does not mean a GK is good with balls in the air.  Not sure why the Amherst GK couldn't hold onto the ball.  My guess is @Hopkins92 will have a Simple Coach-like reaction to that one being why his prediction of a Mammoth win didn't come true"

I've always thought that if someone uses your name as a verb, you've made it.  This is close enough for me!

To make matters worse, I may do some analysis on the type of keeper errors and how many teams get scored on as a result.  I have no time for it, but I feel pushed to having to do this to let my mind find some peace....

SC.

[EnmoreCat]

"Seriously, Amherst got lucky.  Playing pulls down Conn#14 when he is on the break.  Make the case that it should have been a red, instead it's a yellow."

You can make the case Simple Coach, but that's all it is and given: (courtesy of the English FA):

The following must be considered:

distance between the offence and the goal: Inside the Amherst half, past the centre circle only, a long way to go
general direction of the play: the ball was going away from goal
likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball: The Conn player didn't have the ball and the much maligned Amherst keeper was at least close enough to potentially clear it
location and number of defenders: There was still one other central defender a little deeper, who could have intercepted the Conn player.

The case doesn't look strong to me at all, but of course in the heat of the moment, people will shout for it.  VAR would have overturned it pretty quickly had the referee given that decision.

Very happy to disclose my vested interest, it was Son of Enmorecat.   I would prefer he doesn't get yellow cards, mainly because I want him to play, but it's an occupational hazard of the position.  He deserved one for that particular incident.    I would guess that parents of central defenders understand this better than most.   

[SimpleCoach]

"Seriously, Amherst got lucky.  Playing pulls down Conn#14 when he is on the break.  Make the case that it should have been a red, instead it's a yellow."

You can make the case Simple Coach, but that's all it is and given: (courtesy of the English FA):

The following must be considered:

distance between the offence and the goal: Inside the Amherst half, past the centre circle only, a long way to go
general direction of the play: the ball was going away from goal
likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball: The Conn player didn't have the ball and the much maligned Amherst keeper was at least close enough to potentially clear it
location and number of defenders: There was still one other central defender a little deeper, who could have intercepted the Conn player.

The case doesn't look strong to me at all, but of course in the heat of the moment, people will shout for it.  VAR would have overturned it pretty quickly had the referee given that decision.

Very happy to disclose my vested interest, it was Son of Enmorecat.   I would prefer he doesn't get yellow cards, mainly because I want him to play, but it's an occupational hazard of the position.  He deserved one for that particular incident.    I would guess that parents of central defenders understand this better than most.

@EnmoreCat.  The issue about what card to issue is debatable certainly.  My point I was making that I didn't explain was that the ball was going away from the defenders, and the forward was beyond your son.  Now don't get me wrong.  Not blaming your son for the foul or suggesting it was robbery.  That was a play that had the potential to be very dangerous, and taking him down at the speed of play was a smart move.  As you say, sometimes in that position you are called to make those decisions.  As you say, an occupational hazard.

Not for nothing, and I had no idea he was your son, but he is a very good ball player.

SC.

[camosfan]

The Ref went into a compensating mood after he made that questionable penalty call, that adds to the high yellow count, I think he missed a few calls against Conn.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Connecticut @ Amherst
10.19.2022
- 

To make matters worse, I may do some analysis on the type of keeper errors and how many teams get scored on as a result.  I have no time for it, but I feel pushed to having to do this to let my mind find some peace....

SC.

SC, make sure you count the open goal opportunities missed and easy shots not on frame at the other end. I am pretty sure they'll out number the dropped catches that lead to goals.

[Hopkins92]

Nobody tells Simple Coach what to do!



I will say, as I stated in the NESCAC thread, Amherst really should've been up 2-0 at half. Their striker tried an outside of the boot tap in on his breakaway when he had oodles of time and space to just open up his hips and pass the ball into the net on a breakaway about 10 minutes from HT.

[Gregory Sager]

The Firebirds seemed to try and get all ten field players behind the ball and give both teams half field before they started to challenge them.  Are they coached to play that way or are they hoping not to lose by too many goals.  Must try to go to goal.  NCAA are encouraging ties but I think this is a mistake to play that way.

Well, it certainly worked last night. I've watched the Firebirds multiple times this season, and it's apparent that they're finally getting used to their new coach Paul Leese's system. Carthage is a very, very different animal now than it was during the Steve Domin era. This is far from the most talented Carthage team I've ever seen, but it's the most organized and disciplined. The Firebirds will be dangerous in the CCIW tourney.

[Coach Jeff]

The Firebirds seemed to try and get all ten field players behind the ball and give both teams half field before they started to challenge them.  Are they coached to play that way or are they hoping not to lose by too many goals.  Must try to go to goal.  NCAA are encouraging ties but I think this is a mistake to play that way.

Well, it certainly worked last night. I've watched the Firebirds multiple times this season, and it's apparent that they're finally getting used to their new coach Paul Leese's system. Carthage is a very, very different animal now than it was during the Steve Domin era. This is far from the most talented Carthage team I've ever seen, but it's the most organized and disciplined. The Firebirds will be dangerous in the CCIW tourney.

It does appear that a DRAW is a good result this year LOL.  Well soon all teams will have to play for a win or PK's it is.  NOt a great way to finish a game but it is the best we have.

[blue_jays]

The Firebirds seemed to try and get all ten field players behind the ball and give both teams half field before they started to challenge them.  Are they coached to play that way or are they hoping not to lose by too many goals.  Must try to go to goal.  NCAA are encouraging ties but I think this is a mistake to play that way.

Well, it certainly worked last night. I've watched the Firebirds multiple times this season, and it's apparent that they're finally getting used to their new coach Paul Leese's system. Carthage is a very, very different animal now than it was during the Steve Domin era. This is far from the most talented Carthage team I've ever seen, but it's the most organized and disciplined. The Firebirds will be dangerous in the CCIW tourney.

IMO, wouldn't take much to be more disciplined than the last couple years of Domin teams, lol. Can't say I was impressed with his comportment over the years. They were even late for their game at UChicago last year.