2023 NCAA Tournament

[Chargers96]

MSU - CNU headed to OT tied 1-1

[SimpleCoach]

MSU - CNU headed to OT tied 1-1

Quite a fun game.  Back and forth and some good soccer being played.

And the announcers are enthusiastic.....

SC.

[Kuiper]

Trinity GK takes down the Oxy attacker in a 1 v. 1 just outside the box on a denial of a goal scoring opportunity and gets a red 15 minutes in.

Trinity down to 10 men.

HALF:  Occidental 2 - Trinity 0

Andrew Notter has a brace for Oxy, which is just blitzing Trinity in the rain with a man advantage.

UPDATE:  Occidental 3 - Trinity 0

Ox scores a third 2 minutes into the second half.

[Kuiper]

Trinity GK takes down the Oxy attacker in a 1 v. 1 just outside the box on a denial of a goal scoring opportunity and gets a red 15 minutes in.

Trinity down to 10 men.

HALF:  Occidental 2 - Trinity 0

Andrew Notter has a brace for Oxy, which is just blitzing Trinity in the rain with a man advantage.

UPDATE:  Occidental 3 - Trinity 0

Ox scores a third 2 minutes into the second half.

Don't want to call this one too early.  Trinity pulls one back and it's 3-1

[SimpleCoach]

Trinity GK takes down the Oxy attacker in a 1 v. 1 just outside the box on a denial of a goal scoring opportunity and gets a red 15 minutes in.

Trinity down to 10 men.

HALF:  Occidental 2 - Trinity 0

Andrew Notter has a brace for Oxy, which is just blitzing Trinity in the rain with a man advantage.

UPDATE:  Occidental 3 - Trinity 0

Ox scores a third 2 minutes into the second half.

Just ugly since the red.

SC.

[SimpleCoach]

Hat trick by Amir Lukovich in Montclair's 3-1 win over Christopher Newport.

Montclair v Christopher Newport Game Notes.

[Freddyfud]

Wonder if Lukovic enters the transfer portal after this season.  Didn't look like he had a touch on the second goal but he certainly influenced.

[SimpleCoach]

Wonder if Lukovic enters the transfer portal after this season.  Didn't look like he had a touch on the second goal but he certainly influenced.

Yeah, the second one was iffy.  But the third goal was all class.

Whether he tries to go D1 or not, who knows.  He has the talent.

SC.

[Chargers96]

Wasn't super impressed with Montclair.  They don't look like #5 in the nation.  CNU played them even for sure, but Lukovic is a difference maker.

[Kuiper]

Trinity GK takes down the Oxy attacker in a 1 v. 1 just outside the box on a denial of a goal scoring opportunity and gets a red 15 minutes in.

Trinity down to 10 men.

HALF:  Occidental 2 - Trinity 0

Andrew Notter has a brace for Oxy, which is just blitzing Trinity in the rain with a man advantage.

UPDATE:  Occidental 3 - Trinity 0

Ox scores a third 2 minutes into the second half.

Don't want to call this one too early.  Trinity pulls one back and it's 3-1

FINAL:  Occidental 4 - Trinity 1

Trinity never recovered from losing its GK and going down a man, but in truth Oxy was pressing Trinity pretty hard before that and Trinity was on its heels.

Second year in a row that a Region X team qualifies for the Round of 16 in their first ever trip to the NCAA tournament.

[EnmoreCat]

Stevens 0 Amherst 1

Having spent a lot of my Sunday watching other national tournament matches, it was hard not to admire the quality of all the teams that did make the final cut.  Equally, having watched a number of teams that rankings suggest are very good teams, find the going less than easy, I was happy to own up to some trepidation ahead of this game.  Whilst Massey had The Ducks outside of the top 50, I could see in their regular season a win against Babson, a lead against F&M for a fair period of that game and also, success in the MAC Freedom Championship.  In addition, an absolutely stellar season last year when they only lost deep in Operating Thetan time to eventual winners Chicago, was more than enough for me to know this game would be tough. 

I possibly would have been the wrong person to give the Mammoths team talk on that basis, other than to exhort the group of young men wearing white shirts, to strive for better things and perhaps starting to work through a Readers Digest version of my much coveted thirty two bullet points.

Stevens started the better of the two teams, which tended to validate my sense of wariness.  The encouraging thing was that the game suddenly changed.  I am sure the respective coaching staffs probably could identify a reason or two, sadly I was on my way to work and also trying to think about my day ahead and not scare anyone on the bus whilst gasping at near misses.  It did feel like Amherst finished the half the stronger and I was subsequently advised that one of the white shirts did hit the post right on half time.

The commentator continued to observe into the second half that whilst Amherst had dominated play, as well as shots on goal, that that wasn't the statistic that mattered most and that sat comfortably with my view of potential catastrophe should there be a moment for The Ducks which changes the game similarly to what had happened to the Mammoths a couple of times during the regular season.  Fortunately, it didn't, but as the referee blew the whistle for full time, I was already wishing my life away, thinking about who the Amherst penalty takers would be and making my very amateurish psychological assessments of their likely success.  I should have paid a bit more attention to the actual game in extra time, as the Mammoths actually looked in control, albeit, without scoring.  Half way through the first half of Operating Thetan time, after a period of intense Amherst pressure, one of the seniors scored with a well hit drive from somewhere just inside the box it looked like.  I am not a student of Chinese history and along with being a poor speller, I think there is sufficient scope to describe that moment as, "The Sung Dynasty". 

The efficiency I have previously noted about Amherst's play after a couple of late dramas, was revealed yet again and the Mammoths were actually pushing down the other end, keen to make it two.  I was hugely inconsistent in my response to this, as part of me thought it was best to play a low block and absorb Ducks pressure, but equally, trying to win, even with a less resourced effort, is also a pretty good way to do things.  Of course, Stevens found it hard to get into the Amherst area, but right at the end of Operating Thetan time, they did get a chance which fortunately for purple hearts, was put wide.  I find it interesting that Amherst has now won five games 1-0, speaking to their efficiency. 

I saw the Stevens team go in at full time looking quietly confident, knowing they had absorbed a lot of Amherst pressure, having been, as the commentator noted, "bent, but not broken" and they would have surely felt a chance would come their way.  I can only have admiration for the way they hung in there.  Also, I don't know if there are any Ducks fans in here, but I was specifically told that their players and supporters alike were most gracious after the game and wished the Amherst team all the best for whatever comes next.  That gets what is known in some social media circles, as The EnmoreCat Tick of Approval and I can only hope I am that gracious in similar circumstances.

Making the Sweet Sixteen is a definite achievement, but like for many of the programmes Amherst will be accompanied by at this stage, the sights are set a lot higher.  Having watched Occidental, I am left in no doubt that it will be another epic encounter and of course, aside from the fact that all players need some downtime, can't really wait for it.

Foul Count: Stevens 13 Amherst 15 (there have been some preliminary sponsorship discussions with a poultry company – Australian humour at its finest)

[SKUD]

Congratulations to the final 16.  Best of luck next weekend!

[Another Mom]

Looks like Tufts, Amherst, Mary Washington, and the University of Chicago are hosting this next round.

[southsidejet]

Shoutout this morning to the Blue Streaks of John Carroll, who left it all on the field yesterday in a highly contested match at a very hostile Battleground. UMW's attacking side is easily one of the most dangerous I have witnessed over the past few years and they are going to continue to be a handful moving forward. Fully deserving of their #2 (now #1?) ranking. Good luck, Eagles.

[camosfan]

back to Bello!