2023 NCAA Tournament

[Freddyfud]

Ira, I appreciated your color during the games today.  Well done!

[irapthor]

Ira, I appreciated your color during the games today.  Well done!

Thank you. I try to provide honest assessment and interesting tidbits ... and a little humor when appropriate. I spent time with all 4 coaches this week .. they were all very gracious with their time.

[EnmoreCat]

Washington & Lee 2 Amherst 2 - Amherst progresses on penalties

Firstly, the Roanoke field is a pretty impressive set up, great viewing height and the backdrop of what I guess are residential colleges makes for a real occasion.  Myself and one of the Amherst Ultras had the very good fortune to meet both Another Mom and JKnezek and compare notes on respective college experiences.  Really nice people and a pleasure to make their acquaintance.  Amherst was definitely outnumbered by W&L support, but we did pick up a few Roanoke people who have their own W&L rivalry.  The Generals' support certainly made lots of noise and I would say when it got to 2-2, almost managed to drag the team over the line.  I thought it was quite cute how they were addressing Amherst players by their first names.  I have been to a lot of games and it was the first time I have ever heard that.  The announcer said Kalinauskas perfectly, definitely not in a low brow sort of way.

The first Amherst goal has already been described and was a thunderbolt and to me at least, felt fair on the play.  In truth, had Amherst been up 2-0 at half time, I just about think that would have been fair.  That was rectified quickly after half time and as best I can tell, it wasn't scored off a set piece, which is apparently the ONLY way Amherst can score.  It was a superb piece of opportunism by Amherst's highly successful freshman and certainly those with purple in their hearts went just a little crazy. 

As much as the Mammoths might have owned the first half, the dynamic changed pretty quickly and the Generals started to get more ball around Amherst's penalty area.  Having seen the Mammoths successfully maintain slender leads, it was the hope this would be more of the same.  Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case and a finely placed shot found the far corner and it was suddenly game on.  The Generals' support justifiably sensed their moment had arrived and their team took control.  It's not exaggerating to say they had taken control and Amherst was just hanging on.  There was a sense of inevitability about W&L scoring, but nevertheless, it was disappointing to give it up so late

Operating Thetan time was more of the same, aside from one or two Amherst moments and a draw in the aggregate play, felt quite fair.

Penalties are stressful full stop and both teams found it a task to score.  Eventually Amherst did, which led this correspondent to say to the Amherst Ultra that one goal might be enough.  One of the Seniors strode confidently to the spot and proceeded to smash it in.  The W&L support knew his name also (but might have been unfamiliar with the spelling) and had offered him quite a lot of suggestions on how to improve his game during proceedings.  They were particularly concerned that his height might have been impeding his performance.  Hopefully they enjoyed the drive home.

Congratulations to W&L, they are a seriously good team and moved the ball with confidence in high pressure situations. All concerned with the team should feel very proud of their achievement.this season.

For Amherst, those with purple in their hearts are also proud and also a little relieved that the team got through.  It was a really tough game and exactly what you would expect in a semi final.  I am glad they get two sleeps before taking on what is a clearly outstanding St Olaf team. I think for the neutral, which I guess statistically is an Amhater, it will be a pretty entertaining contest

Foul count: W&L 14 Amherst 26

[Jump4Joy]

Effective capture, EnmoreCat. An engaging read, too.

[Newenglander]

Foul count 10-7 in the first semi.....

[Freddyfud]

Trying to find injury news on Hakeem Morgan with no luck, maybe that's by design?  He left with a spiked ankle so curious if he will be available tomorrow.

I did find the post game presser and enjoyed the comments from coach and the teammates.  Especially the one when the goal scorer and coach talked about him working on his cut in shot. 

https://youtu.be/WjnqtWPrRRY 

Seems like a classy program.  Congratulations to them.

[GKForverr1]

Beating a very dead horse.....but by my math Amherst has nearly clinched national lead for fouls per game (15.56) and total yellow cards (62) after yesterday.

[Kuiper]

Trying to find injury news on Hakeem Morgan with no luck, maybe that's by design?  He left with a spiked ankle so curious if he will be available tomorrow.

I did find the post game presser and enjoyed the comments from coach and the teammates.  Especially the one when the goal scorer and coach talked about him working on his cut in shot. 

https://youtu.be/WjnqtWPrRRY 

Seems like a classy program.  Congratulations to them.

I think it's more likely that the lack of injury news about Morgan is a general lack of media coverage rather than by design (although coaches often don't like to reveal injury news unless they have to).  For what it's worth, I don't see him out there in St. Olaf Men's Soccer's Instagram story this morning showing them doing some rondos, but it could be he's just not visible in the picture in the near or far group.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/stolafmsoc/3248429638652563379/

If Morgan isn't available, it wouldn't be unfamiliar territory for the Oles.  Morgan missed 4 games this year, including several games in October when he was called up to the Costa Rican U23 team for international duty on Oct 14 and 17.  St. Olaf won both of those games, including a victory over Wisconsin-Platteville.  Although Morgan has taken more shots than any other player and he adds a valuable dimension to the St. Olaf attack, he only has 9 goals and 4 assists, compared to Gaulmin's 16 goals and 10 assists and they do have 4 players with 7 or more goals and 9 players with 3 or more goals as well as 6 players with 4 or more assists.

By the way, when Morgan was out against Platteville, they started Liam Vance, a Senior MF, in his place and went with one forward up top, which is what they appeared to do after Morgan went out yesterday.  Freshman F Michael Nelson, a low center of gravity-type, came off the bench in both the Platteville and Washington College games as well and scored yesterday.  In some ways, that look might be more effective against Amherst than trying to run through the middle and in the air on them.  It's a bit more of a Mary Washington look, which was a team that did well playing straight-up against the Mammoths last year.

[Chargers96]

Ira, I appreciated your color during the games today.  Well done!

I also enjoyed the broadcast -- had it pulled up on the tv and the Amherst vs. W&L game was fun to watch.

[Freddyfud]

By the way, when Morgan was out against Platteville, they started Liam Vance, a Senior MF, in his place and went with one forward up top, which is what they appeared to do after Morgan went out yesterday.  Freshman F Michael Nelson, a low center of gravity-type, came off the bench in both the Platteville and Washington College games as well and scored yesterday.  In some ways, that look might be more effective against Amherst than trying to run through the middle and in the air on them.  It's a bit more of a Mary Washington look, which was a team that did well playing straight-up against the Mammoths last year.

And this was why I was curious about Morgan's status.  Thanks.

More broadly I am curious how Coach Oliver is preparing for tomorrow.  In that post game interview Coach gave credit to an assistant for some sort of change 20 minutes into the game yesterday which sent them on their way.  If only I could be a fly on the wall in their film room today.

I am going to be careful as I have no interest inciting an Amherst flame war--think we've seen enough lately.  Based on the game last night Amherst is not going to let you beat them 1:1.  They will get to more 50/50 balls than not.  And they aren't going to concede direct balls like the winger diagonals W&L likes to play (the announcers also noticed.)  They were flat out quicker to the ball and man marked with discipline.

W&L's first goal was off a throw in played across field outside the box leaving a brief 2 v 1 on the weak side.  In the build up to the second goal W&L again took advantage of a series of 2 v 1s in the midfield to bring the ball up from their back line.  Not coincidentally one of the Amherst players trailing the play was flat out gassed. While W&L's 2nd goal was off a long throw in the box that tactic just seems counter productive against a bigger and quicker team.  But apparently in D3 soccer it's the law now.

Only one up top was what I was thinking but in a hold up role.  W&L played with one up top but I don't recall Agbeyegbe getting too many touches let alone hold up opportunities.  For two of their goals yesterday St Olaf showed composure in finding the open man.  I think they will need a lot more of this tomorrow.

[FBALLISLIFE]

No one has said this, so I will.

I thought Amherst's postgame behavior was exemplary.  Most of the team briefly met in an expected celebratory huddle between the keeper and final kicker after the end.  Others immediately found W&L players who they'd battled against for 110+ minutes to console them, congratulate them on a hard-fought game, and offer words of support.  Even Nuhu, who earlier in the match had a few things to say to the General faithful was quite restrained in his celebration and did not address them afterward.  I was there among the W&L army, and was looking for something to happen.  It didn't.

[PaulNewman]

A few random observations of W&L vs Amherst.

First, W&L...

Immediate thoughts are lack of composure and inability to get into any kind of rhythm for at least the first 65-70 minutes.  Obviously Amherst had a ton to do with that, but if I didn't know better I'd almost think the Generals in the biggest match of the year came out a little flat.  They more likely were just a little overwhelmed, struggled to get in sync, and increasingly seemed frustrated.  Some of their best players seemed to be basically marked out of the game.  Of course it didn't help that Amherst got a wonder goal off a W&L miscue inside the first 20 minutes and then another just killer goal 28 seconds into the 2nd half.  Down 2-0 right away in the 2nd half W&L could either quit or try to get back in it with extremely long odds (because when the last time Amherst blew a 2-0 2nd half lead?).  The next 15-20 minutes didn't provide a lot of hope, but Amherst feeling pretty comfortable with a lead seemed to play a bit more of a possession game.  Players like McCarty who had been bottled up for 65-70 minutes finally found some room to operate and also became very determined and more aggressive.  He probably was on the edge of getting tossed complaining about a horribly missed handball call, but once W&L got on the board they had life.  W&L outshot Amherst by a wide margin in the 2nd half and then 7-0 in the two OTs.  Easy to say in hindsight but the OTs were W&L's chance to steal a game they were outplayed in for long stretches.

Abgeyegbe...I imagine one of his most ineffective outings of the season.  No doubt Amherst made him a priority and he had very little of the ball, and, in contrast to McCarty, he let another horrible call take him completely out of the game.  He just could not let it go...and I don't mean for 5 minutes but essentially the balance of the game.  There were about five or six times I thought the referee was gonna say "enough" and send him off.

The PKs...what a strange ritual.  Colorado College would have been thrilled with just one or two misses.  And it's not like Amherst soaked itself in glory either.  Who knows, but W&L didn't seem confident and excited to get to PKs.  The order also got altered I think because of an injury (Another Mom's kid) and I wonder if Singleton wishes he had another shot at the order.

Amherst...

About what we expected with a couple of moments of magic.  The Mammoths live for these moments and maybe no team is more prepared for this stage.  On balance, I think Amherst probably "deserved" to move on (whatever that means), although they did let W&L back in and probably were very fortunate that W&L didn't score in OT.  Shout out to Niall Murphy who imho may be one of the most important players on the team...glue guy, makes the right play, deceptively physical, and keeps his calm.  Made the play to Nuhu to put them up 2-0.

Now the negative.  Nuhu is a brilliantly talented player and doesn't need a lot of ball to be dangerous.  Sublime goal and I'm curious to see how the rest of his career goes.  That said, imo he should have been suspended for at least one game, and if not by the NCAA by Amherst itself.  For me it's not even a close call and if the referee had been anywhere nearby he would have missed the next game for a straight red.  He didn't go as far as he did two weeks ago but after the goal he was flirting with losing control again with some gesturing, clapping, etc and one or two of his teammates grabbed him to get him away from the crowd.  Hard to know, but didn't seem like he had learned anything, and makes you wonder if Serpone has any problem at all with his team's behavior.  One would assume he doesn't get that upset as he created and fuels the environment that spawns such behavior.  I don't presume to know any details, but if the solution to the whole matter was to punish one player who Amherst didn't need this weekend that is disappointing to say the least.  Nuhu was front and center with that display after the Midd game.   Second thing...Serpone always sounds magnanimous with a speech about winning and losing not really mattering, anf the only thing that does matter is his team's love for one another and how being part of the Amherst program is "life-changing."  Really?  Amherst shares a unique kind of love and brotherhood that other programs don't have?  They share some special kind of love that is foreign to the rest of us.
Please, stop.

[PaulNewman]

No one has said this, so I will.

I thought Amherst's postgame behavior was exemplary.  Most of the team briefly met in an expected celebratory huddle between the keeper and final kicker after the end.  Others immediately found W&L players who they'd battled against for 110+ minutes to console them, congratulate them on a hard-fought game, and offer words of support.  Even Nuhu, who earlier in the match had a few things to say to the General faithful was quite restrained in his celebration and did not address them afterward.  I was there among the W&L army, and was looking for something to happen.  It didn't.

I won't disagree but I think this is very generous and I wonder how much better post-match behavior was underscored...if not by Serpone then the admiinstration.

[stlawus]

No one has said this, so I will.

I thought Amherst's postgame behavior was exemplary.  Most of the team briefly met in an expected celebratory huddle between the keeper and final kicker after the end.  Others immediately found W&L players who they'd battled against for 110+ minutes to console them, congratulate them on a hard-fought game, and offer words of support.  Even Nuhu, who earlier in the match had a few things to say to the General faithful was quite restrained in his celebration and did not address them afterward.  I was there among the W&L army, and was looking for something to happen.  It didn't.

I don't see why teams should get kudos for meeting the most basic expectations of sportsmanship, especially the ones that have lowered the bar to the ground.

[Another Mom]

Re the pks -- far from being unexcited, I think the pressure got to the players. All are capable of taking pks, and have done so over their playing career, but the enormity of the moment got to them.

PS if any of you remember my screeds about the team early in the season, about how they lacked heart, I can say that I am very proud of them. They dug deep and gave 110% after going down 2 goals, and played with tremendous heart.

I thought the Amherst players were fine, though I hear there was a fair amount of trash talking during the game. Some of the fans I was sitting near, though, were boorish.