MSO 2016

[agibson]

They will have an expert in stinky cheese

Graduating Jordan Aidoud, it can't hurt!

[vu72]

Have been watching Valpo v. ND, currently ND 1-1 halfway through the second.  For a while I thought I was watching Kentucky v. Texas Western in 1966.  ND has to be the whitest team I have ever seen!

Final, 1-1.

[bbtds]

Notre Dame's fairly short highlight reel. It does not have the Valpo goal.

http://www.und.com/sports/m-soccer/recaps/082216aaa.html

[agibson]

Just a quick note to say that the men are doing well in conference. I've been busy watching and attending games and not posting much (some on Twitter)...

About half way through conference play, and they beat Oakland at Brown Field last night 1-0 to take over 1st place (top of the table!).

Their goal scorer was playing just his second game in a Crusader uniform. Senior transfer (from some place in Florida?) who had apparently been out injured thus far in the season. Got big minutes yesterday. Kendan Anderson. Nice to have reinforcements mid-season.

Not the sort of signature, top-25 wins we've enjoyed in past seasons, but still a chance to do some damage in conference!

A pretty big non-conference game, I suspect, tomorrow. Omaha, who has historically been a good team. Playing Saturday-Monday seems a bit nuts to me, but that's college soccer I guess (maybe one of these days they'll finally expand the season).

[oklahomamick]

correct, the season needs to be expanded and several coaches across the board are pushing for it.  This year is Mike Avery's 10th season and he's done a great job

[agibson]

Their goal scorer was playing just his second game in a Crusader uniform. Senior transfer (from some place in Florida?) who had apparently been out injured thus far in the season. Got big minutes yesterday. Kendan Anderson. Nice to have reinforcements mid-season.

Kendan was awarded HL Offensive Player of the Week. He apparently had a goal and an assist in his VU debut earlier in the week against EIU (which was, I think, a somewhat experimental squad, and a 3-0 winner).

Cory Griffith had the same honor for the women. Not a bad week!

The men are back at it tonight in what might be a big non-confernece matchup at Omaha. Looks like video is available, but that it might cost $9
http://www.omavs.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=135116&db_oem_id=31400

7:00 PM kickoff.

[agibson]

I was only there for the second half, so didn't see it in person.

But, someone got a nice video

[tweet]782977673156964352[/tweet]

Really a pretty goal. Makes it look so easy. Coach Mike Avery called it a "wonder-strike" (is that English for "golazo!"?).

[VULB#62]

MSO took down Omaha 1-0 tonight. They traveled to Omaha with a limited number of players and left a couple starters home to rest. Madrid got the only goal on a PK. we got out shot by a big margin but hung in for the win.

[agibson]

That's four on the trot! And two showcasing squad depth. Important home game Saturday night against Milwaukee. It will again be a battle for top of the table.

With three teams winless in conference (I'm sure they'd like to have a do-over on that Brown Field draw with Detroit) the top is likely to remain congested for a while. After Saturday we'll be more than halfway through the league schedule.

[agibson]

Conner Cappelletti (VU 2011) got called up by the Guamanian National team. East Asian Cup - games against Taiwan, North Korea, Hong Kong next month. Pretty cool.

https://www.laneunitedfc.com/uncategorized/lane-uniteds-conner-cappelletti-selected-to-play-for-guam-mens-national-team
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_EAFF_East_Asian_Cup

The current VUMSO team knocked off IPFW tonight 2-0. We currently sit in third after their (fluky?) loss at Green Bay. Wright State's ahead of us, and we still get a crack at them. We already beat Oakland, who sits in second.

[valpotx]

I believe that the only other guy in recent memory to cap for his national team was a player from Puerto Rico several years back (Betancourt?).  Always a cool thing to see.

[agibson]

I believe that the only other guy in recent memory to cap for his national team was a player from Puerto Rico several years back (Betancourt?).  Always a cool thing to see.

Betancourt sounded right, but I mis-remembered his first name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_Betancourt

6 caps, and a goal against the US! I was likely watching the game - I don't remember noting his presence. Or them name-dropping Valpo. But I do remember him playing for the youth sides while at VU.

Nico Campbell and Ramone Howell have both played for Jamaican youth sides. Or Ramone was called in to U23 camp, at least, and Nico certainly got starts.

Kendan Anderson now too, but not AFAIK since joining the VU roster. (It does _not_ help that there's also a Kendon Anderson who plays for Jamaica. Almost the same age, looks like they were at the same school too. 90% sure they're not the same person.)

Not sure if anybody else has played for their country's senior team.

Paging Aaron Leavitt?

I've occasionally wondered how many USMNT caps have come from Horizon League athletes. Jay Demerit is the only name that immediately comes to mind. Or senior caps from other countries would be interesting too.

[vusupporter]

This seems good: 3 goals in 81 seconds.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/msoccer/news/2016-17/15869/anderson-provides-fastest-hat-trick-in-ncaa-history-in-victory-over-iupui/

[agibson]

This seems good: 3 goals in 81 seconds.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/msoccer/news/2016-17/15869/anderson-provides-fastest-hat-trick-in-ncaa-history-in-victory-over-iupui/

It was fast! IUPUI wasn't offering much competition, so I'll confess that I wasn't paying a lot of attention at the time. I did watch the PK closely. But, who's looking for a stolen kickoff pass?

Unfortunately, I don't think the game was on ESPN3, so there's likely no official video. They could have played the whole thing on SportsCenter!

Hopefully two easy, heavy wins are _good_, and not bad, going into a key match with Wright State Friday.

We _may_ have already clinched an HL tournament berth. I'm not 100% sure of the tiebreakers, and it looks a little complicated. But, much better to take out Wright State, who's already clinched the #1 seed.

[bbtds]

This seems good: 3 goals in 81 seconds.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/msoccer/news/2016-17/15869/anderson-provides-fastest-hat-trick-in-ncaa-history-in-victory-over-iupui/

If you didn't notice through the web page address the 3 goals in 81 seconds is an NCAA record. It will be interesting to see how long that NCAA record lasts.

[agibson]

Fastest in the Premier League is 2m56s. Fastest in the UEFA Champions League is 7 minutes. Less than 5 minutes in the MLS.

I bet the record stands for a good long while.

The fastest in the NCAA from the beginning of the game seems to be 9m2s, set earlier this year (3m20s between the first and third isn't too shabby either).

I'd not heard that the record Kendan broke, 2m15s in 1985, was set against UIC.

[agibson]

UIC's goalie was the top Horizon League pick in the MLS draft. 3rd round, #48 overall.

http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/three-horizon-league-players-selected-in-mls-superdraft

He was HL goalie of the year this season, and probably the other season Nico didn't get it (I think Nico got it twice).

One Wright State player was picked up in each of the 3rd and 4th rounds.

Nico's been on trial down in Tampa Bay, where Valpo striker turned center back Stefan Antonijevic plays. I saw that he played a half against Bundesliga side Wolfburg (on their winter break) and didn't allow any goals. Apparently he similarly played the second half against a Brazilian side, and did allow a goal off a free kick.

http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/745838?referrer_id=2333971