Men's Soccer Thread

[valpopal]

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[okinawatyphoon]

Great schedule! Can't wait to see us face off against Michigan State again.

[vu72]

This should be an interesting year.  Every year (of late), we seem to be bringing in big time talent, but somehow fail in the results column.  We did make one championship game and lost.  We have had some individual game success (MSU last year) but soccer is not about one game where the ball bounces your way.  Can we compete for a Horizon League title with these players and coach?  Just askin...

[valpotx]

I would say that we have the perfect coach.  He gets our program to compete so well against top teams, but the HL has so much parity, that we tend to lose quite a few 1 goal games.  This guy from Liberia seems like someone that can give us a top notch goal-scoring threat, which is very rare for us

[oklahomamick]

Avery is a great coach on and off the field.  He has done a great job including alumni and has made a family environment with current players in the program and former players.  This will be the first year without a "jv" or "scout team" in the program.  Let's don't forget the results on the field that Avery has produced.  He has won a HL league championship and has had better season records than previous coach. 

[vu72]

Avery is a great coach

I never said he wasn't a great person and also understand that it is a "package" deal.  We have let great people go before--Paul Twenge and Keith Freeman, to name two.

For the record, Mike's team finished 6th out of 8 last year and he has won one regular season title and zero NCAA appearances. He is entering his 8th year at Valpo.

[valpotx]

But he usually gets the team to a winning record against quality competition.  Having played for Twenge, I liked him (even with some of our personal difficulties), but he only had 2 seasons with an overall winning record in 19 seasons, finishing near the bottom of conference in all but 3-4 seasons. 

[covufan]

We have let great people go before--Paul Twenge and Keith Freeman, to name two.

Having played for Twenge, I liked him (even with some of our personal difficulties), but he only had 2 seasons with an overall winning record in 19 seasons, finishing near the bottom of conference in all but 3-4 seasons. 

This is what I remember as well.  Not sure Twenge, record-wise, was one of the great people let go by Valpo.  As for baseball, Ferchen had some winning teams, but it appeared he wanted to be closer to home. 

[agibson]

This will be the first year without a "jv" or "scout team" in the program.  Let's don't forget the results on the field that Avery has produced.

Interesting!  Too much work for too little benefit? 

One of our physics majors played on the JV team for a couple of seasons, while another was varsity.

[agibson]

Great schedule! Can't wait to see us face off against Michigan State again.

Alas, only one home matinee this year.  And I'll be out of town.

Dayton at home should be interesting.  And, in general, nice to see a couple of more home games this season.

[valpopal]

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[VULB#62]

Watch the YouTube video about the MSO OneValpo campaign. It was spurred on by some racial epithets said to some of the Valpo soccer players last season.  Mike has a cool approach to all of this.  It's worth the few minutes and shows you why he's a valuable member of the athletic department.


http://www.valpoathletics.com/msoccer/news/2014-15/13798/onevalpo/#.U-FLYlYXKgE

[LaPorteAveApostle]

It was spurred on by some racial epithets said to some of the Valpo soccer players last season.

on campus?  by opposing teams?

[vu72]

Watch the YouTube video about the MSO OneValpo campaign. It was spurred on by some racial epithets said to some of the Valpo soccer players last season.  Mike has a cool approach to all of this.  It's worth the few minutes and shows you why he's a valuable member of the athletic department.


http://www.valpoathletics.com/msoccer/news/2014-15/13798/onevalpo/#.U-FLYlYXKgE

That was flat out awesome!  To me, that type of approach makes Valpo someplace very special.  It is simply the quality of the people.

[valpo64]

Amen, vu72.  What a great piece of p r for the University.

[VULB#62]

It was spurred on by some racial epithets said to some of the Valpo soccer players last season.

on campus?  by opposing teams?

Opposing players on the pitch as far as I could figure out.  Could also have been opposing fans, but I suspect it was opponents' trash talk.  Really trash.

[valpotx]

I think that it is cool that we are Jamaica West, with 5-6 players from there on our soccer team!  I am sure that it makes Vashil feel more at home too

[bbtds]

I think that it is cool that we are Jamaica West, with 5-6 players from there on our soccer team!  I am sure that it makes Vashil feel more at home too

I talked to Vashil about this recently. He said 5 of the 6 soccer players are all from the Kingston area which makes them all city kids as opposed to the country kids and resort area kids. Jamaica is for sure a soccer country because it was an English colony for a long time. Vashil's first love was English football. Only Keano Williams, a new freshman, is from Lucea, which is the opposite side of the island, closer to Montego Bay. And Vashil says that Keano is quickly learning about the culture of the city boys who come from the Kingston area.

So officially Kingston is on the south and east side of the island and Lucea is the north and west side of the island. Therefore the city/Kingston area is really Jamaica South.

[VULB#62]

I think that it is cool that we are Jamaica West, with 5-6 players from there on our soccer team!  I am sure that it makes Vashil feel more at home too

I talked to Vashil about this recently. He said 5 of the 6 soccer players are all from the Kingston area which makes them all city kids as opposed to the country kids and resort area kids. Jamaica is for sure a soccer country because it was an English colony for a long time. Vashil's first love was English football. Only Keano Williams, a new freshman, is from Lucea, which is the opposite side of the island, closer to Montego Bay. And Vashil says that Keano is quickly learning about the culture of the city boys who come from the Kingston area.

So officially Kingston is on the south and east side of the island and Lucea is the north and west side of the island. Therefore the city/Kingston area is really Jamaica South.

And Valpo is Jamaica w  -  a  -  a  -  a  -  a  -  y Northwest.  In early June, I vacationed just outside of Lucea. It is a small coastal town.  It really is small (5,700 population) -- even compared to Montego Bay, Jamaica's second largest city (96K population) only 22 miles to the east.  On a tour, I asked our guide what was the favorite sport of Jamaicans, expecting to hear cricket, like many of the English-connected Caribbean, or maybe track and field.  Without hesitation she said it was football (soccer).

[valpopal]

I watched about two-thirds of the men's exhibition against Lake Forest. The format was different and consisted of three periods (two of 40 minutes and a third of 20 minutes). The team looked very good, dominating play and keeping the ball on the offensive end. There was a lot of substitution, which was probably good because the weather was hot and very humid. When I left, Valpo was leading 3-1.

I don't think you will see updates because the men's team doesn't seem to like official reports about its exhibition games for some reason. For the record, however, here is my photo of the first goal of the year for Valpo:

[bbtds]

There are no white lines on the track!!!!

See the NCAA blew their opportunity!

[VULB#62]

Back on July 31 in the track construction string I boldly predicted that BBTDs would "ABSOLUTELY" be there to inspect the lines.  Way to be on top of that job BBTDS!!!!

[valpopal]

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[valpopal]

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[covufan]

[tweet]510209232009170946[/tweet]

Wow!  Great job by the Men's Soccor team!