Men's Soccer Thread

[agibson]

Rained out last night, more or less.  An inch of rain yesterday, an inch or three more today.  Some players told me, this morning, that they were ready to go.  But, apparently there was lightning in the area.

After a promising-looking start to the season, the Crusaders have a somewhat dismal looking 3-6-5 record overall, and are still looking for their first league win.  They have a chance on the road at Cleveland State coming up, and then cellar-dweller Detroit visits to finish up the regular season.

The Crusaders could really use a pair of wins, which would give them a reasonable shot at making the Horizon League Tourney.   But, it'll be a tall order, and they'll need some help even at that.

[valpotx]

Yeah, it looks like it has been a disappointing conference season, after a good start to the non-conference schedule.  Hopefully they can pull out wins in these last two, to sneak into the tourney.  It isn't like we have been losing badly, so if we get in, we have a shot!

[agibson]

Green Bay did their part earlier today, preserving UIC's clean sweep of the league.  We need to root for a chalky evening as well: if Valpo (1-3-2 in the league, 4-7-5 overall) can complete the Horizon League sweep of Detroit (0-6-0, 3-10-4) then we're into the playoffs.

Let's go Valpo!

Unfortunately... it looks like HLN video, which was advertised in the weekly notes, may not be available after all.  We may have to resort to Live Stats.  Not sure if I'll be able to make it to Brown Field, even for this season's habitual second half... Good luck Valpo!

[agibson]

Looks a little crazy...

Detroit red card in the 35th minute.
Detroit yellow in the same minute.

Valpo _and_ Detroit yellows in the 42nd.

Detroit yellows in the 44th and 45th minute.

Chippy, I guess?  A lot at stake for Valpo, perhaps.  And pride at stake for Detroit?

And... a goal for the good guys in the 44th minute!  Jess Ortiz, a senior, on senior night!

[agibson]

It is streaming on WVUR, apparently.   I wish they'd mentioned that in the game notes!

They don't seem particularly committed to play by play, but it's much better than live stats only.   And, actually, more professional (apart from the lack of a consistent play by play) than the zany antics that sometimes passed for commentary on the HLN feed.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

3 yellows and a red? ...in the same half?

just so we're clear, that first sentence is about soccer, in case anyone thinks i'm the kind of person who would retell WWII jokes.

[agibson]

Hmmm.. I'd said four yellows and a red.  For Detroit.  In the first half.  But, now it looks like one of those was on Valpo - a Valpo yellow in the 35th minute to go with the Detroit red.

Not sure if that was my mistake, or if the Live Stats changed it after I typed...

Ten minutes left - Detroit's not going away, but the good guys are hanging on.  Sounds like we had a good chance a minute ago, but couldn't put the game away.

[valpotx]

Good job Valpo!  You never know what can happen in the tourney!

[agibson]

Valpo does it!  To the playoffs!

Milwaukee took Cleveland State apart (or is taking them apart?), 5-0.  So Valpo goes... to Oakland on Tuesday.  Where we tied 1-1 in early Septmber, just before our win over Michigan State.  Hopefully we're still feeling good Michigan vibes. Beating Detroit, and coming close to overtime at Michigan just recently.

We could have a chance at this!

[talksalot]

 

[agibson]

With Oakland on eastern time it'll be an early kick Tuesday, 6 PM.  I don't suppose we can expect WVUR to send a crew on the road... HLN is likely only or the single-site semis and finals.  Live stats only?

Nothing in the match report about all the cards...

[KL31NY]

Splash page on Oakland's site for their "quarterfinal" soccer game with Valpo says "Catch the action live on the Horizon League Network"

Also, WVUR will already be on the road that day with women's basketball at Illinois. So it looks like HLN and live stats for sure.

[bbtds]

With Oakland on eastern time it'll be an early kick Tuesday, 6 PM.  I don't suppose we can expect WVUR to send a crew on the road... HLN is likely only or the single-site semis and finals.  Live stats only?

Nothing in the match report about all the cards...

Check The Oakland website. You never know.

[agibson]

Sounds like the plan is HLN.  (And Oakland's game notes are substantially sketchier than ours!)

[78crusader]

Please pardon a question that is probably off base if not outright dumb, but it seems like most years we take down a big time out-of-conference opponent or two in the early going, but then struggle mightily against lesser teams in the supposedly-weaker HL.  Why is this?

Paul

[VULB#62]

I love this team and greatly respect the coach and the program.  I just don't think we can attract the scorers that others can -- facilities again, plus schools at our level that don't have football have a better chance of attacting scorers to a place where soccer is #1 in the fall.  Mike does a fantastic job of getting great kids and he is a defensive guru.  The D is why they stay close or win in just about every game, regardless of whether they score one or a couple or not. 

The 30 year plan povides for a soccer spacific stadium by the new field house  If he stays around long enough, Mike would leverage that big time.  My son played club soccer for Ed Kelly, the HSC at Boston College (formerly of the Big East, now the ACC).  BC was middle to top 5 over a string of years in the Big East when they played games on the turf of Alumni Stadium (40K capacity for FB).  When he got a soccer-specific complex, Ed's teams rose immediately to regular NCAA participant and national rankinhg.  Could happen at VU too.

Problem is that other teams do a lot of the same thing, plus no other HL team has the football competition to deal with.  Yeah, I know, we don't have a very good FB team.  But any football team draws better than soccer in terms of followers.

[agibson]

Sounds like the plan is HLN.  (And Oakland's game notes are substantially sketchier than ours!)

Video.  Check.

Audio?  Is it just me?  No audio?  I suppose that assumes you have a play-by-play and/or color guy around...

The camera does pan over to the scoreboard every now and then...

I turned it on just in time to see Oakland celebrating their tying goal

That does mean that VU scored early, on the road!

Tied up going into the half.

[agibson]

60:43... and we have sound!  Not sure what the story is.  No explanation given.  Still tied 1-1.

[valpotx]

That was a terrible second goal for Oakland.  Our defender headed it back towards our own goal right to an Oakland forward's head to take the lead 2-1....that was terrible

[valpotx]

We lose 2-1 on that goal.  What a bad way to lose, essentially gifting it to them like that

[valpopal]

First San Diego football, now Cleveland State soccer:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland State men's soccer team has withdrawn from the 2013 Horizon League Championship after learning it used an ineligible player in Tuesday's first round win over Wright State.

"The NCAA soccer playing rules require a player who accumulates five yellow cards to sit out the next game," CSU Director of Athletics John Parry said. "We inadvertently failed to follow that protocol. I apologize to all Horizon League members who have been affected by this in the past and future."

http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/csu-mens-soccer-withdraws-from-league-championship

[LaPorteAveApostle]

[valpotx]

That is such crap that UIC now advances to the championship game immediately, rather than having WSU play UIC for that right.  If they have to forfeit the game, the team that was harmed by that illegal player usage should have taken their place.  Now UIC has an advantage in the championship, in having even more rested players.

[FWalum]

Perhaps this soccer recruit has been mentioned somewhere else, but in this mornings Journal Gazette it was announced that Northeast Indiana Area signings include:
Soccer
Chris Clemens, Angola (Valparaiso)
Morgan Cole, Homestead (Cal State-Bakersfield)
Katie Hamlin, DeKalb (Spring Arbor)
Natalie Lebamoff, Bishop Dwenger (Louisiana-Lafayette)
Madison VanWye, DeKalb (Wingate)

[agibson]

Interesting!  I saw that the women's team put out an announcement, but haven't noticed anything from the men.

I didn't realize there was an Angola, Indiana.  I was trying to piece together how a fellow with the name of Chris Clemens arrived by way of southwest Africa.