Been a while since I've posted. Crazy busy on my end. Here's a quick recap for what's happened since the Harvard game. UCSB beat UC Riverside 3-1 with goals from Boateng, Ryan and Miller. Charlie Miller (RS Fr) really came alive that game playing up top and holding the ball well in place of the injured Campion. He got what I believe were 2 assists and the goal. UCR isn't a bad squad, so it's a good victory away. UCB then went on to tie at CSUF 0-0. This had all to do with still being down injured players as well as Fullerton just backing 8 guys in the box at all times. The ref apparently was a sensitive one and gave Welsh a yellow for "dissent" and then a 2nd yellow (red) right after for apparenlty a waving of the hand motion that was taken as, in the ref's words, Welsh flipping him off. UCSB always seems to get bogus red cards down at CSUF (i.e. Hayden's 2 years ago). Anyways, Welsh will be out for the next game and UCSB remained undefeated. So next up is the one game against UCI and CSUN. Schmetz and Campion to my knowledge are still out and MD also prob won't play. I expect Brockway and Rappolt to be the CB tandem. Pierre has scared me sometimes so hopefully he can figure it out this game. It's going to be a young inexperienced CB pairing if that is the case so hopefully Fifi can continue his tear and the offense can keep the ball in the attacking end. UCI has dropped off this year, but they are probably very focused on this game. Mansker needs to continue his strong performance and I would like to see Miller continue to own the top. I just thought of this but it is also possible the Glodack slides to the CB position. Also for CSUN, UCSB won't have a picnic. They have a very strong forward who has been scoring left and right. Hopefully UCSB won't give up any points with this two home games. Also, hoping that the students show up. Not as much hype as there would have been for the UCLA game, but UCI is a rival still.
Schmetz played tonight, Campion and David didn't play. Welsh was out for his red from the fullerton game. Irvine looked better than I expected (given their record) and we looked somewhat lazy at times, so very happy to get the win. I missed Irvine's goal, but the radio said it was 1 attacker against 3 or 4 defenders and no one really closed him out well. Ryan's first goal was a very nice shot. The last minute goal (also Ryan) looked like it went off an Irvine player, so I'm surprised it wasn't credited as an own goal, home field advantage I guess Nice attendance, average so far 5,833 (only 4 home games) with Valpo being the low at 3,479. I would swear the UCLA game had more than tonight and closer to 9 or 10k, but I also thought the Harvard game was less than 4k, so oh well. I guess it's just hard to tell with non chair backed seats in a stadium the size of Harder. Students were definitely out in force tonight.
UCSB season virtually over. Lost @ Davis today 1-0. We've been shutout 3 of the last 4 (going 1-2-1 in that time while giving up 3 goals) and are 5 points out of the Big West tournament with 5 games to play. RPI will be bad enough we don't make the NCAA without winning the Big West tournament or at least going unbeaten the rest of the way (which is about what it would take to make the Big West tournament). The finesse game we have migrated towards does not work in the Big West. I hope we migrate back a bit next year. I'm not saying we need to be bruisers, but we need to be able to handle it better than we do now.
Does "finesse game" include taking down any opponent who gets by? I didn't see anything different in the UCSB defense - the same old hacker style they have been playing for years.
Then you weren't watching very well or very often. Our game has changed. This has been evidenced in a variety of ways... less fouls, less cards are the statistical measures.
I still think UCSB will be good to go, barring an epic collapse. - we've proven ourselves in the tournament. i know the committee isn't supposed to look at past results but something tells me it does. - we usually make a few bucks during the tournament games so that will be a factor. - the Big West is solid from top to bottom and we still have the fewest losses overall to this point. i do believe it is a two/three bid conference/
The strength of schedule is pretty low. Those games with Valparaiso, Seattle, Gonzaga and Harvard really ding the RPI. UCSB has no quality wins this year. None. Here is the current RPI of the teams they've beaten this season: Riverside (81), Harvard (91), San Diego (101), LMU (130), Irvine (143), Gonzaga (174), Seattle (177), Valparaiso (192). If you're on the bubble, the committee looks at your good wins as a determining factor and UCSB doesn't have any. Can they get some? Well, maybe the teams they've beaten will get hot and their RPI will skyrocket. But they shouldn't count on huge RPI boosts from their remaining schedule: Sacramento State (64), Cal Poly (85), Stanford (83), UC Davis (43), @Sacramento State (64), @Cal Poly (85). Obviously, those RPI figures are elastic, so they will fluctuate but they are very unlikely to get dramatically better. UCSB has to hope like hell they can beat Davis and the Aggies win all the rest of their games so their RPI gets higher. Of course, if Davis is winning that means other conference teams are losing, which hurts the SOS of the team's UCSB plays. At this point, winning out in the regular season but not winning the automatic bid just keeps UCSB on the bubble. Agreed. Rep will help. This will definitely help. Two probably, but three is a stretch. Davis has the second-highest RPI in the Big West right now at 43. UCSB is third at 56 and that ain't likely gonna get it done. Unless they win the automatic bid, UCSB needs to get the RPI into, at the lowest, the mid to low 40s to have a legit shot at an at-large bid
RPI won't matter if a team is under .500 At least a .500 winning percentage is required to be eligible for an at-large. Some of the top candidates for an at-large - such as Virginia (6-6-1, RPI 14), Rutgers (6-5-1, RPI 22) and Kentucky (6-6-1, RPI 40) - are right at or barely over .500 right now. At the end of the day you still have to win games.
The committee also looks at bad losses as a determining factor and UCSB doesn't have any of those either. To date, only Cal State Northridge (23) and UC Davis (45) were victorious. For what it's worth UCSB tied UCLA (7), Oregon State (67), and Cal State Fullerton (136). In a Big West that is solid from top to bottom, being on the bubble should be good enough. I see Northridge and at least two teams in the BW north making the NCAA's.
Appears that even the Gaucho faithful are in the dark: http://ucsbgauchos.yuku.com/sreply/36732/Where-s-Sarle#.UHx6TGdvH8I
Quick recap: UCSB beat Sac St. 2-0, but were very convincing in domination. Dam Sarle quit the team for personal reasons not being publicly disclosed. Campion has torn ligaments thus why he is not back yet. MD is back from "injury". Hope his sights on MLS does not make him an individual player. Big game Tomorrow (Friday) on FSC vs Cal Poly. Ema is still pretty darn good.
UCSB looked great against Sac St. IMHO MD helps the team when he stays back and plays Dmid with Fifi. In that configuration we win everything in the middle and pressure really well. When he goes rouge it all breaks down... because the attacking fullbacks ( McGlynn, Ema ) count on him to be there when they go forward. The real key is that the team played much better as a unit... i.e. everyone got in sync with Fifi and Nic who are just playing great soccer. Acoff played much better as well... he played simpler and used his speed to advance the ball. But frankly Josue should (as well as deserves) to be starting every game with Acoff coming in to spell him... not the other way around. Josue attacks just as well (if not better) and is markedly better pressuring and defensively... and he plays simple. I'd love to see TVS make that line-up change. Losing Sarle hurts... I think he and Ema have been the most creative attacking players this year... Dom creating and assisting... Ema more 1v1. I liked what TVS did in this game... he put more "soccer players" on the field... most notibly Ema for Glodack... players who can attack as well as defend. He also moved Nic to the wing to add another centermid (essentially 4 centermids on the field) ... which all resulted in UCSB having most of the possession. I also liked that UCSB kept attacking all through the 2nd half... UCSB in the past has tried to sit on a lead and it never works. All in all a great showing for UCSB and a great adjustment by TVS... we just didn't look very good in the last 3 games... against Sac State we were dominant.
Dream on, I've had UCSB STUDENTS attend the game at Cal Poly and say that the atmosphere is a whole other level at Cal Poly. and that was apparent on TV today! and how come your fans travel like s%(@ there is serious 50 locos max! Fox Soccer Channel repeatedly showed the CP student section today and we had a whole section not just a little bunch at the front probably about 500 CP students in that section plus more throughout the rest of the stadium. so maybe 1000 CP fans, at least? I went to the conf semi at UCSB two years ago and that seems about right, probably arund 500-1000 then of the 4000 and change in attendance.
ALL CAL POLY DOES, is WIN! they just want it more, UCSB has their mind focused on other things UCLA, the NCAA tourney, their ranking, winning every game. CP takes it one game at a time and when it come time to play UCSB that is the biggest thing in the world. and if they acomplish everything they want, Conference tourneys, championships and NCAA tourney berth and rankings will follow. with UCSB in last with 3 games left you have to start to worry? If ucsb doesn't make the conf tourney will they still get a NCAA tourney at-large bid? UC Irvine didn't after their meltdown 2 years ago, they also played the weakest schedule EVER! But yeah, DREAMS DO COME TRUE! down 1-0 with 66 seconds left, ucstd students leaving the stadium already George Malki for CP pounds it home. The goalie was too focused on laying out a football like hit on another cp player to go after the ball, but that is typical of ucsb, playing dirty and now it's come back to bite, just like the Tortilla technical in the 90s. and you gotta give it up the Wade Hamilton the CP goalie, 12 saves, absolutely amazing, I've started calling him the vacuum. he is always in position to make the easy save, never caught out of position. and the CP defense all season long, helping out, #15 Nolan Moore's save today was huge. #27 had a big block aganist Davis after the CP goalie deflected the ball back out, a davis player got it and took a shot, #27 Ruben Duran saved it then the goalie got back to make the save off the ucd rebound. I also realized UCSB was like Duke in basketball, they are just the hated team that plays dirty, smerks a lot, massive douchebags, eliteist... it's just the same emotion that people from Maryland feel about Duke that people from CP and seeming the rest of the college soccer world feel about ucsb. except ucsb doesn't win as much as duke.
Not all CP fans are like RollPoly .... ugh. I mean, he can't even get Ruben Duran's number right ... #22.
Watched the game against Cal Poly last night, mainly to watch Boateng and see what all the hype is about. And I was pleasantly surprised: he is explosive with above average touch and also seemed to have excellent vision and good off the ball movement. I like him coming out of the back but when you have a natural attacking player like Boateng, it seems a waste not to have him at winger or, better yet, ACM or F. Fantastic crowd and atmosphere. College soccer in California owes UCSB a debt of gratitude. Every college soccer program out West should be taking notes. IMO Vom Steeg is not a coach I would want to mentor or coach my son, but I give him major props for understanding how to create a buzz and market soccer to the students and others in SB. If Vom Steeg can do it with his personality, others surely can as well.
CP is mostly a top 50 team for the past 10+ years and all it has to show is a single bid. Not sure why you are gloating that the teams in your conference gets screwed or saying really stupid things like Irvine "played the weakest schedule ever" when it was probably more difficult than Princeton which had an RPI in the top 25 that year.
Boateng, Hurtado, Welshman and Hollingshead are the attacking players out west that have impressed me the most.