Notre Dame and Clemson had their turn for 1-game weeks. Everyone in the ACC has a couple of those weekends which rotate. Clemson used that as an opportunity to schedule a non-conference opponent and win 14-0. Ridiculous score. I guess that will help them to get to being .500 and NCAA tournament eligible. After 2 weekends so far I have to say the disappointments so far have been Boston College at 1-3 and Duke at 1-2-1. You could throw in UNC at 2-2 but the losses have come to Notre Dame and FSU - but still they are UNC. Biggest surprise is VA Tech. Didn't think they would be 3-1 at this point. Clemson is not much of a mild surprise as I figured they would be improved with their incoming class. Also going to keep an eye on Syracuse. They played Notre Dame even until the very end and got a good result against Duke. Don't think they will be in the middle tier of the conference in the end but they are showing at least they can relatively compete in the ACC.
SoccerTrustee, Yea, I get it just because a Student/Athlete goes to UVA, Duke or Wake Forest they should get preferential treatment because those schools sport programs grade out better than an FSU, etc. Do you hear yourself? Are you a Snot? As a student you can make College as hard or as easy as you want. It doesn't matter if you go to Harvard or FSU. You still have to do the work! I call BULLSHIT on your Statement about what Mark needs and doesn't need. That statement simply isn't true! Here is a DIRECT quote from Mark about his student/athletes, "I am very proud of all our players as each one is very serious about their academics. It is imperative as coaches to stress the importance of academics and to make sure the players that come through our program are excelling in the classroom." By the way FSU Soccer Student/Athletes have done pretty well over the years. It is a tradition started by the previous Coach! Lastly, If you're really going to respect FSU's program at least know something about it!!!!!! http://www.seminoles.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/030413aaa.html http://www.seminoles.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/022012aaa.html
Based on: the results so far this season, the remaining games, but not counting the ACC Tournament, using Massey's current rankings for the ACC teams, and assuming all the remaining conference regular season results conform to the Massey rankings (no ties) the following table shows teams' expected end-of-season win-loss-tie records. Boston College has one non-conference game still to play against Central Connecticut, which is not included in the table. If things were to play out this way, the maximum number of teams the ACC could have in the NCAA Tournament is eight. If Duke were to lose in the first round of the ACC Tournament (against the #1 seed Virginia), then the maximum number is seven. Different rankings produce different results, but the gist of the results is the same. For teams like Duke, Boston College, Clemson, and Miami, they are going to have to beat the teams they are ranked above and pull off an upset or two against higher ranked teams.
Not disputing your numbers and projections. Who knows, but if it played out as you state, it would be a shame and a sham to only get 7 ACC teams in the tourney. It's as if the punishment of a difficult schedule is greater than the reward for the same. You can't convince me that at least 9 ACC teams, and probably more, aren't among the best 64 out there!
Just to be sure where I fit into this is clear, I'm wanting people to understand the implications of the ACC having elected to play a full conference round robin. That's why I've started posting these "projecting forward" tables. In the "mega" conference era, the question of whether to play a full round robin has important NCAA Tournament implications for the very top conferences. By having fewer non-conference games in order to accommodate a full round robin, teams in the middle of the conference lose opportunities to gain wins that would help them meet the Tournament's minimum 0.500 record requirement. This is something the ACC "powers that be" certainly were aware of when they decided, for this year, to have a full round robin. I'm sure this issue, and other Tournament-related issues, are receiving discussion with a view to a possible change in the future.
The ACC has to be hit upside the head before they see what many of us can see plainly. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it took Mark K. embarrassing the ACC with the old ACC tourney format, before they made changes that don't severely punish the student athlete or the schools outside the state of North Carolina. It will take many of the ACC teams complaining with vigor before anything will be done.
Tom81, Enzo and Tokonta: You all bring up very good points for FSU. I have no doubt that these student-athletes work hard once they get to campus. I am sure a big reason for that is what the staff at FSU preaches and the culture they create. Here is my point. FSU does not attract the same American student-athlete as Duke, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Boston College, or Virginia (I am not a fan of these programs nor anti-FSU just so you know). FSU does not have the academic prestige as these other institutions. You can try to argue this but look at the statistics for incoming freshmen scores and that will end the conversation. And Krikorian knows this and als knows women's soccer is a sport that unlike basketball and football caters to the middle- to upper-socioeconomic class. So as a result he must look to international players to help his roster and he has done this very, very successfully. Foreign players are much more likely to come to FSU for the high-end soccer, coaching, and development to help them in their international careers than for the quality of the academic degree. He could complain about not getting the best American kids or he can be smart and go another route and get top internationals which he has done over the years in Iceland, Begium, France, Ireland, England, Germany, Australia, and Japan. It obviously has worked very well for him and one reason why I respect the FSU program so much, along with Mark's obvious coaching acumen. The point I was trying to make is that this will have an effect on them at some point due to demands of these players' respective national teams programs, which is what we are seeing this week. Campbell and Brynjarsdottir are missing this week which probably will not hurt them much against a very poorly coached Miami team and they may be able to get away with it against Clemson. But the next time this happens? Ireland and Iceland have maches on 10/30 and 10/31 respectively. And 10/27 and 10/31 are the matches against Virginia and Notre Dame so that won't be the best time to lose two quality starters and the ACC final standngs could come . A few other ACC programs also have internationals but not to the extent FSU does and therefore won't be affected as much by international duty.
I was informed by a credible source that changes have already been made unofficially for the 2014 season. They have broken up the teams in a way that will allow them to be in specific groups with some cross over games playing teams from other groups. As a result each team will play an ACC schedule comprising of anywhere from 9-10 ACC games.
Games tonight (looks like three games will be streaming for free, and one more if you have access to ESPN3) Maryland @ Notre Dame (on watchnd.tv) UNC @ Pitt (on ESPN3) Miami @ FSU UVa @ Duke (on ACC's Digital Network--go to ACC.com or ACC's page on YouTube) Wake Forest @ BC VaTech @ NC State (on GoPack.com) Clemson @ Syracuse
In case you are worried, I'm not offended. We certainly don't carry the academic prestige of the Dukes, NDs, Virginias etc. I'm sure it makes it more difficult to recruit the top 20 caliber US recruits. We've had a few, but not many. If, and when, women's soccer becomes more lucrative for more kids, that advantage will be somewhat mitigated. For now, it is what it is! Mark is doing an outstanding job of playing the hand dealt him. Go Noles!
Final scores from tonight: Maryland 0 @ Notre Dame 5 UNC 1 @ Pitt 0 Miami 0 @ FSU 4 UVa 3 @ Duke 2 Wake Forest 0 @ BC 1 VaTech 4 @ NC State 1 Clemson 1 @ Syracuse 0 UVa was down 2-0 at half, but ties it up within 4 minutes of the second half and wins in the 79th minute, and Duke now has a losing record overall. Wake has now lost 2 in a row. VaTech continues to impress with its only loss to UNC; they play at Duke on Sunday which should be critical to both teams, as the Blue Devils need a win and VaTech still has to play Wake, UVa, Notre Dame and FSU.
I went to see the DUKE - UVA game tonight. As most know, Duke is without two of their top players this season, but tonight, the remainder played very well in the first half. The 2-0- half time score was no fluke. Both goals were solid well executed efforts (although there was some dispute as to whether Kaitlyn Kerr was offside on the second goal.) Duke was playing neck and neck with Virginia in a high energy very entertaining half. Virginia had their chances, but couldn't capitalize. The second half was a different story. Duke was without starting defender Tabria Williford who was injured in the first half, and the Cavaliers had their way with the Blue Devils defense. Virginia struck twice with in a minute or so at the beginning of the half and dominated play against the out manned Duke team. The speed of play and exquisite one-touch passing demonstrated by the Cavaliers was very impressive, and their attack was three pronged....beautiful quick long balls to slashing diagonal runners behind the defense; wonderfully executed passes deep in to the target forward in the center who would one touch diagonally back out at charging halfbacks for shots; or just some fabulously confident and effective short passing in the box for a lot of good looks. The score could have been worse for the exhausted Dukies. The score down at Raleigh does not surprise me. VT is very good and will surprise some teams in the ACC. Big, tough, and skilled.
Expand from quotes above! Great Point! As far as the academics at FSU it may not have the "prestige" of the schools you have listed but then again those schools haven't had a Rhodes Scholar in over 50 years! Stanford is the only choice.....
Early results: Boston College 3 @ NC State 2 Wake 1 @ Syracuse 0 FSU 1 @ Clemson 1 after 2OT. Clemson led 1-0 after 10 minutes until FSU tied in 86th minute. Despite giving up a late goal, huge result for Clemson. With FSU not getting 3 points, if Notre Dame and UVa win today, they'll have some breathing room at the top of the conference standings.
Circle next Sunday, October 6, on your calendars: Duke @ Boston College. Here are end of season projections for the ACC, combining games already played with projected outcomes based on the current Massey rankings and assuming that the projected outcomes are win/loss games rather than ties. The teams are in the order of the Massey rankings. Boston College has one additional non-conference game to play, not included in the table. It is against Central Connecticut. BC plays @ Florida State on Thursday night. Duke's only game this week is Boston College. The table does not include any projected outcomes for ACC Tournament games. Remember, a minimum 0.500 record is required to be considered for an at large selection for the ACC Tournament. PS - in the current ARPI rankings: Boston College 13, Duke 34, Clemson 51.
FSU comes back from 0-2 deficit at home to beat BC 4-3 in regulation Maryland beats NC State 3-0 Virginia Tech beats Clemson 1-0 in 1OT Notre Dame and Wake Forest are still at halftime due to a lightning delay 0-0
Seems like either team could have won this one, with multiple opportunities for both teams to put it away. Stengel could have had the game winner from range at just under 10 minutes left, but her shot ricocheted off the crossbar. Will be interesting to see how Notre Dame handles their first conference setback. Highlights here: http://www.und.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/100413aab.html
Just a curious question. I remember in the past there was a lot of camaraderie between fans of ACC teams when playing out of conference teams. When one ACC fan's team would get ousted in the NCAA Tournament often those fans would then root for the other ACC teams still left. I remember Carolina fans after UNC was eliminated in the past saying how they will root for Florida State because they were a fellow ACC team. Let me ask you, does this now apply to Notre Dame as well? Will Carolina fans or FSU or Duke fans root for ND if let's say ND was the only ACC team left in the Final Four playing against UCLA or Portland or Penn State, etc.? Be honest.
I never choose a team by conference- I pick 2 teams- 1 that I feel has the best chance to win (assuming my team is out at that point , of course) and 2- an underdog I hope to see upset the favorites.