Patience. It's not even been 20 hours on a relatively little-visited thread with not that many contributors. I'll go one better on you: Akron pissed away large stretches of the 2nd half - like, say, the first 30 minutes or so. Uncharacteristic giveaways, lack of urgency, too many touches on the ball. Looked like pure shit, and Creighton more than deserved the equalizer. Akron needed to finish (and in some cases, shoot at all!) in the first half. For all their possession and usual dominance, they were reluctant to shoot (only 5 on goal unofficially at the end of regulation, 2 at the end of the 1st half). They scored on the first long ball over the top they played (and my goodness, was it a wonderful ball and even better finish). Yedlin passed up at least two clear shooting opportunities while wildly shanking two less-clear chances (one for a throw-in!) just in the first half. Others passed up decent shots as well. Akron woke the hell up in the last 10 minutes of regulation and the whole of overtime, but by that time they couldn't beat both the keeper and the woodwork (and the desperate Creighton defense, who did a great job of recovering at times). Right before the 2nd half started, I got a major sinking feeling that they were going to piss away the 2nd half, which you can't afford to do against a team as good as Creighton. It was totally out of the blue but it was uncanny, and it ended up actually happening. Much of it came from the last 10 plus the OTs, yes. I was at the wrong end for this, but the handball 30 seconds in that resulted in the missed PK: was it really a blatant bit of semi-cheating, or was it an unavoidable handball, that just happened to stop a goal-bound shot? I saw the commotion and assumed the keeper made another ridiculous save. 1. It's UA. 2. Saad Abdul Salaam must have been forced into the lineup by injury, since we didn't see Brenes in the 2nd half. He's actually a very good outside forward AND quite serviceable outside back. He played both positions in the second half, but primarily was left back. I thought he did decently. It was the midfield that seemed to lose its way. I could hear Porter from well across the stadium yelling at them to keep the ball moving. Left back has been a sort of revolving door all year. Derschang played there a lot of the year, but last night he was pushed up the field in the second half. Celtic beat Barcelona once. On balance, Akron was the better team. When they decided to play, they relentlessly pounded Creighton. I don't know what your faux-outrage is all about, but regardless, Creighton is a great team that happened to get the better of a team that is a bit better than them. That happens in soccer all the time. Akron lost to freakin' Western Michigan despite continually shelling them and CLEARLY being the better team. They lost to Cleveland State in 2010 - we all know what happened after that. Cleveland State! It happens. Probably a combination of NCAA rules and the fact that a lot of the student section that drove that place for the really strong years (2008-2011) appeared to have graduated almost en-masse. It's still good, but they do tend to lose focus. Add to that that I think everyone was pretty nervous, waiting for the other shoe to drop. There was a lot of collective frustration. It's been that way forever.
From the streaming online during the game, it was difficult to see what happened. The game highlights on the Akron site give a much better angle. Others may look at the video and come to a different conclusion, but IMO, harsh call to give a red and a PK there.
PK was warranted, though I do not believe the handling was intentional. The player stopped the ball from crossing the goal mouth with his hand. I also do not think the official issued a straight red, but a second yellow, which is by the book.
Most college places don't have significant distance and protection from the shooter to provide a safe environment. I think it has less to do with the fans behind the goal as it does the fans behind the goal not really having any barrier between them and the player. I would think that at Maryland, UCSB, etc. that has an endzone that is raised with a protective barrier, they would be able to shoot PKs. Most places have portable bleachers, a rope and that's it.
Timon19 Akron pissed away large stretches of the 2nd half - like, say, the first 30 minutes or so. Uncharacteristic giveaways, lack of urgency, too many touches on the ball. Looked like pure shit, and Creighton more than deserved the equalizer. Akron needed to finish (and in some cases, shoot at all!) in the first half. For all their possession and usual dominance, they were reluctant to shoot (only 5 on goal unofficially at the end of regulation, 2 at the end of the 1st half). They scored on the first long ball over the top they played (and my goodness, was it a wonderful ball and even better finish). Yedlin passed up at least two clear shooting opportunities while wildly shanking two less-clear chances (one for a throw-in!) just in the first half. Others passed up decent shots as well. Your long post, not entirely copied here, cannot be repped multiple times, or I would do so. We shot 31 times? It should have been 50! Having any injury to your team hurts, but having Brenes, Serna, and Koroma all out at the same time really crushed the finishing power.
I'm actually surprised the number is that high. The first half was certainly low, shot-wise. Only 2 (IIRC) on goal, and really not that many attempted. Porter got all over Yedlin one time for giving the ball up when he had a clear shot. Got to make the keeper work. Forgot about Serna getting hacked out of the contest. That foul happened right in front of me and right in front of the UA bench, too. Ugly foul that should have been punished with a yellow. Serna's not afraid to pull the trigger.
For the OP of the comment of clearing behind the goalposts, it should also be noted that at basketball games its not happening along the baseline under either basket, which also gets cleared of fans, reporters, cheerleaders, etc., only in the stands which are permanent. Also, baseball doesn't allow people in dead centerfield, both to avoid distraction to the batter and, of course, sign stealing. So, its not uncommon in sports or new to soccer.
Box score (on both Akron and Creighton sites) lists it as a straight red, and in the video, the CR only shows red. I think if the handball is called there, it is stopping a goal scoring opportunity, so red has to be given and PK awarded. I disagree with the ref making the call--close shot, ball hits arm against the body (and ball likely would have hit player's body)--but I respectfully understand how others will think the PK was warranted.
Thanks for posting that video. I agree with your interpretation, but I'm not surprised to see that call made by a far better ref than I ever was.
Yedlin is a player whose game I've liked a lot (and I enjoy bisbee's comments here), but your comments about him stood out to me yesterday, as well. He got forward very nicely and got himself a lot of touches around the edge of the box, but from there he struggled to make a good decision, maybe got tentative. Some of these Akron kids are so accomplished that sometimes it's easy to forget how young they are.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Porter's Akron career start off with a loss to Creighton? Kind of odd symmetry, no? I understand why Porter is leaving but I will miss him as a college coach. Yeah, he's arrogant but he was also really good for the college game and raised the bar, something too few college coaches in this sport are willing to do. Best of luck to him in Portland and to the Zips in the coming seasons.
I usually defer to you on all things dealing with memory, but I'll take a shot. I think that he got pummeled by UCSB at Virginia and that Porter was ejected. I clearly remember that he was furious post-game. I never forget to mention this whenever I see Dave Gifford (VCU) just to watch him cringe! Nevertheless, it's possible that this wasn't his first game.
Thanks...totally stunned by what happened. DeAndre,from the time he was a wee one,has always erred on the side of passing rather than shooting
It's funny...he played mid before moving to defender and had no problem shooting. Move to outside back and now he won't shoot to save his life. If he developed any kind of consistent shot with his left foot he'd be almost impossible to deal with, but I know he's been focusing on defense above all else, since you can't play defender if you can't defend. I also noticed as the year went on less and less was taken to the end line and crossed, with more of either him cutting inside or trying to play a ball on the ground. I wonder if that was his decision or the decision was made that they weren't particularly strong in the air so get it to feet.