I think your incorrect. Loosing two strong attacking players that can hold on to the ball in the offensive end can be huge. It puts a lot more pressure on the defense. If Purdue can't relieve pressure from their defenders it's a matter of time before they capitulate and start allowing goals, and once that happens without a strong offense it can really rain down on you, which is what has happened. Purdue has allowed 17 goals and scored 3 in the last 6 games. As a coach you have to make changes to the way you play. I don't know if Klatte has done that or if he just dosen't have the personel to do it. I'm not saying that is the problem, but it could certainly add to it, and I would venture to guess that it is a big part of it.
Fair point there. I don't recall Purdue being especially deep earlier this season, so it could be that they just don't have the personnel to adjust after those injuries.
Northwestern wins its third straight, 1-0 at Michigan State. Cats finish ahead of Spartans and Purdue in the Big Ten standings.
I haven't been following all that closely and maybe I am missing something BUT.. NU now has 9 points with the win today over MSU. That makes them tied with Iowa (who is currently beating WI and, if they do win or tie, this is pointless) who they beat. Wouldn't they go to the BTT ahead of Iowa if Iowa loses?
Iowa beat Wisconsin 2-1. Some type of red card against Wisconsin team...does anyone know what that was. So Indiana is out and Iowa is in. The field is set. Only question will be where Illinois falls after their match up today against Michiagan.
It's nice to see Iowa make the tournament after they've been knocking on the door for a couple of years . . . but it's too bad Nebraska had the tie-breaker over IU the way the Hoosiers finished the season.
Points Team Record 31 - Penn State 10-0-1 25 - Ohio State 8-2-1 23 - Michigan 7-2-2 19 - Minnesota 6-4-1 19 - Illinois 6-4-1 16 - Wisconsin 5-5-1 12 - Nebraska 4-7-0 12 - Iowa 3-5-3 Out of Tournament: 12 - Indiana 4-7-0 9 - Northwestern 3-8-0 7 - Michigan State 2-8-1 7 - Purdue 2-8-1
Didn't see mention of a red card in the Badgers recap. Couldn't get to the stats on my phone to check for sure. Illinois was down 2-0 at Michigan in the second half before DiBernardo and Read scored to send it to overtime. Breece drew a foul in the box in OT and DiBernardo converted the PK for the win. The Illini's first ever win in Ann Arbor.
Illinois was down 2-0 at Michigan in the second half before DiBernardo and Read scored to send it to overtime. Breece drew a foul in the box in OT and DiBernardo converted the PK for the win. The Illini's first ever win in Ann Arbor.[/quote] Hasn't Illinois been the most unpredictable team this year?
Why are the tournament games so early in the day this year? First day is the same as last year, but the semifinals and finals are several hours earlier...the first semifinal starts at 9 a.m. for us in the Central Time Zone!
Couldn't have happened to a nicer coach. If anyone talks to her, tell her the IU crab band is playing at the Wisconsin game.
Hasn't Illinois been the most unpredictable team this year?[/quote] Yeah, it's certainly been a roller coaster ride this year. Several factors there. First, no DiBernardo or Rayfield for the first month, though they seemed to weather that okay. Then, a succession of injuries, though only one (Tailor Smith) has been season-ending. Just enough (Marissa Holden, Taylore Peterson, Allie Osoba, Shayla Mutz, Nicole Breece) to keep players out of the lineup for 1-2 games at a time. Finally, they ditched the 4-3-3 they'd been using for much of the season and switched to a 3-5-2, in part because Mutz went out and can't play huge minutes even now that she's back. It looks like things have finally stabilized the last couple of weeks. Not sure if they'll be able to make a run this week or not, but I think they're at least in a position to give it a good shot. In my amateur NCAA-predicting opinion, the winner of Wednesday's Illinois-Minnesota game is in the tournament, while the loser is probably out. But, no pressure;-)
This week's POTW honorees from Illinois, Ohio State, Northwestern and Penn State: http://www.bigten.org/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/102912aaa.html
Who you guys got for Players of the Year? Assuming the Big Ten is still honoring every position I'm going with: Coach of the Year: Lori Walker, Ohio State Forward of the Year: Tiffany Cameron, Ohio State Midfielder of the Year: Christine Nairn, Penn State Defender of the Year: Kendyl Reed, Ohio State Goalkeeper of the Year: Haley Kopmeyer, Michigan Freshman of the Year: Mallory Weber, Penn State Picking defender of the year is always a crap shoot since it's the hardest to measure statistically. I decided to go with who I thought was the best defender on the team that gave up the fewest goals. It could probably be a half dozen other players though.
My Tournament predictions: Game 1 Minnesota vs Illinois - Illinois 3-2 Game 2 Penn State vs Iowa - Penn State 3-1 Game 3 Ohio State vs Nebraska - Ohio State 4-0 Game 4 Michigan vs Wisconsin - Michigan 2-1 Semi 1 - Penn State vs Illinois - Penn State 3-2 Semi 2 - Ohio State vs Michigan - Ohio State 3-1 Final - Penn State vs Ohio State - Penn State 4-3
Sounds like tomorrow is the Big Ten Awards...they must do this before the tournament starts? Here's this awards from College Spors Madness below, but never heard of this site. For Big Ten Freshman team, it looks like there hav ebeen 9 to 10 Freshman honored with weekly awards so they probably get best nod, but not sure how they stack up by position. http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/5118
I've got the same results as you, Dave, until the final. Then I've got Ohio State winning what should be a great game: http://www.illinihq.com/blogs/molines-musings/2012-10/which-side-bubble.html
Big Ten postseason awards, and Penn State deservedly cleans up: http://www.bigten.org/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/103112aaa.html Happy to see Holly Hein make the first team after everything she went through to get back on the field. Congratulations to all the honorees.