Saint Louis University 2011-2012

Great schedule ...even if they might start the season 0-4. Great for the RPI and good experience for the under-classmen heading into conference play.

Any early predictions? Haven't heard much of anything from SLU this off-season..

Rather than start a new A10 thread, I thought I'd ask the current most active online forum of all the 14 schools. You're hosting the conference tournament, so you might know. Any truth to the conference tourney now being 4 rounds instead of 3? Some of the schedules are coming out with all 4 dates from Thurs to Sun, implying that Saturday would no longer be an off day.


But other schedules, including St Louis mens, do not show semifinals games on the Saturday.

If the conference would start to take 8 teams to the finals instead of the usual 6, it would be good news for the teams like UMass and Fordham last year that got left off the invite even though they had the same number of points as other teams that did qualify, but failed to generate enough points in the tie breakers. Moreover, Xavier's making the NCAA as a 6-seed by giving up zero goals in their entire 3 conference championship games was proof that the league has more depth/parity.

What's everyone's thoughts on this? 4 games in 4 days seems pretty extreme for the sport, any precedent in other conferences?

Before last year's Xavier win, it was unheard of for a low seed to run the table in the A10. In fact, 13 of the 14 finalists in women's soccer since conference expansion have been 1 and 2 seeds, which stresses the importance of getting a first round bye.

Thanks. I don't understand why multiple SID's have posted it as a 4 day, 4 round tournament. Dayton, in particular, would know better, shouldn't they?

I guess we will know for sure soon.

And am I the only one who can't see the schedule on this thread at all? Must be more i.e. browser issues.

Folks, I'm a new member who can't start my own thread - is there anywhere I can find out if there's a watch party in St Louis Sunday for the WWC final?? I'll be in town from Nashville to see U2 and would love to meet up with like-minded folks. (Saw the semi in Atlanta with some members of the Beat - it was great!)

So sorry - this is probably in the wrong thread - but I don't know where else to go!! Thanks for any info.

No apologies necessary, you may even get a decent answer from one of the SLU fans.

But just in case, if not, due to the nature of the topic, don't overlook... there is a thread buried all the way down in Women's Soccer/WPS/Expansion/St Louis/Laclede's Army that you can ping but it has no mention yet of this Sunday. If you ping them, you might get a response from whomever is subscribed to that thread.

Here you go. This is an invitation from one of our big clubs, St. Louis Scott Gallagher. Heading west on I-44 after crossing I=270 take the first exit on right. Turn right and go down the hill. Soccer Park is on your left.

______________________________________________

Hello Soccer Fans!

Watch Party!
Women's World Cup Final
USA vs Japan
Soccer Park - One Soccer Park Road, Fenton
Full Concession stand
Sunday, July 17
Game Kicks Off at 1:45 pm (doors open at 1:00 PM
Attendance Prizes
Everyone is Welcome but please RSVP on this link:

http://bit.ly/SLSG-WWC

A little over 2 weeks until the preseason opener against Louisville. It's only exhibition but should be a tough test against last year's National Runner Up. I like the tough schedule early. Could pay off big come conference time.

Any updates heading into the first exhibition vs Louisville? Should be a nice night in STL for a early evening game.

Wow! I cant believe there isnt anything going on in this thread. Where are all of the "Good 'Ol Boys" comments from captains practices?

I remember Soccertom used to give the run down of practices from August 1st on. Lineup projections, positives and negatives of what happened during the first scrimmage of the day. Who looks fit, who doesnt?

Inquiring minds want to know...Where are you soccertom? And what has happened to this SLU thread?

Will SLU's hosting the conference tourney be enough to get them back to the NCAA's?

The coaches picked you to finish 2nd in men's soccer behind perennial table topper Charlotte. The real disappearing act has been the SLU women. They were once tops of this conference, but are now picked to finish 9th.

UofL 2-0 over SLU yesterday. Field really looked in poor condition.

- McGinty played a few freshman yesterday especially in the first half. Manning was in at CB, Bryce and Lee were the central mids, and Kristo was at top. Played a traditional 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1.
- Louisville looks like what we used to look like with the passing but like Indiana of old with how they pressed the ball constantly when out of possession. If you are a forward on their team and don't play defense, you won't see the pitch. Really attractice movement of the ball in the first half while SLU tried to simply manintain shape and keep the ball in front. First goal came from a nice move across the 18 by their Hermann finalist last year and he buried it to the left post. Vedad-like sequence.
- Kristo looked completely out of shape, uninterested, and lazy. He's a big kid like Adnan but there was something wrong; McGinty kept him in and noted in an article that Kristo wasn't feeling right. Not sure what to make of it but he's got a lot to prove after his performance.
- Lee and Bryce looked all right but were not ready for the speed of the game.
- Second half saw the Hidalgo kid come on; small but feisty and good ball skills.
- Sito appears to not be playing anymore.
- Second goal was a simple giveaway at the top of the 18 by Newport to the Hermann award guy who hammered it in to the goal.
- SLU looked more dangerous in the second half with Adnan up top. He was a load for Louisville to handle.
- Roach missed a sitter in the first half after a nice feed from the goalline from Mags; ball hit the cross bar from about 10-12 yards out. Roach battled hard when he was out there.
- Sweetin did not play.
- While Louisville looked the better of the two, we didn't look horrible with so many new faces out there playing the #1-2 team in the nation.


I second the comment on the field. I don't know what happened but it is simply a mess; starting to look like lower level premiership fields look like a the end of a season.

Hosting enough? The hosting helps, the real test will be if they stay healthy because they lack some depth especially in the back.

Two words, TIM CHAMPION. Go talk to this guy or see him run a practice and you will know exactly why they are so bad. Rumor is Chalupny or whatever interviewed for the assistant coaching job and Champion instead hired someone who graduated from one of those awful teams. Complete joke.

Pretty accurate, field was crap. In the first half, SLU looked like a rec team at moments. I know Louisville is returning everyone and SLU played a lot of new players in new positions as well. Louisville was very good in midfield and SLU was awful there. The one positive I saw was freshman Ray Lee. Looked like he had a good touch on the ball and actually knew what he was doing, he will contribute well to the team once they actually play all of their players. Number 8 off the bench looks like he could be a spark off the bench or possibly start. Bryce and manning should hopefully not play much this year, as well as briggs. Hopefully we will see blake snyder soon so we don't get tortured by another briggs long ball season.

A healthy SLU team should win the A-10 i believe, need to get through the tough part of the season and maybe sneak a win or a couple of ties to build some confidence.

Does the coach normally not play Freshman?

Just a shot in the dark, but maybe it's been the summer-long drought and 100 degree temps the city experienced ...LOL.

Good to hear Adnan made his presence felt.

Why did Sweetin not play?

the entire grounds crew suck, minus the guys who cut the fields because they are awesome. i forget the guys name but he's a bum, and doesnt know how to take care of the practice or game field. take a look at any of the fields at slu. the soccer game field look to have herpes a year back and i think the baseball field know has the disease. its not hard to take care of the game field, limited play and state of the art sprinkler system. guess the ground master thinks the boys should prepare for the wonderful fields in the A10.

SLU, Dayton, Temple, Rhode Island, and The Bonnies, I believe, are the only grass fields left in the conference. Dayton has a wonderful field, and you get them at home. That leaves Rhode Island and Bonaventure as the only 2 grass fields you have to worry about, but five different A10 teams have to be prepared to play on your sod pile. So don't get snarky!

Turf (9 out of 14): La Salle, St. Joe's, Richmond, GW, UMass, Fordham, Xavier, Charlotte, Duquesne

http://www.fieldturf.com/installations/high-profile/fordham-university-jack-coffey-field/

http://www.fieldturf.com/images/downloads/FieldTurf_NCAA_Soccer.pdf

Or just have the women's team play at soccer park since TC doesnt seem to care about them anyway.

I heard that rumor as well. And, it is not as if Chalupny was demanding too much. She is now an Assistant Coach at Washington University of all places. Instead, he hired a May 2011 graduate with no coaching experience. The administration, it seems, cares less than the fans.