RPIs as of today's release: Georgetown 20 Notre Dame 26 Marquette 37 Rutgers 38 Louisville 42 South Florida 54 UConn 89 Syracuse 96 USF makes a big jump as expected. The Big East could get 5, maybe even 6 teams in, depending on how things finish. I didn't think the BE would get more than 3 teams in as of a couple weeks ago.
Yup have to agree that Georgetown is in good position for a national seed, I don't know if Notre Dame is though, even with their current RPI which is favorable. They would need to knock off either Rutgers or Marquette in the semi final and meet up with Georgetown in the final and knock them off for a potential seed. We'll see if they can do all of that. South Florida is looking suprisingly in decent shape. They've taken care of business, beating all the teams they need to beat, and they have several quality results too boot. They need more of course. Where they are at currently in the rankings, they won't make it into the NCAA tournament. Mainly because we haven't accounted for all the auto bids that will come in, and most of them won't normally qualify by RPI to the tournament. So USF's placement currently is very shaky, they need a good result or do well in the Big East playoffs. A draw with Marquette might be enough to help USF if they can achieve that.
Friday Oct.19 2012 Quite a few upsets happenned this week, going to run down the ones that impacted the Big East and SEC conferences. Miami (ACC) 1-0 (13)Maryland. This is a pretty big upset. For one thing, Miami was at the bottom half of the ACC standings and needed lots of help if they were going to make it into the ACC playoffs, let alone get an at large bid for the NCAA tournament. This win over a team that potentially is looking for a national seed is pretty huge. With a win for (9)Florida, draws against (23)West Virginia and (24)Virgina Tech. Miami now has a good shot at grabbing an at large bid for itself even if they miss the ACC playoffs. What this does for South Florida is that is changes everything for them now. With wins over Miami and Louisville, their RPI is only going higher. Which means they probably won't need the result against (21)Marquette this Saturday or the Big East playoffs. South Florida looks to be getting an at large bid in their future. There have been a slew of other upsets this week, so we'll run them down as they effect each team on the list, but what should be noted all 3 teams that were dropped from the watch list last week from the SEC conference won their games this week. Alabama 1-0 (9)Florida Arkansas 2-1 (16)Missouri LSU 3-2 OT (38)Old Miss For now they will stay off the watchlist until this Sunday, with Alabama and LSU still at the bottom of the league in points and Arkansas at .500 record is a close thing whether they can improve their chances with the season coming to a close. But for Alabama, the win over Florida is big, and if they can reach the SEC playoffs and do well, they may be able to turn their season around. Big East key match results. Villanova (2nd Emily Damstrom) 1-0 (14)Georgetown (22)Notre Dame (5th Lauren Bohaboy) 1-0 2OT Depaul (36)Louisville (8th Charlyn Corral, 4th Casey Whitfield) 2-1 2OT Cincinnati (1st Liz Miller) (43)Rutgers (3rd Rachel Cole, 2nd Stefanie Sholz) 2-0 Seton Hall (14)Georgetown (Overall 14-2-2 Conference 8-1-1) 1-0 loss vs Villanova. This result isn't as surprising to me as maybe it would be to others. Villanova has played the top teams in the Big East tough, Their non conference season should of been a good warning to teams. They played (13)Maryland to a draw and beat (42)LaSalle. Then beat (43)Rutgers and now Georgetown. They would be in discussion for a possible at large berth if they didn't have a sub .500 record. As for Georgetown this is a very painful end to their conference season. They didn't need this loss if they were looking for a national seed. They are still in a running, but they don't have alot of wiggle room left now. (21)Marquette (Overall 12-2-2 Conference 8-0-1) Idle for today. Their last game of the conference season is against South Florida this Saturday. USF shouldn't be taken lightly, they don't score alot of goals, but they play good defense and have played teams tough. This is not a gimme game for Marquette. (22)Notre Dame (Overall 12-4-2 Conference 8-1-1) 1-0 2OT win vs Depaul. Another grind it out win for the Baby Irish. Depaul as expected played a very defensive minded game against the Irish and it took time to break them down. Matches like this are important with a 20-5 shot total, its not so much what you are doing on the field, but what you are doing to adjust to what your opponents are giving you. Learning this for a young team will be important for the growth of the team. (36)Louisville (Overall 10-4-3 Conference 5-3-3) 2-1 2OT win vs Cincinnati. The Bearcats almost pulled off what I would of considered an upset. Any result over a ranked team for the Bearcats is a huge morale victory after what they had to go through this season. Louisville is safely into the Big East postseason and will get a bye for the first round. Mission accomplished for the Cardinals. (43)Rutgers (Overall 12-6-1 Conference 5-5-1) 2-0 win vs Seton Hall. Their turning point for their season was their big draw over Notre Dame. That game showed their willingness to keep fighting against a very tough side in the Irish. And more importantly, Rutgers were getting scoring from other players other then Jonelle Filigno who at one point had 60% of the goals scored for Rutgers. Its still a very high total close to 50%, but Rutgers are actually getting other people into the mix and getting more production from their forwards. A good sign going forward. South Florida (Overall 10-4-2 Conference 6-1-2) Idle for today. USF Bulls haven't done anything so far this week, but their chances of getting an at large bid has dramatically increased. Miami a team they beat who plays in the toughest conference the ACC is turning their conference season around. And by beating (13)Maryland, they just might move up enough to get themselves an at large bid, which for USF who are hovering around the bubble side of the RPI, that Miami result will be huge for USF going forward. Its so huge, that USF will probably not need a result for (21)Marquette now. Its not the do or die scenario for USF anymore. USF should still try to get that result, but now its looking alot better for the Bulls now. Syracuse (Overall 8-6-2 Conference 5-3-1) Idle for today. There last match for their conference season is against St.John's. Connecticut (Overall 7-7-2 Conference 3-4-1) Idle for today. Last game for them is against Providence this Saturday. SEC key match results. Alabama (8th Katie Bourgeois) 1-0 (9)Florida (26)Tennessee (6th Hannah Wilkinson) 1-0 (10)Texas A&M Arkansas (3rd, 4th Ashleigh Ellenwood) 2-1 (16)Missouri (7th Abi Raymer) LSU (4th Alex Arlitt, 1st Danille Murphy, 2nd Megan Kinneman(GK) 3-2 OT (38)Old Miss (11th, 12th Mandy McCalla) Kentucky (6th Arin Gilliland) 1-0 South Carolina Auburn (4th Mary Coffed, 5th Tori Ball, 2nd Maddie Barnes, 1st Logan Beal) 4-1 Vanderbilt (1st Erin Myers) Today was the day of upsets in the SEC conference. The top 3 teams all lost today with Florida and Missouri taking big hits to their RPI. Because all 3 lost, the SEC standings at the top stay the same which is surprising that all 3 top teams would lose on the same day. (9)Florida (Overall 12-4-1 Conference 9-2) 1-0 loss vs Alabama. A big upset loss to Alabama who is at the low end of the SEC rankings. This will hurt the Gators RPI pretty badly. That second seed isn't looking so secure with this loss now. They need to regroup and go into the SEC playoffs by winning their last two matches. Happily for Florida, their next two closest rivals also lost Texas A&M and Missouri. So they retained their lead for the SEC title. (10)Texas A&M (Overall 14-3-1 Conference 8-2-1) 1-0 loss vs (26)Tennessee. Another shock upset that was administered by the Lady Vols. With a huge shot advantage 23-9 and 11 shots on frame. The Lady Vols keeper Julie Eckel played an outstanding game. The Aggies path to a high seed in the last few games have taken a turn for the worse. They need to turn things around if they want those seeds. (16)Missouri (Overall 13-4 Conference 8-3) 2-1 loss vs Arkansas. The third shock upset today. The Mizzou Tigers took the lead in the first half only to see it evaporate in the second. The second half collaspse has to be incredibly disappointing especially since the Tigers will probably get nailed fairly harshly on the RPI hit. They are going to need to regroup and take aim at their next few games and get back their form they had all season long. (26)Tennessee (Overall 12-4-2 Conference 7-3-1) 1-0 win vs (10)Texas A&M. A monster win for the Lady Vols. Julie Eckels 11 save performance highlights a strong effort, with this win, the Lady Vols move up the SEC standings. All 3 of the top teams lost today, they are now only a few points behind the leaders. An impressive climb up the standings for the Lady Vols. (38)Mississippi (Overall 12-6 Conference 5-6) 3-2 OT loss vs LSU. The rebels really couldn't afford to lose to teams like LSU. Their RPI is low enough that they in essence are in bubble territory. They can't afford the hit to their RPI with matches they should be winning. They have two games left with (26)Tennessee looking to be the tougher match out of the two. Its coming down to getting a result over Tennessee to ensure their place at the big dance. They really need a good result to help lock up their position. Kentucky (Overall 11-5-1 Conference 6-4-1) 1-0 win vs South Carolina. They thoroughly dominated USC, really only allowing one quality chance on goal. With only Auburn and Vanderbilt left, they should get those results fairly easily. Auburn (Overall 10-8 Conference 6-5) 4-1 win vs Vanderbilt. This win qualifies them for the SEC tournament. They still don't have a markee win under their belt like Alabama gained today. They are going to need to do well in the SEC tournament if they have any hope of making it into the SEC tournament.
Saturday 21 2012 key match update. (21)Marquette (7th Maegan Kelly, 2nd Lisa Phibin, 3rd Ashley Stemmler, 2nd Cara Jacobsen) 4-0 South Florida Connecticut (5th, 6th Jennifer Skogerboe, 3rd Linda Ruutu) 3-2 2OT Providence (1st Courtney Maguire, 2nd Allison Walton) Syracuse (2nd Rosina Callisto) 1-0 St.John's The Big East season is now over and playoffs start this Thursday for the lucky teams that made it in. Here are the final standings for the Big East. American Division: teamrecordpointsseed Marquette9-0-1281 South Florida6-2-2202 Syracuse6-3-1193 Connecticut4-5-1124 Providence3-7-09- Pittsburgh2-6-28- St.John's2-7-17- National Division: teamrecordpointsseed Georgetown8-1-1251 Notre Dame8-1-1252 Louisville5-3-2173 Villanova5-4-1164 Rutgers5-5-115at large Depaul3-6-110at large Seton Hall2-9-06- Cincinnati1-10-03- Because there is an unbalance schedule where the National Division plays 11 conference games and the American 10, a strange Big East playoff format was developed where teams are ranked and ordered by points per game average. Your total conference points divided by 10 and you get your PPG average. The higher value of course is the better one. Top 4 seeds in each conference make it in and 2 at large teams that can come from either division. In this case the National team picked up the 2 at large teams with Rutgers and Depaul making it in. The loss by Providence to Connecticut was especially painful for them since they just missed out getting an at large bid. This Thursday both the 4 seed in each division playoff against the 2 at large teams. Rutgers visits UConn and Depaul visits Villanova. Big East playoff team overview. Connecticut (Overall 8-7-2 Conference 4-5-1) RPI: 89 Top Scorers: F-Danielle Shulmann 9g 7a (25pts) M-Jennifer Skogerbee 6g 1a (13pts) UConn's season has been a rollercoaster ride, with much optimism with the talent coming in for the Huskies. They proved they could score goals and put in 35 goals for this season. What they probably didn't expect is the amount of goals they shed all season long. UConn had only one shut out for the season and that came against Maine. UConn had a fairly difficult schedule lined up with non conference games against Boston College, Santa Clara and UCLA. They lost to BC in a high scoring affair 4-3, drew with Santa Clara and was leading UCLA 3-2 before lightning forced the match cancellation. Overall their non conference season was successful with a 4-2-1 mark. The Big East conference season on the other hand was not so kind to the Huskies with their win over Villanova being their highlight. The rest of their Big East season was an excerise of frustation with losses to Notre Dame and Georgetown which could be expected and a draw with Marquette which was a good result for the Huskies. But key losses to Syracuse and USF really put doubts in gaining an at large bid bid, then their stinker to Pittsburgh all but sealed their fate. For UConn to make it into the NCAA tournament. They have one option and that is to win the auto bid from the Big East Conference. Without that their RPI is far too low to make it into the tournament. Depaul (Overall 8-9-2 Conference 3-6-1) RPI: 126 Top Scorers: M-Ashleigh Goddard 3g 2a (8pts) F-Kelly Blumberg 3g 1a (7pts) Depaul had a mixed non conference season going 4-3-2 but they did pull off a win over Dayton, who will more then likely win their conference auto bid. They should have an easy ride to the A10 conference playoffs. Other then that their best conference result was a draw against Villanova. Which for Depaul is problematic since they don't have the quality results to help push their RPI up and where their RPI is not right now, they would need the auto bid if they want to qualify for the NCAA tournament. There is one thing going for Depaul. They have a stout defense, they have played Notre Dame, Georgetown and Rutgers tough and only allowed 1 goal in all those contests. Depaul has only allowed 17 goals this season which is better then many of the teams in the Big East conference. Their problem is they haven't been able to get the key results over ranked teams. Those 3 games were all losses. Depaul's road through the playoffs starts with Villanova who also have a good defense, so we should be seeing a very defensive oriented match. Georgetown (Overall 14-2-2 Conference 8-1-1) RPI: 20 Top Scorers: M-Daphne Corboz 16g 6a (38pts) F-Kaitlin Brenn 9g 8a (26pts) Probably the most impressive thing about Georgetown was not how they didn't have a rebuilding year like so many thought but how they reloaded with a new star midfielder by the name of Daphne Corboz. What is impressive is Ingrid Wells who will go down in as one of the all time greats for Georgetown may be eclipsed by the tiny midfielder from Greenbrook, New Jersey. Corboz's 10 goals 21 pts last year was an impressive rookie campaign. With this year not even over and sharing the goal lead in the entire NCAA conferences in her second year. Daphne may go down as one of the all time great midfielders for the NCAA. Add to all this is Georgetown's impressive offense, even with the 53 goals scored last year, they have already scored 44 this year. Certainly not a rebuilding year for Georgetown especially since they missed the NCAA tournament last year. They are a shoe in this time. Much of this wasn't apparent at the start of the season. They lost 3 key seniors in Ingrid Wells (9 goals), Camille Trujillo (12 goals) and Samantha Baker (7 goals). Over half of last years production was gone. Its not everyday that a team can replace such production, but players have stepped up like Kaitlin Brenn who only had 1 goal last year, she now has 9. Part of that is Corboz providing exceptional service for her forwards and providing another attacking threat that defenders need to defend against. Georgetown despite their lackluster non conference schedule with a bevy of soft wins over weaker opposition wasn't tested until they encountered Santa Clara which they drew and then got hammered by Stanford 6-0. Questions about Georgetown's soft schedule arose and whether beating up soft opponents was going to be enough for when they go into the Big East season. Those questions were answered when they beat Rutgers, drew Louisville and then beat Notre Dame 2-0. Key results over ranked teams over the stretch that locked up a top seed for the Big East tournament and are in the running for a possible national seed as well. Though their last game against Villanova may set this back. That loss to Villanova was a surprise, but Villanova played everyone tough and have a stellar defense. Louisville (Overall 10-4-3 Conference 5-3-3) RPI: 42 Top Scorers: M-Charlyn Corral 8g 7a (23pts) M-Angelika Uremovich 9g 2a (20pts) Louisville like a few of the noteworthy teams have extensively recruited international players to play for their program. Unlike Universities like Notre Dame, they don't have a name brand that players will look at and want to be apart of. But because of this, Louisville can offer international players the ability to play as a starter, where they may not get that opportunity in another top ranked university. Because of that its no surprise that Louisville's scoring is lead by two international players. Though maybe not the one we were expecting. Previous to this season, Christine Exeter scored 14 goals to lead the Big East in scoring. When she headed off to the U20 World Cup to play for Canada, expectations were high she would return and continue on form. With only 1 goal in 12 games played, Exeter has been a big disappointment for the Cardinals, but happily two other international players stepped up. Charyn Corral, a Mexican and Angelica Uremovich a Canadian. Both of them playing midfield and both finding the back of the net. Both these players have been a pleasant surprise for Louisville since last year all the offense went through Exeter. For Louisville to have their offense move through their midfield bodes well for their future success. With already 34 goals scored this year, they have already matched their last season production. Louisville is in a predicament. They really don't have any strong results other then their draw with Georgetown. They have good wins over potentially good teams, but a good result over Purdue isn't panning out well, with Purdue struggling in the Big10 season. Their win over UNC Greensboro though looks to be getting better for them with the Spartans demolishing their league rivals. Greensboro looks safe to get their auto bid from their tournament. Even though Louisville's RPI looks good for now, they should take care because weird situations have happenned before with teams winning their tournaments auto bid when their RPI would normally be too low thereby putting safe teams on the bubble. For Louisville, they should be aiming for a good run in the Big East tournament to be safe. Marquette (Overall 13-2-2 Conference 9-0-1) RPI: 37 Top Scorers: M-Maegan Kelly 7g 10a (24pts) M-Taylor Madigan 7g 2a (16pts) The Golden Eagles comes into this season after having a stellar 2011 season with an 13-2-2 record and a unbeatan conference record. This is their 4th straight American division title which should be no surprise with the teams in their division. But because of their weak division and the way the cross division games were scheduled, Marquette avoided playing the two most dangerous teams in the Big East. Georgetown and Notre Dame. Rutgers unfortunately had to play those two teams plus Marquette, Louisville and USF who came second in the American division. Questions to Marquette's strength of schedule and how really good Marquette is will be asked and it won't be answered until they match up against Georgetown or Notre Dame in the playoffs. At least for Marquette despite the questions of their SoS, they did what they needed to do and win all the games they should be winning which is all that can be asked. And importantly for Marquette they did it confortably with an offense that has scored 47 times this season. Add in their strong defense which has only allowed 11 goals and Marquette has much going for it. With 14 players contributing to the offense, Marquette isn't hamstrung when a striker is having an off night, they are well balanced in their scoring with Maegan Kelly pulling the strings on the offense. Her 40pts last year was impressive and she is looking to have another impressive season again this year. Marquette despite the paucity of quality results still have wins over Rutgers and Louisville and Marquette has been winning. That alone is important for RPI purposes. The Golden Eagles should have no problems getting an at large bid even if they drop their first game in the Big East playoffs. Notre Dame (Overall 12-4-2 Conference 8-1-1) RPI: 26 Top Scorers: F-Crystal Thomas 8g 2a (18pts) F-Lauren Bohaboy 5g 4a (14pts) Notre Dame is another side hit with heavy losses in graduations. With Melissa Henderson 18g (44pts), Jessica Schuveiller 6g (14pts) and their midfielder stallwart Courtney Barg and then the transfer of Adriana Leon 6g to Florida. Notre Dame had a tall order to replace all these key personal and their goals. So in comes one of the larger recruitment classes for Notre Dame in a long time. 12 freshman joined the 2012 class. Add to the difficulty of bringing in so many new faces was the U20 World Cup taking Mandy Laddish who in her second season was considered one of the better attacking midfielders in College and Cari Roccaro who played defense for the gold medal winning World Cup team also played forward and now is starting as a midfielder for Notre Dame. After last season's troubles where they squeaked into the NCAA tournament, one would of expected a rebuilding year for Notre Dame. Maybe not out of the NCAA picture but certainly not as high up on the RPI charts as they are now. Part of the reason for how well Notre Dame has played so far, is the identity they aquired when Randy Waldrum nick named them the "Baby Irish." With 12 freshman and 6 sophomores, they had the second youngest team in College. The expectations for them were set low by everyone except by them. They did run into their fair share of troubles early on when they visited the Washington Huskies and got defeated 3-0, a low point in their non conference season, but they had a win over Santa Clara and a draw against Portland which proved they could match up against quality sides. When Mandy Laddish and Cari Roccaro returned from the World Cup, Notre Dame became a totally different beast. Their passing was more precise and they began to dominate the pitch for long stretches at a time through possession of the football. Mandy may not have the glowing stats that Daphne Corboz has, but Mandy is most definetely the heart and soul of the Notre Dame offense, she along with Katie Naughton are the only ones that stay on the pitch for the full 90min. Notre Dame unlike last year has spread out the scoring. With Melissa Henderson she was the focus of the offense for Notre Dame. This year its the opposite with 12 players contributing to the offense, lead by rookie forward Crystal Thomas 8 goals and 4 other rookies joining in on the scoring. Katie Naughton who probably will be overshadowed by her teammate for rookie of the year honors stood out with her smart heady play handling the backline, frequently getting tasked to defend the best player on the oppossing team. Whether or not this year will amount to a run to the College Cup or not, this year should be considered a success for the young squad. This 2012 class has taken great strides as a team. Rutgers (Overall 12-6-1 Conference 5-5-1) RPI: 38 Top Scorers: F-Jonelle Filigno 14g 4a (32pts) F-Rachel Cole 3g 2a (8pts) Rutgers had a relatively successful non conference season with 7 wins and a single loss. That loss came against Texas A&M which for Rutgers is the best case scenario. The dent to their RPI would of been minimal. Their one markee win came against Ohio State in overtime with Jonelle Filigno single handedly taking on 4 defenders and a goalkeeper and scoring to end the game. An impressive highlight moment for Rutgers. Their conference season was a different story. Rutgers started off lossing to Villanova in overtime with another loss to Georgetown. A win over USF helped, but then two more losses to Marquette and more shocking St.John's. Rutgers started their league season on a 1-5 start which threatened any hope for Rutgers making it into the Big East playoffs and an NCAA at large bid. What became apparent was the lack of scoring from anyone outside of Jonelle Filigno. Rutgers became soley reliant on the scoring of Filigno with no secondary help. Until the Notre Dame game, Rutgers had no one other then Filigno with more then 1 goal, and Jonelle Filigno had scored 60% of the goals for Rutgers, with her 10 and the team 6, this was an unsustainable situation for Rutgers. Teams were marking Filigno with 2 sometimes 3 defenders to take her out of the game, in essence daring Rutgers to find another scoring solution. It wasn't until Rutgers played Notre Dame that we noticed Rutgers playing more of a direct style of football and long balling down the side of the field to free up forwards. The solution seemed to work with Rutgers scoring 2 goals from other players other then Filigno. After that game Rutgers didn't lose a single game and won a key game over Louisville with Jonelle Filigno tearing up the normally stout backline of Louisville. From the 3 goals scored in the 6 games previous to Notre Dame, to the 10 goals in the 4 games after clearly shows Rutgers have turned their once one headed attack to at least the opponent defenders now having to properly mark secondary targets which should help Filigno down the road. Overall Rutgers is still riding their Ohio State win to the NCAA tournament with Ohio State just outside of picking up a national seed. That win is a big help to Rutgers RPI, add in Notre Dame and Louisville results, Rutgers is assured an at large bid. South Florida (Overall 10-5-2 Conference 6-2-2) RPI: 54 Top Scorers: F-Sharla Passariello 7g 3a (17pts) M-Olivia Chance 4g 2a (10pts) South Florida has only two quality results that will determine whether they can achieve an at large bid. They have a draw against Louisville which by itself isn't enough, but they also have a markee win over Miami who plays in the always tough ACC. Miami recently upset Maryland who at the time were leading the ACC standings. Its quite possible that if Miami keeps improving that this result that USF has over Miami will be enough for them to slide into the NCAA tournament. Nothing is guarenteed because there are so many other factors to consider. Right now with their RPI where it is, they won't be able to get an at large bid. The auto bids from the conferences will probably knock USF out, but this RPI hasn't yet been updated with the Miami upset or their recent loss to Marquette, which wasn't pretty. USF just needs to go into the Big East tournament and try to win as many matches as they can. After that they will have to wait and see. USF does have one good thing going for them. They have a very solid backline with only 11 goals conceded, they tie with Marquette for the least amount of goals conceded in the Big East. Syracuse (Overall 9-6-2 Conference 6-3-1) RPI: 96 Top Scorers: M-Alyscha Mottershead 5g 2a (12pts) Erin Simon 4g 2a (10pts) With their best result being a win over Rutgers and draw over Louisville, Syracuse needed a few more quality results to help move them up the RPI rankings. Wins over most of the teams that they needed to win really didn't help when they took the loss to Providence which hurt them RPI wise. Unlike USF, Syracuse doesn't have that markee win that they can hope to move them up, they needed to win and win alot. Every loss was a step back for Syracuse and now going into the Big East tournament, they will need to win out and take the auto bid if they have any hopes of making it into the NCAA tournament. Villanova (Overall 7-8-3 Conference 5-4-1) RPI: 113 Top Scorers: F-Heidi Sabatura 3g 8a (14pts) M-Victoria Gersh 4g 2a (10pts) Villanova's story is all about missed chances. They play the top teams tough but when it comes down to winning the beatable games, they have had some bad hiccups and for Villanova, they paid for them dearly. Looking at their key results and they have a boatload of them. Wins over ranked teams LaSalle, Rutgers and Georgetown and add in a draw against Maryland. These 4 results alone should be enough for Villanova to get an at large bid. But then they also have the unfantomable losses to teams like American, Drexel, St.Joseph, VCU and Seton Hall. These losses have nose dived Villanova's RPI. Where Villanova should be standing pretty after playing such a hard schedule, these losses to teams they should be beating is just confusing, frustrating and you have to wonder what happenned. Villanova needs the Big East auto bid if they want to join the NCAA tournament now, even with all those missed chances, they played Georgetown tough and won that game, a top 20 team, they can use that mentality that if they can beat Georgetown, they can win the Big East tournament. They just can't afford anymore lapses.
RPIs released today: 22 Notre Dame 27 Marquette 31 Georgetown 43 Louisville 56 South Florida 78 UConn 88 Villanova 91 Syracuse That Georgetown-Villanova game had significant results. Georgetown dropped 11 places, while Villanova went up a whopping 25 places. Georgetown has some work to do now if they want to gain a national seed. They are probably in at least decent shape to host a first-round NCAA game, as are Notre Dame and Marquette. The Louisville-USF quarterfinal game could have big ramifications as they are both on the bubble now. Winner of that would also get a chance of an RPI boost against Georgetown in the semifinal. UConn, Villanova, and Syracuse would have to win the whole thing as their only option of continuing their season after November 4.
2012 SEC Tournament Bracket: Monday October 29 Match 1: 7.) Arkansas vs. 10.) South Carolina 4 P.M CT Match 2: 8.) LSU vs. 9.) Ole Miss 6:30 P.M. CT Wednesday October 31 Match 3: 2.) Texas A&M vs. Match 1 Winner 12 P.M. CT Match 4: 3.) Tennessee vs. 6.) Auburn 2:30 P.M. CT Match 5: 1.) Florida vs. Match 2 Winner 5 P.M. CT Match 6: 4.) Kentucky vs. 5.) Missouri 7:30 P.M. CT Friday November 2 Match 7: Match 3 Winner vs. Match 4 Winner 4 P.M. CT (ESPN3) Match 8: Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner 6:30 P.M. CT (ESPN3) Sunday November 4 Match 9: Match 7 Winner vs. Match 8 Winner 2:30 P.M. CT (ESPNU)
Depaul beats 'Nova 3-0, scoring all three in the 2nd half over a 10 minute span. UConn beats Rutgers handily 3-1. Do these games count toward RPI, and what does an early exit in the Big East mean for an NCAA bound team like Rutgers? How badly will this hurt their seeding?
All conference tournament games count towards the RPI, so long as they are played by Sunday, November 4 (I mention this date only because the Great West Tournament final is on Monday, November 5, so their tournament championship game does not figure into the RPI). Rutgers, with today's loss, is at #44 in the Adjusted RPI and will be an at large "bubble" team in all likelihood, depending on how the rest of the "regular" season (including conference tournaments) progresses. If Rutgers is an at large bubble team, its chance of getting an at large selection -- given the season so far -- should be pretty good.
Friday Oct.26 2012 Final conference games are now over and placings have been determined. The SEC conference sends 10 teams to their SEC tournament with teams seeded 1-10, top 6 teams have byes while the bottom 4 battles it out and then meet up with the top 2 seeds of the conference. This Monday Oct.29 (7)Arkansas takes on (10)South Carolina and (8)LSU takes on (9)Old Miss. I've added streaks to the standings below to illustrate how teams finished off their conference season. As you can see Tennessee really finished strong winning 4 straight and taking the 3 seed from Missouri. Missouri on the other hand stumbled down the stretch lossing 3 straight and Kentucky pulled it together winning 5 straight to take the 4 seed. Missouri who at one point was sitting second in the SEC standings collasped at the end. The bottom of the SEC standings was all about who can do just enough to squeak into the playoffs. With LSU out of the picture for most of the conference, they win their last 3 straight games to make it into the SEC playoffs. On the other hand Vanderbilt who were solidly placed for the SEC tournament with 2-1-4 record proceeded to loss 6 straight games knocked themselves out of the SEC tournament. Georgie and Alabama just misses the SEC playoffs by 1 point in the standings. Has to be frustrating for those sides since they came into this 2012 campaign with alot of motivation and were in the previous SEC and NCAA tournament only to miss out both this year, has to be painful for both sides. South Carolina... I honestly thought they would be missing from the SEC tournament. They have struggled to score goals. The only one who came out and stated USC would be in the tournament was Chris Henderson on his blog, and I could say back then I doubted that prediction. But USC somehow squeaked in barely. SEC end of season standings. teamrecordpointsseedstreak Florida11-2-03512W Texas A&M10-2-13222W Tennessee9-3-12834W Kentucky8-4-12545W Missouri8-5-02453L Auburn7-6-02161W Arkansas6-6-11971L LSU5-6-21783W Old Miss5-8-01593L South Carolina3-7-312101L Georgia3-8-211-2L Alabama3-8-211-2L Vanderbilt2-7-410-6L Mississippi State2-10-15-1W SEC tournament team preview. (1)Florida (Overall 14-4-1 Conference 11-2) RPI: 7 Top Scorers: M-Erika Tymrak 5g 7a (17pts) M-Jo Dragotta 6g 3a (15pts) Florida doesn't do anything too fancy relying on good fundamentals to win games. Play ball control football protect your side and limit scoring chances. Florida may not have anyone with flashy stats on their roster but they did score 33 conference goals which lead the SEC conference. They also were second behind Texas A&M in allowing goals at 10. Strong offense combined with a stellar defense shows why on a yearly basis Florida is always contending for the SEC title and Tournament crown. Florida's season did not start off with a bang. They had a slow start where they lost to Miami in a shocking 4-1 drubbing. Their worse defeat to Miami where they dominated the derby on a consistent basis. It was certainly a wake up call for the Gators and they responded well after that defeat. They drew with North Carolina and then defeated Duke right after who were at the NCAA finals game. A highlight win for the Gators. Florida packed in a very tough non conference schedule for themselves, taking on 3 top caliber ACC teams, going 1-1-1.Knowing how tough it is to play in the ACC this was a good run and in conference play they then took on SEC newcomers Texas A&M and Missouri and beat both of them then beat Tennessee who is always there challenging for the SEC title, ranked teams that they needed to beat. They did have two hiccups in lossing to Kentucky and Alabama with the Alabama loss is probably going to hurt Florida down the road in their quest for a high seed. But despite all this Florida's RPI is looking pretty good sitting at 7 so its not outside the realm of the possiblity that they can secure a 2 seed for the NCAA tournament. (2)Texas A&M (Overall 16-3-1 Conference 10-2-1) RPI: 12 Top Scorers: F-Annie Kunz 11g 1a (23pts) F-Kelley Monogue 9g (18pts) SEC newcomer Texas A&M joins the SEC conference this year with high hopes from last years goal fest performance, scoring over 70goals with a mostly freshman class. There were some confidence that the young team just needed a seasoning to grow into the game and with the 2011 goal fest season, there were high hopes they would have that same season again. With 43 goals scored this year, they are off to a good start, admittedly reaching those crazy stats from last year were going to be difficult because the SEC has many quality teams that are good defensively. The Aggies didn't have the best of starts when they lost to San Diego, but they plowed through the rest of their non conference season with ease. Beating ranked teams like Rutgers and Long Beach along the way. The Aggies then went into the SEC season and proceeded to demolish every team they faced with the exception of Florida and Tennesse both ranked. Without those two key results Texas A&M's hopes for a top seed vanished but a good run through the SEC playoffs, they could move higher up for a better seed. Most people looking at the roster for Texas A&M would probably focus on the two headed monsters that form the potent striking tandem in Annie Kunz and Kelley Monogue which combined for 50% of the Aggies offense. But that isn't the whole story, the Aggies also possess a stellar defense only allowing 10 goals throughout the whole season which would be hard to beat by any team in any conference. Jordan Day who has nearly played every minute of the season is the key reason. She is a tall Keeper that uses her height well in defending her box. Her 11 shut outs and 0.49 gpa easily leads the SEC and should be a shoe in for Goalkeeper honors this year. (3)Tennessee (Overall 14-4-2 Conference 9-3-1) RPI: 18 Top Scorers: F-Hannah Wilkinson 8g 1a (17pts) M-Kylie Bono 5g 6a (16pts) With 12 year head coach Angela Kelly taking over the Texas women's program. Alot of questions were being asked whether Tennessee will be the same team. Tennessee has won the SEC title 3 times and the SEC tournament 4 times under Angela Kelly's reign. Really the only team that gave Florida a run for the SEC title. With 5 sweet 16 appearances under Kelly's tenure the Lady Vol's became a national force and consistently got results in the NCAA tournament. So first year head coash Brian Pensky had a tall order to fill when he came on board. After a long SEC season, its safe to say he accomplished his mission for now. The early part of this season some questions were asked whether they had a very easy non conference schedule with a bevy of soft teams they beat up on with UCLA being their last team which they lost. So it was with no surprise people wondered if they were really serious about contending for the SEC title this year with such a soft schedule. They proved that wrong when they beat teams like Texas A&M and Missouri, teams that were ahead of them in the standings. In fact they played every team in the SEC tough even in their losses to Florida and to Kentucky and Arkansas. They never lost by more then one goal all season long. The Lady Vol's answered their critics and are a dangerous team that play all the top teams well and grind it out. With alittle push into the SEC tournament, they could move up and secure a national seed for themselves and get a home game. They already proved they can beat or play the best teams in college tough. That character should stand up well in the NCAA tournament. (4)Kentucky (Overall 13-5-1 Conference 8-4-1) RPI: 33 Top Scorers: D-Arin Gilliland 7g 5a (19pts) Listed as a defender but played forward for much of this season. F-Kelly Hubly 5g 2a (12pts) One could be forgiven into believing with the arrival of Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC conference that Kentucky would slide down the rankings and be a mid tier team. Oh how wrong that assumption was. Despite playing a fairly soft non conference schedule where they beat Louisville and UNC Greensboro as their best results. Few would of seen them beating Florida in their first conference game. That shock win for the Wildcats gave Kentucky their markee win and it wouldn't be their only one. But before that their season turned for the worst as they lost to non tournament teams like Arkansas, Alabama and then Old Miss. Heavy losses that hurt their RPI and questions arose whether Kentucky can get an at large bid. Then they picked up a draw with Texas A&M and then a key win over Tennessee which was apart of a 5 game winning streak going into the SEC playoffs. A stunning rise to form for Kentucky that allowed them to push pass a struggling Missouri side that slipped down to 5th spot and allowed Kentucky a top 4 seed for the SEC tournament. To be even in the mentioned in the field with Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee and now Kentucky is a very impressive rise to form for the Wildcats and should give them loads of confidence going into the SEC playoffs. Much of all this is attributed to good sound defense and adequette scoring from their players. 31 goals may not sound alot, but 21 of them came in conference which was 4th best in the SEC. A promising campaign for the Kentucky Wildcats with an at large bid all but locked up. (5)Missouri (Overall 13-6 Conference 8-5) RPI: 16 Top Scorers: M-Abi Raymer 7g 2a (16pts) F-Taiwo Adeshigbin 7g 1a (15pts) Missouri with Texas A&M joined the SEC conference to play the 2012 football season and for awhile they were the two best teams in the SEC conference. Texas A&M were expected to challenge Florida for the SEC title, but with a previous season 12-8-1 record, little did we know that the Mizzu Tigers would in tandem with the Aggies dominate the SEC conference all the way until the very last legs of the season. Missouri was expected to play a mid tier side roll in the SEC conference, they instead played with a very physical, agressive attack minded offense that shook up the status quo and turned the top side of the SEC conference upside down. And it all worked with the Tigers cutting down on the goals they allowed by half from last season. Before they shipped 7 goals in the last 3 games of their conference season, they held the opposition down to only 12 goals till that point. Even with the results that Missouri got, they were missing key results over top20 teams with losses to Florida, Tennessee and their final conference game Texas A&M. Even with the paucity of markee wins, their RPI is actually quite good. Missouri has been hanging around for a national seed despite their 3 game losing streak going into the SEC tournament. But they can't afford to keep sliding or they will lose that national seed placing. A loss now could jeopardize all the hard work they put in this season. (6)Auburn (Overall 11-9 Conference 7-6) RPI: 48 Top Scorers: F-Tatiana Coleman 8g 8a (24pts) F-Mary Coffed 6g 3a (15pts) After last years successful run through the SEC playoffs to beat Florida to capture their first SEC tournament title. Much was hoped for this 2012 campaign, but Auburn would lose the services of Katy Friersen the All American midfielder star for Auburn who graduated last year. With 50 goals scored last year, Auburn had the offense but a questionable defense which allowed 31 goals. This years team is much weaker on the goal front only scoring 31 goals and has already allowed 24 this year. Its no surprise that their record reflects their difficult season to date. With really only one win over a ranked team Texas Tech their season has been up and down. With really no bad losses on their schedule part of the reason why their RPI is so high is how strong their schedule has been. Their strength of schedule (SoS) does play a strong roll in why their RPI is hanging around the top 50. Auburn still needs to keep pushing for wins since they are in a precarious position with them being on the bad side of the bubble. They could do themselves a world of good if they can finally get that markee win over either Florida, Texas A&M, Tennessee or Missouri. Anyone of these wins might be enough to push Auburn's RPI up enough that they can claim an at large bid for themselves. (7)Arkansas (Overall 9-9-1 Conference 6-6-1) RPI: 62 Top Scorers: F-Ashleigh Ellenwood 5g 1a (11pts) F-Allie Chandler 4g 2a (10pts) Arkansas has some very solid results with wins over two top 20 teams Missouri and Tennessee and a tournament team in Kentucky. Results that should keep any team in the hunt for an at large bid. But when you lose to teams like SMU, Kennesaw State, Georgia, and Vanderbilt. That usually torpedoes your RPI. Arkansas has some big issues, their offense is only average but their defense is worse allowing 32 goals this season. Anytime you allow more goals then you score that is a big problem which is why Arkansas RPI is where it is. Even allowing that they have an average offense, they are up against a very stingy defense in South Carolina that they play in their first playoff match. Luckily for them USC has problems scoring goals, so this match should be a very odd game to watch with one side having a tough time scoring because of a tough defense and the other having problems because they can't finish. (8)LSU (Overall 9-7-4 Conference 5-6-2) RPI: 84 Top Scorers: F-Fernanda Pina 4g 4a (12pts) M-Jade Kovacevic 3g 6a (12pts) With their only markee win against Missouri, LSU needed more quality results to help offset some of their bad losses to teams like NC State and South Carolina who are far below them in RPI. Memphis which earlier on was a good result for them has been sliding down the rankings and the result so has LSU's RPI. If LSU has any hope of making it into the big dance, they are going to need to win the SEC tournament and get the auto bid from it. Otherwise they are too far back. Its a tall order especially since they don't have a steady defense to depend on but its their only hope. Even if this season is a wash for LSU there is good news for the future. Both of their leading scorers are freshman and that bodes well especially with next year's recruiting class which will bring in a highly touted Canadian international Summer Clarke who should add a big threat up forward. As for Jade Kovacevic, she is tied for the lead in the SEC conference for assists and there is a decent chance she could pick up rookie of the year nod. Plus she already handles all the corner kicks and free kicks for LSU. So however LSU's season turns out, their future is looking better. (9)Old Miss (Overall 12-8 Conference 5-8) RPI: 46 Top Scorers: F-Mandy McCalla 13g 6a (32pts) Rafaelle Sousa 12g 7a (31pts) Old Miss has the highest scoring tandem forwards in the league. Combining for 25 goals Mandy McCalla and Rafaelle Sousa easily lead any other pair in the league. The Rebels also have tied with Florida and Texas A&M in scoring goals with 43. An impressive number but when you consider how they gained those goals then you see they were against some very easy opposition. When you can unload for 8 goals againt Arkansas Little Rock then you know they are beating up on minnows. Even with the bloated goal totals Old Miss has, they at least have some decent results. The one that stands out is their win over ranked Texas Tech and win over Kentucky. The Rebels have their share of losses but the two that stand out is their loss to Georgia and most painfully their loss to Mississippi State who hang at the bottom of the league's RPI. The loss to Mississippi Bulldogs is especially painful because that RPI loss has not been factored into their current RPI which means they will take a huge whack to their standings. Their position was never completely secure and this last match loss will probably knock them into the bad side of the bubble, which means when you factor all the auto bids in from weak conferences that wouldn't normally be able to send a team to the NCAA tournament by RPI alone. Old Miss just might miss the NCAA tournament because of this loss. Old Miss is in the SEC tournament and is playing LSU, but because LSU's RPI isn't good either, even winning that game won't help Old Miss out much, but then they would have to face Florida and unless they have a miracle upset in their future, they more then likely will not be able to get a result here. Which means for Old Miss they most likely will be missing this year's NCAA tournament. And its all because of that one last conference match that ended up being against the worst team in the SEC conference and resulted in a loss for the Rebels. What a painful way to go out. (10)South Carolina (Overall 6-9-4 Conference 3-7-3) RPI: 109 Top Scorers: F-Danielle Au 3g 3a (9pts) F-Courtney Angotti-Smith 2g 4a (8pts) To be honest if you asked me if USC was going to be a SEC tournament team when the season started, I would of said yes. They lost a good senior class with the key player being Kayla Grimsley their playmaking forward. What I didn't expect was the utter lack of punch from USC this year, Danielle Au was figured to come in and at least replace some of the scoring lost with Kayla's graduation. Didn't turn out that way and more importantly USC proceeded to have heavy injuries to many key players with a total of 11 players sitting out to injury over the course of the season. USC still has their stingy defense and if you don't factor their last game to Florida, they had one of the better defenses in the SEC. They just couldn't finish in front of the net with netting only 9 goals in the SEC season, the lowest amount for any team in the SEC. So you had a backline held together with a phenom goalkeeper that can keep their team in tough games, but no scoring. It was a recipe for disaster because if USC allowed one goal, that was usually enough for the oppossing team to win with. They could play teams like Tennessee and Missouri tough and had long stretches where they had ball control over them, but they just couldn't finish their chances. I don't doubt Shelly Smith the coach of USC knows all this, because what USC does with Sabrina D'Angelo is something I have never seen done in college or even at the senior level of women's football. Sabrina has truly become USC's talisman because they use her very agressively. I have never seen a goalkeeper come out so far from her 18yard line to play balls, and what USC does is they frequently pass the ball back to Sabrina and have her walk to ball outside her 18 yard box to make long ranging punts down the field. Sabrina's leg is so strong, she can get the kick all the way down to the opponents 18 yard box and because teams are not expecting this, USC would drive 4 players into the box to outman the defenders there and await the ball as it comes in and many times chaos ensues with the defenders desperately trying to drive the ball out. Normally in a free kick situation you would defend the box with 8 players but how are you suppossed to defend a free kick that comes from the opponents side of the field that reaches your box? Sabrina is an amazing goalkeeper but she can't do everything for USC, someone on the Gamecocks has to step up and provide some desperately needed scoring. Can the Gamecocks win against the Arkansas Razorkbacks. Sure I think this is a doable win for them, but then they have to face Texas A&M and the Aggies have a high powered attack plus the best defense in the SEC. Sabrina is going to have to be a hero to keep her team in the game against that kind of odds.
Forgedias, I think you misread Mizzou's RPI rank -- it was #26 after last weekend's games (not #16) and currently is #31. They should make the NCAA tournament, but they're out of seed range -- unless they win the SEC Tournament. Mississippi, right now, is at #63 in the RPI. You always can get current RPI numbers here: https://www.nc-soccer.com/wsoccer/2012/index_arpi. Go to that page and try this: First click on the Adjusted RPI column heading, then click on it again. This will arrange the teams in ARPI order from highest ARPI to lowest. Then go to the ID column on the left of the page and click on the padlock that is in the column heading area. You will see that this column is numbered from 1 to 323, representing the teams' ARPI rankings. By clicking on the padlock, you "lock" these numbers to their teams. Now, go to the Team Name column and click on the column heading. This will arrange the column in alphabetical order, but with the team ranks "locked," the ID numbers next to the team names will continue to represent their ARPI ranks. With this now all set, you can scroll down to whatever team you are interested in and easily see its current ARPI rank. The nc-soccer system updates immediately as game results are entered. Game results are entered throughout the course of the day as games are completed, typically almost immediately and almost always within not more than an hour after game completion. For your purposes, you might want to use the Information drop down menu at the top of the page and go to the conferences page, scrolling down to the SEC table. The conference tables, like those on the Adjusted RPI page, also are sortable by clicking on column headings.
Big East playoff semi-final matches. Will be televised live on the CBS sports network on Friday Nov.2 2012 Georgetown (15-2-2) vs Florida (12-5-3) Time: 6:30pm est Notre Dame (13-4-2) vs Marquette (14-2-2) Time: 4pm est SEC playoff quaterfinal matches. Will be televised live and for free on Wednesday Oct 31 2012 on the SEC sports network. Link to feed: http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/SECSPORTS/SPORTS/SOCCER.aspx (1)Florida (14-4-1) vs (9)Old Miss (13-8) Time: 6pm est (2)Texas A&M (16-3-1) vs (10)South Carolina (7-9-4) Time: 1pm est (3)Tennessee (14-4-2) vs (6)Auburn (11-9) Time: 3:30pm est (4)Kentucky (13-5-1) vs (5)Missouri (13-6) Time: 8:30pm est
Big East RPIs as of 10/29: 18 Notre Dame 22 Marquette 30 Georgetown These teams are safely in. Whatever positive results they can get this weekend can only help. 39 Louisville 41 Rutgers 53 South Florida Louisville and Rutgers have good shots of making it in. Louisville lost in PKs at USF so that technically is a tie. However, if there are upsets in mid-major conference tournaments and that lessens the number of at-large bids that could change things. USF needs to win against Georgetown in the semifinal to have a shot. UConn (67), Syracuse (91), Villanova (99), and DePaul (127) see their seasons end.
What do we think Georgetown has to do to get a national seed? Is a win in the semifinals enough or do they have to win the whole thing?
Wednesday Oct.31 2012 SEC playoff quarterfinal results. (1)Florida (15-4-1) 2-1 win vs (9)Old Miss (13-9) Florida: 7th Jo Dragotta, 6th Erika Tymrak Old Miss: 1st Erin Emerson Old Miss played Florida tough, they tied it and were giving the Gators alot of issues in the second half. But Erika Tymrak the reigning SEC offensive player of the year ends the game with a free kick just outside the penalty box with a wundergoal which hits the top right corner of the net in the last minute of play. Rafaelle Sousa, the brazilian striker for the Rebels has impressed in this tournament. Tall, strong and fast, she has ball movement skills like all brazilian players seem to be born with. She should be a force in the SEC conference in the future. (2)Texas A&M (17-3-1) 1-0 OT win vs (10)South Carolina (7-10-4) Texas A&M: 2nd Jayne Eadie The Aggies allowed themselves to be drawn into a slugging match against the Gamecocks. The only way USC had any chance of winning this match was to force the Aggies to play their style of game and it almost succeeded. 0-0 through the first overtime, USC had many opportunities through set pieces to score, their lack of finishing cost them dearly. For Texas A&M they just needed one chance and they got it from a rebound off Sabrina D'Angelo and made their opportunity count. Tough loss for USC since they were assurdedly hoping to make it to penalty kicks and were going to rely on their keeper D'Angelo to out duel the Aggie keeper Jordan Day. (6)Auburn (11-9-1) 0-0 2OT win (5-3 penalty kick) vs (3)Tennessee (14-4-3) Looking at the scoring sheet, one could be mistaken that this game was a defensive slugfest, and maybe it did turn out that way. For the Lady Vols, there has to be a ton of frustrations on their side because they had a myraid of problems with 4 yellows and a red card ejection in the 68th minute forcing the Lady Vol's to be defensive for the rest of the game. Auburn had 22 shots to Tennessee's 11 so you can see who had the run of the play for most of the game. Amy Howard the keeper for Auburn had a very good night, shot stopping several good attempts and one in overtime but her key stop came in penalty kick time where she made the one key stop to allow her side to win out on penalty kicks. (5)Missouri (14-6) 2-1 win vs (4)Kentucky (13-6-1) Missouri: 3rd Haley Krentz, 8th Alyssa Diggs Kentucky: 4th Caitlin Landis Two goals in under two minutes did the Kentucky Wildcats in. Despite the feed becoming choppy during those two goals, it was obvious that the Wildcats were shell shocked by the quick goals. Missouri plays a very aggressive tackling game and were flagged several times for fouls, so it wasn't until Kentucky late in the second half strung together some possession and scored that the game became more dramatic. Two Kentucky freshman stood out for me. Kelli Hubly, a tall lanky forward and Courtney Raetzman a tiny midfielder. With Kelli I can see a dominating forward with speed and some ball movement skills and Courtney just amazes me on her toughness with her small frame, she didn't give an inch and played the ball very effectively. Both these players should be cornerstones to the Kentucky offense in the coming years. Next games will be on the ESPN3 network on November.2 2012 (2)Texas A&M vs (6)Auburn Time: 5pm (1)Florida vs (5)Missouri Time:7:30pm
I want to thank Forgedias for the great insight he has provided throughout the year on the SEC. I appreciate the posts.
Ditto! Also, the Big East tourney venue/times have changed due to Sandy. From the Big East website: "PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The 2012 BIG EAST Women’s Soccer Championship will be played at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., Nov. 2 & 4. Originally set for Morrone Stadium on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, the switch is being made to help alleviate the complications on campus due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy." *** "The 2012 BIG EAST women’s soccer championship begins Friday. The semifinals are set for Nov. 2 at Noon and 2:30 p.m. ET. Both will be carried nationally on the CBS Sports Network. The title game is set for Nov. 4 at Noon and will be televised on the CBS Sports Network, as well as numerous regional sports networks, including SNY. The game also will be streamed live online for free at www.bigeast.tv" "In addition, there will be free admission due to the change in venue and kickoff times." Friday, November 2 - Semifinals (Rentschler Field, East Hartford, Conn.) 12:00 PM ET Notre Dame at Marquette 2:30 PM ET USF at Georgetown
Congrats to Corboz, Miller, and Corral winning their awards as expected. Congrats to Dave Nolan as Coach of the Year and Brittany Anghel as Goalkeeper of the Year. Best of luck to the semi finalists tomorrow. Here are my thoughts for player of the year awards: Offensive player: Daphne Corboz, Georgetown. 11 goals in 7 conference games. Defensive player: Ally Miller, Marquette. Having another solid year anchoring the backline for Marquette. Midfielder: Charlyn Corral, Louisville. The Mexican international has been a huge get for Louisville. Probably one of the most technical players in the Big East. Goalkeeper: Wide open. Could be Emma Newins from Georgetown, as she has allowed only 1 goal. But she only has made 15 saves in 7 games, so not much to do. Also could be Amanda Engel from Marquette, but same argument as she has only let in 2 goals yet has only had to make 21 saves. The others in the discussion are Christiane Endler from USF and Brittany Anghel from Syracuse. Coach of the Year: My picks are either Dave Nolan from Georgetown or Phil Wheddon from Syracuse. Many people thought this was going to be a rebuilding year for Georgetown based on the graduation of Ingrid Wells and others, but they have not lost a step. Phil Wheddon has brought this Syracuse program back from the demise under Pat Farmer and they are getting results and deserved recognition. You could easily make a case for Markus Roeders at Marquette and Randy Waldrum at Notre Dame but expectations were high for these two programs any way. Disappointments: Christine Exeter, Louisville. 2011 Offensive Player of the Year. Has only scored 1 goal this year. Jonelle Fligno, Rutgers. Only has 3 goals, 2 of which were PKs. Not as much her fault as it is not having much support around her. Teams: Based on preseason expectations you would have to say UConn and Rutgers are the teams that have not lived up to their billing. Let's see how this all plays out these next 2 weeks, should be a great finish to set up the Big East tournament.[/quote]
Auburn knocked off A&M 2-0. Florida took down yellow card happy Mizzou, 3-0. 4 yellows for Mizzou on the field, a yellow and a red on the head coach as well. Rematch of last years final between the Tigers and Gators
Friday Nov.2 2012 Big East semi-final match results. Georgetown (15-2-3) 1-1 2OT (5-4 penalty kick) win vs South Florida (10-5-4) Georgetown: 17th Daphne Corboz South Florida: 7th Sharla Passariello A contest fought between two halves, South Florida controlling the first and scoring and Georgetown coming back in the second and tying it up. After a scoreless overtime, penalty kick time ensued and Georgetown prevails with two key stops by freshman keeper Emma Newins to allow Georgetown by on penalty kicks. For South Florida a disappointing loss considering they kept the vaunted Georgetown attack in check for most of the game until the last 7 minutes when Daphne scored to tie it. But for USF, they had a season that many would of not expected, to be in the position to claim an at large bid they did themselves good. With this draw against Georgetown, they have a decent chance to make it through to the NCAA tournament. Georgetown, with the heroics by their keeper Emma Newins, are now in the finals for the Big East tournament for the first time in their history. With Notre Dame lossing to Marquette, they now face another high powered attack with a defense that has only conceded 12 goals in Marquette. A match that should showcase two leading midfielders in the Big East in Daphne Corboz, reigned Big East offensive player and Maegan Kelly for Marquette. Both will be on display and should be a very good game to watch live on the Big East network. Marquette (15-2-2) 1-0 win vs Notre Dame (13-5-2) Marquette: 5th Ally Miller We could be forgiven in expecting a more high scoring affair with the pedigree both sides bring to the pitch. Marquette with their 52 goals and Notre Dame with their 39. One would of expected more goals, what we got was a defensive game played between two sides who didn't want to give eachother many scoring chances. With Marquette getting the better chances, it was still tied going into the 70th minute when a foul was given in the 20 yard mark. Maegan Kelly took the shot and it was headed in by Ally Miller for the go ahead score that would win the match for Marquette. Notre Dame is now out of the Big East tournament, but they will be around for the big dance. The young Irish have showed alot of maturity and growth as the season went on and this loss though disappointing is only another learning experience for the young side. Marquette finally gets that key win they needed to define their season. With so few quality results, they were riding on their winning record, but this win helps and should give them confidence going into their match against Georgetown who will be making their first appearance in the Big East final. SEC semi-final match results. (1)Florida (16-4-1) 3-0 win vs (5)Missouri (14-7) Florida: 7th Erika Tymrak, 6th Havana Solaun, 5th Holly King With 4 yellow cards handed out to Mizzou players and a two yellows to head coach Bryan Blitz. It was a rough and tumble affair with Florida holding the Mizzou attack until the 20th minute when in under a minute The Gators score two goals to deflate the Missouri attack. Florida then adds a 3rd insurance marker in the second half to end the game. While this loss can't be overstated for Missouri. It was disappointing, but more so for Missouri gameplan, which is to play aggressive but not too physical that they put themselves into trouble. The Tigers lost control of their gameplan and in the end were leaderless with their coach Bryan Blitz having to sit out and watch the rest of the match. They can't afford to play like today when they go into the NCAA tournament. Florida played as their usual, a solid defense oriented game where they took their chances when they appeared. Florida doesn't play flashy or have forwards that bulldoze their way forward. They play with percision and ball control and it all revolves around their two midfielders Erika Tymrak and Havana Solaun. Both are intrumental in controlling the tempo of Florida's offense and have given the Gators a very dangerous presence in the midfield where they can score through set pieces or through quick breaks. Florida now faces Auburn for the SEC championship in a rematch from last year. (6)Auburn (13-9) 2-0 win vs Texas A&M (17-4-1) Auburn: 3rd Maddie Barnes, 9th Tatiana Coleman Under pressure throughout the game, Auburn played a defensive game with little pressure applied back to the Aggies. With the vast bulk of the possession from the Aggies, the Aggies poured on 19 shots on goal forcing the Auburn keeper Amy Howard to make 9 saves. Out of the 6 shots registered by Auburn, 3 of them were on frame, and 2 came from fast breaks. To say Texas A&M are disappointed is an understatement. So say they are frustrated is even more apt for a powerhouse side like the Aggies. To dominate a team so thoroughly and have a team play so deep in their half and to have them score on goals on counters would leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth. Still the Aggies are going to the NCAA tournament and will likely have a national seed, just not a high one. Auburn played with alot of grit and desperation. Under siege throughout the game, it was a team effort on their part to hold the dangerous Aggie attack off. Without players like Katy Frierson who helped Auburn claim the SEC championships in 2011, Auburn is finding ways to get it done and now are in position to repeat as champions but they first need to beat Florida in a rematch of last year. For Auburn, they should be proud of the way they played in this SEC tournament. When they ended their conferense season, their chances of getting an at large bid were slim. Now they have it, even if they were to lose to Florida in the final, they should be a lock to make it into the NCAA tournament with their wins over Tennessee and now Texas A&M. Well done Tigers. Championship schedules. Big East: Georgetown (15-2-3) vs Marquette (15-2-2) Sunday Nov.4 2012 12pm est. Watch on the Big East Network live. www.bigeast.tv SEC: Florida (16-4-1) vs Auburn (13-9) Sunday Nov.4 2012 3:30pm est Watch on ESPNU live.