The ACC 2017

UVa smacks around Hofstra 4-0.

Jr. Edward Opoku scored for the second straight game has 2 goals and 2 assists so far. Kid is crazy talented but has had trouble translating it to big numbers (8 goals, 5 assists in 36 games combined as a freshman and sophomore.

The Cavs are usually pretty solid defensively. They have 7 goals their first two games this season. If they can develop a potent attack, they can be a dangerous team.

BTW, UVa has all of four road games and only one, to Notre Dame, is an “airplane” game. The other three are easy bus rides: Virginia Tech (2.5 hours), NC State (3.5 hours) and Duke (3 hours). That’s one way to keep the travel costs down.

 

Nothing like the home/away balance of 12H/4A to highlight the desire of college soccer to grow and mirror the pro level....

The coaches continually talk about the "good of the game", "growing college soccer", and "mirroring the pros" but then big schools refuse to leave campus (and small schools enable them by coming to play the games.

Last I checked Chelsea, Manchester City, & Arsenal don't play 75% of their games at home with Swansea, West Brom, & Stoke only playing 50%.

Let's get all schools playing 50% home and 50% away - get big name schools out to places to help others draw crowds and build the sport (like they do in LAX, Wrestling, and other sports with championships that are dwarfing men's soccer!)

 

The 4th goal really showed the sheer ability that Opoku has. Fantastic goal! I might have underestimated this team.

 

Looking forward to the UNC vs UNCW game. UNCW has had some good results since the spring. Would like to see if this team is for real

 

Wake took down SLU last night 4-1, outshooting them 23-4. Once again Wake gives up a goal off a set piece.

 

Congrats to 3-0 UNH for actually getting a road win shutout against an ACC team,BC.
The Wildcats seem to be a program on the rise putting in a new field among other improvements. Later tests against Albany and Mass-L will be telling, but this could be an NCAA team.

 

Not the ACC's best day.

Georgia State upsets Wake Forest in OT.

Not that far removed from a winless season, Presbyterian ties Duke 1-1. If the Blue Devils end up on the bubble in November, this result could come back to bite them in the ass.

Finally, in a marquee regional matchup, Louisville and Kentucky, which each entered the game 3-0-0, tied 2-2.

 

Really good game to watch. Really nice goals. Back and forth the whole game. OT in college needs to go away, even with the high emotion of the event.

 

agree, OT is unnecessary.

 

... in the ACC

(to stay on topic of this thread)

 

Were you able to catch any of the Wake game? They didn't have a video stream.

I agree about the GK, technically he is very good. He can ping a 40 yard ball on a teammate's foot and is a good shot blocker, but his height gets him into trouble quite often. Almost every goal scored on Wake this year would've been solved by a taller keeper.

 

While Mundet is a Barcelona product, I too believe Wake lost quality that they had in Ferrell. I thought the same last year through Ferrell's injuries. It's a shame, hopefully he's able to make it back still and salvage a professional career.

 

As an old GK, former GK coach, and big GK fan, I don't really entirely buy it that taller keepers automatically means more saves and better keepers. Along these lines, two of the top three GKs in the MLS this year with the best GAA are Tim Melia (listed at 6-1), and Nick Rimando (listed as 5-10). I also found this article from a few years ago interesting on this matter: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...e-of-shorter-goalkeepers-david-ospina-arsenal

 

I'm not arguing that a bigger keeper is better, simply arguing that Alec Ferrell complemented Wake's backline a little better. Wake has had an average to shorter height backline for a few years now. (All under 6', except for Raben who is 6'0") It's a backline that is very good at keeping the ball or defending well in the run on of play, but struggles very much on set pieces. They need to be much better, but part of it is that Mundet isn't able to bail them out on set pieces as much as Ferrell was able to.

Again, I think Mundet is technically a very good keeper. He just needs to sit on his line and shot block, instead of trying to overcompensate for how poor the backline has been deflecting corners/ free kicks.

 

All in D-I and all in the toughest conference in the country in the toughest era (because of increased competition for players) in the history of college soccer.

There is much about Gelnocvatch with which to quibble. But 300 wins competing in the ACC and having to constantly deal with the pros taking players and prospective players is very impressive.

Edward Opoku has 6 goals all last season. He already has 5 this year.

 

How much do you think success in college soccer matches college football school success?