Virginia's Will Bates scored FOUR goals in the first TWENTY minutes tonight against Radford only to see he and his teammates take their feet off the gas and allow the Highlanders to score three unanswered goals. But their rally fell short and Virginia held on to win 4-3. Great goal-scoring from Bates, regardless of the opponent, but Virginia should not be giving up three goals to Radford. On it's own, it's not a huge deal. But after losing at home to Charlotte (which is a good team) and Liberty (which should never happen), it's cause for concern.
Andrew Wenger has 2 goals and 2 assists as Duke beats UNC Wilmington 4-1. Wenger is just a great college player. After playing midfield as a freshman and defender as sophomore and won ACC Defensive Player of the Year. This year he moves to forward and now has 8 goals and 3 assists in 7 games. (He had 4 goals and 5 assists, combined, his first two seasons.)
Seton Hall played phenomenally ugly soccer tonight. They couldn't control or pass it to really save their lives, and had a handful of somewhat meaningful offensive opportunities at best. The only reason they pulled the draw was because the majority of their time was spent playing everyone behind the ball.
I can't wait until UNC plays a team that won't result into fouling the crap out of them. I bet it won't be until they play Maryland. Wofford strategic game plan was pathetic. Very typical of every team the heels have faced so far this season. Clemson is not a elite program anymore. I don't know why people keep acting like beating them is a great win.
Interesting that Maryland put freshman Keith Cardona in goal for last night's game. He only had to make one save, but I wonder if they'll stick with him. In their previous games, Will Swaim didn't appear to be off to the best start (9 saves, 6 goals allowed).
Sash's MO with his previous two highly-regarded freshman goalkeepers, Chris Seitz and Zac MacMath, was to have them sit for the first part of their freshman year behind an older player who'd been around the program for awhile and was solid but not spectacular. The older GK could hold the fort till he judged the younger GK ready. In 05, Craig Salvati, a redshirt senior who had started 3 games before 05, started 9 games, most of them early in the season, before Seitz took over and started most of the final 16. in 08 it was, ironically, Swain - then a sophomore - who started the first 6 games before giving way to MacMath. So, if Cardona plays well I won't be at all surprised if he's the primary starter in goal the rest of the way. After all, Seitz and MacMath won national titles as freshmen...
MD is not going to be any different....they average 11 fouls a game and have been pretty consistently at that level. For some additional reference points Wake averages 10 / game Louisville 10.3 / game Akron 10.5 / game Creighton 13.8 / game It's not like Carolina always plays it clean either.... yes they have three sub 5 foul games but they also have tagged Wake forest for 14, Louisville for 12 and JMU for 9 Carolina commits 7.1 / game and have been fouled 11.4 / game bottom line ....10-11 fouls a game is not a mugging... good or bad it is much closer to the norm...and UNC has visited that level themselves...
Wake Forest taking on the SEC's South Carolina tonight with free online video...I get an email each day with the list of all the games streaming free online
My take on Keith Cardona and Daniel Metzger with both starting against the Hall was Sasho played both (frosh) kids in front of their families and friends as both kids were from New Jersey. We'll see against VA Tek on Saturday as I could be dead wrong, but I think it was the ol coach allowing those kids to play for the hometown crowd. Sasho knew this squad wasn't N trouble against the Hall (despite the tie)... From a tactical point, what a better opponent to start two still relatively green rooks in the lineup. So both kids received some experience that might serve the squad better down the road. The hokies next. t.
From WF website: "South Carolina and Wake Forest will potentially re-schedule the match at a later date after reviewing schedules."
North Carolina took the wood to Virginia tonight in C-ville, 3-0. Ezno Martinez had a PK goal and 2 assists setting up Billy Schuler and reserve Carlos McCrary. I have a lot of respect for the evaluations of Joe(SoccerFan) Mauceri and he watches far more college ball than I do right now. But, I think he made a mistake in omitting Enzo Martinez from his list of top underclassmen who are pro prospects. Martinez is just a playmaker. He's small, but he's creative and skilled. In 8 games this year he has 5 goals and 6 assists, on pace to surpass last year's totals of 10 and 5 in 24 games or his freshman total of 3 and 4 in 22 games, mostly as a sub. I just skilled players like him are rare in this country, especially in college soccer, and as such he he's got a fairly bright future as a pro.
I really like Lopez. He wouldnt of gotten a lot playing time if Cameron Brown wasnt out for the year. He's been a great surprise. UVA offense is pretty bad for a team that can get whatever talent they want. The offense of UVA depends way to much on Bates. I still can't believe they got beat by VT. It is what it is. Team couldnt finish that night and got a bad bounce. Nice road swing though.
Duke spanked Wake tonight 4-1. Two more goals for Andrew Wenger, bringing his total to 10. He might go from winning the conference's DEFENSIVE player of the year as sophomore to it's OFFENSIVE player of the year as a junior.
The defense isn't any great shakes these days, either. This is a very disappointing Virginia team. Last year, I understood; post national championship hangover, lost several starters, injuries, etc... But this year's team should be much better. Offensively, between Bates, Span and Ownby, they should be able to be scoring more and I know some of the seniors on the backline have been out, but there's too much experience back there, even with a freshman GK, for them to be bleeding goals like they've been doing.
Wake got a red card in the 2nd half. That helped Duke open it up. Not to make excuses for them. I feel like Wake has pretty good players but like last season, they are not getting the results.
Clemson beat NC State 2-1 on a goal scored in the 110th minute - 29 seconds from the horn - by Bryniar Benediktsson, a Fr. from Iceland. State opened the scoring in the 23rd minute on a goal by redshirt fr. Nazmi Albadawi but Clemson tied it all of 30 seconds later on a strike from Ara Amirkhanian, another freshman. Nice to see the first year's getting on the score sheet.
The non-con game of the weekend belonged to BC, which traveled to Rhode Island and came away with a 1-0 win on Charlie Rugg's fifth goal of the year, assisted by Amit Aburmad's fifth helper.
Has to be the most outrageously-named score sheet of all time NCST - 23rd Minute - Nazmi Albadawi CLEM - 23rd Minute - Ara Amirkhanian NCST - 110th Minute - Bryniar Benediktsson Get out your pronunciation guides everyone
So Cameron Brown redshirted to put himself out for the season again? What kind of injury did he get this time?