Thought it'd be good to start clean.. Men's NCAA Soccer Tourney Field Selected DI Mens Bracket Yeah they played in the MPSF, but it's still odd seeing an undefeated New Mexico as a 10 seed. Potential UCLA v Virginia is going to be quite the match right out of the gate, assuming UVA gets by Delaware.
one has to feel bad for the new mexico program, after going undefeated and still not a top 4 seed...i know they don't play in the strongest conference but this has to be the worst seed an undefeated team has ever received..
I'm certainly not suggesting New Mexico is anything but outstanding, but look at the schedule and you can see why they weren't a top seed. Teams with a winning record are in bold. They only played four teams that were more than one game over .500. Code: vs Towson 2 - 0 (W) 3-11-2 at Cal Poly 0 - 0 (D) 6-9-3 [B]at Santa Clara 2 - 0 (W) 11-5-4[/B] [B]vs Columbia 5 - 1 (W) 8-7-2[/B] vs CSNorthridge 3 - 1 (W) 8-8-3 [B]at Akron 1 - 1 (D) 13-3-4[/B] vs Syracuse 2 - 1 (W) 3-12-1 vs Loyola Mary 2 - 0 (W) 7-11-1 at UNLV 2 - 1 (W) 3-14-0 at Denver 3 - 2 (W) 5-11-3 [B]at Air Force 2 - 1 (W) 12-6-2[/B] vs Denver 6 - 0 (W) 5-11-3 [B]vs Air Force 1 - 0 (W) 12-6-2[/B] at Seattle 2 - 1 (W) 2-13-2 [B]at Bakersfield 2 - 0 (W) 12-3-5 vs Sac State 2 - 0 (W) 9-8-2 vs SJ State 1 - 0 (W) 9-8-3[/B] vs UNLV 3 - 0 (W) 3-14-0 [B]vs SJ State 3 - 0 (W) 9-8-3 vs Bakersfield 1 - 1 (D) 12-3-5[/B]
As this New Mexico team has done all year they will rise to the occasion no matter who they play. It was an unfortunate seed, but at the end of the day teams that historically do well that they played this year had bad seasons. Sunday night's game against presumably Duke is an intriguing match up, but I think the 7,000+ fans behind the lobos will cheer them to victory.
What are your guy's thoughts on Coastal Carolina getting a home match against Elon, who they played and beat, earlier in the year?
I think UNC has to be a bit upset about opening with the winner of that game (esp if its Coastal). Sure UNC would be favored, but thats a pretty rough first game for the #1 team in the nation.
I don't feel bad for them at all. They have one quality win - Cal State SqueakedIntoTheTournamentByTheSkinOfTheirTeeth. Further, think back to a year ago when New Mexico had an RPI in the 50s and still got an at-large bid.
I suspect that a lot of people would also count Northridge, @Santa Clara, and @Air Force as quality wins. New Mexico also didn't have any bad results, unlike UConn, Maryland, etc.
It surprised me that Coastal is in that play-in game, too. But UNC plays better against teams that play straight-up over the bunker-and-counter teams like Davidson or UNCA (as pretty much everyone does). I'm guessing with Coastal's scoring prowess that they would play UNC with a spread-out field, and Elon would at least bunker a few guys. FWIW (and it's not worth a lot), UNC played an exhibition @ Coastal to start the season and won 2-0.
FWIW Ashton Bennett was not in the CCU/UNC preseason game. He was waiting for something with a VISA I believe. Please excuse my ignorance, but when you mention bunker and counter, do you mean a really defensive mindset and that the team will not try to be the aggressor?
Yep. Sorry I didn't use the greatest wording. And with Bennett being out of the exhibition: that's why I said to take the exhibition match with a grain a salt. In UNC's loss to Davidson and overtime win against UNCA, both of the Tar Heels' opponents were happy to just keep UNC off of the scoreboard and sit in front of their goalie. When Davidson and UNCA did have possession, they sent a few guys forward. If I remember correctly, both of the opponents' goals in those games were from beyond 25 yards out on counter attacks. In both of those games, UNC had around 6-7 times as many shots. With Coastal's knack for getting the ball in the back of the net, I don't see them employing a defensive formation just for UNC. Thus my point: UNC might not want to play a really strong Coastal team right off the bat, but they might want to play a team that does not bunker (like Coastal) than one that would bunker (like Elon might). It's just a thought
Gotcha. Yea, I agree with you. I don't see CCU changing up what has been working for them most of the season. CCU is a lot like UNC in almost always outshooting their opponents by wide margins. I looked up the previous meeting against Elon and they outshot us 14-11, but on the season, we have outshot our opponents 343/183, and we outshoot our opponents about 17-9 every game.
Anyone know which games will be streamed online tonight? Its a shame the NCAA doesn't put a couple games on tv, even if it was on espn3.
And folks wonder why the tournament isn't expanded. Let's start by treating what we have already as a bigger deal. Getting the games on the telly - or, at the least, on video web feeds, should be a requirement for every game.
CSUB v St. Mary's Live Audio Feed http://www.smcgaels.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=21400