UNC--They just win games. (R) Well, another weekend of college soccer and another example of the way that UNC wins games. Twice this weekend they won close games- Akron 2-1 in OT, and St. Louis 2-1. Again, they showed that they can come from behind to win (St. Louis). Kneipper scored the game-winner with only 3 seconds left in the game. I don't care what anyone has to say about the style of play or Bolowich's coaching or anything else--one thing is clear. The players who are on the field at UNC have developed a mindset that allows them to win the close games. It has happened over the past 3 years or so and UNC has won an incredible amount of close games. It all started in 2000 when they beat UVA in the ACC tournament finals. Sure, they lost to IU that year, but the mindset began there. Then last year they showed the nation by winning in OT vs. American, Fairleigh Dickinson, and in the greatest game of the season, vs. Stanford. The critics love to say that UNC struggled through a weak bracket in last years tournament. But they won! And the same critics will be on their soap boxes today saying that UNC is sorry this year and can barely beat Akron. They may not have the overall depth of IU, UVA, or some of the other top teams. And they may lose several games this year. But when the tournament time comes around and it's time to win or go home, count on UNC--they know how to win.
Early It's 2 games...relax. And besides, you make Akron sound like a bad team. What gives with that??? I would agree that UNC wins a lot of games by one goal. I would go a step further a say that a lot of soccer teams win a lot of games by one goal. I won't argue that they've gotten it done when they had to, they are defending national champions. Proof is in the pudding. But I do think that it's a bit too early to start claiming a repeat - even though jenagrantfan has deduced through her extensive knowledge and experience that it's in the stars. When the NCAA's roll around, you'd better be lucky as well as good...
I want to start off by saying that I am in no way calling a repeat...we all know it takes a lot of luck and an injury-free year to win the whole title. That being said, I am saying that UNC will find a way to get into the thick of things at the end of the season. Five years ago there was a program in Chapel HIll that was 6-13 and couldn't win anything in the ACC. Since then there has been steady progress. They started off by getting a winning record, then surprised everyone in 2000 by winning ACC and getting #1 ranking. Then everyone assumed that when Carrieri, Norkus, Bucy, Robinson, and co. left the 2001 team would be good but nothing special. We all know what happened last year. My point is this--there are lots of teams in the college game that can compete fairly equally. A team that is a "top 35" team can play a "top 10" team very close, although maybe in a highly defensive style. You say that many teams win games by one goal. This is true. But there have been, and always will be teams that have a knack for winning the close ones. Germany has long been known to always find a way to win. Regardless of their alleged talent or injuries, one always feels like Germany will win. That's why they are able to survive the ultimate tournament, the World Cup, with so much success. I'm not saying that UNC is Germany. What I'm saying is that on the college level, UNC has created a mindset that it will win the big game. After those players came back from 2-0 down on Stanford in the semifinals of last years College cup with only 10 minutes remaining, I wouldn't blame them if they think they can win any game regardless of their deficit.
Winning close games at home is one thing. Winning them on the road is another. Let's see how UNC does at Duke, at Maryland, and at Clemson.
Don't use the "w" word in titles, please. I appreciate you putting the R, but if you say in the title that they won it doesn't do too much good.
Dear Mod, Your right, but if people haven't figured out by now who won over the weekend, they prob. aren't enough of a fan to care. John
Dear John, You have a good point, but it is still zee rules, and you guys are so well behaved I have to jump at any little chance I get to moderate something. Just trying to keep it consistent with the TOS, even if other mods don't. Your Mod.
Response Fixxer, If you bring me and my boys from UNC up, I'm going to have to respond... 1st, Akron is a bad team. I don't care what you want to say about making the tourney, blah, blah, blah. UNC should have won that game very easily. As far as the Title being in the stars? I just pull for my team, nothing more. And of course I have to thank you for even more knowledge... A lot of teams win a lot of games by one goal...Brilliant! I wish I'd have thought of that.
Re: Response No Akron isn't a bad team. Even if they were, very few games are easy games - especially when you are the defending national champion and everybody wants to give you their best shot. Like I said, too early to be packing bags for Dallas.
Fix, You continue to point out the obvious. Yes, every game is a close game. But no, Akron is not a good team.
The idea that Akron would be 3-4 goals better than Davidson is the dumb and immeasurable anyways. To make that claim is stupid--on paper Carolina would be 3-4 goals better than Davidson as well. But that's why they play the games. Surely Davidson would not play the same style against Akron, not have the same motivation, and there's no way to know how they would match up. Just another chance for you to hate on UNC.
I'm not sure I'd say too much about dumb/stupid with that sort of English... I simply followed an outlandish statement with an outlandish statement. To say Akron is not a good team is just wrong. I've seen them play, I've kept up with them. They do have good teams and they do give very good team fits. If I'm not mistaken, in 1998 they were up 2-0 on Indiana in the 2nd round of NCAA's only to lose in overtime. They tied UConn last year at Storrs. They lost this season 2-1 to Wake Forest, the team that kicked UNC's arse 4-2 last season, a game that I witnessed. Anyway, my point was that Akron is a much better team than Davidson and UNC lost to Davidson, I actually posted on Akron earlier to make UNC fans feel better about a 2-1 win against what most college soccer fans consider a good, dangerous team. And please, don't think that I'm "hating" on UNC, I always pull for ACC teams. But believe that they aren't going to just show up and win b/c the won it all last year...