Well, after talking to the Houstonians coach, I am even more convinced that the Houston Baptist men's program is on the climb up. He said that Munoz is a natural forward who just stays on the ball, is tall and has good foot skills who scores frequently. Mimbela is tall, fast and skillful who can play midfield or forward. He is excellent at free kicks and is the go to man on crosses as his scores very frequently heading. Both boys are very tall and win the ball a lot in the air. This is pretty much what I had seen when I watched them, but it was good to know that someone of his knowledge felt the same. Jimenez is a very skillful midfielder who will do well with the above two to feed the ball in to and is quite adept at scoring himself. The player known the least is Esparza. He is apparently a skilled midfielder who is also well known for his freekicks. The only common denominator in this group is Mimbela. He played competitive soccer at the Houstonians with Munoz. Trained wiht the academy with Jimenez and played at some point in time either school or competitive soccer with Esparza. It is also believed that at least some of them have been in ODP together. Wish we could get more in depth info since it doesn't look like the Univ is going to put out more info any time soon. At any rate, the coach said he would have loved to have all of them on the same team and feels that the coach is doing a much better job of recruiting.
Nice posts HBUMom and CR7! Thanks for the inside information. I have know that HBU's program is on the up and up but it is good to hear some confirmation. Hopefully, the college soccer in Houston (at HBU) will begin to develop quite a solid reputation.
My son completed the 4 day Jones Soccer Camp @ HBU Thursday. It gave him a chance to get to know the coaches, meet some of the team players and a couple of the other incoming freshmen. He enjoyed the camp and came away from it with added confidence and insight about his game. Hes looking forward to the upcoming season and its challenges!
I tried to get on the TalkHuskies site but have not received my registration confirmation email yet. There was a post there about a listing of recruits for HBU that only showed one guy from Ohio. Not sure how the list was put together. I do know for a fact that Mimbela, Esparza and Munoz are confirmed HBU recruits that have already registered and are about to move onto campus so I don't know why they weren't on the list. I also know in talking to the coach that there was a very good recruit from Ohio so maybe this is the one they are talking about. I am just excited for the season to start and to watch my son play at the next level....well, if he gets to play as he will only be a freshman...but I like the chances of our freshman getting some serious playing time!
Did anyone see the scrimmage Saturday? Anyone watching the scrimmage tomorrow? Would love to see how the guys are doing but have a previous engagement. Please post here if you have a chance to get out to the scrimmage ... would love to know how the guys are shaping up.
This evening, the HBU men's soccer team scrimmaged the Houston Leones of the PDL (of the USL). HBU won 2-0. Both of the goals were scored by freshman on the team.
In talking to some of the guys, HBU is in jeopardy of losing at least 3 of their top recruits that came in this year. They aren't feeling the best players are playing and came here on what appears to be false promises. I know that will have a trickle down affect and hurt for next year's recruits. That is a shame...I felt we were getting on the right track. Asst coach likes the smaller less skillful players and seems to call all the shots on who plays...this is second hand knowledge...I have not seen any games. Hope this is just early season jibberish that gets straightened out soon, but I am confused as to why an asst coach would call the shots. Maybe we are in need of a new coaching staff or a head coach that will take charge.
Well, I don't know about losing recruits, but I have heard a little bit of the same. I do know that in looking at Gametracker, there appears to be extremely poor team management by the coaches. Several times you see players subbed in for 10 minutes or less. Are they really expecting someone to come in off the bench cold and contribute in 5 minutes or less? Because in reality, if they are subbed 10 minutes in, then their own substitution is probably at the line after they have been in for only 5 minutes. That makes it even more difficult to stay focused and try to contribute. Plus, it appears to be the same couple of subs going in and out. They are not getting the job done so maybe try someone else. This is frustrating to watch from afar. Ready for a home game so I can see for myself.
Watched the guys play in the HBU tournament. Took a couple of this year's recruits with me and to say they were not impressed is an overstatement. One left at half time and is no longer considering HBU...the other stayed, but will more than likely not go to HBU now. Two of the best soccer players in Texas sit on the bench the whole game at HBU...are you kidding me? The mid field is the biggest joke I have ever seen. The only player in the midfield that would play on any D1 team should not be the playmaker. He has minimal skill and the attributes he contributes are leadership and just brute force. He needs to be on the field, but he is not a creative person...the rest of the midfield was just a laugh. Neither of our starting forwards would start on any other team. One of them just runs around the field like a chicken with his head cut off chasing the ball. He has he most shots on goal for the team, but he also has tons of minutes and very little actual production or real chances. Very disappointed in the coaching. The team's losses are almost totally on the coaches if this weekends' games were any indication of how they usually play. The substitutions seemed to be preplanned or the coaches can't tell who is playing well and who is not. The midfield was almost nonexistent...in fact the only players who played at all were the defense and the goalkeeper...the rest was just a mess. The starting team had at least four players on the field who had substantially better players in those positions sitting the bench and three of those players played less than 10 minutes the whole game. That is pathetic....how is a player to get in a game if given so few minutes to perform? I am embarrassed that I talked two of the players into going to HBU...they are way too good for this team and should be playing under real coaches. In talking with one of the older players on the team after the game, he said that the asst coach is a huge clown and he makes almost all the decisions. He felt that the team would be ten times better if Jones would take over and push the other guy asside. Apparently the asst coach decides who plays and truly has favorites. The older players are sick of watching the better players sit the bench because the asst coach doesn't like them. So, there is lots of drama going on and it appears to all center around an asst coach with favorites and better players not getting time that even the older players feel they deserve. No one sees it getting any better this season and it is rumoured that several of the better players are looking to transfer out after the season. Personally, I will no longer recommend HBU to any of the better recruits but save that for the lower level who will obviously be in favor with the assst coach. I am done...won't watch another game. Very disgusted after watching teh game and even more disgusted after talking to the older guys and getting their take.
Sigh...I hope to be at the game Saturday so I can see what the team looks like. Just finished "watching" the HBU 2 - 4 UNLV game on Gametracker. 3 goals against in 12 mins.! I hate losing. Even from a distance. Disappointed in the way this season is going, to say the least....
Watched the game on Saturday with some alumni; they invited me for the field dedication. We are all of the same schooling and felt that even though the Huskies played better, they still are not utilizing the players well. We all agreed that some of the substitutions did not make sense. We think #9, #20, #10, and #23 should not come out of the game unless they are tired or hurt. I understand the coaches mentality of only playing those that hussle all over the field, but you win games when you mix creativity with hussle and right now they are not doing that. those four players would create tons of scoring chances and strike fear in teh defenders of opposing teams. Until the coaches utilize those players effectively, the scoring will remain sporadic at best. Unfortunately, the guys have stated that the number looking to transfer has grown since we last spoke...sorry to hear that. Hope things change before the end of the season but don't haave a lot of hope.
Well...my son left the soccer team. Why? I know he was frustrated about playing time. I just don't understand why he couldn't hang on til the tournament and end of the season. Trying to find out why piece by piece...
Heh... Just found this thread. Interesting. Especially some of the opinions on here. Progress is being made: http://nscaa.com/SeniorResReg.php?it=1239&dv=1&rg=North_Atlantic
They came to SDSU today. 3-0 loss, but it was a good match. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised SDSU didn't get into more trouble. They were extremely physical. I'll bet HBU could have capitalized on more fouls.
It'll take some time but I think that eventually, HBU could be come a pretty strong team in this part of the country. It'll need to be done right in terms of recruiting, coaching, etc... but it can be done.
Well, the first thing they need to do is to get into a conference that has an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Because without that, HBU isn't getting in to the tournament. Not this year and likely not ever. Even if they go like 16-3-1, with the kind of schedule they have they aren't going to have a high enough RPI to get in. They either need another team to join the Atlantic Soccer Conference, so there are enough teams for an automatic bid, or they need to get into a different conference - Atlantic Sun, Summit, MAC (which could use another member, especially with Hartwick's long-term prognosis being iffy), Missouri Valley - because it's tough to get good players to come to your program when you can't even promise them a CHANCE to play in the NCAA Tournament.
Just found this thread... I thought HBU played very tough against my Bulldogs in Kentucky during the first half. I only saw them the one time, so I don't know if it was frustration or a lack of endurance or what during the second half, but they showed moxie and toughness for the first 45. I agree with Sandon though. Gotta be in a conference with a bid.
I also think that HBU will eventually become much more competitive, but it definitely takes some time, and there was some decent turnover from last years team with players graduating and some others leaving/transferring. Obviously, the ASC is not the ideal conference, but it was a conference to join to serve a purpose for now (HBU is also in a terrible, and probably temporary conference for other sports in the Great West). That said, there is some talent on the team, but I think against the much better teams they just have trouble staying in the game for 90 minutes. This year, against the teams more on their level, they have fared alright, but against the better teams (SDSU, USD, Butler) they haven't been able to get a result - not that that is a disappointment, those are solid programs.
Good points by all above and as they just went back to Div. 1, they didn't have much choice out of the gates as to what conference to play in. I think they'll need to continue to improve the product and results on the pitch and make themselves an attractive candidate for another conference with the automatic bid that you mention. Could be worse though. I remember the old days when the NCAA didn't take near that many teams to the final tournament and several deserving teams were overlooked since they didn't play in one that had that automatic bid.
Like anything it is going to take time. There is a huge pool of talent in Houston and Texas with SMU taking the elite players but they cant take everybody and HBU can tap into that as it seems they are. A city like Houston needs college soccer and vice versa...it will just take time and if they can pull a few players from DTH in the 93/94 group they will improve quickly.