HS Boys Soccer [R]

yeah, working too late to be able to go to any of the playoff games... wasn't last year the clean sweep for Tulsa in boys and girls soccer?

Jenks, Kelly, Cascia?

 

winning at Jenks is in the blood! You can't stop it. You can only hope to contain it.

Trojans!

 

Where are the games being played on Friday?

 

Cascia baby, lets just say I laid the groundwork

 

Go T-Wolves

 

Union beat Norman North on penalty shots.

I thought Union was more aggressive and won on possession. I.e., it was 2-0 for Norman and Union clawed their way back up.

The Union girls also won earlier this evening.

 

Yeah. And the games were supposed to be played at Union but the grass fields were messed up with all the rain so both the boys and girls games were moved to Jenks HS last minute...

The first 30 mins of the game, if I had to guess which of the 2 teams were in the High School Top 20, I'd have guessed Norman North.... but further along, it looked like there were at least 3 or 4 guys from Union who showed some REALLY good skills..... I thought the artificial turf at Jenks bothered Union more-- some really good passes and thru balls just skipped down the turf and out of bounds; they looked like they'd be more comfortable playing on grass...

Union looked ready to play in warmups (for whatever that's worth), but came out flat, especially the first 15 mins... don't know the players on either team, but the guy from Norman North nailed a dang good shot from about 15 yards out past the goalkeeper into the back corner of the net. Then, the last 15 mins before half, Union started to dominate and looked like they were going to equalize.

Don't know why, but Norman North started off strong in the 2nd half just like they did the first half and got the 2nd goal. On one of Union's goals, it looked like 3 or 4 guys were offside, but the guy who got the goal was the closest to being onside and the goal was allowed to stand. Last 30 mins of the game was a nailbiter after Union tied it... Union had more possession, but Norman North had some dangerous counters so it looked pretty even to me...

If things weren't bad enough having to comback from 2-0... after overtime, Union missed their first PK and Norman North scored on their first two to go ahead again 2-0. But Union scored 3 while Norman missed their last 3 PK's and Union goes to the finals....

 

I missed the first 15 minutes trying to find the HS.

And I missed up to the second goal getting goodies for my son.

At that point, the Norman North team looked to be playing to not lose - they didn't seem interested in adding more points.

Oh he was surprised that he was onside. He looked at the ball, he looked at the Ref, and then he put the ball in the net.

I thought it was a good no-call by the Center. I actually agreed with most of his calls. He let them play a very physical game.

I know he missed a head slap by one of the Norman North players on a Union player - my wife was pretty mad at that one.

Union deserved to win that last 30 minutes. I thought both teams wasted time on purpose at points. But the Norman North counters seemed to be mainly long ball play. When the Norman guys won possession, they seemed harried and would try to get the ball upfield more than they tried to control their touches.

By the way, that second Union goal was a great dead ball serve into the box. It beat the keeper and then it seemed to weakly bounce off of the Union player.

I got mixed up, I thought Norman North made their first 3 PKs. I was telling my son that if we missed any or they made any more, the game was over.

I couldn't believe the last two Norman PK attempts. After the first one sailed over the fence, my son was bugging me to allow him to keep the next one that came over. He was going to become pregnant and hide it under his shirt.

When they did their dog pile, my son was about 10 feet away.

He hasn't been interested in watching older kids play, but he has already asked me if he can go to the final on Saturday.

 

I wanted a Union vs Broken Arrow final.

 

How did Cascia do in 4A?

I didn't realize they created a 6A bracket for soccer... when I played (which was only a few years ago) there was just 4A and 5A, and we played most of the teams that are now in 5A, because they were in 4A then.

Looking at the 4A schools from this year, I probably could've had a few state rings! Haha oh well

 

Ouch. I think I was wrong about Norman missing the last 3... I know Norman North was up 2-0, then Union scored...... yeah, then Norman scored to make it 3-1, and Union scored on their 3rd, 4th and 5th attempts... the kid who scored the game winner deserved it.... he played a really good game throughout, hard working player...

I got a little mad at a couple of jersey-pulling ploys in the OT that didn't get called...

Oh, and I remember the ref staring at the linesman for a good thirty seconds waiting for him to raise the flag for offsides for that Union goal.... if that pass had gone to any of the other 3 players, that flag woulda gone up.... couldn't tell ya if it was the right call, it was too close... bring out the instant replay for a review...

 

4A BOYS

Tuesday's Semifinals
Cascia Hall 1, Edmond Deer Creek 0
Heritage Hall 4, Webster 0

Saturday's Championship
Cascia Hall vs. Heritage Hall

 

So here is a bit more unbiased account of the Union vs Norman North game:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sports/article.aspx?articleID=070509_2_B6_JENKS30584

What surprised me of their account was that Norman North had more shots than Union (22 v 16). It doesn't break it down further, as in how many were on goal, but like I said earlier, I remembered Union being much more on attack.

It was a great game.

 

If you missed Norman North's first goal, then it makes more sense; I think Norman got off 5 shots before Union got their first, and you missed a heckuva shot for that first goal... a shot of MLS velocity. After the goal, I think the shots were 6 or 7 to one for North.

I bought the Tulsa World this morning just to see if the print version covered the game... and to find out who scored the goal... must remember that when a shot is taken from the 15 yard line, that means it was actually a 20 yard shot... turns out the guy's name is Russ Coleman and he's been signed by Wake Forest...

This was my first Oklahoma high school game since moving back to Tulsa last fall... my recent viewing experiences last few years in Chicago was confined to watching a few neighborhood college and high school games around Loyola of Chicago (and of course, several Fire games).

I never saw any Illinois high school playoff games, but this game was better than both the high school and college games I've seen there. I also think these high school kids played better and had better skills than the semi-pro players for the Oklahoma City Slickers and Tulsa Roughnecks (post-NASL) when I saw a couple of games at Taft Stadium in the late 80s...

Anyway, the kids are alright... skills deficit? I don't see no skills deficit...

 

We went to Union games last year over at the Union fields. While cozy, I can see why they switched to Jenks.

Evidently on the Friday night quarterfinal game against Jenks (@ Union), the Union kids were able to make better adjustments to the field conditions.

Anyway, the State Cup will be starting soon and you can catch some good games out there. I like watching TSC 91 boys play. If they get pitted against the Celtic boys, it will be a good battle to watch - there is little love lost between the two teams.

 

Union beat Putnam City North in a sudden death penalty shootout.

There was no score through overtime.

Union lead in possession, shots on goal, and good scoring opportunities. PCN was, as my wife put it, really fast.

The girls also won their bout 2-1.

And no clue about Cascia Hall.