I believe stphnsn was referring to Michigan's United Soccer Coaches poll ranking. To be fair, the Wolverines were ranked even higher in RPI (15) coming into the contest, but they are now 28. Michigan benefited from staying home for the non-conference season: the Wolverines didn't even hit the road until Sept. 21.
I can’t lie: that was brutal to watch. A horrible performance by the Wolverines. As noted, they couldn’t connect a pass, lacked intensity and coordination defending, etc. (too many low points to recount in detail). I have watched a couple of our prior games, and we played like a team with solid habits and skill, although perhaps lacking the athleticism of past Wolverine teams. Anyway, I did not foresee us playing so poorly, and hope it was a one off. But it was unsettling. Chaka and the team have a lot of work to do going forward. The guys need to have pride for the Block M and turn things around quickly.
No criticism intended! Your RPI data are as identical to those of the NCAA and likely much more accurate.
Sometimes they catch me as well. WMU moved a game with Dayton to Columbus, OH and so I showed that as a neutral contest. The NCAA told me WMU moved the game on account of its own stadium not being playable and so they considered the Columbus venue a home game for WMU. I caught the NCAA earlier this year...they were counting UCSB's exhibition match with Westmont (Calif.). Because the two teams drew (UCSB played backup players as it was one day after the New Hampshire match), the NCAA penalized UCSB for tying a team at home with a bad RPI (which encompasses all non-D1 teams). UCSB had noticed earlier that the game was showing on the NCAA's version of their schedule and asked that it be re-designated as an exhibition. The NCAA did this, but somehow the computer held on to the original designation of the game and penalized the Gauchos. This cost them a spot in the RPI rankings at a time when they were top 5 or so. It took some coding to fix the error. Given that the NCAA publishes the RPI every day, I am somewhat redundant. My value comes from the timeliness of my updates and that I do serve as a check on any errors on their side.
Basically the same script w/ MSU. We were pretty much the better side, but the ref decided that the game was about him midway through the first half, calling two PKs, one for each side, for "handballs." He also gave out 4 yellows in a fairly mildly played game just for good measure. In the end, he didn't affect the outcome, but it was not a great performance. Once again, our transfer Weiss scored off a nice headed assist from Miller (now he has 3 goals for the season). Our PK (handball in the box, maybe) was slotted home by MacDonald. Two minutes later, MacDonald was called for a handball (coincidence??) and MSU got a goal back, 2-1. After a brief rest at the end of the first half, Sarver went to work in the 52nd minute, hitting a screamer into the upper 90 to end the scoring.
No trophy emoji!? Bummer. If the cards fall the right way on Sunday, we could be outright champs. I have to admit I didn't see this coming in early September, but that seems to be the program's MO in the last few years.
We played really well. They came out with as much intensity and urgency as I've seen all season long and NU was on the wrong end. Some really nice goals. Now, if OSU draws or loses, we're outright champs. If they win, we're co-champs. If OSU beats MD by more than one goal, they get the number one seed for the tourney. Go Terps!!! It might be a little tough because Sasho was sent off at the the end of the first half against Rutgers.
Enjoyable senior night game last night against Trine (Div III). MacDonald & Sarver sat out (4 yellows apiece; resets in the tourney). Miller sat out as well. Despite that, we had many, many chances. Freshman Heuer actually scored 55 seconds into the game (not a record - Kevin Noschang scored 9 seconds into a game for IU). Nesci, another freshman scored in the 9th minute. Oduro and Barger rounded out the scoring, all of it in the first 22 minutes. We were unlucky not to score a few more (11 SOG vs 1 for Trine [the one that went in]), but Trine's two keepers both did an excellent job without a lot of help. We substituted en masse (5 players) around the 72 minute mark with two more freshmen, Kara and Wolthers, making their debut. Now we wait...
Ohio State provided the following in its preview of the Maryland match: If tied at the end of the regular season, conference tournament seeding will first be determined by head-to-head competition. Ohio State and Indiana tied (2-all) during conference play. Next is goal differential in league play, Indiana finished at +16 with Ohio State currently at +15. Next is overall goals in conference play. Both Indiana and Ohio State are tied at 27 with a game remaining for the Buckeyes.
And what this tells me is: if Ohio State wins, they are the #1 seed. To win they must win by at least one goal, which ties up or wins goal differential. If they win 1-0, the Buckeyes win the second tiebreaker of overall goals.
Mais is a great guy and deserves some success. But I'd be happier for Mais if he hadn't partially gone to the dark side (9 players from Mexico/Canada/England/Germany/Nigeria/Iceland, 5 of whom start).
He was on the hot seat 3 years ago after starting his career 17-31-5 and 6-24-3 in Big Ten so I'm guessing Mrs. Mais is happy the #1 ranking will most likely lead to a pretty good extension. Not everyone can do things the way IU does them (and in fact very few teams rarely do these days)
Quarters: We sucked today. The referee didn't have his best game. Did I mention how bad we sucked today? Where were our seniors?
Wow! I haven't watched the game but saw the box score and was pleasantly shocked. After the earlier beatdown in Ann Arbor, Indiana had to be at least a 2 goal favorite. The Hoosiers are a very good team as proven all year. Good luck in the NCAAs!
Nothing good to say about that one. I'm glad I didn't drive up for it or even skip out of work to watch it live. Credit to Michigan though. They deserved a goal, and they made it really hard for us to play our game. Like always, if the referee is going to allow it, the best way to beat IU is to beat the shit out of them.
LIke I said, the seniors (grad students, you know, old guys) were largely absent: Sarver 1 shot / 0 SOG Mihalic 2 / 0 Weiss 0 / 0 Oduro, our other starting forward, had a single shot that that didn't hit the target. The freshman subs had more shots than the starting senior/grad forwards w/ 4. None were on frame. Elliot, our right back, had the only SOG.
Yes! DW had asked about hauling the kids down for their first game if we played this weekend... 5 hours in the car plus 2+ hours in the stands... I don't know if their tablets have enough juice for that...