Thought I would go ahead and start a thread for the upcoming season. The full schedule is now out, apparently: https://umterps.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule The roster: https://umterps.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster Aug 14 (Sat) 12:00 PM v Temple (Exhibition) Aug 21 (Sat) 7:30 PM v Pittsburgh (Exhibition) Aug 26 (Thu) 7:30 PM v Charlotte Aug 29 (Sun) 7:30 PM v UMBC Sep 3 (Fri) 7:30 PM v George Mason Sep 6 (Mon) 6:00 PM v Virginia (Audi Field in DC) Sep 11 (Sat) 1:00 PM @ Georgetown Sep 17 (Fri) 7:00 PM v Michigan Sep 20 (Mon) TBD v High Point Sep 24 (Fri) TBD @ Ohio State Sep 28 (Tue) 7:00 PM v Rutgers Oct 3 (Sun) TBD @ Wisconsin Oct 8 (Fri) 7:00 PM v Northwestern Oct 16 (Sat) 7:00 PM v Pacific Oct 22 (Fri) TBD @ Michigan State Oct 26 (Tue) TBD @ Penn State Oct 31 (Sun) 1:00 PM v Indiana
Now that at least @JoeSoccerFan is on board ... The schedule seems like UMD schedules of old in significant ways - substituting B1G games for ACC competition (if you go further back). Two home exhibitions, then 9 home games and 5 away games - plus playing UVA at a neutral site (DC United's Audi Field), a game I'm very happy to see return. Nice to see solid local rivals included (Georgetown, George Mason, UMBC). The main thing missing is a west-coast trip or some west-coast visitors, but that is very understandable this year. Just hope it's not a permanent feature.
West Coast team: Oct 16 (Sat) 7:00 PM v Pacific Other west coast teams traveling to the east coast. UCI @ Gtown and Loyola 8/26-8/29 UCSB @ Cornell and Colgate, 9/10-9/12 Seattle @ Duke 9/6 Santa Clara @ Gtown and AU 9/3-9/6
Pacific is on the west coast? Now I've heard everything! Thank you. Georgetown still has its spring schedule up, btw, not sure why.
3 exhibition games up, 3 exhibition games down (completed): Maryland 2-2 Temple Lehigh 1-3 Maryland (in Chester, PA) Maryland 2-1 Pittsburgh (#3 in preseason poll) So, two wins and a draw for unranked Maryland, a positive start. The season opens for real on Thursday v Charlotte (#18 preseason).
I'm sensing a general lack of interest (in this thread) this season. Maryland's on-the-field production has been quite good so far. I still hope to catch the (regular) season-ending match v Indiana. Results so far (10-2-1, 3-1-1) 2-2 v Temple (Exhibition) 3-1 v Lehigh (Exhibition, @ Chester) 2-1 v Pittsburgh (Exhibition) ++++++++++++ 1-0 v Charlotte 4-3 v UMBC 2-0 v George Mason 2-1 v Virginia (Audi Field in DC) 0-1 @ Georgetown 2-1 v Michigan 2-0 v High Point 2-1 @ Ohio State 0-0 v Rutgers 0-1 @ Wisconsin 3-1 v Northwestern 1-0 @ Delaware 3-0 v Pacific Still to come ... Oct 22 (Fri) @ Michigan State (6-6-2, 2-2-2) Oct 26 (Tue) @ Penn State (8-5-1, 4-1-0) Oct 31 (Sun) 1:00 PM v Indiana (9-3-1, 4-2-0) The B1G standings are still very tight at the top [B1G games remaining]: Penn State (4-1) [@ OSU, v MD, @ Wisc] Indiana (4-2) [v Wisc, @ MD] Maryland (3-1-1) [@ MSU, @ PSU, v IND] Wisconsin (3-2-1) [@ IND, v PSU] Michigan (3-2-1) [v RUT, @ OSU]
How do you all see the Big Ten race winding up? Looks like Maryland plays both Penn State and Indiana so the Terrapins seems to control their destiny. Will they be able to capitalize on the opportunity?
For the math challenged, PSU and IU are at 12 and next 3 are at 10 points. PSU looks to be in the pole position with 3 matches including against bottom dweller OSU, WI that just lost to NW and an inconsistent but talented MD. PSU had an injury and realignment of the defenders. If this persists or additional injuries or suspensions, they could lose or draw a game or 2. IU would be an easy second, but if PSU could stumble, so could IU. If IU has figured out their defense and more importantly the DM and defensive wing play to narrow/close the ball wide on defense, they could make another long run in NCAA. Best GK in B10 goes a long way. MD needs to win out to win B10. Consistency - even if they pulled out a win - especially in the attack against quality defenses is the biggest question. WI has a tough defense but they need to score first to lock it down. When NW scored first, WI was in trouble. I'm not sold on WI this year. MI - meh. Not a big fan. If I had to guess, I would say PSU, MD, IU, RUTG, MI rest of the pack. But I expect IU to win the B10 tournament. But what do I know?
Maryland won (3-1 at Michigan State) and Penn State lost (2-1 at Ohio State), tightening the standings still further. Indiana plays Wisconsin today. Maryland (4-1-1) [@ PSU, v IND] Penn State (4-2) [v MD, @ Wisc] Indiana (4-2) [v Wisc, @ MD] Michigan (4-2-1) [@ OSU] Wisconsin (3-2-1) [@ IND, v PSU]
Wow. For the math challenged (I'm really talking about me!). 13 Maryland (4-1-1) [@ PSU, v IND] 13 Michigan (4-2-1) [@ OSU] 12 Indiana (4-2) [v Wisc, @ MD] 12 Penn State (4-2) [v MD, @ Wisc] 10 Wisconsin (3-2-1) [@ IND, v PSU] Someone check my work, who wins the B10. If MD wins out, they win B10. Easiest one to calculate. But, if MD doesn't win out --- If IU and PSU win out, no idea the tie-breaker on that one. If IU or PSU only wins 1, but Mich wins, Mich wins 1 or MD wins 1 (and loses the other), Mich/MD tie-breaker no idea. The only way Wisc win B10, win out, Mich draws OSU AND MD loses both or loses 1 and draws another. if Mich/MD win only 1, no idea on tie-breaker. All-in-all, guess I'm the wrong person to do this. *blush*
thx.... 15 Indiana (5-2) [@ MD] 13 Maryland (4-1-1) [@ PSU, v IND] 13 Michigan (4-2-1) [@ OSU] 12 Penn State (4-2) [v MD, @ Wisc] 10 Wisconsin (3-3-1) [v PSU] This knocks WI out of running for winning B10. Michigan can win B10 with win over OSU and draws by MD against IU and PSU and PSU draws WI.
Yes, just catching up. Maryland led 2-0 at halftime but let the game (and the B1G title?) slip away, 3-2 PSU in OT. 15 Penn State 5-2 (@ Wisconsin) 15 Indiana 5-2 (@ Maryland) 13 Maryland 4-2-1 (v Indiana) 13 Michigan 4-3-1 (done) 10 Wisconsin 3-3-1 (v PSU) From what I can tell, the key games remaining will both kick off at 1:00 PM (eastern) on Sunday. Does anyone know what the B1G tiebreakers are?
Maryland 2-0 Indiana, but Wisconsin 0-2 Penn State, so ... 18 Penn State 6-2 16 Maryland 5-2-1 15 Indiana 5-3 Maryland will host Northwestern next Sunday in a B1G quarterfinal.
The other quarterfinals: PSU v Michigan State Indiana v Rutgers Michigan v Wisconsin Poor OSU, who ended their season by beating PSU and Michigan, gets not even a play-in game, apparently.
well, I've advocated canceling the #8 and #9 game because it was generally played the day before getting to play #1 seed. I'm sure that there's an exception, but typically it was a predicted finish.
Quickly catching up, though I sense a general lack of interest: In the B1G tournament, Maryland 0-0 Northwestern, NW advancing on PKs. [Penn State thrashed Indiana in the B1G Final.] In the NCAA tournament, Maryland will host Long Island University (LIU) on Thursday, then travel (if successful). Undefeated St Louis awaits next, on Sunday, then Duke (or UCLA/UCSB), a week later, if Maryland keeps advancing. Let's take it one game at a time ...
LIU is definitely a winnable game. They have an interesting forward from (IIRC) Finland - but they don't have much more and MD should be able to neutralize him. But, we'll see. SLU as expected will be a much more difficult contest. But, they are beatable, too. SLU has a good mix of quickness, pace, size and technical ability. Their GK is young top-notch player. They have top-notch youth (wide positions) and experience (down the spine). Depth is fairly equivalent with MD - which is suprising against the vast majority of college teams. I think they have 5 or 6 pros (Schulte, Kipp, AJ, Sleeth, Parker, Klein) and a host of other valuable contributors. I haven't seen UCSB/UCLA - this year, so no opinion. Duke is pretty good too. But pretty young, Kerr hasn't shown that he can win anything. But as Tim, said 1 game at a time. Hopefully, it isn't a rainy night on Thursday. Who needs a cold, rainy evening in November - yuck!