It's only impossible if you lose. To address a few of the points made above: *Cal isn't #11. Sure, in some poll they might be ranked 11th but the polls are meaningless. The #11 team is St. John's because they got the 11th seed. Period. *If Creighton beats a vastly underrated Northwestern team, they will likely face Maryland, the third seed in the tournament. *SMU isn't No. 1. Wake Forest is, because they got the top seed. *Cal-Santa Clara was a tough draw for both teams, no doubt, as is having to play SMU in the second round. But, Portland-Washington, with the winner getting New Mexico, is just as tough a draw. As long as college soccer isn't revenue generating, there will always be matchups where geography creates matchups that aren't fair to the teams involved but it's a lot cheaper to have two teams from the same region face off than have teams travel to matchups that are more indicative of the teams standings based on polls, computer rankings and other regular season accomplishments.
Yea USF and LMU just may do well. Always talking ******** on the WCC u lil bitc h. All the teams in the wcc are worthy of respect. Y dont u just go have sum sex with the creighton team and every other team in their conference, that is if u love them so much..fool
Tulsa did well tonight. So far..........MVC is off to a good start. I am so sad the WCC begin to crumble. But it is time to move on.
Could you tell how the golden goal got through? I was there, and I was trying to figure out if it was deflected by one of the SCU defenders. It did not appear to be struck that hard. I kept waiting for the keeper to get it, and the next thing I know it's in the back of the net.
True ... you can overcome a difficult seeding sometimes, but not every time. As my seeding study showed, Santa Clara has a remarkable track record of accomplishing a lot more than the committee thought they would. That isn't changed by an overtime loss away to a top-ten caliber team. Incidentally, do you think Ballouchy is done with college soccer? If so, do you think Creighton supporters will finally get over their resentment? I'm afraid you're right, but I'd love to see him give it a try. He's fun to watch, and for such a little guy (clearly shorter than 5-5), he has a wicked shot. They've also had a problem protecting the lead ... blew a 2-0 advantage @Stanford in the last 15 minutes and a 3-1 @UCLA in the last 10. With Mike Muñoz absent, I don't think their midfield play is good enough, either in build-up or in keeping possession. Other than that, they're a very strong team.
It was a shame to see Ballouchy leave Creighton. But you know what?.....good programs do not skip a beat with the loss of one player. On the other hand, I can only imagine where Santa Clara would have been this year without Ballouchy. They certainly would not have made the NCAA tournament. Even with him, they were one of the last at large teams to get picked. The remaining WCC teams are competitive if they play to their potential and may win a few games. Portland proved last night they can play with any team. They racked up five goals against a team that stomped on Cal earlier in the year so it will be interesting to see how long they can continue in the tourney.
... and yet Portland finished clearly behind Santa Clara in the WCC standings. Washington split its season's series with Cal and finished tied with them in the Pac-10. All four of those programs are respectable, and given that Santa Clara made the Final Four without Ballouchy last season, you don't have a leg to stand on.
The standings meaningless when it comes time to playing in the tournament. I am talking about THIS year. You seem easily confused.
Regarding Ballouchy, I would be surprised if he's back. I know he almost went pro before and he had a good year this season and with all the new job openings in "the MLS" this year, this is a good time to go pro.
I agree with you. If he has put on some weight, he's probably now ready. Finishing his remaining year at Santa Clara probably does not enhance his brand value much, if any.
What's the difference between last year and this year? Since you obviously don't know, I'll tell you. SCU lost 3 seniors, only two of which were starters from the team that made the final four run. So roster wise there is very little difference. So you don't have a leg to stand on as numerista pointed out. Further, I've seen SCU play both with Mehdi and without him, have you? There are a completely effective team when's he's NOT on pitch. He adds a ball control dimension to the team when he's in, but it's not like the other players just stand around and watch him take on the opposing 11. SCU may have done just as well without him, but we'll never know. As to why Rast decided to go young. I don't know exactly. My hunch is that he thinks his younger players are more talented and he wants to give them NCAA experience looking ahead to future years while providing the roughly equivalent chances of moving ahead in the tourney this year.
You are right about one thing. We will never know. Santa Clara certainly did not play many minutes this year without Medhi on the field. So I am baffled by what point you are trying to make. It's interesting how you almost minimize his field presence with your comment "He adds a ball control dimension to the team when he's in, but ......." I'd say ball control is pretty important in the midfield............wouldn't you? And he is much more than just "ball control". He distributes and scores. I have no doubt that without him, Santa Clara would not have been in the NCAA tournament. Again, they barely made the at-large cut WITH him. It's all pretty moot now though since their season is over. It's too bad he left us but he will have a nice pro career. It is also baffling that the Santa Clara coach would choose the NCAA to go with so many freshman. As they say, "go with what got you there" and there is no substitute for experience. From the outside, it looks like a bone headed move, especially now that they are eliminated. But then again, what do we farm boys know?
Hofstra continues their amazing run, defeating Seton Hall 2-1. Oct. 30 they were 5-9-1 but they've now won six in a row and are one of the final 32 teams playing. Good on' ya. Not all the news on the "Guyland" was good as American spanked Long Island 3-0.
It's a big world out there and there is a lot that you don't know, so to me you come off as rather smug. I'll give 3 examples just from your last post. #1) Mehdi didn't play for SCU last year, they didn't have that ball control presence, and yet they went to the semis. So ball control is important if you can capitalize on it, but it's not necessary to win at the NCAA level. So there is no way you can say with any amount of credibility that you are certain they wouldn't make tourney. #2) Rast did go with what got him there. If you look at the playing minutes during the last 10 games, those 9 frosh/soph were seeing the majority of it. You're jumping to conclusions by thinking he switched the team up for the tourney. #3) Your talking to a Nebraska farm boy, so a churlish 'but what do we farm boys know', doesn't cut it with me.
UConn beats Marist 2-1 and Wisconsin-Milwaukee beats San Francisco 3-2. First round winners: Central Flordia, advances to face #1 Wake Forest George Washington, advances to face #16 Va. Commonwealth Wisconsin-Milwaukee, advances to face #9 UC Santa Barbara College of Charleston, advances to face #8 UNC-Greensboro Ohio State, advances to face #5 Notre Dame Duke, advances to face #12 Old Dominion Portland, advances to face #13 New Mexico American, advances to face #4 Virginia Hofstra, advances to face #3 Maryland Northwestern, advances to face #14 Creighton Boston University, advances to face #11 St. John's Loyola Marymount, advances to face #6 UCLA California, advances to face #7 Southern Methodist Tulsa, advances to face #10 Penn State Connecticut, advances to face #15 Boston College Michigan, advances to face #2 Indiana
Went to the LMU/Cal State Northridge game LMU seemed to control the ball for the majority of the game but gave up three golden oppertunites. On the first, the ball skidded by the LMU's central back (playing in a 3-5-2), only to be saved by two great saves by LMU's keeper. The second came off a free kick, a 30 yard bulled by CSUN off the crossbar. The last, in about the 70'th minnuet with the game still tied, LMU's keeper came out and dropped the ball on a cross, leaving the goal unguarded during a wild foray in front of the net. In the second half Northridge began to fold and turn over possession, with LMU holding a conciderably amount of possession in CSUN's half. LMU finally scored their game winner off a free kick cross on a header. LMU is a conciderably small team, with some speed on the wings and up top. It seems like their best player is Forward Bobby Burling, one of the biggest guys on the team. They tied UCLA earlier this season, but UCLA should win.
I think LMU will knock off UCLA. The first meeting was pretty even with LMU getting the better opportunites. UCLA is pretty small and LMU does have about 3 or 4 guys who are around 6'3"-4". LMU is most dangerous on dead ball situations..Battle of LOS ANGELES...round two
Creighton played and beat both teams earlier this year. There is no question that UCLA has far superior talent than LMU. The question is whether UCLA's coaching staff has been able to bring their players together to play as a team. Frankly, I'd be stunned if LMU pulls this one off. But you never know.
I was wondering which freshman started. I know that Hatzke and Roberts probably did, as they have done all year. Wish I could've gone to the game, but I had school Thanks.
Hatzke (LB), Roberts (CB), Moreo(GK), Clark(DM), Lowry (RM), and Curry (RB). I think it's pretty unusual to have such a young team start in the NCAAs, particular on the defensive side. Usually the defenders are the slowest to develop and coaches put a high premium on experience in the back.
Hofstra has won their past six including four against then top-25 teams (JMU, UNC-W, VCU, and SHU), as well as #12 seeded ODU who was not nationally ranked. MD had better take this team seriously or go the way of UNC