It's all personal. I grew up in DE and always loved The Fighting Blue Hens. Never once complained that Tubby should go, even though he never won another title. SMU on the other hand, finds ways to lose every year in the soccer tourney (actually, it's the same hand). It's just frustrating that the old alma-U will never hand him his papers, because he's one of the best college coaches out there. I guess he does what they need him to do, and that's probably as far as they'll go. Thx, Jay!
UCSB understood they had to do whatever it took to win this game, including some very unfortunate conduct for 90+ minutes. UNCG's young team (EVERYBODY comes back next year) got a quick lesson in this when a UCSB player (#9 -- Jones I believe) came in cleats up on the first challenge (he wasn't even going for the ball). Being a man down really didn't hinder UCSB as they just put eight behind the ball, and tried to counter whenever they could. UNCG could barely get off a shot as they were being pulled, tugged, etc. etc. on every run to the goal. It was a good way to frustrate a young team. UNCG had a couple of good runs that ended in Patterson being pulled down from behind. This all being said, UCSB is still a very, very good team, and should run through VCU in the round of eight. To quote the game story: ============================== The match started out very physical as four cards were issued in the first 5:55 of the game, including two to UC Santa Barbara’s Neil Jones for interfering with UNCG goalkeeper Jay Benfield. Jones’ ejection caused the Gauchos to play a man down the rest of the game. “You have to give UC Santa Barbara credit, they played very physical and were able to frustrated us on the offensive end,” said UNCG head coach Michael Parker. “We were not able to create quality scoring opportunities. I am very proud of our boys. This will certainly go down as one of the best seasons for UNCG soccer. I don’t want to compare them, but this will go down as one of the best. The guys on the field had never been to the NCAA Tournament. When you go this far into the tournament, you can’t help but feel the pressure and nervousness.” ============================================
Here's what the UCSB site says about Jones' ejection. http://ucsbgauchos.collegesports.com/sports/m-soccer/recaps/112804aaa.html North Carolina-Greensboro had home field advantage, an east coast ref, and an extra man for 88 minutes. Even so, they could only muster 2 shots on goal to UCSB's 8.
Thanks UNCG fan for your take on the game. Sounds like you were there? How would you compare the Gauchos to other teams you saw play this year?
They sure should, but the great thing about soccer is there's no sure thing. Last year Indiana had to have a home penalty kick to beat VCU. If you look at some VCU and UNC-G common opponents in the reg season, you find Wake VCU loss 0-1 2OT UNC-G win 1-2 UNC-CH VCU win 5-2 UNC-G win 1-0 College of Charleston UNC-G W, 3-1 VCU W, 2-1 UNC-W VCU T, 0-0 UNC-G L 2-3 I think if Santa Barbara comes out and gets a man red-carded after 5 mins against VCU they're gonna be out.
Presumably, Neil Jones will be suspended for this game, which is a pretty big blow to the Gauchos. He's a 6'4 forward who also plays for the New Zealand national team. For UCSB, he was second in goals scored and first in assists.
So this weekend's games (host institution second): Tulsa v Indiana St. John's v Maryland Duke v. Virginia Va Commonwealth v. UC Santa Barbara At least one ACC team in Final Four.
UCSB is good, bigger than UNCG for sure and very physical. I was impressed to say the least. I think they'll beat VCU at home (probably 1-0 in OT again ). I was surprised at the tactics today, but I think I might do it too, if I watched the tapes of UNCG's two losses and a tie. All were very physical efforts that seemed to knock us right out of our game. my pick is for the gauchos to go to the final four, especially after what I saw today. And best of luck to you guys too, should be a fun trip.
uncgfan ... sorry to see the run end ... however, with everyone back next year you guys should be set up for another great year. Where was Phil Long in the last two matches? I might have missed something, but I didn't see his name listed in the box score.
UCSB-UNCG should not have met up in the Sweet 16, these teams were between 1-5 in most polls. There should be more accountability in the selections.
UCSB is a very agressive and physical team so I wouldn't be too surprised about the tactics. They are also very good at defending with all 11 (or 10 as in today) players. They have a terrific forward duo in Jones and McAthy which has enabled them to play a more defensive style because those two put away most of their chances and don't need too much support.
Sorry, can't let this go. Final Score in NCAA round of 16 - 2003 IU 5 VCU 0 Sure, IUs first goal was a PK...but 5-0???? Cmon... http://iuhoosiers.com/menssoccer/results/03-04/mscrs11-30-03.html
Phil must be sick or hurt because he is an integral part of our attack to say the least. Nobody in the stands seemed to know, and his absence is part of the reason we lost today. We return everybody, and from what I understand have a few targets on the recruiting trail that could add some more firepower. The core members of the scoring unit are sophs and freshmen so we're gonna be good offensively for a while. Just hope we can shore up the back line. Good luck everyone and may somebody not in the ACC or Indiana take it home. Those guys get enough of the hardware as it is .
Well, that's usually a pretty safe bet. At least one ACC team has made it to the Final Four the past three seasons, 12 of the past 15 seasons, 17 of the past 20 seasons and in 26 of the 45 NCAA men's soccer tournaments. Three years, two ACC teams have made the Final Four, so all told, ACC teams have made the Final Four 29 times. Here is a year-by-year breakdown of ACC representation in the Final Four, all time. (r) is runner-up, (C) is national champion. 59 - NA 60 - Maryland (r) 61 - NA 62 - Maryland (r) 63 - Maryland 64 - NA 65 - NA 66 - NA 67 - NA 68 - Maryland (C)* 69 - Maryland 70 - NA 71 - NA 72 - NA 73 - Clemson 74 - NA 75 - NA 76 - Clemson 77 - NA 78 - Clemson 79 - Clemson (r) 80 - NA 81 - NA 82 - Duke (r) 83 - Virginia 84 - Clemson (C), 85 - NA 86 - Duke (C) 87 - Clemson (C), North Carolina 88 - NA 89- Virginia (C)* 90 - NC State 91 - Virginia (C) 92 - Virginia (C), Duke 93 - Virginia (C) 94 - Virginia (C) 95 - Virginia, Duke (r) 96 - NA 97 - Virginia (r) 98 - Maryland 99 - NA 00 - NA 01 - North Carolina (C) 02 - Maryland 03 - Maryland * - Co-champs; Maryland shared with Michigan State, UVa with Santa Clara.
Sandon, Would it be possible for u or anyone else who may know, to list what teams have been in the final four the last 10 years or so? It would be good to see what teams are consistenly making it to the final four.
Oh, that's what happened after I quit listening! It was 0-0 in the 56th minute when VCU's Cephas (ace striker, Liberian international) was red-carded for a high kick, and then Indiana got a PK, followed by 4 more in garbage time as ten-man VCU had to push up. The last came with 16 seconds left. VCU's two strikers graduated to the A-League, and I'm actually a bit surprised they've gone farther this year than last. The UC-SB game offers some similar dangers for VCU -- big physical team, at home.
IU may have been big two/three years ago with Tyler Hawley, Ryan Hammer, Pat Noonan, John Swann and the like, but to call them big this year or last is a mistake. Their key player was 5-7 Ned Grabavoy, and I think there may be only one or two other guys on the team that were 6 foot. The rest were little midgets, and they are small again this year. Small...but good.
From when I started paying attention to college soccer (Champion, Finalist, Semifinalists) 1995: Wisconsin, Duke, Portland, Virginia 1996: St. John's, FIU, UCLA, Creighton 1997: UCLA, Virginia, Indiana, St. Louis 1998: Indiana, Stanford, Santa Clara, Maryland 1999: Indiana, Santa Clara, UCLA, UConn 2000: UConn, Creighton, SMU, Indiana 2001: UNC, Indiana, Stanford, St. John's 2002: UCLA, Stanford, Maryland, Creighton 2003: Indiana, St.John's, Santa Clara, Maryland To clean that up a bit, multiappearance teams since 1995 Indiana: 6 (4 finals, 3 titles) UCLA: 4 (2 finals, 2 titles) St. John's: 3 (2 finals, 1 title) Creighton: 3 (1 final) Maryland: 3 Stanford: 3 (2 finals) Santa Clara: 3 (1 final) UConn: 2 (1 final, 1 title) Virginia: 2 (1 final)
Completely agree...college soccer fans are being cheated by not seeing these two teams (UCSB/UNCG) meet in the final 4...not in the 16... UCSB is even #1 in the soccerratings.com poll as well as two to three other polls...don't care about RPI...they are proving they are a top side and better than a 9 seed...they have proven that by making the final 8! ...
I started following college soccer when I got to college in 1984. So, this goes back as far as I started following the game. Conveniently, it creates a nice 20-year window. 84 - Clemson ©, Indiana ®, UCLA, Hartwick 85 – UCLA ©, American ®, Evansville, Hartwick 86 - Duke ©, Akron ®, Fresno State, Harvard 87 - Clemson ©, San Diego State ®, North Carolina, Harvard 88 – Indiana ©, Howard ®, South Carolina, Portland 89 - Virginia ©*, Santa Clara ©*, Rutgers, Indiana 90 – UCLA ©, Rutgers ®, North Carolina State, Evansville 91 - Virginia ©, Santa Clara ®, Indiana, Saint Louis 92 - Virginia ©, San Diego ®, Duke, Davidson 93 - Virginia ©, South Carolina ®, Princeton, Cal State Fullerton 94 - Virginia ©, Indiana ®, UCLA, Rutgers 95 – Wisconsin ©, Duke ®, Virginia, Portland 96 – St. John’s ©, Florida International ®, UNC-Charlotte, Creighton 97 – UCLA ©,Virginia ®, Indiana, Saint Louis 98 – Indiana ©, Stanford ®, Maryland, Santa Clara 99 – Indiana ©, Santa Clara ®, UCLA, Connecticut 00 – Connecticut ©, Creighton ®, Indiana, Southern Methodist 01 - North Carolina, ©, Indiana ®, St. John’s, Stanford 02 – UCLA, ©, Stanford ®, Maryland, Creighton 03 – Indiana ©, St. John’s ®, Maryland, Santa Clara * - UVa and SCU were co-champs in 1989.