Bit of a shocker last night with Mississippi State beating South Carolina, 2-1 in OT, in cosmopolitan Starkville. South Carolina is young this year and not exactly an attacking powerhouse--but they are uncannily good defensively, and have been for years, and rarely give up two goals. In another surprise, Arkansas, also playing at home, beat Texas A&M. The Razorbacks often play well at home but I saw them play a week or two ago and they didn't look very good. So a big result for them. Tennessee beat Ole Miss 2-0. The Vols controlled the game but have struggled all year to score goals--partly because their talented forward Bunny Shaw missed a chunk of games while playing in Concacaaf WC qualifying with Jamaica and partly because of a lack of precision in the attacking third. The Vols don't get enough scoring from the midfield. The Vols have some talented freshman that I think should be getting some minutes in SEC games, but Pensky has largely stuck with his starters from last year..... Florida has /really/ struggled to score goals this year, but the gators took out their frustrations on Kentucky last night, winning 6-0. Vandy beat Bama and is now 9-1. The Commodores coach is good and that team, like South Carolina, just seems to find a way to win games.
obviously people look at results, but if you watch the games you realize that the "better" team loses more often than in other sports. As conf play heats up, home vs road, etc makes a big difference. A lot of the games I have watched consist of one team trying to play thru midfield and the other team sitting deep and just hoofing it forward looking for a mistake or set piece opportunities. It makes for so strange results at times. As i said at the beginning, i get it , results is the focus, but Im not surprised that the US are losing the advantages we once had. A lot of these teams do not play a style that lends itself to really developing well rounded players. A lot of SEC teams are actually benefiting from Foreign players adding the creativity and the US players the muscle.
Whoever Vegas is , he or she is looking pretty good. Either really lucky or knew something most of us didn't. They might not end up at the top of the SEC, but they might end up winning the SEC tournament (notwithstanding their losses to Auburn and Tennessee in conference play). And, in a long shot, they might end up at the top of the NCAA rankings. Crazy? Maybe, but don't hatchet your counts before they chicken.
Well, Mississippi State got my attention when they beat a good but young South Carolina squad and then played Tennessee tough in Knoxville. Miss. State has a veteran keeper and a physical, pressing team--they've got three or more players in the front who are strong and athletic, and they were all over UT to start the game and nearly scored in the first 2 minutes. The Bulldog freshman McGillivary (sp), a strong midfielder from Brooklyn and East Meadow SC, is a handful in the middle of the field. The Vols grew into the game, however, and were the better team in the last 20 minutes of the first half and then dominated the second half but had difficulty finishing, as has been the case all year--with three or more near-misses until Bunny Shaw finally put the ball in the net at '87 to win the game. We'll see how the Bulldogs fare the rest of the way. They've got Florida at home tomorrow followed by a good Vandy team in Nashville, and later must play Texas A&M in College Station. Those will all be hard games for the bulldogs, but I give them a good chance of getting results in their other four conference games (Arkansas, Bama, Mississippi and LSU). Tomorrow night's game against Florida will be a interesting game. Florida is a good possession team (as is Vandy) and won't be so easy to press and the gators are starting to get it together after a tough early season in which they played a lot of top national teams. Miss. State will be full of vinegar and ready to pounce, and I'd like to see them win, but I think UF's sophisticated soccer will prevail. I saw a little of Mississippi's game against Auburn and was surprised that the Rebels beat the Tigers at Auburn. Auburn's defense had some horrible lapses in the second half: They gave Kizer too much room and she scored two 2H goals and Ole Miss won the game. That was a bad loss for Auburn to a mediocre Ole Miss team, which makes me think the tigers are overrated. Vandy, well-coached and following the South Carolina model of previous years, finds a way to win games. They were trailing Missouri by a goal at the half but got a penalty-kick call in the second half, which led to the tying goal, and then a hapless Missouri own goal gave Vandy the win.
Seems Arkansas has things moving along now. Anyone else surprised by Alabama's results? 0-4 in conference. Would love commentary if anyone has seen them play.
Have only seen snippets of alabama so far this season. My sense is that the team is not playing badly at all but just isn't scoring goals. I believe they've been shut out in three of their four SEC losses. They've had more shots and more shots on goal in 3 of those games: I think in one of them, they had 11 SOG. It's tough because I don't think the the teams that have beaten bama are world-beaters. Vandy is solid (on a longish winning streak) but even in that game bama had demonstrable superior stats. Ole miss and arkansas are decent but not great, and I haven't seen LSU play so don't really have a read on that team.
NCAA.com is reporting that SC win over #23 Auburn was their biggest ranked win in program history. No way that can be true?... https://www.ncaa.com/news/soccer-wo...-14-south-carolina-notches-biggest-ranked-win
Ahh I see what they meant. Not biggest win, should say "largest margin of victory" over ranked opponent.
Erin Gilroy of Tennessee just tore her ACL. It was a serious knee injury, and you could tell from her reaction. Another U-20 World Cup player from this past summer with a serious injury. This is getting ridiculous.
Do you know that for sure? It certainly looks like it could be an ACL--but I'm hoping like hell it is not as it would be a huge blow for a Tennessee team that is starting to play good soccer, having beaten texas A&m today 4-0 in college station, where it is very tough for any visiting team to get a win. Gilroy is an excellent player. While moving left, away from goal on the left side of the a&m box, she tried to twist her body and get a shot off with her left leg, and it was just not physically doable and the torque on her right knee was too much. Ugghhh. Vandy wins the SEC regular season. Darren Ambrose, who spent 15 years at Penn and apparently did a very good job with that program, has to be credited with revitalizing vandy. He has both recruited and coached well--his big coup was landing redshirt freshman Haley Hopkins out of California (Slammers, I think), who is terrific and led the SEC in goals this year. But they have talent at several positions and are well-coached. Three teams are tied for second--South Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. I haven't seen much of Arkansas; the team seems solid but have benefited, I think, from a relatively easy conference schedule. It is a team that always plays hard, if not well. South Carolina has had a very good year, especially given that it is a young team. The Gamecocks are also extremely well-coached have played their usual stellar defense, which is their calling card. In a recent four-game stretch, they won 3 games by a 1-0 score and the other was a 0-0 tie. That is vintage USC. They are very well organized defensively, hard to score on--and have a knack for the 1-0 victory. However, they did lose today to an LSU team that is better and more athletic than I realized. LSU played well a few days ago against Tennessee before losing in OT. Tennessee is quite talented and had a big win over texas a&m today, 4-0--easily their best performance of the season, and they did it without one of their two best players, Erin Gilroy, who may have suffered a serious knee injury early in the game. Still, the Vols are playing good, confident soccer now that Bunny Shaw is back from international duty with Jamaica. She's missed at least half the season--but with her UT is quite formidable, even with a midfield that, while solid, has struggled to contribute goals all year. If Gilroy is unavailable, the Vols do have a forward in Danielle Marcano who is capable of scoring goals--she had three in two NCAA games last year and two today against a&m. The Vols will need her to play well. Florida has had a terrible year, by its lofty standards. The gators are 3-4-2 in conference play and 5-9-2 overall. Their last SEC game is against arkansas, and I think the gators will need to win it to have any chance of making the NCAA tourney--or they'd have to make a good run the SEC tourney. The gators have had a couple of injuries, I believe, and like Tennessee with Shaw have played a large part of the season without their star player, Canadian NT member Deanne Rose. I would assume she was back and played today--the gators were beaten by missouri--but will have to check. Florida has struggled to score goals all year, but I would not underestimate them: they play good soccer, and played a brutal non-conference schedule this year, which is why they have so many losses. The SEC tourney, starting Sunday, will be highly competitive.
Based on her reaction, and her coach giving her a huge hug while she was on the ground after pounding her fist in the dirt a couple of times, it was very telling. When you've seen these injuries a million times, you know the odds. It's 99% right now.
The coaching staff at Vandy, Bama and UGA were all hired at the same time. Vandy is ranked in the top ten and is currently #1 in the SEC. Bama made the NCAAs last year (and they never were any good) and could make Orange Beach for a record third time in a row. UGA? After NCAA appearances and success before the hire of of the current staff, they will now, for the 3rd year in row, watch the games on the SEC Network. What a train wreck.
I sit on the fence with this one. It took Shelley and Jamie Smith quite a well to get us turned around. There were some years where many thought the school may go in a different direction. So some times patience pays off. Then you look at some programs recent success in the conference. Vanderbilt 4 years (including this one). 2 NCAA Tournaments, 4 SEC Tournaments. Just won the league. Arkansas 7 years (including this one), 5 NCAA Tournaments, 6 SEC Tournaments. Currently 2nd in the league. Tennessee 7 years (including this one), 3 NCAA Tournaments, 5 SEC Tournaments. Currently 2nd in the league. And Arkansas and Vanderbilt were in considerably worst situations when they were inherited. Arkansas went to the Sweet 16 in year 2. And Vandy won the league. UGA was actually decent. If I remember right they went to the NCAA tournament the year he was fired.
You’re correct. They made the NCAA tournament but went out early and they let him go. Now he’s at Lamar where he won the league in year two (and made the NCAA’s with his fourth different school), and is in second at the moment in the Southland. He’ll be back in the SEC or P5 before long.
Yes, sometimes athletic directors get it into their heads that while a particular program is doing reasonable well, it could be even better with a different coach. The coach is sacked, a new hire is made, and the program goes in the wrong direction. The peril of unrealistic ambitions, perhaps.
I’m sorry, but if Bunny Shaw isn’t the National player of the Year, I don’t know who else is!! Did y’all see that game winning goal!? Oh my goodness! She’s just special. There’s nobody like her in all of college soccer this year
That was an amazing game-winning goal from Shaw--first, she's got the ball skills to pull the ball back and dance around a defender, and then with space she just emphatically lasers the ball into the net. She'd missed a couple of good chances earlier in the game, both excellent saves by the Missouri keeper, but she seemed determined to put an ends to things with that shot. The win moves Tennessee to 2nd place in the SEC for the season. The SEC tourney now awaits. Though Missouri lost tonight, they managed to squeak into the tournament as the 10th place finisher and now play 7th-ranked LSU in the first-round. That should be a good match between two teams that are athletic and good defensively, but struggle a bit to score goals. LSU has played pretty well in the last part of the season, beating a Mississippi State team tonight that was riding high early in the league season, and had a very high RPI, but in truth wasn't all that good and they've not even made the tournament. It will be interesting to see if Mississippi State makes the NCAA tournament. They've still got a lofty RPI, I believe, but they were only 2-6 -2 in the SEC this year. I don't think they should get an NCAA invite--you've got to have a better conference record than that. The winner of Missouri-LSU plays Tennessee in round two in the top half of the SEC bracket. On the other side, 8th-ranked Florida and 9th-ranked Auburn will square off in round one on Tuesday. I think Florida will beat Auburn, and it wouldn't surprise me to see the gators beat Vandy in the second round and make a serious run in the tournament. Florida had a lousy year this year, for various reasons, one of which was that the team's best player, Deanne Rose, missed a big chunk of the SEC season while with the Canadian national team. But she's back now, and she joins a florida team that probably has more overall talent than any team in the league. Rose has Bunny Shaw-like talent, though she's a midfielder and not a forward. She is very solidly built and extremely athletic and can shoot the ball. The scored her first two goals of the season tonight. The other bottom-half second round match will pit No. 5 Mississippi vs. No. 4 Arkansas, two overachieving teams. It should be a great tournament.
I agree Miss St should not get an NCAA invite! I looked at their non conf schedule, and I’m not really sure how they have such a lofty rpi!? They didn’t really play anybody “great”
I would be shocked if they do not get in. Two top 20 wins and a top 50 tie. Plus if Florida sneaks their way in to the top 50 that will be another tie. That is the thing about the RPI, if you do not know about it you won't understand it. Besides MSU, every team in the SEC but Florida and Texas A&M played teams with RPI's in the 200's. MSU strength of schedule #1 in the country based on no super low teams non conference and toughest SEC schedule this year. Sitting at #19 downfall for them is they do not get to play anymore and have to hope they do not get leaped by too many and a few things go their way. They need teams that could get an at-large to win their conference bids. Princeton beats Penn (although Princeton has no resume) USF/Memphis win AAC Tourney Georgetown wins the Big East Tourney
Yes: As you say, Mississippi State's argument would be that they played a very hard schedule and got a couple of results, even though they proved not to be a very good team. It's the classic tourney decision: do you take a team that has a a good RPI and couple of noteworthy results, early in the season, but floundered late and finished 11th in the SEC, or do you take a 4th place team from a lesser conference that's got a better record but may not be as good as Mississippi State. We shall see.
You say 4th place team from lesser conference, what conference are you referring to? Outside power 5 not sure any other conference gets more than two teams this year. Mississippi State resume RPI 19 Wins over 14, 18, 54, 56 in RPI Ties with 31 in RPI 11th place in SEC NC State resume RPI 22 Wins over 18 & 27 in RPI Tie with 8 & 10 in RPI 11th place in ACC Compare those to these below and there is no chance them not getting in. 3rd place UCF in AAC 63 in RPI Win over 14 in RPI 4th place SMU in AAC 78 in RPI Tie with 20 in RPI 3rd place St. John's 117 in RPI Win over 45 in RPI Tie with 42 in RPI 4th place Providence in Big East 45 in RPI Tie 31 in RPI 3rd place Pepperdine in WCC 51 in RPI Wins over 5 & 59 in RPI
Well, I haven't seen any of the above teams play except St. John's. However, based on their schedule and results I think that Pepperdine is better than Mississippi State, and probably/maybe Central Florida and Providence, too. Providence, I see, lost one-goal games to North Carolina, Duke and Butler--the first two Top 10 teams--and the Friars tied Arkansas. RPI or no RPI, Miss. State could not stay within 1 goal of NC and Duke. RPI seems a little wonky/wacky to me, sometimes, but I confess I don't have a better system. We'll see what the committee decides.
Some scores (not always the best indicator, but all we have for this discussion.) Providence v Arkansas Tied 1-1 but shots were 31-8 and corners were 10-1. It says Providence's keeper made 15 saves. MSU v Arkansas Tied 0-0 but shots were 20-16 and corners were 7-3 Memphis v UCF. UCF won 2-0 Memphis v MSU. MSU won 5-2 Pepperdine played 4 power 5 schools. They went 0-4 and were outscored 1-12. They lost to Indiana, KU and Texas Tech. Not exactly powers. Nothing about that leads me to believe the any of those 3 schools would compare.
Texas Tech is 13-4-1 and tied for 4th in the Big 12. I wouldn't call that a bad loss. Pepperdine did struggle early--but they also beat Santa Clara (a better win than any win by Miss. State) and clearly have got better as the season as gone along. They've got two games left, as it happens. In any case, my original point about comparing an 11th place team in a P5 conference with a 4th place team in a lesser conference was hypothetical; it's not my intention to get into team-v.-team comparisons. The committee will do that. I simply wouldn't vote for a team that could do no better than 2-6-2 in conference play and an 11th place finish. I don't think any conference should get more than 10 teams in the tourney. How many did the SEC get in last year? Nine? Maybe this year will be 10 as LSU, florida, missouri and auburn all have better SEC records than Mississippi State but considerably lower RPI. Missouri will have to win at least one and possibly two SEC tourney games to get in, IMO. Florida's RPI before this week was 70: they have a .500 conference record but a losing record overall. Auburn is one game UNDER .500 in the conference but the tigers have a good RPI (24 last week). They're probably in already--and definitely if they beat florida in the first round of the SEC tourney. If Florida beats Auburn, then I think Florida will make it in, too, and so then the committee would have to make Miss. State the 10th SEC team in the NCAA. Or maybe they'd make the gators the 10th team. The guy who runs AllWhiteKit is very good and he seems to think Miss. State is a lock with their two good wins and high RPI as he doesn't even list them on the bubble. That means that either 10 teams are getting in, I think, if florida beats auburn, or somebody is going to be PO'd on selection day.
Actually, I think florida probably needs to beat auburn and vandy to get serious consideration for the NCAA this year. It's weird to think that florida wouldn't get in with a .500 conference record and first-round win--but they've struggled for most of the year. With Rose back, they are a different, much more dangerous team--and I wouldn't want to play the gators right now. It's always weird when there is a major discrepancy between record and RPI. Tennessee and Miss. State are close in RPI, but Tennessee is 7-2-1 in a tough conference and Miss. State is 2-6-2.