Women's Soccer Heads to Louisville, Cincinnati Billikens take regular-season's final road trip Kehl already has the school record for career assists, with 32.
On The Road Again.... Lord it's hard to believe that this is the final road trip of the season, well not counting the CUSA tournament and hopefully the NCAA Tournament. The only thing that is more scary is that next weekend will be Burke's last home game with the Billikens. But I will talk more about that later. I feel very confident that the Lady Bills will walk out of Louisville with a win, because well, we OWN them. However the Lady Bearcats own us atleast so far. So I'm hoping for a split this weekend, and I'll be very happy with a 1-1 mark on this road trip. However, we can always hope for another goalie meltdown like the one that the male Bearcats suffered at Hermann the other week. So after this weekend I see the Lady Bills at a mark of 12-5-1 with a 5-3-1 mark in CUSA play. Playing Charlotte next Friday will be another tough challenge for the Lady Bills so I'm looking worst case at a final regular-season of 12-6-1. If the Lady Bills dropped in the first round of the CUSA tournament they would be 12-7-1. Would that be good enough for an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament???? I'm asking cause I'm really not sure. XYZ, or anybody else for that matter, if you could give me your opinions on this subject I would greatly appreciate it. In my mind, looking at the teams they lost to, and looking at this in a worst case scenario........they lost to Charlotte, Cinci, East Carolina, UAB, U Conn and Navy. Not being overly aware of how Navy has done this year, the only losses I'm concerned about are UAB and ECU. But is that enough to warrant us not being in the tournament???? Well, ofcourse all my speculation can be moot, if the Lady Bills simply win the conference tourney. So go Lady Bills (XYZ, telling me how to get the larger sized letters in blue please LOL), let's beat Louisville tonight and pull off an upset Sunday
Re: On The Road Again.... No way! If that's what happens, they're out. The way to the NCAA tournament is simple - win the C-USA tournament. That is not beyond the real of possibility. If the Bills don't win the tournament, and C-USA gets 2 teams in the NT, Charlotte and Cincinnati are the leading candidates right now. For the Bills to be considered, they need an upset - either Cincinnati or Charlotte or, even better, both. IF they beat both, then their chances of an at-large berth increase dramatically. But nothing is certain - need I mention Emory last year? (the NCAA will never live that down in my eyes) Yea, the seniors have just one home game left. And they've got quite a few seniors. Burke, Kehl, McNiff, Trokey, and Schwetye have all seen a lot of playing. Of course, Zaegel is a senior. -plus Shannon Meyers, Laurie Kaminski and Sara Swindle. That's 9 players if I count correctly, 5 of whom are pretty much starters. Of course, as we all know, they have about 50 players (well, maybe not quite that many, but they have a lot) With Burke leaving it's the end of an era.
Re: Re: On The Road Again.... I am very tempted to agree with you XYZ...........because I've heard from you many times about Emory getting hosed by the NCAA. I think a tournament win is possible, but without having final seeding, it's tough to say, but I think we could both agree that having Charlotte upset early would help a lot seeing that they are hosting. The Lady Bills have a better chance with Charlotte in my mind simply because they are playing at home. Cinci I'm less confident about for the simple reason of being on the road. Winning against one of the top teams in the conference is always difficult, even if you are at home. But first thing is first and that's beatin Louisville. I'll comment on Burke later on
In Louisville, KY Billikens Trump Cards 2-0 Freshman Kelly Ferguson nets game winner in 16th minute. Another shutout for Burke. assist for Kehl. goal for Perry. Up next - Cincinnati (on Sunday)
No, never. Burke is awesome. Yea, I think I've seen that play. Jenny Kehl dribbling past 4 or 5 defenders is nothing new. I've seen every home game in the history of Billiken women's soccer. And Jenny Kehl is one of the all-time greats. It's no surprise she's broken some of the records set by ol' number double 0, Trisha Underberg.
Go Billikens! Women's Soccer Upsets Bearcats 2-0 Billikens end Cincinnati's 23-game C-USA regular-season unbeaten streak
Cincy-SLU It was a great day for soccer in Cincinnati today, and the Billikens just out hustled UC all afternoon and deserved the win. Even though UC outshot SLU 10-4, and had more corners (I think it was 10-3), UC could only mount one dangerous opportunity, and that shot beat Burke, but went off the crossbar. SLU scored early in the game after a long throwin into the cincinnati box, which ended up bouncing off a number of players, before hitting a Cincy defender and bouncing into the goal. I would have hoped that the goal would light a fire under UC, but for the entire game UC was a step slow, their traps were pathetic (bouncing about five feet away after the first touch), and the passes were off mark. Hats off to St. Louis for hustling the entire game, winning head balls when, as a team they are shorter than UC, and just wanting it more today than UC did. The second goal by SLU was the result of a UC defensive mistake, something which does not occur very often. A St. Louis player was left unmarked at the corner of the 18 yard mark, and sent in a beautiful cross that Jamie Perry headed in (another defensive mistake, as our player was not ball side of Perry). And even though UC had a lot of corners, they could do nothing with them. Burke had a great game, always was in the proper position, and stopped everything her way. She controlled her box admirably today. The concern as a UC fan now is the lack of scoring in these weekend games - between the Charlotte and SLU games we had at least 20 corners, with no goals, nor even a good opportunity at a goal, from the corner. We have hit the crossbar twice, but need to find the scoring touch before the CUSA tournament. The tournament will be a wide-open affair, with Charlotte the clear favorite, but with 5 teams possibly winning, including SLU, Cincy, ECU and Marquette. I am looking forward to the rematch with SLU in the conference semifinals!!
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm in shock right now. I know I had mentioned that it was possible for the Lady Bills to go out there and defeat the Bearcats, but to be perfect honest I thought it was a huge longshot. I will reply more to this later when I have the time. But for now all I gotta say is W2G Lady Bills
Thanks for the report, BearcatFan. I'm not too surprised. It's not all that big of an upset. The difference in Jones rating between SLU and Cincinatti is only 160 points, which is significant, but only represents 2 or 3 to one odds in favor of Cincinnati. So, if the ratings are accurate then, if they play 4 times, SLU should win once. I notice that SLU is now regionally ranked. (Cincinnati is too, of course, but in a different region) Charlotte is still ranked 12th nation-wide. Regular-Season Finale Against No. 12 Charlotte Friday Night Women's soccer hosts undefeated 49ers to wrap up C-USA regular season
Jones Rankings and other stuff ok so the points say this and that. They don't really reflect one key element though, the fact that the Bills did this on the road. When you throw in travel and all that the win always becomes more impressive, because even if the crowd isn't stellar, playing at home is so much easier on the body and mind. But anyways. Interestingly enough Cinci and Charlotte tied on Friday in Cinci, so I think the Bills, if they can play like they did on Sunday can pull off another suprise. It won't bring us a CUSA Regular Season Championship, but could place us as the #2 seed for the tournament, if I figured it out right. And well, after that who knows what will happen. Regardless it's very nice to see the Lady Bills in a solid position to begin the post-season.
Having just seen the 49ers and Billikens I think that, at home, SLU can be the first team to beat Charlotte this year. Both teams appear to play 3-4-3 formations (Cincy is the 4-4-2), but the Charlotte back line is more suspect than SLU. With the SLU speed (other than Courtney Crandall I was not overly impressed with Charlotte speed) I think the Bills can generate many of their own opportunities by pressuring the back line of Charlotte. Where you may run into trouble is trying to cover Crandall one on one. She is the real deal, very skillful, and fast. UC basically had her doubled all day (with the fourth person in the back), which is why she was not a threat. UC got all their corners against Charlotte by attacking down the wings, and the defenders were forced to kick the ball out, and the Bills should be able to do this as well. The Bills also have the edge in goal, although UC did not test the Charlotte goalie to any significant extent. If you can force Charlotte to play defense, they will not be able to score on you. In any event, good luck to the Bills (I am torn here, because if UC can beat Louisville at home on Thursday night, and SLU ties or loses to Charlotte, we get the second seed, but I would like to see Charlotte lose - I guess it does not matter if we wear white or black when we meet in the conference semis). Also note how the top five teams will come from one division, even though they have to play each other during the year (only DePaul and Louisville will miss the playoffs from this division). While this seems a bit lopsided I prefer to watch close games than blowouts!!
I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations go out to the Lady Bills...........for they are ranked #25 in the latest Soccer America poll!!!!!!!!! Thanks to Coaches Champion, Oberle and Zaber........and WAY TO GO GIRLS Go kick some ass in the CUSA tournament and the NCAA tournament
Billikens I'd like to congratulate the Bills, too. Especially on a great second half against Charlotte last week. And a great season no matter what happens in the conference tournament. I meant to write up the Charlotte game earlier but never got around to it. Yea, they lost, and they lost fair and square (no bad officiating as there was in the East Carolina a game), but they showed me something. Their performance in the second half, battling against a 0-3 deficit was impressive. They came up a little short but it was still one of the best performances I've ever seen by a Billiken team. They didn't quit. I give them props for that. Charlotte got all they wanted. Ironically, the Bills, a defensive team, lost to Charlotte because of defensive lapses. Charlotte's first two goals shouldn't have happened. The Bills messed up there. But the Bills were smokin' in the second half. They definately showed they can play with Charlotte. They had already shown they can play with the other teams in the conference. If they play in the conference tournament (which begins today) like they did in the second half against Charlotte, they not only can win it, they will win it. Of course, that's a pretty big "if", but there's no doubt in my mind that this year's Billiken team is capable of winning the CUSA title. Good luck to the Bills in the conference tournament but, regardless, I think we've decided that this is the best Billiken team ever. And I'm saying that near the end of the season, not at the beginning. (we always say it at the beginning ) And it's not dependant on what they do in the tournament. Go Bills!
Re: Billikens That second half was amazing. They played with such grit and passion that it was a match that deserved our applause at the end of it. I don't say stuff like that often mind you, but they showed me so much. It's matches like this that can allow you to make a run deep into post-season play, and I really think it can happen. I also beleive that the national ranking can really help with an at-large bid. But let's win that stinkin Tournament so there are no questions about it. Go Bills! [/B][/QUOTE]
The Waiting Game Are we in or are we out?????? Well now the Lady Bills and their loyal spectators (which would be XYZ, myself and the parents LOL) must sit and wait till Monday afternoon for the selection show. I am afraid we are a long shot after crashing out in the first round of the CUSA tournament (AGAIN UGH). But I'm going to be optimistic and hold out hope. If it doesn't happen it was a good year for the Lady Bills, and well it's going to be strange seeing a new keeper between the pipes.
Despite the disappointing finish, it was a good season - on the field and in the classroom. They will miss Kehl and Burke next year. Burke Earns Program's First All-America Selection Senior goalkeeper becomes first women's soccer player to receive national recognition from the NSCAA. Dec. 12, 2002 What? Only second team? Quartet of Women's Soccer Players honored by NSCAA Meghann Burke, Christie Cigno, Jenny Kehl and Jamie Perry part of All-Region and All-America teams. Dec. 4, 2002 NSCAA DI All- Region teams From the University News: Billiken Bites December 05, 2002 Billikens have top GPA among NCAA Division I schools. Dec. 16, 2002 Three Billikens Among NSCAA's Scholar All-Americas Senior soccer players Meghann Burke, Jenny Kehl and Jack Jewsbury Dec. 13, 2002
I guess I'm a Carolina Fan Now I wasn't happy about 2nd team myself but behind Solo that ain't such a bad thing. Well, this week has proven to be very interesting. I had a gut feeling that Burke would be selected in the WUSA draft, but I had no clue that she would be the 16th overall pick. This is a great accomplishment for both Meghann and for the entire SLU program. There was an interview today with Burke on the new sports station 1380 AM The Team that was very interesting. I'm not sure of their website or if the interview can be replayed, but it was rather ammusing. The highlight was when Brian Stull's co-host (and I can't remember his last name) said "We will be wishing her (Carolina GK Luckinbill (or whatever her name is)) the best of luck with her new team."