Duke 2 vs Wake 1 really a wild and wooly game at duke...Duke dominates 1st half. Deacs come out the second half and right off the bat get a cross from the right flank about the 30 and lubahn get's taken down in the box at about the 5. Pk 1 nil wake....looking good until an unecessary foul by a wake midfielder at the wake 40 results in a red card and wake goes to 10 men. As a result of the red card Dukes takes a free kick..that wake knocks out and leads to a corner kick and ultimately a goal...1-1. Then wake loses their composure and gives up a controversial foul in the box that gives duke a PK and a 2-1 lead. From here on out the game is like a great boxing match where both contestants are "throwing leather"....back and forth ...wake attacks that results in Duke counters and 1 v 1's that either a wake defender comes out of nowhere to make a saving tackle or the wake keeper makes a great save...really one of the great efforts of the year on Wake's part...and a tremendous game for fans to watch...
I was at the game. The CR was bad. Every tackle in question resulted in some sort of card, mostly against Wake Forest. It also looked like somebody for Wake got hit with a red card after the game was over. For what I don't know. Sucks for Wake if they end up with two players carrying red cards into the ACCT needing a win. Wouldn't mind if I didn't see that CR reffing another ACC game for a while.
REALLY REALLY poor by the CR after the game...Heard from someone also at the game that AFTER the game and during the handshake the CR gives Wenzel and Wake assistant coach Red Cards after the game...
Wow, that sucks for Wake. Lose, get outplayed, have about half your team carded and get one of your starting defenders red carded after the final whistle with a must win ACC Tournament game on the horizon. Brutal.
Yes, it does SUCK!! I agree with you that Wake was TOTALLY outplayed the first half. But they came out scored and went up 1 nil immediately in the 2nd half. Then go a man down right away on a bad foul at midfield and a red card. However, the way Wake responded after being down 2 -1 was really one of the great 10 man efforts I've seen....trying to push forward and countered time and time again with great defensive efforts...Wake really had some great opportunities to score after being down 2-1 but didn't capitalize.
Ouch. Deacs were playing some good soccer too! Heels won 2-0 over CU. Michael Farfan played 69 minutes. He scored on a PK. 1st game back since getting hurt vs South Carolina. I really like the frosh Robbie Lovejoy he's been a great surprise. Matt Rose is a very good defender. He's also a frosh. The team is more upperclassmen laided. Those two have a great future at UNC. Elmar said Mccarthy should be back soon from his jaw getting broken. So they should be at full strength by NCAA time. They have a defense that will keep them in every game. They clinced a regular season title tonight, 1st time ever!
Perhaps...perhaps the CR needs to control his emotions or CR u10 games(especially on how he handled the after game red cards)...but really...as the Duke official game report says...from the 51st min on...well it was a battle royale and at least from the live streaming video fun to watch... "Playing one man down after a red card in the 51st minute, the Demon Deacons gave Duke everything it could handle. Blue Devils goalkeeper James Belshaw came up with a few crucial saves in the final 25 minutes to help Duke grab the 2-1 win."
Ah...I went back and watched the replay of the 2nd half this morning on-line and the deacs really didn't do themselves any favors...too many errand passes and poor decisions that really put them on their heals...in hindsight, the deacs struggled in the second half...but they did have 2 or 3 opportunities that went by the wayside. I think Vilhelm probably called it right Although I still maintain the Red Cards at the end of the game were uncalled for.
So Virginia's disapointing season continues, losing @NC State 0-2. They finish conference play 2-4-2 with the wins coming over Tech and Clemson. Combine that with their non-con schedule being softer than a post-ejaculatory penis - St. John's, which is a longshot to get an at-large bid, is their only good win - and Virginia will need to win the ACC Tourny to get a first round bye. Given the way they've played this season, that's not very likely. In fact, while I suspect the committee will give them a home date in the first round, it will be because of rep and facility, not because they earned it this year. If they were sent on the road in the first round, it wouldn't be unfair.
One errand too many put them on their heals? I know that feeling. Not to be a dick, myself, but these guys are in their prime. If the men's schedule is too soft, maybe that's because the women's schedule is too loose. Tighten up the women's schedule and the men's schedule would stiffen up proportionately. Tournaments are won by the team that can get up for one game after another in rapid succession.
Rumor has it that the second yellow for the defender was for saying "Thank you very much" while shaking the ref's hand after the game.
The ref was Andy Chapin, who has been officiating at the national level for a long time now. Unless there's more than a rumor, he deserves some degree of benefit of the doubt. He has handled a great many post-games without throwing around red cards.
It's true. Andy took it as being sarcastic and gave him the 2nd yellow post game. He was awful, totally lost control of the match, and then went towards the wake bench rather than keeping his distance...RC going to assistant for trying to get the players away and telling the ref to walk away....He was awful.
Well, I'm sure it was sarcastic and technically a lack of respect for the game. It's a pretty good example of how a ref can be right and wrong at the same time.
Considering the player involved (Danny Wenzel), I would be very, very surprised if he spoke to the ref in a way that could even remotely warrant a yellow card.
The All conference teams are out and I have to question the legitimacy of the selections when Fitzgerald from Wake and Belshaw from Duke are the second team GK's over Diego restrepo from Virginia. Statistically restrepo was better then both of them in every GK stat except total saves and he was second there behind Fitzgerald. I have no idea what criteria they are using to make these selections.
It's utter nonsense. Not only is Restrepo statistically better than both of them, but he has pretty much single-handedly kept UVa in a ton of games this year. And it's not me saying it, it's George Gelnovatch, it's his Virginia teammates, it's Pro Player Pipeline, it's College Soccer News. In the JMU game, he had a top-shelf save that 99% of college keepers can't make. As i stated in the other thread, I watched the UVa v. NC State game online and the kid had 5-7 point-blank stops that kept Virginia in the game. That game with any other keeper is a 4-0, 5-0 drubbing. I've never understood why Restrepo has gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to college keepers. Nobody has had to overcome more than the kid and continued to excel at every level. Look at the resume, it's all there, u-17 and u-20 National Team, u-20 club national championship, NCAA National Championship while having one of the best seasons EVER for a GK, and still getting snubbed. MacMath goes to a "training stint" with Everton arranged by people in US Soccer, and it's all the rage all over the press, yet Restrepo during the same time is actually invited to trials, not trainings, in Spain and Belgium and there's not a peep about it anywhere other than local press. I know i'm biased, I'm a fan of the guy and have been for a long time, but it just irks me that some guys are deemed the "golden boys" based on name and reputation, not actual performance, while other kids prove it time and time again on the field only to get snubbed. In my opinion he has huge upside and experience beyond his years and I look forward to seeing a long pro career for him be it in MLS or abroad. Hopefully him and Virginia use this latest snub as motivation and go on a nice run at the ACC's and NCAA's.
I agree that Restrepo deserves to be on the ACC team, but I think that Belshaw deserves it as well. I'm shocked that Fitzgerald is on the All-ACC team (to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if he was left off the 2010 all WF team). MacMath - no issue. So to summarize, I would have put MacMath, Belshaw and Restrepo on the All-ACC team. Funny, as I was driving to Cary, NC today, I was thinking about who would I have on my team. Of course, I missed some obvious ones - that after I read the all-ACC team -I said, yeah I missed that one. Here was my ACC 1st team: MacMath MD Townsend MD Finley Duke Ownby UVA Kassel MD Wenger Duke Farfan UNC Lassiter NCSU White MD Bekker BC I was thinking Herrick MD but I thought that I was missing someone. In retrospect, I agree about Anibaba (UNC) instead of Herrick
Is either one of Belshaw and Fitzgerald an ACC "golden boy?" Fitzgerald inclusion likely has as much to do with the circumstances surrounding Wake's season as it does his stats.
perhaps not just this season but the impact he has had over his 4 year playing career on some of the best teams in Wakes history...here's a comment from the Wake official game notes for the ACC Tournament: Fitzgerald Moving Up Record Books Senior goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald is in the top five in several Wake Forest career records. Fitzgerald, who has started 66 straight games for the Demon Deacons, is currently third in school history in career goals against average with a 0.83 GAA. Fitzgerald also ranks in the top five in school history in save percentage (4th, .806), minutes played (2nd, 6206) and saves (4th, 237).