I hear Dallas might have an airport or two.

(And I know you've laid out the business case for Pitt and CLB... I just have a hard time with the NCAA putting outdoor Final Four games in obvious snow country.)

Quote from: Ron Boerger on December 10, 2025, 10:27:33 AM

Quote from: Hopkins92 on December 10, 2025, 10:26:02 AM

QuoteOnce the bus was at the fire station, the team loaded up to continue its journey to San Antonio, Texas.

That's a helluva bus ride. Google spit out 20.5 hours on the road.

They flew via Greensboro (GSO) and were on their way there. 

I figured as much... Local reporting can be a little spotty. ;-)

QuoteOnce the bus was at the fire station, the team loaded up to continue its journey to San Antonio, Texas.

That's a helluva bus ride. Google spit out 20.5 hours on the road.

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on December 08, 2025, 01:17:27 PMI'm thinking that Goucher College may need a coach considering that the long-time AD and coach stepped back in after Mike Singleton left before the season. He had coached the team 14 or 15 years before. So I am thinking that might be an opening.

Which brings up - What Maryland/PA school that will need a coach and be a good fit for Mike Singleton??

As was discussed at the time, his departure was weird. We don't really know what happened, but the guy can clearly coach.  Just an odd situation and I'll leave it there. (I don't want to speculate, having ZERO insight into what happened.)

Ooof. That goal reminds me of my worst let up... Happened in high school against our rival in the Regionals. (winner goes to the F4.)

Feel bad for the kid.

Quote from: SimpleCoach on December 05, 2025, 06:16:24 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on December 05, 2025, 06:08:47 PM

Quote from: Hopkins92 on December 05, 2025, 05:54:44 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on December 05, 2025, 05:07:42 PMFantastic save by Antic, making up for a really poor punch of the ball

Interesting that the St. Olaf keeper is coming up for every corner.

*pulls out soap box, climbs up*

Once again, the trend in goalkeeping coaching away from correctly punching the ball rears its head. BACK IN MY DAY, that is a very clear, two-handed punch out to the sideline that is well clear of the 30-yard line. He came out without conviction and with not a ton of traffic (he wasn't getting bumped when he hit the ball, goalies are used to that level of traffic) and limp-wristedly flapped at the ball.

It was a nice recovery, but that almost put this game into OT.

100% agree.  Goalkeepers are being taught to one-hand punch the ball these days because you can theoretically direct it better and it's more flexible since you can pull out easier if traffic changes and you're about to punch a player in the head.  The problem is that goalkeepers didn't grow up doing much boxing training and a one-handed punch when your feet aren't on the ground and legs stabilized is not that easy to manage.  It's also difficult to get the proper power since you need some hip rotation to properly punch if you aren't rushing out and throwing your body at the ball like a missile (in which case you might as well two-handed punch to increase your surface area for making contact). It's also one more decision to make when you're going 100 mph and decision making is a much more difficult part of being a goalkeeper than shot-stopping, which is generally positioning and muscle memory reaction. 

I think the day when they started treating goalkeepers as field players, in general, we lost the plot.

Notice how keepers are reactive about everything... coming out to block a shot.... parrying every shot.... I was brought up to shut up and get the ball.  Now its... don't be scored on.

I don't like it.  Maybe need to do a video on this....

SC/.

I'm ready, coach!

I think Emory wins. I wouldn't say they got lucky against Dickinson, but... As I posted, they kind of stole that game.

Don't get me wrong, very good team. It just looks like Trinity is a notch above.

And I think the cold weather is wash. Atlanta isn't exactly Pittsburgh (or Columbus).

Quote from: Kuiper on December 05, 2025, 05:07:42 PMFantastic save by Antic, making up for a really poor punch of the ball

Interesting that the St. Olaf keeper is coming up for every corner.

*pulls out soap box, climbs up*

Once again, the trend in goalkeeping coaching away from correctly punching the ball rears its head. BACK IN MY DAY, that is a very clear, two-handed punch out to the sideline that is well clear of the 30-yard line. He came out without conviction and with not a ton of traffic (he wasn't getting bumped when he hit the ball, goalies are used to that level of traffic) and limp-wristedly flapped at the ball.

It was a nice recovery, but that almost put this game into OT.

I guess I don't understand the venue selection thinking process.

Vegas was weird, but at least not a Frost Bowl. Pittsburgh and Columbus??

Probably a question for the UAA thread... Is Carnegie Mellon's field still so dark and gloomy? I have to imagine the swapped out of that location I played in many moons ago. Their lights were substandard... It was weird.

Quote from: Ejay on December 02, 2025, 05:40:26 PM

Quote from: VASoccerDad on December 01, 2025, 02:19:43 PM

Quote from: Ejay on December 01, 2025, 01:35:24 PMMy Junior year we won the ECAC tournament. It was awesome. My senior year, nobody wanted to play in it. It was a frustrating year and we just wanted it over. We made the finals and it was 38 degrees, raining, with 30 MPH winds. The absolute worst game to finish your career on. I was never so happy to be subbed off in the second half. With about 15 minutes to play, coach asked me to go back in. I said, "nah, I'm good. Let one of the younger kids play".

In the moment you were fine giving it up because of the weather, frustration, etc., but looking back on it (not now, but back then) would you want one more game? I would say probably yes...

I know in my case I would.

It's a great question, but I was honestly done. Took me almost 2 years before I touched a ball again.

What I would want though, is to redo that entire season. We were returning 10 starters, we had a successful preseason trip with all returning players (defeating a U20 National Team among others), and were firing on all cylinders. Things looked promising. So what does coach do? He throws 3 new players (1 freshmen, 2 transfers) into the starting lineup. There goes the chemistry. Things just spiraled from there.

I can empathize with this... strongly. Though my senior year was mostly cratered because of a REALLY bad coach. We were in his second year. His first year was fool's gold, because that team was full of seniors and juniors that were used to being coached by the Lax team's Def. Coordinator... In other words, self-coached. By the time those seniors were gone, my class wasn't able to keep the momentum going.

When you add in a guy that was more concerned with outfitting us in puma gear, which he got a cut from, than evaluating players... And with a pretty significant dose of not knowing what he was talking about.

Disaster.

I, too, didn't want to play the game for several years after that.

I'm not disagreeing with you Sierra, but at least with soccer, it's not hard to find highly competitive teams/leagues that you can play with/in for MANY years after college. I was able to latch onto a team that made it to the Over 30 final four that was held in Orlando. (humble brag ;-))

The guys I feel for are football players. More than any other sport, it's really difficult to keep playing after college. Just too expensive and to much chance for serious injury.

Counterpoint, camo, is that COLLEGE soccer is different than what is watched all over the world in a few fundamental ways.

We've talked about the subbing.

And there is the weird way the clock is managed in college soccer.

I don't think tweaking the NPI formula (again, not a thing anywhere else in the world) would be such a radical move, for example.

I don't think taking players off is a great idea, because at 10v10 I think the difference is marginal and at 8v8, now you are asking guys to cover a TON more turf and we come back to player safety/attrition.

Quote from: camosfan on November 24, 2025, 07:38:39 PM24 hours between games is reasonable at this level, when you have almost limitless substitution. These teams will be coming off two weeks rest.

But, it's not limitless. Saying "almost" isn't an accurate qualifier. I coached youth soccer... That's limitless.

If you were able to start a guy, pull him after 20 and then put him back in at 35-- and do the same thing in the second... That's "almost" limitless.

Not being able to bring a person back in after subbing them out during a half is limited subbing.

And we'll just agree to disagree about 24 hours being adequate time to recover.

Kuiper - I'm gonna find a few choice quotes of your posts to sign your praises over the last few week. Your analysis and content have been really incredible all season, but have really been spectacular during the tournament.

You guys are correct. Given the existing schedule, coaches need to be more circumspect.

But other than the NESCAC, who has a weirdly truncated schedule, not many other teams in D3 have a Sat/Sun schedule as a regular feature.

I'm not suggesting NESCAC has an unfair advantage, but, really... When you get this deep into November, I just don't think it's fair to ask teams to play this many minutes inside of 48 hours.

Again, not a NESCAC hater. On any level. I just think the last 4 weeks of D3 soccer are not representative of the overall landscape.

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on November 24, 2025, 05:47:35 PMAnybody watching the D1 tournament?? 1-3 seeds lost in the 2nd round (they had byes) to include last years winner, no. 1 seed Vermont in the snow to unseeded Hofstra 3-2. They would have lost Maryland if not for its really good German goalkeeper who made an English Premier PK at the end of the shootout to move on.

I know we've discussed this before, but first round was on Thursday at home for half and then on Sunday for 2nd round  FYI, Maryland if it wins all its games till semis, they play at home. 3rd round is on this upcoming Saturday/Sunday. Quarters on Friday/Saturday Dec. 5 or 6. and then semis on Friday Dec. 12. Final on Monday Dec. 15.

IMO, D3 is not taken seriously. 

You and I are aligned on this. The rounding error of an extra night at a hotel and meals is silly when you think about the "fairness' of having guys play back-to-back soccer games at the highest level.

It's silly.

To build on your D1 point, and I know you know this, but for the good of the order. The B1G soccer tournament was hosted at Ludwig (MD). They played the semis on Wednesday. They played the final game on SUNDAY(!?) While I found that situation ridiculous, the reality is that UCLA showed up in College Park on MONDAY(!). They were in the DMV for pretty much a week.

But, Yahweh forbid we have 8* teams stay an extra night at the Courtyard for one additional night.

Gimme a break.

* - I'll give away the first weekend if I have to. The S16 and E8 should not be playing on barely 24 hours' rest.

Ridiculous.