fknbuflobo

No enough interest? Nine hours is a long drive.

http://www.gomarquette.com/sports/m-soccer/

Right. It is remarkable how Fenlason disdains the punt, continually placing the ball on the ground before kicking. Why does he do this? As a GK coach, perhaps you can lend some insight. Is it about the trajectory of the ball?

Well, if Goal Kicks are what we are indeed talking about, then this conversation makes even less sense to me. A Goal Keeper must kick the ball downfield occasionally, at the very least. If the opposition's forwards elect to stifle the short pass Goal Kick on the ground, they can accomplish that every single time. So, there must be an alternative for the Goal Keeper, which is the long Goal Kick. The opposition offense must be made to pay for allocating resources toward preventing us from playing from the back. Zips must get better at gaining possession from the inevitable long kick. This usually entails collecting the second ball, because possession is rarely gained from the initial contact, or first ball. Last night, Hoosiers were much better at collecting that second ball. They anticipated better, they reacted quicker, and they were physically tougher in winning possession. Marquette will watch video of last night’s match, to be sure. Zips had better fix that.

It was a well-officiated match overall, but that certainly looked a score.

Did Fenlason punt the ball even once against Indiana? He kicked it from the ground every time. Can you remember a punt? The defense should play out of the back whenever possible, agreed. But not when opponent is pressing so high. An occasional long ball must be mixed in to keep the high pressure honest. One likes to think that our odds of collecting the long ball are better than 50%, but even so, a long ball must be boomed from the back from time to time. A good team can do both. And weather/pitch conditions must also be taken into account. On several instances, Zips nearly got burned by their own reckless care of the ball along the back line, during a cold rain. Last night was not the match to get cute in the back. Zips were lucky. Remember that 1/3 of all goals are the result of defensive turnover.

Hoosiers were better on offense. Zips were better on everything else. Zips are lucky to advance. There was a 25 minute stretch in the 2nd half where Hoosiers dominated play. Tommy Thompson was the best player on the pitch. I will be surprised if the San Jose Homegrown has a Junior year, maybe not even a Sophomore year.

The higher seed would host, which I think is Akron. Fat chance!

Anything but PKs. I cannot stomach postseason PKs.

Hoosiers have also recently made a GK switch to Webb. Ironic.

Full disclosure: I just plagarized your posting on BigSoccer. http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/forums/...teur-soccer.43/

You're lucky to be thousands of miles away across a great body of water, because the peasants are reaching for their pitchforks and torches right now. Forsake Football de Americano altogether? OK. Fine. You convinced me; let's do it. That was easy. I have nothing against the sport, but I really do not see Zips achieving mediocrity anytime soon. Many NCAA Football programs actually create revenue, monies that are shared throughout the athletic department. It would take a mountain of evidence for anyone to convince me that Zips Football really does that, all costs considered. So, why devout all that expense? How many scholarships?

Tailgate Lot #9 @ 5:00.

Bring 25 students; I will pay the dollar for each.

Time to get over the horrible lack of respect once again shown to us by the NCAA. Hoosiers will not go down without considerable fight. Zips will need to maintain recent good form.

The MAC is a Football-centric conference, like most conferences in the NCAA. Too bad Football happens to be Zips' worst sport, both historically and currently. Only the truly major conferences care about MSOC. By that I mean ACC, AAC, B1G, Big East, C-USA, and PAC12. (Two notable exceptions to that last statement are the Big12 and SEC.) Right now is an ideal time to forsake the MAC for a bigger conference. Problem is that, because our Football is so bad, the Big East will not take us. Nor will C-USA. The newly formed AAC just might take us - maybe. I would love to see Akron as an independent in MSOC. We do not need that automatic bid.

Agree 100%

We still will have not played Northwestern and Wisconsin, both of whom are in the tournament, btw. We should play each of these teams every year, especially Indiana.

Well said.

My post was misleading. Sorry. Cannot be ranked higher than 1. At the end of 2012, we were ranked #1 in Coaches' Poll.

Which poll are you referencing? In the coaches' poll, our ranking has been even higher in each one of the years listed.

The western teams are at an all-time high with many quality teams. The west coast teams have traditionally got the shaft come tourney time. This year, they are actually getting their just due. In order for MSOC to grow, it cannot remain a regional sport. Having said all that, I still believe Akron better than #16 UMBC, #15 Cal. St. Northridge, #14 Wake Forest (whom we beat), #13 Charlotte, #12 UC Irvine, #11 Mich. State (whom we tied), and #10 UC Santa Barbara. Somewhere, somehow, Zips should have gotten a first round bye.

And no dropping MAC matches at home. Cannot happen. The MAC is historically bad this year, even for the MAC. I am sure the committee considered that.

In 2014, all non-conference matches must be vs. ACC, AAC, B1G, Big East or PAC12 opponents. Period. The MAC drags us down enough as it is. No more College of Charleston and San Diego State.