Mens Soccer thread vs. UMD

[SirScarlet]

any of you guys watching?

just watched the first half...I know Maryland is #3...but wow...not good. and that's being kind. I don't mean to sound harsh, but this is like watching HS soccer...we are turning the ball over virtually every time we gain possession. I am not sure we have strung 4 passes together for the entire half. yikes.

and every time we've had any sort of legit chance at goal, our guys seem to try to make an individual hero play vs. laying off the easy pass to a wide open teammate. poor touches and even worse decisions.

I get that we're playing with most of our team behind the ball...but the basics just aren't there.

I was excited to see us play for the first time (despite the record) to try and get a sense for this team. I have been woefully disappointing.

Sorry to be so negative.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

It's 0-0 4-minutes into the second half my friend. What you just wrote, when I went to check the score, I thought it was going to be 5-0 at half lol!

Yeah, we're not that good, and they're the number three team in the country, but they haven't scored on us yet. Be happy about that! [cheers]

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Well I ruined that HAHAHAHA!!!

 

[SirScarlet]

Yeah, i am not focused so much on score.

We are a fundamentally flawed team. Aside from our frosh center backs, i am shocked by how poor we are. Maybe he's just having a bad game but Dante Perez (sp?) losing the ball virtually every time he touches it. Most of the other kids it's the same. This is much less about how good md is, and more about how poor we look.

I am just very surprised.

Oh...I also like our keeper.

 

[SirScarlet]

Oh and the md student section is just annoying as heck. I love game long soccer chants...even from rivals. It is generally great atmosphere. But these students are weak.

Get off my lawn!! Lol.

 

[RUTrack94]

Team playing hard, but MD is just a very good team ... our goalie had some very good saves ... think RU wins a few in league this year.

 

[DaveSNJ]

We looked just ok in the first half against Mich St. I missed the MD game because I had a training session with my team. But what I have seen from the team so far this season is not good, we look disorganized on the field. Can O'Neal help coach the men's team too, LOL.

 

[Mr_Twister]

3-0. Men against boys.

 

[SirScarlet]

3-0. Men against boys.

shots were 25 to 3...ouch.

I know it probably seems like I am beating a dead horse...I am usually more positive/supportive...what I was alarmed about was the lack of fundamentals displayed. given the level of play most of this kids have excelled at, I am sure they're capable of more than how they played. like I said above, some of that was due to playing the #3 team in the country, but still. I was very surprised by how lacking we were. my conclusion is that this team is probably not in the best spirits right now, and I am guessing players and coaching staff are not on the same page. that is the only way I can rationalize the poor performance of the basics. hopefully I am wrong.

one more kid who I really liked was ryan peterson. he got himself in some bad spots but played his @ss off all night. tough kid.

 

[MamaRU]

The team lacks direction. I have seen few teams mismanaged as much. Friday's loss was even worse in my estimation.
A very beatable ranked team at home kept in the match through curious use of players. Why sub out Erik Sa, the best midfielder on the pitch, for half the match?
Why doesn't the team play out of the back?
This team should be way better with a striker like Decker (man of the match for me) up front.
Top players will not want to come to Rutgers because of it's lack of style.
I did not see last night so I will not comment on the game but Maryland has too many top players for Rutgers to beat.
Lastly, what does your coach do next year ?
He loses his best players to graduation in Decker, Sa, Guzmon and Peterson.

 

[Leonard23]

Can we please get a new coach already.

 

[CERU00]

any of you guys watching?

just watched the first half...I know Maryland is #3...but wow...not good. and that's being kind. I don't mean to sound harsh, but this is like watching HS soccer...we are turning the ball over virtually every time we gain possession. I am not sure we have strung 4 passes together for the entire half. yikes.

and every time we've had any sort of legit chance at goal, our guys seem to try to make an individual hero play vs. laying off the easy pass to a wide open teammate. poor touches and even worse decisions.

I get that we're playing with most of our team behind the ball...but the basics just aren't there.

I was excited to see us play for the first time (despite the record) to try and get a sense for this team. I have been woefully disappointing.

Sorry to be so negative.

First time watching the team this year and man...they seem like theyve never played together before. Coaching of fundamentals seems completely absent. So many players gave up possession so easily and frequently. That was ugly and the score would have been much much worse had it not been for the incredible performance of the goalie. That guy is a player.

 

[dconifer0]

Sasho Cirovski (Maryland coach) spent a longer time than usual with Erik Sa during the handshake line. It looked to me like he was saying something along the lines of "Don't let this get you down, you are a good player with a future."

 

[dconifer0]

shots were 25 to 3...ouch.

I know it probably seems like I am beating a dead horse...I am usually more positive/supportive...what I was alarmed about was the lack of fundamentals displayed. given the level of play most of this kids have excelled at, I am sure they're capable of more than how they played. like I said above, some of that was due to playing the #3 team in the country, but still. I was very surprised by how lacking we were. my conclusion is that this team is probably not in the best spirits right now, and I am guessing players and coaching staff are not on the same page. that is the only way I can rationalize the poor performance of the basics. hopefully I am wrong.

one more kid who I really liked was ryan peterson. he got himself in some bad spots but played his @ss off all night. tough kid.

I was watching from a Maryland perspective, so, grain of salt. But it looked to me like the Rutgers players weren't even trying to do anything cohesive. Passes, successful or not, were infrequent. I thought they'd been coached simply to boot the ball away from their own goal as often as possible.

I know these are high-level players who are capable of much more. It seemed like an odd game plan. To me, aggression and attacking in sports is usually the way to go, regardless of the rank of your opponent. Rutgers has good players and should be better than that.

 

[SirScarlet]

I was watching from a Maryland perspective, so, grain of salt. But it looked to me like the Rutgers players weren't even trying to do anything cohesive. Passes, successful or not, were infrequent. I thought they'd been coached simply to boot the ball away from their own goal as often as possible.

I know these are high-level players who are capable of much more. It seemed like an odd game plan. To me, aggression and attacking in sports is usually the way to go, regardless of the rank of your opponent. Rutgers has good players and should be better than that.

this...exactly

you said it more succinctly than I did.

 

[Andman1025]

I'm not a soccer guy, but we looked completely overmatched. Don;t see this team getting much better. Donigan needs to be let go after this year. No questions asked.

 

[Jim_from_RU]

Can we please get a new coach already.

Agreed. Donigan has gotta go.

 

[snowboarder]

The team is in need of a leader in my estimation. They collectively don't have a commitment to any particular style of play.
When the game gets faster, this lack of commitment leads to desperation.
The desperation leads to panicky attempts to clear the ball out which gives the opponent more and more posession. It is all very self perpetuating. That's what has happened against the better teams.
You have to do more then just say that you want to play under control
You have to believe in it
This where leadership can come in.
We have some players that have played at the highest levels in this country
Speed of play does not bother them
We do not have as many as the top schools so coaching, leadership, and commitment is needed to get all the others to adapt

 

[Caliknight]

Soccer will fixed, one way or the other. It's viewed as a tier 1 sport at RU.

 

[richthedentist]

It may be fixed but a change should have been made already just like a change is needed in women's lacrosse.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Admittedly I do not follow soccer closely. Here are NCAA rankings:

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1

Hard to believe some of the shoe-string budget athletic programs fielding good soccer teams. NJIT and Utah Valley State and FDU. Outside the top 4 or 5 ranked teams, it makes you believe being a decent program is tied more to leadership and resolve and importing players than finances.