From College to the Pros Bits and Pieces...10/31/06
Ok, just a quick post on what is going on around the soccer world through my eyes.
- Happy Halloween!
- The Colorado Rapids knocked FC Dallas out of the playoffs in the first round again! Questionable celebration aside, the Rapids put together a great performance against the team with the best regular season home records in the league. Bradenton product Kyle Beckerman completed his journey from strong prospect to team leader and midfielder star. Indiana University product Jacob Peterson worked hard on the left flank but didn't have his best game. University of South Carolina product Clint Mathis proved you don't want to leave him unmarked 25 yards from goal. University of Virginia alumni Hunter Freeman showed he wasn't a boxer before MLS.
- Conference tournaments abound. Want to see a round down? Run on over to College Soccer News. Teams are starting to book their tickets to the tourney by winning their conference tournaments. The official selections will be made and announced next Monday, November 6th. First round games start that weekend November 10th & 11th. The finals will be in St. Louis on December 3rd.
- The ACC tourney is going to be a doosey. Today is the first round. The rankings look like this: #1 Duke, #2 Wake Forest, #3 Virginia, #4 Maryland, #5 Boston College, #6 Clemson, #7 UNC, #8 Virginia Tech, #9 NC State. Ok, for those paying attention the next questions is, "Isn't Wake #1 in the country right now after beating Virginia last week?" Crazy how that works out. The ACC does something interesting because of the off number of teams seeded. #8 plays #9 today and then plays #1 tomorrow. If that isn't giving #1 an easy first game, I don't know what is. Good thing the college kids can sub early and often.
Aside from that you'll see #2 Wake Forest vs. #7 North Carolina, #3 Virginia vs. #6 Clemson and #4 Maryland vs. #5 Boston College in the first round. Those are going to be some great games. The winner of the conference tourney gets an automatic bid, but five of the teams in the tourney are in the Top 10 so you know the ACC is going to be loading up the 2006 NCAA tourney.
- I went to the University of Denver vs. Air Force match this weekend with fellow FCTP blogger Allen. First off, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation isn't at the level of the ACC. I watched the Virginia vs. Wake match after getting home and it isn't even close! While Denver outclassed Air Force by a mile but DU would have been crushed by either Wake or UVA. Denver has put together a great season winning seven and drawing one. Their junior goalie Bredehoft posted his seventh shutout of the season. Denver and New Mexico meet this Sunday to determine league champ. It doesn't look like there is a conference tournament so DU could be headed to the NCAA tourney with their #23 ranking in tow. Depends what happens against #11 New Mexico I suppose. I don't think we'll be seeing any DU Pioneers in MLS next year, but you never know.
- Remember to catch the MLS semi-finals this weekend. DC United will host New England while Colorado will travel to Houston. So in the east you have #1 vs. #2 while in the west you have #2 vs. #4. Let GO RAPIDS!!!
- Happy Halloween!
- The Colorado Rapids knocked FC Dallas out of the playoffs in the first round again! Questionable celebration aside, the Rapids put together a great performance against the team with the best regular season home records in the league. Bradenton product Kyle Beckerman completed his journey from strong prospect to team leader and midfielder star. Indiana University product Jacob Peterson worked hard on the left flank but didn't have his best game. University of South Carolina product Clint Mathis proved you don't want to leave him unmarked 25 yards from goal. University of Virginia alumni Hunter Freeman showed he wasn't a boxer before MLS.
- Conference tournaments abound. Want to see a round down? Run on over to College Soccer News. Teams are starting to book their tickets to the tourney by winning their conference tournaments. The official selections will be made and announced next Monday, November 6th. First round games start that weekend November 10th & 11th. The finals will be in St. Louis on December 3rd.
- The ACC tourney is going to be a doosey. Today is the first round. The rankings look like this: #1 Duke, #2 Wake Forest, #3 Virginia, #4 Maryland, #5 Boston College, #6 Clemson, #7 UNC, #8 Virginia Tech, #9 NC State. Ok, for those paying attention the next questions is, "Isn't Wake #1 in the country right now after beating Virginia last week?" Crazy how that works out. The ACC does something interesting because of the off number of teams seeded. #8 plays #9 today and then plays #1 tomorrow. If that isn't giving #1 an easy first game, I don't know what is. Good thing the college kids can sub early and often.
Aside from that you'll see #2 Wake Forest vs. #7 North Carolina, #3 Virginia vs. #6 Clemson and #4 Maryland vs. #5 Boston College in the first round. Those are going to be some great games. The winner of the conference tourney gets an automatic bid, but five of the teams in the tourney are in the Top 10 so you know the ACC is going to be loading up the 2006 NCAA tourney.
- I went to the University of Denver vs. Air Force match this weekend with fellow FCTP blogger Allen. First off, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation isn't at the level of the ACC. I watched the Virginia vs. Wake match after getting home and it isn't even close! While Denver outclassed Air Force by a mile but DU would have been crushed by either Wake or UVA. Denver has put together a great season winning seven and drawing one. Their junior goalie Bredehoft posted his seventh shutout of the season. Denver and New Mexico meet this Sunday to determine league champ. It doesn't look like there is a conference tournament so DU could be headed to the NCAA tourney with their #23 ranking in tow. Depends what happens against #11 New Mexico I suppose. I don't think we'll be seeing any DU Pioneers in MLS next year, but you never know.
- Remember to catch the MLS semi-finals this weekend. DC United will host New England while Colorado will travel to Houston. So in the east you have #1 vs. #2 while in the west you have #2 vs. #4. Let GO RAPIDS!!!
posted by Bonji at
9:41 AM
1 Comments:
Congrats, by the way, on the Rapids slipping past Dallas. I didn't catch the game itself, but thought the highlights showed they deserved to win.
By the way, what do you make of the late game "antics" from Colorado players - y'know, the stuff that got Dario Sala swinging haymakers? It's hardly classy, but there's something else going on as well.
I pulled together a post on this question. Feel free to pop by and comment.
By
The Manly Ferry, at 1:11 PM
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