Edit: Thanks to “Shot Shanker” for giving the update on the goals on either side of halftime. If anyone wants to fill me in on that or any other detail I might have left out… feel free to leave a comment or contact me any other way.

On the warmest 40 degree morning you will ever experience, the Alumni and Academy soccer teams faced off for the eighth time in four years. It was not as easy as one might have expected giving the Alumni owned a 6-1 record against the current Academy team. Keeping true to Academy form, the 11:00 scheduled game time promptly started at 11:30 after some roster and starting position difficulties.

The game was only a matter of minutes old, when the Academy would get the first strike. Following an Alumni turnover on the opening possession, Academy calmly moved the ball down the field into attacking territory when Sami Abdisubhan fed the ball to Maksim Goryunov who brought it up on the near-side flank loosely marked. Max would eventually cross the ball into the box bypassing most defenders towards the far corner of the 6-yard box where it was essentially a one-on-on between alum Frank Levering and current Junior Daniel Hillman. The younger one would have his moment as a well timed leap and connecting on a header over Frank’s head inside the near-side post would put the current Academy squad up 1-0.

The lead would not last very long as only a few moments later, Kevin Scala and Chuck Andrejcisk would get the Alumni moving in the right direction. It would be a well timed pass from the former that beat two defenders and allowed to Chuck to take a couple of uncontested touches before drilling the ball in the back of the net to even up the score at 1.

[EDIT] A couple of changes noted by Rishi Abuwala. The name of freshman who I couldn’t remember but played well for us along side Dan was Tony. Also, the score at half time was apparently 2-2 and not 3-2 as I stated. The Alumni scored 3 more unanswered goals in the second half.

Here is a game recap for those who could not attend and even for those who were and want a recap of the game. Let me know if I messed up somewhere with a detail or a name and I’ll adjust it.

After what seemed like hundreds of date and time changes, the 7^th Academy Alumni soccer game took place yesterday in the scorching 100 degree weather. As the current Academy students and the alumni started to trickle onto the track field at Thomas Edison Park, you could tell this was going to be a long day as everyone started sweating long before most of us even took the field.

I usually always field some shots before warm-ups from players on both sides which helps me get a sense of the new kids and whose shot I should look out for come game time. A couple of incoming freshmen did well to leave a good mark right away which tells you the future of the Academy has the potential to stay bright.

As game time neared, the Alumni including the seniors (or lone senior – Carlo) from the class of 2009 only had 9 players on our side compared to roughly 15-16 for the current Academy team. We ended up drawing two incoming freshmen who I would have preferred along side their teammates for the upcoming year but definitely gave our team a boost. I don’t accurately remember the second freshman’s name but Dan who played defense right in front of me was very calm and collected in the face of a constant attack from the Academy side which cam early and often. Even in a couple of one-on-one situations, he did well holding his own against the likes of Sami and Alyssa.

There was a decent back and forth start to the game for the first 5-10 minutes as the alumni were getting a little accustomed to playing with the new guys. That playing style eventually led to a very weak loft by Academy towards our goal at a time I wasn’t paying much attention and talking to a current senior about their team. I turned out in what seemed like enough time to see the bouncing loft which was rolling towards the right post and started moving towards ball to collect it. That didn’t turn out to be the case as I thought the ball was going to roll out of bounds on the goal line but happened to trickle just inside the far post. 1-0 Academy.

After hearing about that goal from pretty much everyone on our side, we started moving the ball up back into our offensive third before capitalizing on a loose ball outside the box which tied up the game at 1. Our defense really started to pick up our game following a little bit of a sluggish start. It seemed to be going well until a corner which the Academy did well to put into play rather quickly and not allowing to get settled on the posts for marking. I had turned around to make sure that there was someone on the far post behind me in case the ball went over but by the time I had turned around, the ball was already in the air from the corner and proceeded to get a slight deflection by the defender right in front of me and off my gloves into the goal. 2-1 Academy.

Both sides really buckled down from then on for a good 10 minutes or so including a takeout by me on Max I think which really got me going. I always rely on a couple of those in a game to get into one of those modes where any ball that is coming into the box will be mine. It might have been the heat really starting to take over but we took an unorthodox water break with about 15 minutes left in the first half when it became too apparent that the lack of subs on our side was causing dehydration and a lack of effort.

Following the mini break, we decided to implement some changes. We switched up our stopper (Carlo) and right back (Dan). The switch with the right back and stopper helped us as the lack of experience back there allowed Academy to stay on side on a couple of plays where they would have been definitely offside had our regular squad been present. It stopped the bleeding on the backline and Dan’s nonchalant defensive style limited their possession for the remainder of the first half. I think we might have scored once before the half was over and went into the break tied at 2.

To start the second half, we tried one more change albeit it was only temporary. Our left back (Frank) swapped places with our right midfielder (Vivek) to allow him to make a couple of runs up the right side to spark our offense to start the half. Although the runs didn’t payoff in goals right away it definitely helped us move the ball on both sides a little bit more fluently and the counter pressure we applied seemed to frustrate Academy a little. We had a good stretch of constant ball control and possession and eventually pushed the lead to 5-2 Alumni that was at the hand of 4-unaswered goals by the staunch offensive attack by Ab, Rishi and Varesh. Varesh along with Frank had excellent opportunities to extend the lead even further but each of their headers (both off corners I believe) went just wide and the score remained as is.

The Academy did well to stop the scoring on our part from there on out. They started capitalizing on turnovers and pushing the ball up on both sides of the field. I think the first goal was by Sami where is a simple one on one against me where I held my line instead of coming out and a simple shot to my left and Academy cut the lead down to 5-3. Max, who had been called for several offsides earlier on, continued the patient attack. He held control of the ball just on the 18 yard line with little pressure on him. I thought I had a good enough read on the shot that if I didn’t save it, I could definitely parry it over the cross bar. The shot however, was very well placed in the upper 90 just outside of the reach of my left hand going across my body and the score was now 5-4 Alumni with just 7 minutes to play in the game.

Those last seven minutes seemed to last forever. We tried playing a little keep away to run off as much time as we could but after an errand pass, they had a good clean look coming up my right side followed by my left which they just couldn’t finish off. There were a couple of breakaways where I just broke from my line and told myself that the pressure is on the attacker to tie the game and I’m not going to make it easy for him. Two rather aggressive (or reckless) dives on the ball by me in goal kept the score at the one goal differential before time would run out with Alumni holding onto a 5-4 victory.

I think it has been back to back alumni games now that we have escaped with a one goal victory after what seemed like easy games in the first year or two. I think the key really is experience down in the end where passing is far more important trying to weave through the entire defense on your own to try and equalize the score. That kind of patience is often developed and the sooner is happens, the better it is for the team. Alumni improves its overall record to 6-1 in these games with the next one scheduled for Thanksgiving break as usual.

P.S. Thanks for the father who brought drinks for everyone on the field just as the game expired. I know I that was very much appreciated on a hot and humid day like yesterday with the temperature in the mid-90’s and the head index hitting triple digits.

If you’re interested in pretty good soccer recap of games as well as opinions regarding moves and upcoming matches, I highly recommend checking out Matchday LIVE! USA (link). Even though the updates at times are few and far between, the posts that are up there are nothing short of quality pieces. Take a look at the latest one from this morning titled “NBC’s “Business Decision” a National Embarrassment”

The post is regarding the upcoming USA vs. Mexico match that is slated for 4 PM EST later today. If you’re on a basic cable package or if you happen to be on campus anywhere in the country, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to see this match simply because it’s not being shown my any major network. ESPN can’t show it because NBC has the exclusive rights to that match since the Mexican Federation decides who gets the rights to matches being played at Azteca. NBC, on the other hand, decides to air this “Showdown at the Azteca” on an obscure channel called mun2 (moon-dos – pronunciation courtesy of Matchday LIVE!)

A quick Google search will tell you that the soccer-crazed masses are concerned. ESPN doesn’t show a match listing in their schedule for US-Mexico. Neither does Fox Soccer Channel. Fear not, says NBC, it’s on mun2. That’s “moon-dos.” I’m sure you’ve all heard of it. It’s that hip, trendy Latino network obscure bicultural channel no one has ever heard of that is so far up the digital cable dial your brain will be addled into confusing the two teams’ kits when you finally get to the match. What some are passing off as a business decision, however, is clearly nothing short of one of the biggest jokes in sports media coverage of the decade, right up there with the 8PM World Series start, Roger Goodell wanting to expand the NFL to 18 games, and NBC’s (do you sense a theme here) creating a new network for Olympic coverage just weeks before the event that no one received on time.

Please, NBC, I understand the business decision involved, but this time you’ve overstepped the line. I’m sure the millions of fans watching the match without HD having finally reached channel 8,794,316.2 will really be pleased to be transported back into the mid-90s. At least back then it clear what the networks thought about the game, and it continued to push on and thrive nonetheless. Here’s hoping that NBC’s stupidity only provides a renewed opportunity for football to do the same thing now in 2009.

That’s only an excerpt of the pretty good piece by my friend Mike and be sure to head over to Matchday LIVE! USA to read the rest of the article and his other updates as well.

As many of you are aware, I am part of the web-casting crew for Stevens Athletics on Empire8.tv. As a broadcaster, I have always felt that I can be as critical as appropriately necessary of a team (Stevens or otherwise) irrespective of the fact that I am hired by the Stevens Athletics Department. I think it is fair to say that my bosses have been more than fair regarding broadcasting practices that we do our best to provide as unbiased of a portrayal of a game as humanly possible. I think that accepting constructive criticisms is a part of growing up that allows programs to develop more thoroughly than just positive reinforcements of things they are doing correctly.

However, I have been thinking recently in conjunction with a friend of mine to start a discussion blog solely dedicated to talking about a given sport like soccer for which I am a big fan of and something that definitely has the most intense fan base on campus. This is a team that is less than 8 months removed from going to the National Championship game and has just released a very ambitious schedule of the 2009 regular season.

The moment the idea came to fruition, I had a feeling there might be some conflicting but legitimate issues that might arise. I don’t think any of the following issues are deal breakers in me trying to accomplish what I want to in the short run but could be more problematic in sustaining long term. I think the only reason this issue arises is because D-III is not nationally known as much as the D-I programs, so anything available is generally more than what’s out there for an average team.

In this age of technology, the first arising problem is how much information is too much information? You can be rest assured that all of these coaches, even at the Division III level, do their homework regarding scouting opposition teams, their players and tactics. As much as I would like to think my analysis of a given situation is accurate, I don’t think any coach or opposition is going to relying on the latest posts by a couple of college students and adjust their game plans accordingly.

There is no argument that such a forum gives perspective from the home side and probably something you generally don’t see highlighted very often but is discussing such a matter detrimental in any way to the progress and success of the team you root for? Is it that horrible of a thing to point out recent struggles in a rather specific manner or talking about formations or plays that have been more successful?

I really don’t expect this to be much of an issue but there was a minor incident at another school discussing in an open forum regarding upcoming schedules and issues with the team over the course of the season. The issue seems to be whether or not certain information should be copied over from a blog and posted on to a more popular source where the likelihood of it being read by an opposition greatly increases. I am going to stand by my stance that once it’s posted for the public to see, the original author has no claim or right towards where it gets published as long as it done so with proper accreditation.

Anyways, let me be clear that I feel fans as well as anyone else should be able to discuss what they want about any team they want. That also includes you readers who should feel free to let me know what you think of discussing especially about school sports programs and whether you think it hurts teams or not hearing from people closer to the program than maybe the average fan.

Also, stay tuned for an announcement regarding the start of the discussion blog regarding a Stevens sport coming towards you in approximately couple of weeks.

Here is just a remarkable play by the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Dominic Moore who loses his stick while attempting to block a shot while short handed. What happens next is probably something you see on a soccer field and not on ice by a hockey player.