Tag: Soccer

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Alumni Use Experience To Continue Dominance

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.

Kevin would tack on another one a few moments after typing it up at one as the Alumni started to build some momentum. The half would end with the score 2-1 in favor of the Alumni as possession was evenly divided between the two squads with a couple of corners a piece on both sides.

A more resilient Alumni side took the field in the second half determined to the put the game away quickly and they showed it as they dominated ball possession and really controlled the tempo. About 10 minutes into the half, Alumni would strike again to build a 3-1 lead as Kevin received a pass from about 30-35 out and dribbled it to the top of the box before releasing a rocket passed the arms of Academy goalie into the side netting. 2 goals and an assist on a very productive day by the youngest Scala to be an Academy alum.

Half way through the second half, Anish Abuwala got into the mix of things as finally a penalty shot was called in favor of the Alumni following several close tackles inside the box. Anish would make no mistake on the shot as the ball just beat the outstretched feet of the goalkeeper who had incorrectly guessed leaning towards his left to score the final tally for the Alumni to make the score 4-1.

Four unanswered goals by the Alumni really put the game away that even careless goalkeeping would not allow the Academy back into the game. Following a goalkeeping punt that would go a mere 10 yards and a muffed pass backwards by two different keepers, the weak second half goalkeeping would come full circle as Shaban Hani tried to make a comeback for the Academy side as he dribbled into the box near side and would beat the keeper on a low, weak shot and momentarily brought life back into the game at 4-2.

Moments later, both Sami and Alyssa Milanese would attack again after picking up a turnover at midfield and moved the ball relatively easily down the near side. With Sami in the box alone, he had a strong shot but straight at the keeper which was knocked back out to a contested Alyssa who instead of shooting the ball, passed it back to an offsides-Sami and essentially ending the last threat the Academy team would put on the Alumni as the game would eventually finish at 4-2.

A closely contested game would end up being decided on a more disciplined (albeit out of shape) Alumni team which did well to employ the offsides trap on a couple of Academy strikers and using short passes in the middle of the field which allowed them to control possession for a vast majority of the second half. The Alumni had plenty more scoring opportunities but failed to capitalize on them and definitely allowed Academy to stay in the game much, much longer than they had anticipated.

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Yet Another Successful Alumni Game

[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 7th 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.

Continue reading “Yet Another Successful Alumni Game”

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NBC’s Soccer Debacle

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.

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Fair Game For Home Fans To Discuss D-III Teams?

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.