SLUBALLS

Believe me Skip. It certainly felt like it. I think the Duke fans were stunned by SLU’s fans.

To give Duke’s #7 credit, he came over to the SLU bench after the game and congratulated several players individually.

What a game. SLU fans were awesome. Worth the trip.

SLU is showing up

Beautiful day in Durham. Several SLU fans on flight out this morning. Should have a great contingent. Go Bills!

Given the Duke coach's comments on his player's antics in the UCLA game, I looked up their yellow card and red card stats for this year: They have 11 players with two or more yellows this year, 6 with four or more, and three reds. SLU needs to be aware of this especially as we enter their homestand. SLU has been much cleaner this year vs Duke. 11 players with 1 or more yellows, only 2 with two yellows, and only one red that being the ridiculous double yellow for Klein at SMU with the second one at the end of the game. We can't afford to get caught up in their style of play in terms of fouls. Play our game, play clean, ignore their pestering, and hopefully we see an even game called by the ref.

The taunting by that Duke player is making the rounds: https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/duke-victory-marred-by-taunting_aid50224 The Duke coach's dismissal of the taunting as just "part of the sport" is pathetic. That was beyond taunting. Classless Hope our boys can keep their composure as Duke is likely to do more of the same on Saturday. Second, the article linked below has this classic line: "The last seconds left in the game slipped away, even as the Bruins desperately tried to overcome a two-man disadvantage to get an equalizer, and the cheers of Koskinen Stadium were probably heard around the whole city of Durham. " Are they seriously talking about the 626 fans that were there? Seriously? Come to Hermann to hear 6000 fans cheering and then maybe you can understand how loud a college game can be. Never been a Duke hater but I sure will be on Saturday night. Better quality video of the goal and follow-up taunting:

I wish we were ranked on attendance but we aren't so because Duke is the 7th seed and we are the 10th, we are at Duke. If we can get enough SLU fans out there, we can certainly make it more of a homefield feel for the boys. I think hanging out with the in-laws over the holidays has a three day shelf life, so cut it one day short and get out to Durham. If they are not hosting, then they need to take down their ticket portal for the game: https://goduke.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=MS&linkID=duke-athletics&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=

Booked air travel, hotel, rental, and game tickets this morning for Saturday's game. Who else headed out to Duke? Hope we can get a decent contingent out there even with it being Thanksgiving weekend.

What a game. What amazing attendance. Onward. Question: what the heck happened with Klein and their best player on that one kickoff which saw both get yellows? Plus I missed what the same player did to Schultz to get his red.

Other memories of that are: The warming tarp they put over the field so it would not freeze. Volunteering that Friday night for the tourney while Virginia played. I was working a tent behind the north side goal. Clearly remember VA having the biggest forward I had ever seen in this one German kid. UCSB's coach telling a sub in the second half to keep attacking UCLA even though UCSB was leading late and it would have been prudent to pack it in to win the game. The coach ("Van" something) decided the best defense was offense and it worked.

I was telling my ten year old son and his friend on Friday when they were complaining about the cold on Friday, that it was nothing compared to 2006's final game. There was literally chunks of ice in the stands. Sunny but damn, damn cold. I still remember my feet feeling like bricks walking back to the car after the game. But I will say it was a fun game between UCLA and UCSB on an unusually cold December day.

10 Seed. Play either Maryland or LIU in second round on 21st.

I will add the Dukes' goalie kept out 2-3 sure goals in the first half. And the post helped on Buendia's early shot on goal. Great crowd yesterday. The atmosphere was as it should be at Hermann.

And back to our regular scheduled programming......Schulte's save in regulation was unreal. I thought it was a sure goal. The last 20 seconds of regulation saw us almost pull it out. Kipp does a nice move around a Fordham just inside the half near SLU's bench and plays a great ball up over everyone to Klein who is in the box. Klein gets it down, stays so unbelievably composed as the defenders and goalie are sh-tting themselves, takes it right and tries to sneak it in the near post, only to see it go just wide.