prebilliken Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Not to shabby: http://www.collegesoccernews.com/index.php/articles/411-college-soccer-news-2013-top-30-preseason-poll A National Championship would be authentically wonderful. That #4 Creighton-#10 SLU matchup will be a brawl. No doubt the soccer boys want to be in the BE also. I love Bills soccer, I am ready for a return to glory. Hope this is the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouisvilleBilliken Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 With 10 returning starters, I think this is their best shot at a national championship. The only question to me is who will replace Robson at center back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prebilliken Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 With 10 returning starters, I think this is their best shot at a national championship. The only question to me is who will replace Robson at center back. I hope its fixed by committee. I think college soccer, in a way similar to college baseball, has little loopholes whre if you do something particularly well, you can get away with some other spotty areas. Not to say a team with 10 returning starters has a lot of spotting areas. What I am saying is that the key to this team really excelling is Kristo scoring as many or more goals than last year. I really like the way he plays, just wants to put points up. He knows it means a bigger paycheck for him in the MLS/possibly Europe to repeat the performance so the focus will be there. I think anything less than another A10 trophy would be considered a disappointment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prebilliken Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Also: Some stellar games of note: "Saint Louis faces four teams that appear in the preseason poll: No. 5 Creighton (Oct. 2), No. 6 UConn (Sept. 21), No. 19 Louisville (Oct. 31) and No. 27 VCU (Oct. 6). The Billikens also play No. 9 Akron Aug. 24 in an exhibition match at Robert R. Hermann Stadium." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Metzinger Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Not to shabby: http://www.collegesoccernews.com/index.php/articles/411-college-soccer-news-2013-top-30-preseason-poll A National Championship would be authentically wonderful. That #4 Creighton-#10 SLU matchup will be a brawl. No doubt the soccer boys want to be in the BE also. I love Bills soccer, I am ready for a return to glory. Hope this is the year. Pre, I think we both know that we rarely agree with each other, but I wholeheartedly echo your sentiments. The heartbreaking NCAA loss to F(_)CKleigh Dickinson still stings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Picking up Robson's spot will be difficult as he was very good. If you can get the worlds biggest defensive mid hater to respect your game and what you do you are pretty good as I generally believe defensive mids are the curse of great soccer. (I'm of course exagerating a bit, but only a bit) However, I think we have some pretty good options. I could see Hildago getting some time there. Probably not as strong as Roby but much more creative offensively and he could still do the job defensively. I also believe Marco Heskamp could move off the back line and turn out to be a star there. He has the physical traits and skills to be good at it, though I think I'd be leery of taking his speed off the back line. The Bills have so much coming back. They have a player at almost every position coming off the bench that could start for most teams even most good teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUBALLS Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Skip, Hidalgo? Really? Your age is showing : ) Give me his height and Aranda's muscular build and you might have something but Hidalgo is not going to cut it at defensive mid. I know you are weary of us being too defensive minded in the middle (fair criticism of Donigan), but I want, but don't see, a current player on the team that has shown the ability to be the strong, crunching, solid distributing defensive mid in the mold of Hammes, Grazier, Robson, Kirchhoff, etc. Also I think it is rare that you bring an outside back (Marco) to play defensive mid. You can have the opposite occur where a def mid plays outside back (Maglasang) but guys that play in the middle have a different awareness that helps them play that position. An outside back has two immediate boundaries most of the time - the sideline and the goalline behind him. Def mids operate in a very open position and some players can handle it and others can't. As far as new guys coming in, I wouldn't be surprised if Max Karcher is slotted into that role but that is pure speculation. I'm not worried about filling the position, The staff was fully aware of Robson's pending departure so I'm sure they are near ready with his replacement; I say near because they will be unproven given the fact Robson played there full-time last year. Excited about this year is an understatement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Skip, Hidalgo? Really? Your age is showing : ) Give me his height and Aranda's muscular build and you might have something but Hidalgo is not going to cut it at defensive mid. I know you are weary of us being too defensive minded in the middle (fair criticism of Donigan), but I want, but don't see, a current player on the team that has shown the ability to be the strong, crunching, solid distributing defensive mid in the mold of Hammes, Grazier, Robson, Kirchhoff, etc. Also I think it is rare that you bring an outside back (Marco) to play defensive mid. You can have the opposite occur where a def mid plays outside back (Maglasang) but guys that play in the middle have a different awareness that helps them play that position. An outside back has two immediate boundaries most of the time - the sideline and the goalline behind him. Def mids operate in a very open position and some players can handle it and others can't. As far as new guys coming in, I wouldn't be surprised if Max Karcher is slotted into that role but that is pure speculation. I'm not worried about filling the position, The staff was fully aware of Robson's pending departure so I'm sure they are near ready with his replacement; I say near because they will be unproven given the fact Robson played there full-time last year. Excited about this year is an understatement. I don't see a player either, (see your own quote about not seeing a player on the team that fits the traditional role) which is why I was taking a couple of stabs. I know outside backs don't move inside often, but I think Marco has the tools, I don't care where he's played, he's a soph in college, it's probably a bit early to decide he's locked into a position for life. I'd prefer to look at his skill set rather than what he's done in the past. I like him alot though where he is at which is why I said I'd be leery of moving him. My thoughts on Hildago are simple as you know quite well, I'd be fine if we just went without a true defensive mid in the traditional mold. Graydon has a tendency to get it the mix and be a bit feisty and a bit of a ball winner himself, though I'm clearly not advocating he play a defensive mid, but more of a sharing of the responsibilities between 2 more offensive minded players. I'm really not worried either, I only brought it up as he's the only starter that needs replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prebilliken Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 I don't see a player either, (see your own quote about not seeing a player on the team that fits the traditional role) which is why I was taking a couple of stabs. I know outside backs don't move inside often, but I think Marco has the tools, I don't care where he's played, he's a soph in college, it's probably a bit early to decide he's locked into a position for life. I'd prefer to look at his skill set rather than what he's done in the past. I like him alot though where he is at which is why I said I'd be leery of moving him. My thoughts on Hildago are simple as you know quite well, I'd be fine if we just went without a true defensive mid in the traditional mold. Graydon has a tendency to get it the mix and be a bit feisty and a bit of a ball winner himself, though I'm clearly not advocating he play a defensive mid, but more of a sharing of the responsibilities between 2 more offensive minded players. I'm really not worried either, I only brought it up as he's the only starter that needs replaced. I don't think any of the choices are awful. And the staff probably has someone in mind. Personally I like the idea of a outside mid being put back there. I want the defense on a team with fire power to think of themselves as the first line of offense. So someone who can handle to ball in tight spots, get it out of the back quickly but tactfully, and has the stamina and will to follow up on the action is worth while. Also, I can forgive the center back for being a little smaller if the outside backs handle most of the physicality. Either way, I had high hopes for McGinty bringing a style of play and a level of competition more conducive to the Bills elite history. The worst thing about Donigan, even after his lack of success in the tourney, was that awful 11 men behind the ball style of play. Goals are sexy, goals are American, scoring bunches of goals needs to be what this team dreams about every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I don't think any of the choices are awful. And the staff probably has someone in mind. Personally I like the idea of a outside mid being put back there. I want the defense on a team with fire power to think of themselves as the first line of offense. So someone who can handle to ball in tight spots, get it out of the back quickly but tactfully, and has the stamina and will to follow up on the action is worth while. Also, I can forgive the center back for being a little smaller if the outside backs handle most of the physicality. Either way, I had high hopes for McGinty bringing a style of play and a level of competition more conducive to the Bills elite history. The worst thing about Donigan, even after his lack of success in the tourney, was that awful 11 men behind the ball style of play. Goals are sexy, goals are American, scoring bunches of goals needs to be what this team dreams about every day. We aren't talking about an outside mid being a central defender. I can't imagine that being anything but disastrous. I was talking about a wide defender playing defensive mid. I would also disagree about Donnigan playing 11 men behind the ball. That wasn't the case at all. It was more his lack of being able to find an offensive mid that we could play the ball through and we usually ended up with 2 central midfield players that were both more suited to playing defensive mids. We also had a tendancy to want to play the ball long from the backs though we didn't generally have the forwards to go get and win the ball. I don't want to trash or rehash DD though. I'd rather concentrate on where we are now. I love McGinty and the way we play the game and attack. We can go through the middle on the ground, we can go long or through down the wings or we can send the ball long down the middle and let any of our forwards go and get it. I'd like to see us move the ball quicker out of the back sometimes but we were better at that last year than the year before and I believe it's what McGinty wants also and we'll be even better this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUBALLS Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Yep, the lack of a true creative center midfielder hurt us during the later Donigan years. You had Matteson and Grazier at one point but both lacked that piece of skill, decision-making, or vision that we needed. Dado seemed to be in the mold of what we needed but he did not pan out in the middle at all. E Sweetin seemed like an option but even he made more negative or lateral passes, like a d-mid would be expected to be doing. Skip, I agree on Graydon....if there is anyone that fits the mold of the attacking center mid we want, it's him. He's a number 10 in my book for sure. He's fiesty enough to be a d-mid but I want that skill feeding balls to our forward line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Yep, the lack of a true creative center midfielder hurt us during the later Donigan years. You had Matteson and Grazier at one point but both lacked that piece of skill, decision-making, or vision that we needed. Dado seemed to be in the mold of what we needed but he did not pan out in the middle at all. E Sweetin seemed like an option but even he made more negative or lateral passes, like a d-mid would be expected to be doing. Skip, I agree on Graydon....if there is anyone that fits the mold of the attacking center mid we want, it's him. He's a number 10 in my book for sure. He's fiesty enough to be a d-mid but I want that skill feeding balls to our forward line. Graydon's ability to lend a hand defensively is part of the reason I think we could live without a true traditional defensive mid and share the responsibility between 2 capable but more offernsive minded players Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUBALLS Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Very fair observation. He can be a true two way player. I wish he had the build of a YaYa Toure though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUH Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I have a friend who follows juco soccer and he seems to think that the Serbian transfer from Lincoln Land could be starting by the end of the year. Has anyone else heard that? Personally, I will be watching to see who comes in as the back-up GK this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I have a friend who follows juco soccer and he seems to think that the Serbian transfer from Lincoln Land could be starting by the end of the year. Has anyone else heard that? Personally, I will be watching to see who comes in as the back-up GK this season. Without a doubt the French import, David Andre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Metzinger Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Without a doubt the French import, David Andre I almost forgot about Andre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Anyone have a size on any ot the new Keeps? I'll say this about Shack ... I'm not a fan of shorter keeps and every year so far I've looked for someone to replace him and every year he plays well enough to keep his job. I'd say he's been better than I ever thought he would be as a frosh. I'll be highly surprised if someone displaces our experienced SR. Keeper but if they do for a reason other than injury ... the guy is f..king good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Anyone have a size on any ot the new Keeps? I'll say this about Shack ... I'm not a fan of shorter keeps and every year so far I've looked for someone to replace him and every year he plays well enough to keep his job. I'd say he's been better than I ever thought he would be as a frosh. I'll be highly surprised if someone displaces our experienced SR. Keeper but if they do for a reason other than injury ... the guy is f..king good. Andre isn't much bigger if at all and the other goalies are purely for depth at training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I have a friend who follows juco soccer and he seems to think that the Serbian transfer from Lincoln Land could be starting by the end of the year. Has anyone else heard that? Personally, I will be watching to see who comes in as the back-up GK this season. Regarding my post about displacing Shack .... I didn't know who the Serbian transfer was and I linked it to your post about back up Keep thinking you were insinuating he'd be the starting keep by the EOY. I now see he's a defender. However, I'll say the same regarding him, if he displaces a starter he's pretty good. Do you know if he plays inside or outside? Left or right footed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Andre isn't much bigger if at all and the other goalies are purely for depth at training. Doesn't the Seefeld kid have good size and potential? I just looked him up 6' 6" played in the US development system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Doesn't the Seefeld kid have good size and potential? I just looked him up 6' 6" played in the US development system Haven't seen them...only relaying what I've been told... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUH Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Andre isn't much bigger if at all and the other goalies are purely for depth at training. Thanks for the insight. Very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUH Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Regarding my post about displacing Shack .... I didn't know who the Serbian transfer was and I linked it to your post about back up Keep thinking you were insinuating he'd be the starting keep by the EOY. I now see he's a defender. However, I'll say the same regarding him, if he displaces a starter he's pretty good. Do you know if he plays inside or outside? Left or right footed? You know, I should have asked. I figured he had a recruitment video and it turns out he has two that are complete with Serbian and Romanian turbo folk. Take a look: No way he starts at center back, but I have enjoyed trying to predict the McGinty substitutions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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