Men's Soccer 2018

[RiseAndGrind]

so is Kalish getting good marks?

[billikenfan05]

2 hours ago, Box and Won said:

Question for the people who follow non-revenue sports, is LaSalle good at anything?  

Baseball: 14-41

Basketball: 13-19

Soccer: 2-8-1

Water Polo: 2-16

W. Basketball: 8-22

Field Hockey: 5 - 7

W. Lax: 7-10

W. Soccer: 8-4-1

Softball: 12-34

W. Volleyball: 11-8 (Unverified: This would be their first winning season since 1998. Only one coach has had a winning tenure at LaSalle and that was in the late 80s)

W. Water Polo: 0-18

 

[SLUBALLS]

2 hours ago, disgruntledbilliken said:

Nice stats digging! Thanks!

I wouldn't be too worried about the less than stellar defense. I follow soccer quite closely. Usually when a team is so offensive as SLU is, the defense suffers a bit. I would say that it reflects more on SLU's offensive and open style of play than "poor defense" per se. You give some space in the back in order to be at the opponents necks.

More of an observation than a worry but you are absolutely right.  It seems similar to what Arsenal were facing as Emery tinkered with their style and created some piss poor moments by their backline early on in their campaign.   Kalish is wanting the attack and that includes getting our wingbacks up.  And he wants more pressing in the oppositions half when we lose the ball.  So while more chances may be created, you typically have a high line that leaves you vulnerable as you noted.   I think it was Wimbledon who took the theme of attacking to the extreme back in the late 70s or early 80s in the old Division 1 in England.  Their whole goal was to simply get more shots which increased their probability of bagging goals but at the cost of giving up their fair share as well.  It was successful but did not last long in its effectiveness. 

The one item I could try to understand is just how opponents are scoring.  It may not be the high backline as much as we think although for Memphis the quick counters were what led to their goals.  We could be generating poor turnovers in and around our box, giving up free kicks too often near our box, etc.  

[SLUBALLS]

Opponents goals:

Notre Dame:  Free Kick

Memphis:  2 quick counters

Marquette:  Free Kick

SMU:  Free Kick

Tulsa:  No goal given up

Central Ark:  Penalty kick

SIUE:  Corner kick

Dayton:  Crossed to a shot; Rebound shot

Rhode Island:  2 turnover/transition goals; one free kick (header)

LaSalle:  one shot; one corner kick

7 goals off spot kicks.  7 in the run of play.  Clean up the defense of spot kicks and we will improve our outcomes.

[William Iken]

4 hours ago, SLUBALLS said:

More of an observation than a worry but you are absolutely right.  It seems similar to what Arsenal were facing as Emery tinkered with their style and created some piss poor moments by their backline early on in their campaign.   Kalish is wanting the attack and that includes getting our wingbacks up.  And he wants more pressing in the oppositions half when we lose the ball.  So while more chances may be created, you typically have a high line that leaves you vulnerable as you noted.   I think it was Wimbledon who took the theme of attacking to the extreme back in the late 70s or early 80s in the old Division 1 in England.  Their whole goal was to simply get more shots which increased their probability of bagging goals but at the cost of giving up their fair share as well.  It was successful but did not last long in its effectiveness. 

The one item I could try to understand is just how opponents are scoring.  It may not be the high backline as much as we think although for Memphis the quick counters were what led to their goals.  We could be generating poor turnovers in and around our box, giving up free kicks too often near our box, etc.  

I play in the top Hong Kong amateur league. My team used to win it most years, but we've aged and haven't added young blood. We now struggle against some of the younger, technically sound clubs. We played the top club last night (i'm still sore) and they destroyed us. Wave after wave of attack. But our mids sat back and keeper came up big, time and time again. One counter attack, we came close to scoring. The second, we scored. 1-0 at the half. Second half, same thing. They destroyed us - led by an English midfielder that was on the books at Wolves 2-3 years ago. Our ex pros played in the mid/late 1990s. But we get a free kick, bam 2-0. They got one back but we won 2-1. With two shots on goal. They had maybe 15-20, or more.

The point, all out attacking is great and can be successful, but when you come up against a team that plays smart, calculating football, the all out attack and press can be beaten. And it's up to the coach to recognize that and adapt the system. It's also incumbent on the players to know when to push forward and when to relax, and when to cover for someone and when to join the wave. Need a good level of teamwork and football IQ. It's fun to watch, and will win you games, but not championships unless you know when you play as a team and know when to change tactics.

[SLUBALLS]

Absolutely right on all-out attacking working up to a point and teams that play smarter, keep their lines together, and remain patient as the game wears on, can ultimately win.  However, I think the hardest part about using the style that Kalish is introducing is getting the attacking-minded players to ALSO play defense especially in critical transition points.  In all the years of coaching soccer, time and time again I would have to coach up a talented forward to recover the ball even when he/she lost the ball.    So if Kalish can get that portion of the field reacting to turnovers in a second-nature way, he can then focus a bit more on the defensive acumen of his backline and tighten things up, especially on deadballs.  Therefore I think the IQ will rise over time as they learn to adapt the style through the game, like  you said.

[Box and Won]

15 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

Baseball: 14-41

Basketball: 13-19

Soccer: 2-8-1

Water Polo: 2-16

W. Basketball: 8-22

Field Hockey: 5 - 7

W. Lax: 7-10

W. Soccer: 8-4-1

Softball: 12-34

W. Volleyball: 11-8 (Unverified: This would be their first winning season since 1998. Only one coach has had a winning tenure at LaSalle and that was in the late 80s)

W. Water Polo: 0-18

 

More like LaSuck.

[billikenfan05]

4 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

More like LaSuck.

They are bad, like get kicked out of the Atlantic 10 bad. Isn't there like an annual: "LaSalle is thinking about dropping to division 2" discussion?

Also: I really enjoyed looking up their records. I think I'll do a comprehensive A-10 program overview.

[wgstl]

can someone sum up this season for me?  Based on this board I see a ton of optimism, and a ton of disappointment.  Hopefully next year I'll finally have time to start following. 

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, wgstl said:

can someone sum up this season for me?  Based on this board I see a ton of optimism, and a ton of disappointment.  Hopefully next year I'll finally have time to start following. 

I'd suggest getting the summary from bauman.  You wont have any idea who hes talking about but if you have the codes you can spend an hour or two figuring it out and it will be an incredible time waster for you and the effort needed to decide will make it so much more fulfilling.

[SLUBALLS]

New coach with new style which comes with a learning curve and mistakes as the players learn new habits of the system.

Competed well thus far but have not dominated.  Hung with high caliber teams - Notre Dame, SMU, Tulsa, SIUE - but lost two bad ones - Memphis and Rhode Island.  Had a nice away win versus Tulsa.

Couple new faces on the field have been impactful:  Klein (potential freshman of the year in A10 at this point), Boyce

Attack-minded approach as we consistently outshoot the opponent.   

Scoring is broadly distributed this year with Novaes the points leader.  Brown, Klein, and Boyce also consistently contributing.

Hard to see an NCAA invite now and will probably need to win the A10 which will be hosted by SLU.

[billikenfan05]

Tied with VCU at half 0-0. Billikens fairly dominant. VCU parking the bus and the Billikens struggling to find space to get a goal. 

[billikenfan05]

Scoreless draw

[willie]

16 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Scoreless draw

I am sure soccer purists will say that is an acceptable outcome but you need a winner . I like the idea of pulling players off the field. A perfect ending would be the 2 goalies 1 v1 

[moytoy12]

29 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Scoreless draw

Per Stu we out shot them 24-4. Don’t like this specific result but think we are trending in the right direction under Kalish.

[billikenfan05]

11 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

Per Stu we out shot them 24-4. Don’t like this specific result but think we are trending in the right direction under Kalish.

Just so we’re clear SLU stats are very liberal with recording shots 

[philliken]

10 hours ago, willie said:

I am sure soccer purists will say that is an acceptable outcome but you need a winner . 

It's a tough argument.  Absolutely you want to get the W.  This isn't a disastrous outcome though; as VCU is a very good team.  I'm encouraged by not allowing a goal, and only giving up 4 shots.  The trend lately has been that we are dominating in the shots category; and just can't finish.  I think the team is improving; but is still a year or two away from returning to the tournament (barring a run in the conf tournament...which is here).

 

Fun fact for you: There are 216 D1 Men's Soccer Teams.  Only Cal State Fullerton has more draws (6) than SLU (5).  Xavier also has 5.

[billikenfan05]

1 minute ago, philliken said:

It's a tough argument.  Absolutely you want to get the W.  This isn't a disastrous outcome though; as VCU is a very good team.  I'm encouraged by not allowing a goal, and only giving up 4 shots.  The trend lately has been that we are dominating in the shots category; and just can't finish.  I think the team is improving; but is still a year or two away from returning to the tournament (barring a run in the conf tournament...which is here).

 

Fun fact for you: There are 216 D1 Men's Soccer Teams.  Only Cal State Fullerton has more draws (6) than SLU (5).  Xavier also has 5.

Draws are a much more acceptable outcome when you play a long season like the EPL. Unfortunately not a lot of chances to get 3 points in college. NCAA plays two 10 minute golden ET periods. I don't understand trying to reinvent the wheel with this take a man off every so often. That's not soccer.

[prebilliken]

12 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

Just so we’re clear SLU stats are very liberal with recording shots 

Do they keep shots on goal as a stat? I almost completely ignore "shots" as a stat if shots on goal are available. 

Either way, from every game recap I have read, I see the word "frustrating"  a lot. Take it how you will, but I see this as a positive thing that is indicative of Kalish being successful in making cultural changes. We are playing attacking soccer, we are asserting our game plan, not sitting back and countering. I could be wrong as I haven't seen any games, but I am optimistic that this is the case.  

[billikenfan05]

3 minutes ago, prebilliken said:

Do they keep shots on goal as a stat? I almost completely ignore "shots" as a stat if shots on goal are available. 

Anything within about 10 feet of the goal is considered a shot if IIRC.

[SLUBALLS]

'05,

Why was the conversion rate low last night?  I see the VCU keeper had to make six legitimate saves so we had good opportunities to put one in.  Did he play out of his mind last night?  It also sounds like VCU chose to sit back and counter as that has worked against SLU before (Memphis). 

As noted previously, while we have good forwards who are scoring this year versus the past two years (three guys this year with 4 or more, literally one less than the top scorer last year).  We don't seem to have that Jewsbury, Vedad (one in a million for sure), John, Kristo-type scorer right now.  One who could put defenses on edge every time they touched the ball and could convert more with the number of chances we are generating.  Here is 18 years of the top goal-scorers for SLU for reference.

We have also discussed our lack of keeping the ball out of the net, albeit last night we had a shutout.   We have used three goalies this year so far which is unusual.  Our freshman has the best goals-against average thus far and seems to be earning his position although Ty does have a better W-L record.  Maybe Kalish is thinking long-term and needed to see all three to come to a final decision on the main goalie.  Getting stability in-between the pipes would be beneficial.

,

[slu72 fan]

3 minutes ago, SLUBALLS said:

'05,

Why was the conversion rate low last night?  I see the VCU keeper had to make six legitimate saves so we had good opportunities to put one in.  Did he play out of his mind last night?  It also sounds like VCU chose to sit back and counter as that has worked against SLU before (Memphis). 

As noted previously, while we have good forwards who are scoring this year versus the past two years (three guys this year with 4 or more, literally one less than the top scorer last year).  We don't seem to have that Jewsbury, Vedad (one in a million for sure), John, Kristo-type scorer right now.  One who could put defenses on edge every time they touched the ball and could convert more with the number of chances we are generating.  Here is 18 years of the top goal-scorers for SLU for reference.

We have also discussed our lack of keeping the ball out of the net, albeit last night we had a shutout.   We have used three goalies this year so far which is unusual.  Our freshman has the best goals-against average thus far and seems to be earning his position although Ty does have a better W-L record.  Maybe Kalish is thinking long-term and needed to see all three to come to a final decision on the main goalie.  Getting stability in-between the pipes would be beneficial.

,

The VCU goalie made a couple of nice, not great, saves. SLU created a fair amount of chances in the second half, but finished horribly. Several point blank chances to score late in the game were squandered by shooting right at the keeper. A good finisher, and SLU wins by several goals.

[billikenfan05]

4 minutes ago, slu72 fan said:

The VCU goalie made a couple of nice, not great, saves. SLU created a fair amount of chances in the second half, but finished horribly. Several point blank chances to score late in the game were squandered by shooting right at the keeper. A good finisher, and SLU wins by several goals.

Honestly he didn’t have to put forth much effort to make any of his saves. I would say that almost every goalkeeper in college soccer would have easily kept a clean sheet against us last night  

Stiebel had the best save of the game from point blank. 

I would blame our lack of scoring on the inability to have a first time shot. Too often players try to have a touch,then shoot when they don’t need to and it results in a poor touch allowing the defenders to recover. 

[moytoy12]

2 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I would blame our lack of scoring on the inability to have a first time shot. Too often players try to have a touch,then shoot when they don’t need to and it results in a poor touch allowing the defenders to recover. 

Good point. The times I’ve watched SLU this year, they are not pulling the trigger fast enough.  They’re taking too many touches and ultimately squander good chances. 

[Clock_Tower]

11 minutes ago, slu72 fan said:

The VCU goalie made a couple of nice, not great, saves. SLU created a fair amount of chances in the second half, but finished horribly. Several point blank chances to score late in the game were squandered by shooting right at the keeper. A good finisher, and SLU wins by several goals.

Other than Kristo, the above goal stats make it rather clear that SLU hasn't had a "good finisher" in a decade.