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42 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

There are rumblings that a few will leave to join STLCSC Academy U23 team full time. Obviously guys like Becher/Schulte/Klein would be the main suspects.

Is this the new thing for college soccer players?  Always thought they would either go club/academy/pro before or after college but not during. 

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56 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

AJ and Patrick Wilkinson are both Sr's. Does soccer get an extra year? If not, both of those guys will be missed. AJ was imo a top player for us along with Becher, Klein, Schulte, and Keller. He doesn't get the recognition of those 4, but he was just as valuable. 

Both AJ and Patrick W played 5 seasons. And yes, AJ was one of SLU’s best and most important players this season. Versatile player, who can play multiple positions. He does many things well. Difference maker for SLU this season. Both AJ and Patrick W are defensive midfielders who also spent some time at some other positions this season too. AJ at Center Back when Niece was out with injury, and Patrick W on the Wing. AJ also played several positions at IU.

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5 hours ago, courtside said:

United Soccer Coaches named its Men’s D-1 All Region Teams today:

Southeast Region:

SLU 1st Team:

Kipp Keller

Simon Becher

John Klein

 

SLU 2nd Team:

Patrick Schulte 

AJ Palazzolo

SLU coaching staff was named Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year last week.

United Soccer Coaches also named Simon Becher 1 of the 15 MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalists for D-1 Men’s College Soccer Player of the Year.

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MLS has released all 44 players invited to this year’s MLS College Showcase. (Last minute changes can and do sometimes happen) Earlier this week they contacted individual invited players, including SLU’s players.

SLU has 4 players invited: Becher, Keller, Schulte, Parker. (All 4 have college eligibility remaining)

Duke also has 4 players. Maryland, Indiana, Pittsburgh have 3 players each. There are also multiple teams with 2 players each, as well, as some with 1 team invite.

SLU opponents invited: 

Aboubacar Camara, Louisville, Thor Ulfarsson, Ian Murphy, Shak Mohammad, Eliot Hamil, Duke. Celio Pompeu VCU. 

The first MLS College Showcase was in 2019. There wasn’t one last season. (pandemic)

The College Cup Final Four teams will be busy playing the Final Four but they will have MLS scouts at their games this weekend. Some of them would have made the list too. 

For perspective, 11 of the 40 players invited to the MLS College Showcase event in 2019 are currently on MLS rosters. Some players go to see where they are at in the process, see what they need to work on, and go back to school for an additional year. Some are out of college eligibility. It varies. (Again, all 4 SLU players invited still have college eligibility. All four have been in the prospect discussion)

Roughly speaking, on average, about 5 or so total underclassmen per year become Generation Adidas underclassmen signings. (Maybe a few more.) Many players on the showcase invited list are underclassmen. It’s a mix of age groups and remaining college eligibility. 

The players go through training, technical drills, scrimmage, interviews, tests etc…this weekend at a closed event at the College Cup Final Four in Cary, NC. 

 

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Trying to squeeze in some quick College Cup Semifinal previews.

Washington and Georgetown is an interesting even matchup in the 2nd game. Both coaches played and coached for Bobby Clark. 

We’ll see if there are any tweaks to some 4-4-2 lineups. 

Georgetown starts and stops with its defensive mids and left back. Zawadzki and Polvara. Polvara adds some 6’4 size. Sands at left back is their Ostrem. His twin brother players for NYFC MLS. Technical on the ball and left side runs. Nikopolidis is good and experienced in goal.

They’ll look to finish with a variety of Stojanovic (former Billiken)! Buck and Tabora off of the bench. Big season for Stojanovic. But they’ve been getting some bench goals in the post season up top. Georgetown is a very disciplined team with the exception of talented Hegardt up top with Stojanovic. Emotional player.

UDub will have the speed and pace with Teves, Soto vs Georgetown’s dmids. Soto etc and size in back. Amazing how far Sailor has advanced his game this year. Size and aerial duels offensively and defensively, but, also the footwork and movement to defend the ground out to the 18. Twin tower transfer Robin next to him have been the difference for UDub this year in back. Fowler was good against SLU in goal. 

Field conditions and weather won’t be an issue in Cary, NC

Notre Dame, and their size all over the field 4-4-2 will play Clemson 4-3-3, almost a triangle in the midfield, in the first game. St. Louisan and club teammate of several Billikens in summer U23 ball Jack Lynn is their finishing striker. This is Notre Dame’s 3rd straight ACC opponent in the NCAA Tourney. 

Clemson is a very aggressive, pressing team. Notre Dame faced something similar with Pittsburgh and shut them down, and worked set pieces and counters. ND is strong in back led by Quinton at center back. McCartney the Dartmouth transfer is a nice left winger. Clemson has Agren and Diop, two very good center backs. Sylla and a few others will press up top. They have some depth and position versatility  up top, Reid, Fernandez Salvador, etc…

 

 

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Washington 2 Georgetown 1

The difference for Washington this year is their middle back line defending. They didn’t have Robin.(grad transfer from Bowling Green), and, Sailor has come a long way to be a 1st Team All American. Both have great size, dangerous in the air on both offense and defense. Both can defend in the box. And they still have Burks and Ostrem.

Georgetown was able to do what they wanted in the first half, slowing the game down, and playing it in the midfield, for much of the game. They didn’t get enough of a final third threat. And when Washington scored first on a ball through traffic, it opened up the game a bit. 

Lots of Sands left side runs for G in the first half. Burks held his own  defending. Had a nice game. Sands missed a wide open back post header. And Sailor grabbed and held Stojanovic on a through ball turn middle of the box. Not going to get that call there.

Riviere received over the top  back post diagonal ball, settled and ripped just wide late first half for Georgetown. Riviere had a nice tourney on right wing off of the bench. But again, Georgetown couldn’t get a lead. 

UDub likes to transition down the middle and play narrow. They had a few aerial diagonal balls in the box but Georgetown’s keeper did well to come out each time. On the flip side Georgetown’s strength is in the defensive midfield and building from there but Udub didn’t allow much there. They were putting 4 across the top. 

Execution wasn’t sharp for ether team in the first.

Transition goal for Washington. Soto wins a tackle, quick upfield passing for Meek wide. He has give and go with Teves, cuts in near post service. Miglietti is covered but the ball deflects off of the center back into far netting. 1-0 Washington.

https://twitter.com/ncaasoccer/status/1469514771535958018?s=21

Immediately Georgetown builds up middle of the field and gets it to Sands cutting into the box. He gets obstructed by Robin in the box, goes down. No call. 

2nd goal, just minutes later, Burks played multiple nice long balls down the line. Scardina cuts in top of the box far side for Ostrem, who cuts back to his right and rips a great shot from 22 yards moving the defense side to side. 2-0 in 3 minutes. Ostrem usually doesn’t take that shot with his opposite foot. He did. And it was big time. 

https://twitter.com/ncaasoccer/status/1469516286443069445?s=21

Georgetown pressured. Tabora almost had one on a feed from Polvara right side, cuts it back and rips from short range. Great save Fowler. finally scored with 11 minutes left, diagonal aerial ball for Riviere back post. He beat Ostrem, and Sailor was out of the game with a shoulder injury. 2-1. Sailor immediately re-entered the game after that.

https://twitter.com/ncaasoccer/status/1469524691933138945?s=21

Washington was able to run out the clock.

UDub 4-4-2. Georgetown 4-2-3-1/4-4-2…it’s really 2 of Stojanovic, Hegardt, Tabora paired up top from a 4-2-3-1. Quiet games for 2 of those 3. Once again Tabora was rhe Hoyas best attacking player with Riviere making things happen on the wing off of the bench. Sands was good. Georgetown was disciplined but had the one mistake on the first goal. UDub defended well while Georgetown didn’t do enough in the final third.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Clemson 2 Washington 0

Clemson wins its 3 National Title, and, its first since 1987. They also won it in 1984.

Clemson was the better team today. They put together two good Final Four games. (ND had more dangerous chances than Washington) Clemson is very good, but at times, have been a little inconsistent this season. The first 30 minutes of the game was as good as Clemson hoped for. 

First minute, yes, first minute, a big UDUb mistake by very good keeper Sam Fowler. hit a long ball by Agren for Reid behind Robin. Fowler comes out to clear edge of the box, and he completely misses the ball. Reid gets it and finishes in the open net. 1-0 Clemson. (Marks was very good in goal all tourney for Clemson)

https://twitter.com/ncaasoccer/status/1470109139653300228?s=21

Clemson played a really good first 30 minutes of the half. They controlled the attacking midfield, getting low target passes in the middle, with combination play there and outside. Their speed and combination play gave Washington lots of trouble. 

2nd goal. Clemson was getting UDub to chase the ball often, working side to side after controlling the middle of the field. Here, up the right wing, Fernandez Salvadore sends it across the middle for Sylla, to Asensio wise left, service for Reid, header far post. 2-0 Clemson. 5 players touched the ball on this sequence. 

https://twitter.com/ncaasoccer/status/1470113143162642433?s=21

And that was much of the first half. In the 2nd, Clemson had a handful of balls played from the right wing at midfield, behind the defense for some near misses. Washington wasn’t able to get sustained pressure until the last 10 minutes. But they couldn’t get one to go. Washington really struggled offensively in the Final Four. Didn’t look sharp. 

Weather was good. Field was in excellent condition.

Clemson (about 4 hour drive) had big crowd support for both of their games.    Each team had their sections. But it was definitely a big partisan Clemson crowd.

Clemson played much of the season without a couple of forwards. So they rotate several attacking mids up top. 

 

……….

These were some of the highlights from Clemson v ND. Pretty even game. 

Tyler Shea makes an end to end run in transition and hits a left footed laser off of the bar in the 4th minute for ND. ND is a defensive team that improved its transition quite a bit this year.

Ten minutes later, diagonal ground  target pass from Diop up to Fernandez Salvador. He slows it down, cuts it back and buries it from 25 yards 1-0 Clemson.

https://twitter.com/ncaasoccer/status/1469446842693918725?s=21

20th minute Notre Dame pressure, McCartney cuts in from the left wing and rips one from outside the box that bangs off of the far post. Rebound to Roou for ND, and Diop takes him down for the PK. (call was fine) Lynn buries the PK 1-1.

This clip here shows the Clemson goal, the ND shot off of the post, the foul, and PK all on one:

https://twitter.com/ncaasoccer/status/1469475477526036491?s=21

Clemson advanced in PK’s. They also advanced in PK’s 1-1 game at Oregon St. And they had two other 1 goal wins. 

 

 

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Catching up with some recruiting notes as SLU hosts one of its Winter Prospect Camps this weekend.

Kevin Rivera, left back, FC United (Chicago) committed to SLU. (Same club team as Isaiah Parker) His U19 team won all 3 games at the MLS Next Winter Showcase. Talented player, Rivera will fit right in with what SLU likes to do with its outside wingbacks. 

Perhaps its a little bit fitting SLU is landing a few FC United Academy players, as FC United’s Club Director is St. Louisan David Roth. Billiken fans will remember David’s 30 yard rocket under the cross bar for Northwestern, that knocked SLU out of the 2006 NCAA Tourney. (SLU dominated the game)

SLU commit Marcos Moore (Rise, Houston, TX) played in the prestigious U17/U19 “Best of” game at the MLS Next Winter Showcase.

Good showing for U19 SLSG Academy and SLU commit, right wing, Matteo Boasso and his team as they won all 3 of their games. 

Also, there were some good recent showings for a few SLU recruiting targets at the National Showcase, including a few from Stl CITY Academy, SLSG, and elsewhere. CJ Coppola is playing at MNUFC Academy

Speaking of Minnesota, former Billiken Patrick Weah completed successful surgery for his torn left ACL. He’ll miss most of the 2022 season. He was on loan from MNUFC to Republic FC Sacramento this fall, after training with the first team this summer with Real Betis of La Liga.

SLSG ECNL Club ball began this past weekend. SLU commit Tanner Anderson scored 3 goals in two games, helping  his U17 team pick up a couple of league wins. This is the the first season for ECNL for SLSG Boys. Previously they were the “Elite” teams in USYS. 

 

 

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Horrible memory there Courtside regarding that Northwestern game.  Remember that clearly....SLU was dominating NW early.  Matteson picked up the ball in the center of the pitch....tried to play a pass forward but it hit the referee, fell to a NW player who found Roth out wide (east side).....where there were plenty of students ragging on him.  He took it up the field a bit and then just hammered a knuckler of a shot that made it under the near post.....even though Kaufmann, SLU's goalie, was there.  I think Kaufmann simply could not pick it up properly to deal with it given there was no spin on the ball.  Stunned the crowd and the team.

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34 minutes ago, SLUBALLS said:

Horrible memory there Courtside regarding that Northwestern game.  Remember that clearly....SLU was dominating NW early.  Matteson picked up the ball in the center of the pitch....tried to play a pass forward but it hit the referee, fell to a NW player who found Roth out wide (east side).....where there were plenty of students ragging on him.  He took it up the field a bit and then just hammered a knuckler of a shot that made it under the near post.....even though Kaufmann, SLU's goalie, was there.  I think Kaufmann simply could not pick it up properly to deal with it given there was no spin on the ball.  Stunned the crowd and the team.

Since I was there, my memory is just fine. Sometimes its okay to say the other team did something well, and won a game. Roth hit a good shot. 11 seeded SLU played well enough to win, but the Billikens ouldn't get a goal. 

https://nusports.com/news/2006/11/16/Wildcats_Upset_11th_Seeded_Saint_Louis_1_0.aspx

https://slubillikens.com/news/2006/11/16/205253026.aspx

https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/20580/northwestern-rolls-into-sweet-16.html

 

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1 hour ago, courtside said:

Since I was there, my memory is just fine. Sometimes its okay to say the other team did something well, and won a game. Roth hit a good shot. 11 seeded SLU played well enough to win, but the Billikens ouldn't get a goal. 

https://nusports.com/news/2006/11/16/Wildcats_Upset_11th_Seeded_Saint_Louis_1_0.aspx

https://slubillikens.com/news/2006/11/16/205253026.aspx

https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/20580/northwestern-rolls-into-sweet-16.html

 

Not questioning your memory.  Saying it was a horrible memory of a SLU soccer game.

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39 minutes ago, SLUBALLS said:

Not questioning your memory.  Saying it was a horrible memory of a SLU soccer game.

Oh, I see what you were trying to say. I was trying to understand what you were saying, as much of what you wrote was the same or similar.

Yep. That was a tough one. Missed opportunity there. Obviously, I still think of that one whenever Roth’s name comes up in a topic, lol. 

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Our own Isiah Parker didn't make one of the freshman All-American teams as posted by collegesoccernews.com which may be a bit of a surprise by some on the board who saw his impact and contributions this year. 

Just an observation:  Interestingly, of the 3 All-American teams collegesoccernews.com presented, 22 of the 33 players were non-US students.  Eight of the 11 first-team all-Americans were non-US as well.  SLU had a run with non-US players under McGinty but under Kalish, we seem to be focusing a bit more regionally in terms of overall recruiting.

https://collegesoccernews.com/2021-college-soccer-news-mens-all-freshmen-team-selections/

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1 hour ago, SLUBALLS said:

Our own Isiah Parker didn't make one of the freshman All-American teams as posted by collegesoccernews.com which may be a bit of a surprise by some on the board who saw his impact and contributions this year. 

Just an observation:  Interestingly, of the 3 All-American teams collegesoccernews.com presented, 22 of the 33 players were non-US students.  Eight of the 11 first-team all-Americans were non-US as well.  SLU had a run with non-US players under McGinty but under Kalish, we seem to be focusing a bit more regionally in terms of overall recruiting.

https://collegesoccernews.com/2021-college-soccer-news-mens-all-freshmen-team-selections/

I think this is more of a College Soccer News thing than it is an Isaiah Parker thing. The two places that are often used for college soccer players, coaches, recruits, are United Soccer Coaches, and Top Drawer Soccer.

Top Drawer Soccer will release its end of year, Freshmen Top 100, soon. Parker was ranked 2nd Nationally in their midseason rankings. (Seth Anderson was 20th) 

7 College Freshmen were invited to the MLS College Soccer Showcase recently out of the 44 players invited:

Isaiah Parker, SLU.

Shak Mohammed, Duke. 

Aboubacar Camara, Louisville.

Joran Gerbet, Oregon St.

Erik Centeno, Pacific.

Luke Hille, NC State.

Danny Flores, Virginia Tech.

Josh Bolma from Maryland was also invited. He is a Redshirt Freshman.

So, it’s fair to say that plenty of other places are well aware of Isaiah’s play and potential. 

Different programs do things differently. As for International players, SLU recruits locally, regionally, nationally, internationally. No stone unturned. Even locally, SLU recruits Academy players, ECNL players, USYS players etc…

SLU has a nice balance geographically.

10 players from St. Louis, or roughly one third of the team. 

11 different states represented. 

3 International players. 

This includes players from several different backgrounds. As for high minute players, the same or similar balance holds up as well.

SLU will add to that diversity in next year’s class. 

 

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