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21 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

They are in the top 10 in every major pole right now, and #12 in RPI, only lost 1 game to one of the top teams in the country. Last year they were never ranked.

And SLU had a strong finish to its season last season, won its conference tournament last year, and advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tourney with a win at Ole Miss. 

RPI is considered in the NCAA Selection process and seeding process. That’s the one to follow.

Other non RPI polls and rankings are great for recruiting and marketing purposes all season, and those types of things. 

This week, United Soccer Coaches dropped SLU to 11th from 10th. 8 of the 9 teams ahead of SLU stayed in the top 10. 1 team dropped out, and 2 teams jumped past SLU. 

Penn State defeated Rutgers 2-0 and Illinois 5-0 to jump past SLU. TCU defeated Kansas and tied Texas. (that one is more questionable)

SLU dropped from 8 to 9 in Top Drawer Soccer Poll. And they improved from 10 to 8 in College Soccer News.

As long as SLU keeps winning games, they will stay in mix adjusted slightly weekly, for the non RPI polls. 

SLU’s RPI is 12.

One of multiple goals would be to get potential home games the first two rounds of the NCAA Tourney. Long way to go for that. 

 

 

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Getting some home games in the NCAA tourney would be great, but we are a long way from that. Need to keep up with the schedule and beat the teams that we play, then win the A10 Tournament (which is also based on the higher ranked team hosting), the we can worry about the NCAA. It’s a long way to go until then, George Mason is up next, concentrate on beating them.

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SLU’s real problem at this point is that they’ve peaked in RPI, only way to go is down since they don’t play any high ranked teams. Highest RPI foe right now on the schedule is VCU, at 41. Beating lower ranked teams doesn’t help your RPI, but losing to a lower ranked team sure can hurt it. The only thing they can do is play one game at a time and find a way to beat them. Next up is George Mason, RPI of 243. Beating them does nothing to help SLU’s RPI, but you can’t lose to them and expect anything but a real sharp decline in RPI.

Highest Conference regular season ranking gets you home field in the A10 conf tourney, and the higher your RPI come NCAA tourney time, the better chance at getting a home game in the NCAA (highest ranked team gets home field until the final 4 in Cary, NC). Grind out those wins, Roll Bills!

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14 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

SLU’s real problem at this point is that they’ve peaked in RPI, only way to go is down since they don’t play any high ranked teams. Highest RPI foe right now on the schedule is VCU, at 41. Beating lower ranked teams doesn’t help your RPI, but losing to a lower ranked team sure can hurt it. The only thing they can do is play one game at a time and find a way to beat them. Next up is George Mason, RPI of 243. Beating them does nothing to help SLU’s RPI, but you can’t lose to them and expect anything but a real sharp decline in RPI.

Highest Conference regular season ranking gets you home field in the A10 conf tourney, and the higher your RPI come NCAA tourney time, the better chance at getting a home game in the NCAA (highest ranked team gets home field until the final 4 in Cary, NC). Grind out those wins, Roll Bills!

Got an idea, now hear me out...let's just win the rest of the games on the schedule. 

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With regards to the schedule, SLU has done a great job with scheduling. 2 out of the past 3 seasons they have had 5 Power 5/top non Power 5 non-conference games. This year it was 4. It’s been established as 4 or 5 per season. Many of these games are scheduled regionally, trying to strategically schedule a team in each of the top leagues. 

Some may have no idea how difficult it has been for SLU to schedule top level teams. And, to get the two they had at home this year was big time. Hopefully SLU can stretch the number of those non-conference games to 6. 

It’s good to get a rotation of KC area games, and in every other year when they don’t already have one in Chicago. 

The Women’s team has also tried for years to get some of these games sprinkled later in the season as they Men have been able to do. But the league hasn’t exactly been the most helpful with this.

Just from non-conference winning percentage alone this season, the A10 didn’t finish in the top 10. 

In order it was:

ACC, SEC, Pac 12, Big Ten, WCC, Big 12, Ivy, CAA, AAC, Big East.

As stated, Loyola was a very good addition to the league, 55 RPI currently. And they had a good non-conference schedule. I would have liked to have seen a tougher schedule for Dayton non-conference, especially since they play in a new Spring Ball tourney against some good regional opponents. The bottom few teams is what hurts the A10 the most. 

SLU is doing fine. This isn’t anything new. Moving forward this season, it’s also about the success of your non-conference opponents in their leagues. SLU tries to schedule some teams based on how they would do that season. It goes without saying that the league is SLU’s biggest recruiting hurdle. But SLU isn’t joining one of the above ten any times soon. So improving the teams the A10 has, (Loyola), is most helpful.

La Salle is an example of a team that hasn’t been competitive but improved a little bit, and they have a 70 RPI. A win at Seton Hall, Towson, St Francos, Colgate, Albany, and scheduled Rutgers (1-3 loss), etc…

It’s the bottom:

Richmond 322, St. Joes 261, George Mason 242, Fordham 241, Bonnies 222, GW 214, etc….

 

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SLU has done a fantastic job scheduling non-conference opponents. Frankly I’m amazed they wanted to play SLU at all.  But due to how the conference works, those games can only be scheduled early. (I also think part of that has to do with the other conferences. Example, if you played in the ACC, and had to go against teams currently rated 2,3,4,6,7,14,19, 22,30,34,47, I’m not sure you go looking for another good non-conference team to play, you get your share just playing conference games.). It would be great if the A10 conference had higher ranked teams, teams, but right now they don’t, and they are where they are in the rankings. Net result, SLU has peaked in the rankings, their playing teams ranked much worse than them, even if they beat them, just doesn’t move the rankings at all upward. It’s simply how it is, so all SLU can do is play one game at a time. GM is up next, go beat them.

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Arkansas 1 Texas A&M 0 (17 straight home wins for Arkansas)

Nebraska 1 Purdue 1 (21 shots on the road for Nebraska)

Xavier 1 Villanova 0 (X has won 5 straight since losing to SLU)

Notre Dame 3 Boston College 0

...............

Belated congratulations to SLU alum Maddie Pokorny for another big UEFA Women's Champions League goal for HB Koge. Maddie scored in the 8th minute in a 1-1 draw with Italian Champs Juventus. 

Maddie's goal on a diagonal run from the right wing:

https://www.hbkoge.dk/uafgjort-mod-juventus-i-foerste-playoff-kamp/

https://twitter.com/hbkogedk/status/1572289757992058881?t=BXlIdgffIJyHCm7ejAolQw&s=19

 

(juventus won the return game 2-0.)

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Nice weather for the game. Not sure how many dogs got adopted today, but that was a nice event to have at the game (curtesy of Home2Home Canine Orphanage, looks like a great organization, maybe the Billikens do this again?). The Billikens basically dominated at least 88 minutes of the 90 played, outshot them 42-1, 19 of them on goal, forcing GM to make 16 saves. Should have been more, I’m guessing that what Coach Sheilds said about “a few items to clean up”. I didn’t realize just how inexperienced GM was, on the program they had 18 players listed as freshmen, and 2 as red-shirt freshmen. Not sure how they ended up with that many players to replace in one year, but it is what it is. Nice goals from Caroline Kelly, Hannah Sawyer, and Jess Preusser, and assists from Emily Gaebe and Emily Groark. Now that Jess Preusser has scored (12th different player to score this year), who will be #13?  Anna Walsh? Hannah Smith?

Hannah Larson didn’t play, but I didn’t see anything on her foot, and she spent the day pushing someone around in a wheelchair all afternoon, so I’m guessing she’s back next week. I’m not sure who was in the wheelchair or why. 
It was sad to see the GM player carted off the field into the training room. She was carted back to the GM side and given some crutches. I didn’t see any dirty play on it at all, looked unremarkable until they called in all the trainers and the cart. Just one of those things that happened. I hate seeing that at a women’s college game,

Next up UMass out east on Oct 9th. 12-1 Billikens still undefeated in A10 play.

Edited by Lord Elrond
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4-2-3-1 throughout for SLU.

George Mason’s coach took a Deputy AD position at the school during the Summer before last season. Manya Puppione was a decorated player at the highest levels. But she limited coaching experience. Lots of transfers and Freshmen as as she is just getting started there.

Heavy pressure throughout for SLU. Early goal. 10 subs. Although starters were put in later to add on to a two goal lead at the time. A little bit Inefficient in the final third. Execution wasn’t quite crisp enough. Needed an extra pass at times, needed a shot instead at times, needed a little more urgency at times. Lots of close misses. George Mason’s keeper was solid and they defended the final 18. 

Walsh off of the cross bar on a free kick, followed by a header rebound goal from Beach that was incorrectly called back. Gaebe off of the near post left side. Several more.  

Goals:

Groark and Lawler have been doing this together since they were little kids:

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1576637382295592961?s=21&t=p-awihEbH1ei-JmAGeryEQ

………………..

Gaebe draws attention multiple defenders, gets a shot blocked but space is opened for Sawyer:

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1576644692426784768?s=21&t=p-awihEbH1ei-JmAGeryEQ

…………..

Groark did a lot of two way work on the wing, also played in the middle. Gaebe again drawing a defender. Preusser finishes the rebound clearance:

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1576662746329858048?s=21&t=p-awihEbH1ei-JmAGeryEQ

…………………

SLU’s RPI dropped from 10 before the game to 17.

Others:

Notre Dame 4 (idle)

Arkansas 6 (idle)

Xavier 25 (2-0 W over Seton Hall)

Nebraska 59 (2-0 W at Indiana)

………….

Loyola Chi 73 (1-0 L vs Dayton)

La Salle 103 (4-2 L vs Duquesne)

………………..

 

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9 hours ago, slufanskip said:

A segment on the ladies soccer about to be on Sports Plus. Will have Bill McDermott

The flick backwards by Lawler (on the first goal)  was a play that few would have been able to make at that point and, if able, most would not have thought to do it without eyes in the back of their heads.  Also, a heads up play by Kelly to seemingly anticipate Lawler's pass.

Good job ladies.  You are giving the sports community a second "feel good story"  along with Albert.  The one-sidedness of the game gave Katie a chance to play more of the roster.  I think Heckel was the only 90 minute field player.  Now if we can just get Lawson back for the end of the season, then great !

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The goal they called off - the one that would've been SLU's second goal and wound up being followed by what would eventually be the second goal less than a minute later - did they think it touched her arm and not just her head? I had the ESPN+ broadcast volume turned down but they zoomed in on the point of contact and rewound and played it several times. It didn't appear to hit her arm, if that was the objection.

If this team could be more efficient as finishers, they could lead the nation in goals.

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1 hour ago, Pistol said:

The goal they called off - the one that would've been SLU's second goal and wound up being followed by what would eventually be the second goal less than a minute later - did they think it touched her arm and not just her head? I had the ESPN+ broadcast volume turned down but they zoomed in on the point of contact and rewound and played it several times. It didn't appear to hit her arm, if that was the objection.

If this team could be more efficient as finishers, they could lead the nation in goals.

I thought it was offsides. Your question made me look at the play by play, and I think it happened about 5 minutes before the second goal.

27:30 - Foul on Friedrich

28:12 - Offsides STL

32:53 - Goal by Sawyer

there was nothing else called against SLU between those

I didn’t see the replay, was at the game, but I thought it was on the offsides that they called off the goal. Guess I’ll have to see if I can watch the replay on ESPN+

 

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2 hours ago, bauman said:

The flick backwards by Lawler (on the first goal)  was a play that few would have been able to make at that point and, if able, most would not have thought to do it without eyes in the back of their heads.  Also, a heads up play by Kelly to seemingly anticipate Lawler's pass.

Good job ladies.  You are giving the sports community a second "feel good story"  along with Albert.  The one-sidedness of the game gave Katie a chance to play more of the roster.  I think Heckel was the only 90 minute field player.  Now if we can just get Lawson back for the end of the season, then great !

Were you at the game? 

The Mason Keep was actually pretty good. When I first saw her, I was thinking it would be a field day as she was listed at 5'7" but was no taller than 5'5" if comparing her to teammates she was standing next to. She was also, let's just say thick. However, she was very quick and got down to low shots very fast and could cover some ground. She made a few very nice saves. 

Caroline Kelly was very impressive and dangerous every time she touched the ball. She had quite a physical battle going on with Mason's #13 who did a lot of grabbing and holding. I honestly though she should have gotten a yellow just for accumulation of fouls. Kelly also though can get pretty physical and gave it back well. It was a good battle and fun to watch. I sat on the side SLU shot at both halves about 25 yards out. (I moved at the beginning of the 2nd half) 

Hannah L looked to be moving well, like someone else said, she was pushing someone around in a wheelchair, but I couldn't tell who. 

When they put Groark, Gaebe, and Kelly all back in the game together with about 13 min left, I knew we'd get another goal pretty quickly and we did. Gaebe is surprisingly fast, there was a couple of runs where she just switched gears. 

I thought the ref was the best I've seen this year. I couldn't tell what happened on the goal that was called back, but he took his time and explained the call to both coaches. He kept up with play, made the right call as I saw it most of the time and slowed it down and spoke to players to calm things down a couple of times. I'd like to have him more often. 

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30 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

I thought it was offsides. Your question made me look at the play by play, and I think it happened about 5 minutes before the second goal.

27:30 - Foul on Friedrich

28:12 - Offsides STL

32:53 - Goal by Sawyer

there was nothing else called against SLU between those

I didn’t see the replay, was at the game, but I thought it was on the offsides that they called off the goal. Guess I’ll have to see if I can watch the replay on ESPN+

So if you're watching the ESPN+ replay (which I just pulled up) it happens with 12:20 remaining in the half. Anna Walsh puts a free kick off the crossbar, the rebound ends up going to Sydney Beach, whose header hits the post and the goalie before bouncing in. It may have been goalie interference on Abbie Miller, who was in the net and behind the goalie right before it happened. The ref let the line ref call it. If it was offsides, it was impossible to see from the broadcast, and it pretty decisively appears that they're onside on the instant replay. So my assumption based on the replays on mute was that they were seeing whether it touched her arm, which it didn't. And I don't see actual goalie interference, either.

Sawyer's goal was 15 seconds later (broadcast and box score times aren't perfectly aligned). The box score just shows:

32:37 - Shot by Anna Walsh out top (this is the free kick)
32:53 - Shot by Emily Gaebe (which was stopped)
32:53 - Goal by Hannah Sawyer (the rebound)

Whatever the infraction was happened between Walsh's and Gaebe's shots.

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2 hours ago, Pistol said:

The goal they called off - the one that would've been SLU's second goal and wound up being followed by what would eventually be the second goal less than a minute later - did they think it touched her arm and not just her head? I had the ESPN+ broadcast volume turned down but they zoomed in on the point of contact and rewound and played it several times. It didn't appear to hit her arm, if that was the objection.

If this team could be more efficient as finishers, they could lead the nation in goals.

Ok, so from the replay, it was Sydney Beach who got the goal called off. It happened maybe 30 seconds before the second  goal, the ball bounced off the top crossbar and Beach headed it perfectly into the goal.  The problem that I saw was that Abbie Miller found herself actually in the goal, and was trying to get out of the goal while Beach headed the ball in, and Miller got out of the goal by squeezing between keeper and side post, and hit the goalie while the goalie was trying to make a play on the ball. I think the right call there was goalkeeper interference, but they didn’t call it.

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1 minute ago, Lord Elrond said:

They could theoretically called it offsides, Abbie Miller was actually IN the goal, after all, but that didn’t make it in the box score either.

My understanding is and I'm not 100% sure though, is that she couldn't be offsides while in the goal as she's not on the field. However, did she start to reenter the field of play before the actual header? If so, she is absolutely offsides. I need to also go watch the replay

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Except there are 2 GMU defenders even deeper than Miller.

Edit: Could they have determined that she reentered the field and the 2 GMU defenders didn't, therefore making her offsides? I'm watching the replay and all 3 of them are behind the endline when the ball leaves Beach's head. So they got it wrong no matter what they called.

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1 minute ago, slufanskip said:

My understanding is and I'm not 100% sure though, is that she couldn't be offsides while in the goal as she's not on the field. However, did she start to reenter the field of play before the actual header? If so, she is absolutely offsides. I need to also go watch the replay

I was just thinking that. Theoretically, Miller was out of bounds while she was in the other teams goals. It does look like from the replay that she was getting out of the goal while the ball was being played by the goalie.

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1 minute ago, Lord Elrond said:

I was just thinking that. Theoretically, Miller was out of bounds while she was in the other teams goals. It does look like from the replay that she was getting out of the goal while the ball was being played by the goalie.

Is that an automatic goalie interference call?

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