TU Men's Soccer Fall 2024

[TU_BLA]

Figured I'd start this thread since we're about 2 weeks away from preseason games starting. I know the team is back on campus practicing.

TU will start the season with a pair of exhibition games in Dallas vs SMU and Richland CC. 1st regular season match is August 22nd vs UNLV in Vegas. There is a pretty good non-con schedule including both Creighton and MoState, teams that have been consistently ranked in the top 20 the last few seasons. And the upgrade in the AAC also helps. Losing SMU hurts but I hope they get their asses handed to them in the ACC. FIU, FAU, UAB, and Charlotte should all be solid. Temple shouldn't be a problem, and I don't know about Memphis. On paper they should be good but they always seem so inconsistent in their play.

In terms of the roster, Alex Lopex is back for his senior season and is probably the least contentious spot in terms of who is going to start between the pipes. Wes Bottenburg returns as a CB and should be one fo the two starters in the back. Camilo Vargas is probably the other that will start back there. He was good for TU last year when Bottenburg was injured. I'd expect the D from VA, Nils Orywol to be in the mix as well, and maybe Cooper King but I think King might be moved to the outside. Will Edwards is listed as a F but he's played as an outside FB the last 2 years and I suspect they'll keep him there for stability. In the MF I suspect Torrijos and Sekiguchi will make up 2/3 of the MF at the 8 and the 10 and maybe John Dalby as the 6. I know he spelled Sach the last couple of years at that spot and he seems capable.

I have no idea who is going to score for this team. I think Wormington and Berry might have a shot to be that 9, but they're both FR.

Right now there were players I expected to see on the roster but am not. Tom also added a pair of players from Ghana. If they were in some sort of academy over there then my guess is they might be a little more developed physically than the scrawny HS kids you see typically come out of the US.

I'm hoping to get to some more games this season and should have the time to do it.

 

[TulsaRulzOSUdrools]

Boys tied 2-2 at the SMU scrimmage yesterday. SMU was ranked #10 in the country going into the season.

 

[TU_BLA]

Boys tied 2-2 at the SMU scrimmage yesterday. SMU was ranked #10 in the country going into the season.

Good to know. Always take the preseason things with a grain of salt. Probably players who won't see 10 min of time this season got a chance to see what they can do..

 

[TU_BLA]

Interesting, there is no article on tulsahurricane.com about the men's weekend results.

 

[TU_BLA]

TU dropped their opener, 2-0 to UNLV. Stats were pretty even (9-8 shots, 5-5 SOG, 3 corners each). TU had a goal wiped off due to offside (off a corner so weird). Bummer. TU hosts Louisville on Wednesday. Should be a good match/test

 

[TU_BLA]

At the TU vs Louisville game. Will let everyone know the starters are when they announce them. Segukuchi (sp?) I'm willing to bet he starts at the 7 or 11. And maybe the kid from Bartlesville might be the 9.

Hard to tell just from warm ups but it appears Louisville only brought 1 keeper unless the other already went to the locker room.

It also appears TU has put up a new scoreboard for soccer. Wish they would have put up a small video board with it for replays. I know this one is on ESPN + but it looks like TU might be upping their production quality some. They've got the big time TV cameras out. One on a scissor lift in the north end zone and one at about MF up by the press box.

 

[TU_BLA]

Looks like Lopez at GK, Bottenburg, Will Edwards, Luke Adams, Will Applegate, Bowen McCliud, Seliguchi, Alex Cunningham, Nike Orywol,Gyuon Chong, and Torrijos. Lots of new faces starting

Louisville has some size in the back.

 

[TU_BLA]

Louisville scores 10 minutes in from 40 yds catching Lopez off his line. TU has controlled the majority of play to this point keeping Louisville on their heels and without being able to control any possession. Louisville has already picked up 2 yellows and I'll be shocked if they finish the game with 11 players. They go in for tackles hard and on the ground almost every challenge.

 

[lawpoke87]

Only the second game but this is starting to look at bit like last season.

 

[TU_BLA]

TU scores just before half to make it 2-1 Louisville. Louisville's 2nd goal was a carbon copy of their first, maybe a touch closer. Alex needs to stay back on his line because TU thoroughly dominated the half and going against the wind. A lot of good looks and dangerous crosses off corners. Louisville has not been able to create anything or keep possession. I think they made 2 forward subs that half but their MFs and defenders had to work hard that half as they were chasing TU all over the place.

TUs goal was scored by Ian Belong, the kid from Bartlesville. I'd say TU was more dangerous with their 3 sub forwards than they were with the starters.

Honestly with the group of 16 players who have played for TU, they are a good and dangerous team, a lot like 2 years ago. They need better goalkeeping and can't give up cheap goals like they have. My understanding is the goal conceded to UNLV was a similar goal.

 

[TU_BLA]

Only the second game but this is starting to look at bit like last season.

GK needs to be better. If you give up 3 goals and they're all from distance, you may need to adjust the way you position yourself when the ball is in shooting range. Teams know he plays high and are shooting from everywhere. Louisville took a shot with 20 seconds left from MF because Lopez was at the top of the 18.

 

[lawpoke87]

Thought we played much better the last 25 minutes. Need a couple of goals

 

[TU_BLA]

Disappointing loss knowing you thoroughly outplayed the #24 team in the country. I mean Louisville had 1 dangerous attack all game. The 2 goals weren't even team defensive mistakes. Your GK absolutely needs to make both of those saves. I mean TU had like a 17-7 advantage in shots, probably an 8 or 9 to maybe 3 in corners. And somewhere around a 60/40 advantage in possession. I think TU will be OK. They do need to find some finishing in the final 1/3 but I think Belong and the kid from Ghana that played the majority of the game at the 9 are going to find plenty of goals this season.

TU absolutely needs to keep Torrijos healthy. He makes everything go and you can notice the drop off when Dalby is in at the 6. I like This defenders. They're pretty damn good. Louisville wasn't able to find any space in the middle at all and they played with good shape and understanding of each other and their cover responsibilities. Again, I didn't feel that either goal was due to a defensive mistake.

 

[TulsaRulzOSUdrools]

TU scores just before half to make it 2-1 Louisville. Louisville's 2nd goal was a carbon copy of their first, maybe a touch closer. Alex needs to stay back on his line because TU thoroughly dominated the half and going against the wind. A lot of good looks and dangerous crosses off corners. Louisville has not been able to create anything or keep possession. I think they made 2 forward subs that half but their MFs and defenders had to work hard that half as they were chasing TU all over the place.

TUs goal was scored by Ian Belong, the kid from Bartlesville. I'd say TU was more dangerous with their 3 sub forwards than they were with the starters.

Honestly with the group of 16 players who have played for TU, they are a good and dangerous team, a lot like 2 years ago. They need better goalkeeping and can't give up cheap goals like they have. My understanding is the goal conceded to UNLV was a similar goal.

It seems like Alex gets kind of arrogant at times. I did not see the game, so I can't comment, but I have seen him play enough that he tends to get out of position. It cost us an appearance in the NCAA tournament when he decided to take down the player in the box.

 

[TU_BLA]

It seems like Alex gets kind of arrogant at times. I did not see the game, so I can't comment, but I have seen him play enough that he tends to get out of position. It cost us an appearance in the NCAA tournament when he decided to take down the player in the box.

He plays high and always has and he's probably the best GK in the NCAA with the ball at his feet. However, at his height (listed at 5'10 but I'd be shocked if he's 1/2" over 5'8) he needs to be on his line when teams get within shooting range. If he were 6'2 he might get away with it, but he's not and needs to adjust.

 

[TU_BLA]

Beat Cal-Poly 3-2 yesterday and needed an 88th minute PK to do so. Lopez did not start in goal. The 2 GA were good goals and defensive breakdowns. 2nd one was particularly atrocious as 3 defenders kept ceding ground to an attacker who wasn't going to pass the ball. How you let him walk straight to the top of the 18 and rip a shot is inexcusable.

I believe Cal Poly had a slight advantage in overall shots but the two teams were even in SOG and corners. I tried watching on my phone while also watching the LSU/USC game. It looked like teams were fairly even on possession. Cal Poly had an advantage in their speed up front. Really good forwards.

Not impressed with the GK TU ran out there. Not great with his feet. Not great hands (spilled a couple balls including a soft header off a corner late that ended up bouncing around in the middle of the 6 and causing some angina for me. Upon replay Tom should be trying another GK as you need to have a GK with hands out there).

Team needs to continue to be better. I think the talent overall is there and right now Tom is trying to figure out his rotations.

 

[TUcandoit]

I'm not understanding the second half tactic tonight. It's literally get the ball in the backfield and then kick it as far as we can and give it back to Missouri St. We aren't even trying to develope plays. There has been about 5 plays in a row now if 30-40 yard kicks

 

[lawpoke87]

Zero shots on goal tonight as the boys fall 0-1.

 

[TU_BLA]

Zero shots on goal tonight as the boys fall 0-1.

At some point they've got to get out of the 12 year old mentality that they have to be inside the 6 to shoot the ball. Plenty of possession and plenty of chances in the attacking 1/3 but no one will shoot the damn ball. And the GA, IMO, was a save-able and Alex just didn't react. And really it was a goal against the run of play. Not that TU dominated the game like they did against Louisville, but their defense was still very good for the most part.

 

[TU_BLA]

Eesh, 3-0 loss to Creighton on Saturday. Tom must be pulling out what remaining hair he has. This team simply cannot score...which was a primary concern coming in knowing what we lost on offense. More concerning is TU's lack of an ability to keep the ball out of their own net. The GK'ing simply has been poor this season, something you didn't expect with a 4 year returning starter. They've been starting the other GK the last 2 games and he hasn't faired much better.

 

[TUcandoit]

What is going on with men's soccer. We have consistently been a national power house. We are now 1-5-1 with a loss to a horrible Memphis team. What is causing this backslide. We know McDonald can coach.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

What is going on with men's soccer. We have consistently been a national power house. We are now 1-5-1 with a loss to a horrible Memphis team. What is causing this backslide. We know McDonald can coach.

Wrong irish name. McIntosh.

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

McDonald needs to bring in the Hamburgler and Grimace to salvage the season.

 

[TU_BLA]

In a nutshell, we are getting punched in the face early. TU is playing their typical style of possessing the ball, building up and creating some chances but they lack a quality pure finisher like they've had the last few years, so they haven't been getting in the board early. Then they get countered and it's usually super quick and against the run of play. I don't know about the Creighton game as I didn't get to watch but against Louisville, MoState, and probably this game, TU had the ball a lot but didn't cash in their chances. And it's usually not 1 but 2 goals they give up early like this and then they dominate possession and chances the rest of the game and usually claw one back but not able to get the 2nd. And atypical of his first 3 seasons, Alex has not been good this year in goal. His confidence and aggressiveness has been his undoing as he has been getting caught off his line a bunch. And the 2nd guy hasn't been great and he's not respected as much as Alex when he has the ball at his feet as teams will press him and TU...with Alex they usually drop back to the middle 1/3 to set up their defense. TU's CBs are OK, but what this team lacks that the teams from 2 and 3 years ago had were dynamic outside backs who could help trigger the attack. The margin is slim right now...I don't believe the team is far off from being a good team and maybe even really good. I think Tom has a couple of forwards who could develop into those pure finishers but they're both true FR.

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

1-5-1 is most likely the worst start in program history. I don’t have the time to flip through the old media books, but I’m sure it is. Maybe time for Tom to let it go. That Rhein guy could run both programs for $5 an hour, which would be a nice pay raise.

 

[TU_BLA]

TU (and Tom) are officially in trouble. 4-0 loss to UMKC last night. It appears Ryan Pore has elevated himself from the apprentice to the master and took last night's opportunity to strike Tom down (I apologize if my Star Wars reference is lost on everyone...I promise it's funnier in my head).

4-0 is one of those losses that tells me the team has given up on the season already....not a good thing with the bulk of conference play still in front of us.

 

[lawpoke87]

TU (and Tom) are officially in trouble. 4-0 loss to UMKC last night. It appears Ryan Pore has elevated himself from the apprentice to the master and took last night's opportunity to strike Tom down (I apologize if my Star Wars reference is lost on everyone...I promise it's funnier in my head).

4-0 is one of those losses that tells me the team has given up on the season already....not a good thing with the bulk of conference play still in front of us.

Fair to say the force is not with the TU men

 

[TUcandoit]

I still don't see why we have fallen so fast and so hard in soccer. Not even 10 years ago we were #2 in the country. 2 seasons ago we started ranked around #15. Now here we sit at 1-5-1... and not even being competitive in a lot of those games.

 

[drboobay]

Men beat South Florida tonight to put them in good position to make the conference tourney after a horrible start to the season. Happy for them. Lots of close losses so anything can happen.

 

[TU_BLA]

Men beat South Florida tonight to put them in good position to make the conference tourney after a horrible start to the season. Happy for them. Lots of close losses so anything can happen.

TU scored with just over 3 minutes left. And if you haven't seen the goal, go look it up on Instagram. Camilo Vargas took a ball over the shoulder with a one time volley just inside the top of the box and beat the GK short side. It was a ridiculous goal.

Yesterday was a good day for teams I root for or against. TU wins in football and soccer, Celtics and Bruins both win. Today just need Liverpool to beat Arsenal. Oh, and OU and OSU both lost...makes it even sweeter..and the Yankees are down 2-0 in the WS. If the Patriots can beat the Jets I may just take some money to a casino and hedge the good fortune🤣

 

[TU_BLA]

TU men play their final home game tonight and it's senior night. Most notably Alex Lopez, Will Edwards, and Alvaro Torrijos. There are a few others but these 3 played 4 seasons at TU and were big contributors to TUs NCAA runs and arguably the best team in TU history

 

[TU_BLA]

A win by TU all but assures their spot in the AAC tournament and might even move them up to hose a 1st round game depending on how other games shake out. Their upset of USF really put them in a control their own destiny spot.

 

[drboobay]

Edwards has not been playing. Hurt?

 

[TU_BLA]

Edwards has not been playing. Hurt?

Possibly. From the games I've watched he's done a lot of mixing and matching. I know early on Will was starting at left fullback. TU wasn't particularly good early on and has been better lately. I almost think TU would be better served with a 3-5-2 lineup w/ a double 6 pivot instead of the 4-4-2 (maybe they used some 4-3-3 too).

 

[drboobay]

Possibly. From the games I've watched he's done a lot of mixing and matching. I know early on Will was starting at left fullback. TU wasn't particularly good early on and has been better lately. I almost think TU would be better served with a 3-5-2 lineup w/ a double 6 pivot instead of the 4-4-2 (maybe they used some 4-3-3 too).

I have only seen the last two matches and no mention of Edwards I think.

 

[TU_BLA]

I have only seen the last two matches and no mention of Edwards I think.

I have not been following as closely as I have the last few years. The poor start to the season and usually when I check the scores they've given up 1 or even 2 early goals and are down have sort of kept me from furthering my TU athletic misery this season.

 

[drboobay]

I have not been following as closely as I have the last few years. The poor start to the season and usually when I check the scores they've given up 1 or even 2 early goals and are down have sort of kept me from furthering my TU athletic misery this season.

They looked pretty good the last two. Hope for a win tonight.