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TU Men's Soccer Fall thread

outhern Methodist University Logo

OCT 27 (WED) 7:00 PM
AMERICAN
AT
SMU
DALLAS, TEXAS
TV: ESPN+
 
The American really did a disservice by scheduling these games on Wednesday nights. TU's home game did well because the local youth clubs advertised the hell out of it and one (TSC) paid for every kid and their families to go if they wanted to. If this were a weekend, like this Saturday, I would have loaded up and gone to Dallas for this game and come back on Sunday AM.
 
As a defender, I find the level of calm and ball control in front of our own goal to be both incredible and terrifying.
 
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Nil nil tie. SMU is thuggish. Meinhard got hurt. Some sort of foot injury. TU had a lot of good looks.

But UCF lost to USF so we are back in first place.
 
TU picked up a yellow card tonight. Mitchell Cashion took an SMU player down. It was weird because the ref played advantage for SMU and went back to show the yellow after SMU fired a shot 20 yards over the goal.

SMU had 5-6 yellows, at least 2 were for dissent. And if there was VAR in college soccer, #13 for SMU would have been shown a red for his foul. It was bad in real time and even worse when they showed the replay. Since it would have been his 3rd red card on the season, it would be a 3 game suspension. You can compare SMU to Arsenal in the number of players suspended for yellow card accumulation and red card suspensions. At the start of the EPL this year, an Arsenal player was shown straight red and it was something like the 8th red to an Arsenal player under Arteta. SMU has mistaken their harsh, reckless play for aggressive defending...and some are just dumb fouls. The red shown in the last 2 minutes is a great example. There is absolutely no reason that defender should be going that hard straight on, studs up in that situation. I don't even know why he went down to make the tackle. If he stands his ground he pins Bromstedt on the sideline and forces the ball back or at worst, deflects the ball out for a throw in.

And the dumb yellows they picked up for the dissent as well. #25 picked one up for loudly arguing about something in the 1st half and midway through the 2nd half he had an awkward and reckless challenge that got whistled for a foul that could have been shown yellow but I think the ref realized and gave him a stern warning. The GK got a yellow in the 2nd for wasting time AFTER being warned 2 other times and he could have been given another card in the 2nd OT for wasting more time. SMU has talented players. #11 is ridiculously good and if he was taller than an Oompa Loompa he might have a chance in MLS. But SMU doesn't play smart soccer and it became clear to me last night that they were holding on for the last 20 minutes of the game and through OT. They had a couple of chances but they all seemed outside and somewhat speculative. TU had the best chances of the night and it seemed like they had better stretches of sustained possession and attack throughout the night.

Last thought: Meinhard needs to be healthy for this team moving forward. TU has some depth at forward this year but Meinhard is a dynamic striker. He can beat defenders 1 v 1, he can beat most defenders in the air, and he has great vision and can pick out a pass to set teammates up for great chances.
 
No kidding. They were the first game as well. Hope Meinhard is ok.
It's laughable now that some SMU fans blamed local Tulsa officials for the number of cards they picked up in the 1st game. It sounds like this has been a problem for SMU all season and referee crews know and talk about it beforehand. Wonder what their excuse is for all the cards they picked up last night with local dallas refs?
 
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It's laughable now that some SMU fans blamed local Tulsa officials for the number of cards they picked up in the 1st game. It sounds like this has been a problem for SMU all season and referee crews know and talk about it beforehand. Wonder what their excuse is for all the cards they picked up last night with local dallas refs?
Wasn’t #13 the problem player during the game at Tulsa as well?
 
Yes. He’s crazy.

SMU has some big dudes who would be good at rugby or some other violent sport. It seemed like we had way more skill.
 
It wasn't a win but it was still worth 1 point. TU sitting at 19 overall points and sole possession of first place. Two games left to go with a game here I believe against second place UCF
 
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Wasn’t #13 the problem player during the game at Tulsa as well?
He plays MF and I think he's more of a defensive MF. He's not that big...maybe 5'7 and he's kind of scrawny. He's just way to aggressive on defense and way to eager to go to ground to make a tackle...and honestly a slide tackle should be the last resort. Where on the field SMU is attempting these slide tackles is as much a problem and indicative of a problem no one talks about....they're simply not the smartest soccer players. A slide tackle us usually a desperation move because the defender is out of position, either being part there by the attacker OR (and more likely the case with SMU) a lack of discipline in playing solid team defense and holding a shape. As my son says...there's no reason for several of those slide tackles that led to yellows and reds...the danger of the situation was relatively low. He says their lack of situational awareness is pretty weak (apparently his HS soccer coaches rail on situational awareness all the time).
 
It wasn't a win but it was still worth 1 point. TU sitting at 19 overall points and sole possession of first place. Two games left to go with a game here I believe against second place UCF
Next Friday, Nov. 5th. Should be a whale of a game. Hoping Meinhardt's injury is minor and just requires some rest. TU needs to come out on the front foot against UCF this game. IMO they sat back too much to open the last game with them and let UCF dictate tempo and pace and it really hurt. When TU was down 2-0, the aggressiveness and return to how they wanted to play really turned that game into what most expected. In the end, TU was actually really unlucky to not find the equalizer in the last 2-3 minutes and they had UCF on their heels.
 
If someone scored 4 in a game in 88, that had to be Shane. Next guess would be Frankie but he was a freshman that year. I could’ve sworn he dropped 4 on SIU in 90 or 91 but maybe it was a hat trick.
Your memory is good. It was in 1991. I guess we were both at the game, though the record book says it was Bradley.

Jimmy Dowell did it too in 1990. I wasn’t at that game. A lot of people forget about him, but he went pro too then came back and played semi pro with Shane for whatever that Tulsa team was around 1994. He’s down in Texas somewhere coaching girls. He had a daughter that played at TU too, I think. I could be wrong on that.

Nobody scored four in 1988. The record book doesn’t say that. The team was rebuilding that year.
 
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TU beat Temple tonight rendering Friday night's game against UCF a moot point in terms of AAC standings because UCF lost 5-0 to SMU in Orlando. TU is the AAC regular season champion and will host the AAC semi's and finals.

Friday's game is important for TU in terms of National seeding. Win out and they should be top 8 which gets them a bye in the first round and home games through the RPI d of 16. (Is the tournament 48 teams or did they expand it to 64?).

as it stands TU would play Memphis in the semifinals of the AAC tournament and SMU would square off with UCF.
 
Your memory is good. It was in 1991. I guess we were both at the game, though the record book says it was Bradley.

Jimmy Dowell did it too in 1990. I wasn’t at that game. A lot of people forget about him, but he went pro too then came back and played semi pro with Shane for whatever that Tulsa team was around 1994. He’s down in Texas somewhere coaching girls. He had a daughter that played at TU too, I think. I could be wrong on that.

Nobody scored four in 1988. The record book doesn’t say that. The team was rebuilding that year.

At the time, Jimmy was one of the fastest guys I'd ever seen on a pitch. Think of those three recruiting class that came in right after the other at the end of Paulbaum/start of Waldrum.

Fall of '88: Kevin King, Frank Velez, Tim Schaefer (RIP), and Ronnie Weiss
Fall of '89: David Gordon, Neal Zahn, Chris Dodder
Fall of '90: Jimmy Dowell, Tommy McAdams (RIP), Danny Dapaah, Ted Bonnell and a forgotten member of the class Boyna Bear, who scored the game-winner that year against ORU.

That's pretty much the '91 team's starting line-up and a ton of talent.
 
At the time, Jimmy was one of the fastest guys I'd ever seen on a pitch. Think of those three recruiting class that came in right after the other at the end of Paulbaum/start of Waldrum.

Fall of '88: Kevin King, Frank Velez, Tim Schaefer (RIP), and Ronnie Weiss
Fall of '89: David Gordon, Neal Zahn, Chris Dodder
Fall of '90: Jimmy Dowell, Tommy McAdams (RIP), Danny Dapaah, Ted Bonnell and a forgotten member of the class Boyna Bear, who scored the game-winner that year against ORU.

That's pretty much the '91 team's starting line-up and a ton of talent.
I remember the '90 class mostly because most of them were still there when I arrived on campus in the Fall of 1992. Dodder of course tore up his foot playing pick-up basketball just prior to the 1989(?) season and ended up with a FR walk-on keeper who won the MVC GK of the Year award that year...but Randy didn't feel he earned a scholarship with that...so he quit and focused on Electrical Engineering. Jimmy was fast as hell. I remember the guys that came a little later...Seby Colom, Rocco (can't remember his last name) and then guys like John Ackland, Alex Duran. Rocco was an incredible athlete. Remember him doing the handspring throws when the opportunity presented itself in Skelly. He'd go up the football locker room tunnels and come sprinting out. He was a pretty short guy (5'6" or 5'7") but would usually outjump most of the taller defenders for 50/50 headers.
 
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Got the 2-1 win tonight in the regular season finale against UCF. The only team to beat this squad. With Memphis destroying SMU tonight that means TU will play SMU and Memphis wil play UCF on Wednesday
 
I walked right out of the pisser as the equalizer went in. I knew it was a good night at that point.
First time to see the talent in person this year and was impressed. It’s always hard to tell TV vs InPerson. That kid I like on our backline #22 is bigger in person than I thought. You always need a bully back there.
 
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Jimmy was fast as hell. I remember the guys that came a little later...Seby Colom, Rocco (can't remember his last name) and then guys like John Ackland, Alex Duran.
I will never say anything bad about your boy Kronk. He was a badass. And he did what he was supposed to do and kill it.
I played with Ackland indoor/outdoor after he graduated and is probably one of my favorite local teammates of all time.
We’d kill it at the indoor joint and go have some beers. Pretty sure that’s how I ended up on a team with that Beres kid.
 
It’s nuts to me we play SMU in semis. I feel like they are the second best team. No idea how they lost to a trash Memphis team.

I was encouraged by the offense last night without the big guy. We ran UCF.

UCF talks a lot of trash. I was surprised there weren’t more yellows. I felt like the PK should have come with a yellow at a minimum.
 
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Any chance the basketball game gets moved up to not conflict with the soccer game on Wednesday? A double header would be fun.
 
Any chance the basketball game gets moved up to not conflict with the soccer game on Wednesday? A double header would be fun.
I just saw they moved the start of the Air Force game on Saturday to noon. The championship is Saturday at 7
 
Anyone know what the ticket costs are for the Soccer championship opening round on Wednesday? If I buy the UCF/Memphis match do I get to stay to watch the TU/SMU match? Or do I have to buy 2 separate game tickets?
 
Funny thing, not even 5 minutes after I posted that I get an email with all the information in it.
 
Just to show how dominant they were in league this year, TU men's soccer won every major award for the AAC. This is the 1st time that has ever happened in the AAC.

Offensive Player of the Year: Meinhard
Defensive POY: Fazzio
MF of the Year: Sach
GK of the Year: Lopez
Rookie of the Year: Lopez
Coaching Staff of the Year
Conference Fair Play Award

All Conference 1st Team:
Meinhard, Lopez, Fazzio, Sach, Bromstedt

2nd Team: Malik Henry Scott

And TU could argue that Zinnhardt probably deserved 1st or 2nd team all AAC. He was a stud back there all season too.
 
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And the latest rankings are out:

NCAA/US Soccer Coaches: #2 (5 1st place votes; 2 1st place votes behind Oregon State who is #1)
RPI: #8 (this is an important # for us)

(Missouri State is at #10 and there only loss remains the thrashing we handed them)

Top Drawer: TU is #6.

I think SMU's collapse after they lost to us in 2OT might be dragging us down some (something like 1 win in their last 6 matches)
 
And the latest rankings are out:

NCAA/US Soccer Coaches: #2 (5 1st place votes; 2 1st place votes behind Oregon State who is #1)
RPI: #8 (this is an important # for us)

(Missouri State is at #10 and there only loss remains the thrashing we handed them)

Top Drawer: TU is #6.

I think SMU's collapse after they lost to us in 2OT might be dragging us down some (something like 1 win in their last 6 matches)
So I have to choose between basketball or soccer tomorrow night? That’s an easy choice. Too bad ESPN+ doesn’t have a VCR option.
 
So I have to choose between basketball or soccer tomorrow night? That’s an easy choice. Too bad ESPN+ doesn’t have a VCR option.
Soccer on the TV stream, basketball on the iPad. I shouldn't have to pay much attention to the basketball game really.
 
I can do Picture in Picture with ESPN+. Soccer in the big picture, basketball in the tiny one.
 
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Shows tickets are $5 for Day 1 - So looks like 1 ticket gets you into both games tonight.
Looks like Championship game is also only $5
 
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Weather beginning to look more and more problematic. Hopefully the storms will roll through and we can get the game in tonight.
 
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