ADVERTISEMENT

TU Soccer Schedule 2019

TU_BLA

I.T.S. Legend
Gold Member
Mar 9, 2012
27,146
12,167
113
Tulsa, OK
Just released the men's soccer schedule along with some interesting tidbits from last year's record. TU was 2-1-2 against ranked opponents last season but just 2-5 in the AAC. This is what Tom finds most frustrating, a severe lack of consistency in effort and focus against teams that aren't considered as good as some others on their schedule.

TU plays 6 NCAA teams from last year including quarterfinalist Kentucky, rd of 16 Lipscomb, and then Denver, SMU, UCF, and UCONN (men's soccer might be their best men's sport right now). The AAC is pretty strong in men's soccer with USF and Memphis also having solid teams.

TU should be pretty solid. 2 best players were a sophomore and a freshman last year and they add HS All American Will Edwards from Jenks. TU's success will again depend on whether they can sort out some of their issues defending set pieces. TU has struggled against corners and free kicks from 5-10 yards outside the 18. I know there is an issue but I'll try to pay more attention to TU's philosophy on defending those...my guess is they're trying to zone mark on them and IMO that creates more problems than it solves.
 
Nice update and a solid schedule.

This conference is pretty good in basically every sport. Great competition for us and the sort of programs that won't just let you coast.
 
The schedule is better than what I posted. Gonzaga comes here (although not a soccer juggernaut) and we also play Creighton and SLU who are traditionally very good in men's soccer.
 
The schedule is better than what I posted. Gonzaga comes here (although not a soccer juggernaut) and we also play Creighton and SLU who are traditionally very good in men's soccer.


Even better. I like the philosophy. "Well since you need big games to get up, we're stacking the non-conference." Maybe by the time we are starting conference we can just be in habit of playing big games.
 
Even better. I like the philosophy. "Well since you need big games to get up, we're stacking the non-conference." Maybe by the time we are starting conference we can just be in habit of playing big games.
TU has played that type of schedule for many years now. Last year they beat Michigan and tied Michigan State who were both top 20 teams at the time. Year before we beat #1 Stanford at Stanford. Year or two before that we beat #1 UCLA. TU plays Akron (perennial top 5 team, a lot. Denver, Creighton, and SLU who are traditional men's soccer power teams, are regularly on the schedule. TU played New Mexico regularly before they cut their program (while being a top 20 team year in and year out). And believe it or not, playing TU is a SOS builder for teams.

Heck, there are some years that TU plays SMU twice...once in conference and once in the non-con festival mini-tourney type of action. TU and SMU is one of the great rivalries in college soccer. The games are always tight, exciting and fast paced, and played with an extremely high level of emotion.
 
TU has played that type of schedule for many years now. Last year they beat Michigan and tied Michigan State who were both top 20 teams at the time. Year before we beat #1 Stanford at Stanford. Year or two before that we beat #1 UCLA. TU plays Akron (perennial top 5 team, a lot. Denver, Creighton, and SLU who are traditional men's soccer power teams, are regularly on the schedule. TU played New Mexico regularly before they cut their program (while being a top 20 team year in and year out). And believe it or not, playing TU is a SOS builder for teams.

Heck, there are some years that TU plays SMU twice...once in conference and once in the non-con festival mini-tourney type of action. TU and SMU is one of the great rivalries in college soccer. The games are always tight, exciting and fast paced, and played with an extremely high level of emotion.


I know that, it's actually been going on since the 2000s for scheduling and wins Ryan Pore 2002? Had some under his belt. However this schedule appears particularly loaded, but maybe I am wrong. NCAA soccer is harder to keep up with, just feel like after the last two years the coach wants to put pedal to the metal because the team responds better to big challenges.
 
A little off topic but have any of you guys seen the soccer complexes in Overland Park and Olathe? Every field is heated turf, great concessions, parking, along with baseball and softball fields in the complexes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GoldenCaneKC
A little off topic but have any of you guys seen the soccer complexes in Overland Park and Olathe? Every field is heated turf, great concessions, parking, along with baseball and softball fields in the complexes.
Yes. They are nice complexes. I hate the artificial surface for soccer though unless it's indoor soccer (true indoor with boards and small goals). Turf makes the ball do funny things when it bounces like take the spin off and the ball won't bounce forward. Plus my kid's a GK...the plastic grass and crushed tire pebbles are really harsh on gloves.
 
Yes. They are nice complexes. I hate the artificial surface for soccer though unless it's indoor soccer (true indoor with boards and small goals). Turf makes the ball do funny things when it bounces like take the spin off and the ball won't bounce forward. Plus my kid's a GK...the plastic grass and crushed tire pebbles are really harsh on gloves.

I wasn't a fan until our last two tourneys were cancelled for wet grounds. Driving to Dallas on a Friday only to have the tourney cancelled at 6am Saturday am is no bueno.

Have you played at the complex at Disneyworld? Headed there in a few months.
 
I wasn't a fan until our last two tourneys were cancelled for wet grounds. Driving to Dallas on a Friday only to have the tourney cancelled at 6am Saturday am is no bueno.

Have you played at the complex at Disneyworld? Headed there in a few months.
No.But it's grass and supposedly a great complex that drains well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HuffyCane
Tom is such a great guy.

His first year moving to Tulsa from Wisconsin he joined my youth team just before our season started (1980?) and we made it all the way to the regional semifinals in San Antonio.

More recently he showed up at the funeral of our youth coach a couple of years ago and I know it meant a lot to the family.

I wish him only the very best. It is hard to have the kind of sustained success coaching d1 sports that he has done at TU.
 
Hi. TU’s surface was once, and arguably still is, the best pitch in Oklahoma. The new OSU surface may challenge that. There’s a giving campaign underway to pay for needed upgrades to the TU surface that European pro clubs and MLS grounds keepers had previously studied and raved about. I encourage all of you to get a few dollars out of your pocket and help handle the costs on that. There’s no need for the fancy heating and all that, but it’s been about ten years and it’s time to restate it as the premier pitch in OK.

Tulsa consistently plays one of the toughest schedules in college soccer and has done so for twenty years. We are the “Fresno State” of college soccer. That’s a credit to the type of game Coach wants to play, our reputation for clean play, Coach’s long standing relationships in the sport and his personality. He’s a great example of why you need to invest in the long term success of a program by having continuity in your coaching staff — and paying for it.

While we’ve had some great wins over the Big 10 in the past, you’ll notice a lack of games from their best teams compared to our scheduling against the ACC and PAC 12’s best. I believe that is by design. Our style of play and our recruiting pool does not lend itself to contending against the big bodies of the Big 10.

Similarly, I think this explains our struggles against some AAC teams that have less talent, but are bigger and stronger but maybe slightly slower and less creative than TU. You don’t have to have a long memory to recall losses to USF and UCONN in their down years and a few others that we could and should have beat where we were smarter and more athletic, but the strength and height of the other team was the deciding advantage in games where the ref was letting play go on.

And that’s my only concern with TU going forward. We are really good at bringing in smaller, faster, and smarter players, some with exceptional vision and feel for the game. And I’ll admit to some recruiting misses lately. But we’ve never really had the type of bruising game, particularly at the 6 and 8 and center backs, that gets you deep into the tourney. We don’t have to win it all, but I still dream of the College Cup weekend just once for Tom before his career starts to sunset. You don’t want to be like Mike Martin of FSU baseball. Build a program with limited resources at a football school. 40 years of post season play, one of the winningest programs in history, and never really challenge for the title.

Disney: I’ve played, coached, and watched countless games there when I was living in the area. MLS and international top tier clubs hold preseason practices there and used to hold games there until three or four Orlando City fans decided to be morons on the same day the cheerleading final was being held in the same complex. A special memory was a then unknown player recently graduated from college named Graham Zusi coming into the stands after a sporting game and sitting next to me while we watched the dynamo play the fire with maybe three other people in the stands. He has a brilliant head for the game. I’ll be curious what he does after football. Long story short, i haven’t been on that pitch in five years but I would expect it to be the best surface your daughter ever plays on. Messi could practice there without complaint.

KILL SMU
 
Last edited:
Hi. TU’s surface was once, and arguably still is, the best pitch in Oklahoma. The new OSU surface may challenge that. There’s a giving campaign underway to pay for needed upgrades to the TU surface that European pro clubs and MLS grounds keepers had previously studied and raved about. I encourage all of you to get a few dollars out of your pocket and help handle the costs on that. There’s no need for the fancy heating and all that, but it’s been about ten years and it’s time to restate it as the premier pitch in OK.

Tulsa consistently plays one of the toughest schedules in college soccer and has done so for twenty years. We are the “Fresno State” of college soccer. That’s a credit to the type of game Coach wants to play, our reputation for clean play, Coach’s long standing relationships in the sport and his personality. He’s a great example of why you need to invest in the long term success of a program by having continuity in your coaching staff — and paying for it.

While we’ve had some great wins over the Big 10 in the past, you’ll notice a lack of games from their best teams compared to our scheduling against the ACC and PAC 12’s best. I believe that is by design. Our style of play and our recruiting pool does not lend itself to contending against the big bodies of the Big 10.

Similarly, I think this explains our struggles against some AAC teams that have less talent, but are bigger and stronger but maybe slightly slower and less creative than TU. You don’t have to have a long memory to recall losses to USF and UCONN in their down years and a few others that we could and should have beat where we were smarter and more athletic, but the strength and height of the other team was the deciding advantage in games where the ref was letting play go on.

And that’s my only concern with TU going forward. We are really good at bringing in smaller, faster, and smarter players, some with exceptional vision and feel for the game. And I’ll admit to some recruiting misses lately. But we’ve never really had the type of bruising game, particularly at the 6 and 8 and center backs, that gets you deep into the tourney. We don’t have to win it all, but I still dream of the College Cup weekend just once for Tom before his career starts to sunset. You don’t want to be like Mike Martin of FSU baseball. Build a program with limited resources at a football school. 40 years of post season play, one of the winningest programs in history, and never really challenge for the title.

Disney: I’ve played, coached, and watched countless games there when I was living in the area. MLS and international top tier clubs hold preseason practices there and used to hold games there until three or four Orlando City fans decided to be morons on the same day the cheerleading final was being held in the same complex. A special memory was a then unknown player recently graduated from college named Graham Zusi coming into the stands after a sporting game and sitting next to me while we watched the dynamo play the fire with maybe three other people in the stands. He has a brilliant head for the game. I’ll be curious what he does after football. Long story short, i haven’t been on that pitch in five years but I would expect it to be the best surface your daughter ever plays on. Messi could practice there without complaint.

KILL SMU
Already done on the donation side.

The last really big forward I remember TU having was Ryan Pore. He's about 6 foot, pretty quick, and could turn and shoot on a dime. The goal he scored against SMU in extra time of the NCAA tournament was a thing of beauty and Messi-esque. As a friend put it, everyone knew where he wanted to go with it and the GK still couldn't get to it. Ryan had some other playmakers with him...Lawson Vaughn, Kyle Brown.

And I do see your point...TU has had some phenomenally talented players over the years...but most were smaller. Ray Saari comes to mind, the Scottish kid whose name escapes me as well. And TU's defenders haven't been the biggest. Bradley Bourgeois from Houston, who played for the Dynamo on a homegrown contract and then played for the Roughnecks for a year, was one of the best athletes I've ever seen in a TU uniform, was only 5'11" which is on the small side for a center back...yet he had like a 36" vertical and jump out of the building.

Right now TU has Ryan Alpers back there...he's listed at 6'5" 165lbs. He's probably playing a little out of position at a CB as he is more suited (IMO) to being a 6. He's a really good distributor of the ball as well. But he's pretty slight so he can be pushed around a bit in the box.

And you know as well as anyone else, Tom's teams have always played to the level of their competition. It's incredibly frustrating because you can watch them get the #1 team in the country on their heels for 65% of the game and beat them with incredible creativity up front and focused defending and some really good GK play...and yet turn around and struggle to draw SIU-Edwardsville. Ryan Pore chalks that up to immaturity. He said it is like that for a lot of college athletes and they don't really learn to prepare the same way for every game until you're a pro and that's all you're thinking about really as it's your job. I think Ryan is a really good person for Tom to have on the sideline for this reason (although I do miss hearing Colin's Scottish accent from the other side of the field clear as day :) )
 
  • Like
Reactions: HuffyCane
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT