Youth soccer club
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Good stuff. I wish they had club soccer when I was at TU. I think it would have been a ton of fun. I know the team even won the national title at one point.
Fighting Jumbos to be accurate. Story is PT Barnum preserved his famed elephant Jumbo through taxidermy and donated her to Tufts. Stuffed elephant was a fixture in the library until a devastating fire destroyed all but the tail, which was saved by a professor who went into the fire to try and "rescue" Jumbo but only the tail remained. I believe the tail is still on campus. In honor of Jumno, Tufts had a bronze sculpture of her made and it stands outside the library (it's pretty damn cool actually) and that's how Tufts became the Jumbos as the nickname/mascot.Looking forward to the soccer updates for the Tufts Fighting Elephants and especially Z. Yeah…I looked up the mascot.
I always love cool stories about how schools got mascots/nicknames like this one and Tulsa's
Game 2 was Sunday out in Springfield, MA. Springfield is way out west (about 2 hrs west of Boston) and south almost on the Connecticut border. It's closer to Hartford than it is to Boston. It's also out towards the Berkshires so little mountains. They played Springfield College and won 6-0. They ate at a Jamaican restaurant in Springfield after the game and apparently the guy was ecstatic to have them. Took pictures with them and posted stuff on IG with them. Apparently the group has stopped in at this restaurant before.
I knew the 2 club teams at Tufts were pretty good just looking at past records and it's not like they're only playing little tiny liberal arts colleges. My son's squad plays against a Harvard team later on in the season. The other club team seems to have drawn a division where they play Boston University, Northeastern, UMASS Lowell, all D1 schools with much higher UG enrollment than Tufts (Tufts has about 6500 UGs, and about 6000 grad students between it's law and policy grad schools, business school, and dental school (the dental school is apparently very highly rated among the best in the country). Anyway, they'll be part of a regional later on with a chance to advance to a collegiate cup championship tournament in Round Rock TX in November. Last year their region was represented by Northeastern (apparently they have a really good club program at Northeastern as 1 men's team and 2 women's teams made it to the top flight and open tournaments. Babson represented the region in the men's open bracket. (Don't ask me how they determine cup and open). My son has been told the games that will really be tight and competitive will be against Babson, Harvard, WPI, and the other Tufts' team.
You can follow their exploits on IG. My son's team is @tuftsuniversityfootballclub and the other team is @tuftsclubsoccer_brown
I knew the 2 club teams at Tufts were pretty good just looking at past records and it's not like they're only playing little tiny liberal arts colleges. My son's squad plays against a Harvard team later on in the season. The other club team seems to have drawn a division where they play Boston University, Northeastern, UMASS Lowell, all D1 schools with much higher UG enrollment than Tufts (Tufts has about 6500 UGs, and about 6000 grad students between it's law and policy grad schools, business school, and dental school (the dental school is apparently very highly rated among the best in the country). Anyway, they'll be part of a regional later on with a chance to advance to a collegiate cup championship tournament in Round Rock TX in November. Last year their region was represented by Northeastern (apparently they have a really good club program at Northeastern as 1 men's team and 2 women's teams made it to the top flight and open tournaments. Babson represented the region in the men's open bracket. (Don't ask me how they determine cup and open). My son has been told the games that will really be tight and competitive will be against Babson, Harvard, WPI, and the other Tufts' team.
You can follow their exploits on IG. My son's team is @tuftsuniversityfootballclub and the other team is @tuftsclubsoccer_brown
I referees 7 games this weekend, 3 rec games, 4 ECNL games. I got to show 4 yellows in my U13 rec game. I had another one I could have shown a player a 2nd yellow/red but chose to talk to him about being in control. His coach yanked him from the game anyway. For a game that ended 12-0, it had way too much drama and chippiness.
ECNL Weekend: First, Scheels is getting there in terms of being the best in the state. A couple of the grass fields have some patchiness in terms of their grass consistency, but overall WAY better than when my son played out there. They probably need to repaint the lines in the turf fields a little more often. Tough to see in a high sky. Other than that, of the 4 games TSC only won the U13B game vs FC Westlake (Austin). U13G got curb stomped (8-1) by a Sting team yesterday. String scored in the first 30 seconds and then were up 3-0 before 5 minutes had been played. U16B lost to FC Westlake 6-0 and TSC maybe had 1 shot on frame. Westlake had a striker who was just a phenomenal player. Found space, created space, played with his head up and created chances for his teammates. Excellent work rate and he was exceptionally quick on and off the ball. TSC's coach was former TU player Chris "Critter" Taylor. He and I spoke for a few minutes before the game. He actually remembered I had a son about college age (Chris was a coach at one of the camps my son attended and had him in his group). Chris is a good coach and he's good with this age group and understands the game exceptionally well.
U13B won 6-2 and were in control for most of the game. TSC coach sort of called off the dogs and let subs play a while and he had them playing possession in the back trying to hold the ball.
Then I had the U13G again today against a different Sting team. Closer game but this TSC team really struggled to hold onto the ball and string passes together. And they were in disarray for much of the game. GK was trying to set a wall for a free kick just outside the box. Wall didn't listen to her and left a wide gap on the near post open, and Sting striker stung a nice free kick into the net.
Speaking of my son, his club team moved to 7-0 on the season. 26 GF, 0 GA and currently ranked #2 in the east region behind Boston. College.
ECNL Weekend: First, Scheels is getting there in terms of being the best in the state. A couple of the grass fields have some patchiness in terms of their grass consistency, but overall WAY better than when my son played out there. They probably need to repaint the lines in the turf fields a little more often. Tough to see in a high sky. Other than that, of the 4 games TSC only won the U13B game vs FC Westlake (Austin). U13G got curb stomped (8-1) by a Sting team yesterday. String scored in the first 30 seconds and then were up 3-0 before 5 minutes had been played. U16B lost to FC Westlake 6-0 and TSC maybe had 1 shot on frame. Westlake had a striker who was just a phenomenal player. Found space, created space, played with his head up and created chances for his teammates. Excellent work rate and he was exceptionally quick on and off the ball. TSC's coach was former TU player Chris "Critter" Taylor. He and I spoke for a few minutes before the game. He actually remembered I had a son about college age (Chris was a coach at one of the camps my son attended and had him in his group). Chris is a good coach and he's good with this age group and understands the game exceptionally well.
U13B won 6-2 and were in control for most of the game. TSC coach sort of called off the dogs and let subs play a while and he had them playing possession in the back trying to hold the ball.
Then I had the U13G again today against a different Sting team. Closer game but this TSC team really struggled to hold onto the ball and string passes together. And they were in disarray for much of the game. GK was trying to set a wall for a free kick just outside the box. Wall didn't listen to her and left a wide gap on the near post open, and Sting striker stung a nice free kick into the net.
Speaking of my son, his club team moved to 7-0 on the season. 26 GF, 0 GA and currently ranked #2 in the east region behind Boston. College.
That 2012 Sting Black girls team is the #1 ranked U13 team in the country. Skilled girls all over the field. Still not sure they’re as good as the top California teams. Looking forward to seeing them match up at nationals.
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Maybe that was my Saturday game. That team was so good although I thought the 2nd GK they trotted out was better than the 1st one. She had a punt late in the game that went 65 yards and all the TSC parents were like "OMG".
He plays 1/2 of each game splitting time with the other GK.
Yes. It was Saturday’s game. My daughter occasionally trains with a girl who plays for that team. Tatu is their coach. He has coached that group for years.
Tatu...like former Brazil national and maybe one of the early players in NASL before becoming an indoor soccer legend?
I wish I would have known that before the game. Not that it would have changed the way I saw the game. They were well drilled, very technical, and sound tactically. Everything I could hear from my side of the field, he also was a good teacher during the game. Maybe got upset only once and it was about a quick, rash decision by a player to clear a ball that ended up in a turnover and put the team in a poor position and susceptible to a counter.
There’s some high level ecnl coaches in the Dallas area. I would hope TU at least takes at look at that area when our women’s job opens up. A coach with ecnl contacts in Dallas would be a huge plus for the program.
So apparently there is a College Club Soccer National ranking and the Tufts Blue team (the one my son is on) is #3 in the nation being UCONN White and Wisconsin. Most of the schools on this list are your typical giant Big 10 and ACC schools. And the Tufts varsity team is the #2 in the country in D3. Soccer seems to be a pretty big deal at Tufts.
For anyone interested, the two Tufts club teams play each other tonight in a derby they've dubbed "El Medford". 7pm our time
My son plays on the blue team while the other team is called Tufts Brown. Both sides are undefeated, but the brown team does have a draw on their record and they've conceded goals. The blue team is undefeated and untied and have conceded no goals in their 7 games to date.
My son plays on the blue team while the other team is called Tufts Brown. Both sides are undefeated, but the brown team does have a draw on their record and they've conceded goals. The blue team is undefeated and untied and have conceded no goals in their 7 games to date.
So the blue team lost 1-0 to the Tufts Brown team. Bizarre play and a really bad error from the referee. On a throw in, Tufts Blue player jumps in front of the player taking the throw. Referee whistles, shows a yellow card for delaying the restart. This is a correct decision...however, since the ball was not back in play yet, the restart after showing the yellow should still be with the throw in. Ref gave a free kick which, because of the position on the field, essentially was the equivalent of a corner kick. On said, kick, GK (not my son) came out and had a bad punch (I thought he could have and should have caught it). Ball drops to a Tufts B player and he taps it in. My son was frustrated because he was pretty sure he would have played it differently and at least not given the goal scoring chance. That said my son said his team did not play very well as they weren't able to connect many passes together.
Yesterday, they went to Holy Cross for a game. MY son got the full game as the other keeper (who is a senior) is suspected to have broken a rib on Friday and was told not to play by urgent care. 2-2 draw. My son said the game was played on a pitch that was 53 yds wide and 100 yds long....they played on a practice football field. There wasn't a penalty area or goal box marked and they guestimated the box to be between the hash marks to the 15 yd line (not lying, the Tufts Club football instagram page even posted about it saying "We can't find a goal box". My son said the referee had an inadvertent whistle after which a Holy Cross player hammered the ball towards goal from midfield that went in and the ref allowed it to stand. He said the guy should have been relegated to U10 rec games as the speed at this level was too much for him.
Speaking of refs, my daughter did her first 4 games this weekend. 3 rec games on Saturday (U10s and a U12) and yesterday we threw her to the wolves as she did an AR opposite me for a U12 OPL game between TSC and Northwest Optimist. This would have been OK had I been the center as I could have helped her a bit with some stuff but we had a 16 year old at center, who understands the game but is still learning how to manage a game. TSC coach was sort of a jerk...but then again, his team showed up at 2:00pm for a 2:00pm game that had been scheduled for 1:30pm. Apparently, TSC admin changed the game time to 1:30pm in Got Soccer. He had 3 of his best players show up after 2:00pm. Anyway, he was cantankerous and not caring if his referee and one of his ARs combined ages was still less than his age. It probably would have been better had I had my daughter on the parent's side as she would have been with the NWO parents and their team was just much better than TSC's and the game never was in much doubt. I had a couple of tight offside calls.
If any of you want to get your kid(s) working and earning a little bit of money, I highly recommend doing the referee thing. My daughter basically averaged $30/hr this weekend. Get them started working rec games at Metro or Broken Arrow where the intensity level from parents/coaches is not that bad. There are a lot of good things to learn as well...confidence, leadership, being an authority figure when needed, mediator, and conflict resolution.
Yesterday, they went to Holy Cross for a game. MY son got the full game as the other keeper (who is a senior) is suspected to have broken a rib on Friday and was told not to play by urgent care. 2-2 draw. My son said the game was played on a pitch that was 53 yds wide and 100 yds long....they played on a practice football field. There wasn't a penalty area or goal box marked and they guestimated the box to be between the hash marks to the 15 yd line (not lying, the Tufts Club football instagram page even posted about it saying "We can't find a goal box". My son said the referee had an inadvertent whistle after which a Holy Cross player hammered the ball towards goal from midfield that went in and the ref allowed it to stand. He said the guy should have been relegated to U10 rec games as the speed at this level was too much for him.
Speaking of refs, my daughter did her first 4 games this weekend. 3 rec games on Saturday (U10s and a U12) and yesterday we threw her to the wolves as she did an AR opposite me for a U12 OPL game between TSC and Northwest Optimist. This would have been OK had I been the center as I could have helped her a bit with some stuff but we had a 16 year old at center, who understands the game but is still learning how to manage a game. TSC coach was sort of a jerk...but then again, his team showed up at 2:00pm for a 2:00pm game that had been scheduled for 1:30pm. Apparently, TSC admin changed the game time to 1:30pm in Got Soccer. He had 3 of his best players show up after 2:00pm. Anyway, he was cantankerous and not caring if his referee and one of his ARs combined ages was still less than his age. It probably would have been better had I had my daughter on the parent's side as she would have been with the NWO parents and their team was just much better than TSC's and the game never was in much doubt. I had a couple of tight offside calls.
If any of you want to get your kid(s) working and earning a little bit of money, I highly recommend doing the referee thing. My daughter basically averaged $30/hr this weekend. Get them started working rec games at Metro or Broken Arrow where the intensity level from parents/coaches is not that bad. There are a lot of good things to learn as well...confidence, leadership, being an authority figure when needed, mediator, and conflict resolution.
I saw the GM of Scheels Complex throw out a Blitz grand parent for cussing at the ref. Oh it was 7v7…..
Good for him. It's getting out of hand with parents, players, and coaches. I mean we have a coach at MTSC, coaches a U12 and a U14 team and he has been yellow carded in virtually every game this season. I haven't given him a card yet but he did lose his privilege to ever question a call when I'm centering. When I try to explain that every time the ball touches is a hand doesn't constitute a handball offense and you come back with "Well, actually it does", you clearly don't know the laws or the practical applications of them...you don't get to question me or any other ref. One of his parents came to the ref shack last week to bitch about a ref who, in their words "shouldn't be allowed near children"...because of a foul he didn't call, and from all descriptions from the ref and AR, wasn't a foul, merely a smaller kid trying to muscle up against a bigger kid and he lost the battle to the stronger kid.
Also, while working ECNL games last weekend, I did get an interesting tidbit as to why some of the best and most talented referees in our area no longer work those games. Seems TSC was having a problem with their coaches getting cards (yellow and red) and missing games due to card accumulation or straight red card cautions and my understanding is TSC asked the assignor to not use those referees any longer. We're talking referees who hold pro credentials and also work D1 college games but they're not good enough to work ECNL games because your coaches can't hold their tongues? And before anyone attacks me for this...I was present last year and personally witnessed a TSC coach getting a red card in a U12 game. He lost his mind because one of his players was red carded for violent conduct. He was retaliating for a shove from an opponent. The opponent was yellow carded appropriately. The TSC player then took a swing at the other player. The actions of the AR and referee in this instance, IMO, were appropriate and handled properly. The TSC coach loses his mind and runs at the referee on the field screaming. I was on the next field and our game was at halftime....I clearly heard everything the coach said. He was shown yellow initially and when he refused to leave the field, shown red. My crew and I even started walking that way to see if we needed to help step in and control the situation. After, a TSC admin/tournament organizer comes into the referee area to lobby to have the coach's red card rescinded. I witnessed this as well. Both assignors present basically told him he needed to leave. He kept harping on it. He did eventually leave and I don't think they rescinded either dismissal. In speaking with the assignors after the fact, they maintain that the referees and assignors operate independently from the tournament organizers and it has to be that way otherwise you have crap like this happening. And there's nothing like not being backed by your organization. Just look at the situation in Ohio where the Cincinatti Christian School had a player red carded for spitting at an opponent and then the coach and assistant coach went insane and threatened the referee and were red carded. CCS admin has decided they aren't going to observe any of the red cards and subsequent suspensions so the referees are calling on OHSAA to ensure it and the local area referees are trying to organize a boycott of CCS' remaining games including playoffs. I saw the video...you can't see clearly enough the player spitting but you can clearly see the coaches lose their minds.
As for parents, there are magic words they can say that will draw my ire. Anything directed at an opposing player that isn't nice play or good job is a no no and I'll have a chat with the sideline. Anything Public, Personal, or Profane directed at players or officials is a no no. I'm glad the Scheel's GM takes it seriously...we need more people like him helping to monitor the stupidity and not just rely on referees, many of whom are half the age (or more) of the adult coaches and parents hurling the insults at them.
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When you are so openly anti TSC I think it makes people question if you could ref a TSC game fairly. I understand a lot of us have dislike for Barry and other things that have happed at TSC but it’s not the kids fault. All clubs have coaches who act horrible!!! You always lean toward calling out TSC not that you don’t call out others as well as you did above. I think your hate for TSC you should just pass on doing their games. I’m not saying you wouldn’t do a professional job just the perception as a TSC hater would make it hard for the club, coaches and parents to trust your calls.
I've never red carded one of their coaches, and I don't recall if I've even given one of their players a yellow. Simply stating what I've observed and what I've been told. And some of the refs who have been black listed had brothers who played at TSC at the time. I can assure you, I can call any game I've been assigned to fairly and without bias as, and I've said this before, I don't care who wins.
Definitely not attacking your integrity. Just perception of others. I think when you are in a position of “power” like being a center (even AR) that things you say in public spaces should remain neutral.
You always seem to have a lot of adventures on the field, which is interesting. When you get to higher levels of competition, more competitive language will happen; it is the nature of the game. It comes with the territory.
I bet several people you believe are of higher quality are, in fact, no bueno. Some of these people hold very high regard for themselves, are very public, and like to educate others. This is not to say that several people who consistently ref at TSC should not be officiating older-level middles.
So my son's club team at Tufts finished their regular season at 8-1-1 after a 5-0 win vs Clark yesterday in 45 degrees and rain. (We got the updates from him and the pictures the club account posted on their IG looked like it was an absolutely dreadful October day). They beat the Harvard A team on Saturday 1-0. Lost only to the other Tufts team (1-0) and 1 tie vs Holy Cross.
My son played the 2nd half of yesterday's game and he said he pulled off a successful Maradona in his own box to get away from a pressing attacker. I don't know what is next. I know the other Tufts team has an auto bid to the regionals. Not sure how they fill out the regionals after the individual league winners are in.
My son played the 2nd half of yesterday's game and he said he pulled off a successful Maradona in his own box to get away from a pressing attacker. I don't know what is next. I know the other Tufts team has an auto bid to the regionals. Not sure how they fill out the regionals after the individual league winners are in.
I’m giving this update from the Surf Soccer Park in San Diego. Playing our last of three games in 30 minutes. I always enjoy San Diego. The weather, scenery and style of soccer played by the top California teams are hard to beat. We played LAFC yesterday and witnessed their CB break her leg on the field. Just a reminder of the danger of this game at this level with the speed and size of these players.
My daughter’s season thus far has been a mixed bag. Significant injuries to our starting 6, 8 and 9 have really hampered development and on field performance. Two of those players out back for this Showcase but aren’t at full speed. In league we’ve gone 1-1-2. We did win our pod in Cup going 2-0-1 and will play in the Cup finals next month. Unfortunately to advance we will need to beat Real Colorado and Solar back to back. Odds are long there.
We have two league games next weekend and they are “must win” at this point. As the injured girls get more fit we should be better. Just not sure we have enough to dig out of the early hole we’ve put ourselves in. Top 6 in league make it to Nationals. Going to be an uphill struggle.
My daughter has put together a “highlight” clip and informational introduction. She will begin sending to colleges this spring and inviting them to attend her games. It’s an exciting but nervous time for her. Seems like just yesterday she was playing 4v4 at Metro for a dad with little to no soccer experience.
My daughter’s season thus far has been a mixed bag. Significant injuries to our starting 6, 8 and 9 have really hampered development and on field performance. Two of those players out back for this Showcase but aren’t at full speed. In league we’ve gone 1-1-2. We did win our pod in Cup going 2-0-1 and will play in the Cup finals next month. Unfortunately to advance we will need to beat Real Colorado and Solar back to back. Odds are long there.
We have two league games next weekend and they are “must win” at this point. As the injured girls get more fit we should be better. Just not sure we have enough to dig out of the early hole we’ve put ourselves in. Top 6 in league make it to Nationals. Going to be an uphill struggle.
My daughter has put together a “highlight” clip and informational introduction. She will begin sending to colleges this spring and inviting them to attend her games. It’s an exciting but nervous time for her. Seems like just yesterday she was playing 4v4 at Metro for a dad with little to no soccer experience.
What year in school is she?
Also, I don't know if it was this Surf Cup, but one of the referee sites I follow on Facebook and IG posted a clip of a boy's game a Surf Cup get out of hand and you had coaches on the field attacking referees over a yellow card issued to a player. And then the "note" sent to referees for the event about not handing out cards to make sure coaches and players could play in all scheduled games. Sorry, no self respecting referee is going to eliminate the use of one of their most effective tools to maintain control to appease teams and coaches who play in a reckless/dangerous manner or think they're entitled to be able to verbally assault any of the referee crew.
This is an ECNL showcase held at Surf’s
Complex. I’ve never seen that at an ECNL game as ECNL has a strict conduct code for coaches. Wouldn’t think a coach would risk being banned from coaching ECNL teams but you never know.
She’s a freshman. There are three scouts here for this am’s game. No idea if they’re US soccer, Top Drawer, Prep Soccer or college. They’re always sitting in white folding chairs at midfield on the players side. My daughter emailed a Top Drawer scout and asked if he would attend. Assume one might be him 🤷♂️
Tufts A club soccer (my son's team) is #4 in the national poll this week after their dual wins last weekend. They've also earned a berth the region 1 regionals at SUNY Stony Brook the 1st weekend of November. They will be the #1 seed in their group along with Villanova, Hofstra and Westchester University. I haven't seen a schedule yet.
They're going to play a friendly this weekend vs Boston U's club team at BU...and this weekend is also the Head of the Charles regatta so BU is going to be a traffic nightmare as the south side of the Charles on BU's campus provides some of the best viewing of the regatta's races.
They're going to play a friendly this weekend vs Boston U's club team at BU...and this weekend is also the Head of the Charles regatta so BU is going to be a traffic nightmare as the south side of the Charles on BU's campus provides some of the best viewing of the regatta's races.
I only ref'd 1 game on Sunday, a U19 boys rec+ game. Pretty mild actually and it was played at a decent level for rec+. I only did it as a favor to the assignor. We spent the weekend in Dallas as my daughter was on Fall break. Went to the 6th Floor Museum and to the Fort Worth Zoo.
I expect plenty of parent and coach BS this weekend though in the Blitz Tournament.
Sometimes the Ref assignor, ref and the club running the tournament should be embarrassed. Having only a center for a 4:30 9v9 top bracket game is ridiculous. BA ref assignor is garbage in the first place. A center can’t see sidelines and offsides in 9v9. This 16 year old kid should be doing 4v4 games. I didn’t have a dog in the fit so I didn’t really give 2 cents who won. (It was 2 TSC teams). Blitz tournament is a Rec+ money grab.
The girls side especially in the younger age groups was actually decent. TSC sent their top teams. WSA had their top teams. Alpha forms sent a team. The older ages were pretty weak but that’s to be expected when you schedule a tournament in the middle of the league season. WSA sent their 2010 ECRL team. Blitz had their top older teams. I would agree the rest were definitely rec plus.
TSC didn’t send their 13’s because Jao wouldn’t play them. The 14’s had to play up and played TSC’s Navy team in the final. Oh and I saw on Facebook Blitz didn’t have medals for the girls. They were “out” lol go tell your 10 year olds I’m sure they will understand
Zero excuse for not having enough medals. I understand some of these teams rostered an excessive amount of kids for this tournament, but you still need enough medals.
The best 14 girls team in the state is WSA. Not sure how long they can hang on to those girls but today they are very good.
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