Likewise with UCSD. Neither team prepared for those games. I don’t think head to head is a sole indicator. Especially if they have a better showing against common opponents.
Navy was up 14-10 with 1:30 left. Some crazy calls and keep away for 1:30 min did not pan out. AF was not as close as it seemed.
It was tied going into the 4th, and got to 13-10 before AF brought it back to 13-12. I think between that and it ending up as a 1 goal game is pretty indicative of the game. Even had they won by 4 I would feel the same. I don’t see a win over a team that was ranked in the top 10 at any point in the season. Losing to #10 and #8 and barely beating the Mount and zero wins over a team ranked in top 10 at any point, much less at the time of the victory tells the story. They are firmly in that 11-18 group. They have proven their spot above Santa Clara. I would swap them in the rankings and nothing more. Most other teams in that zone are playing the rest at a much higher frequency.
Mount was the very first game of season you are really anchoring on that one. They will play again and it will probably be a little different this go around. Only 2 losses are against now #7 Princeton and #8 UCI by 1 goal in their home pools. Zeros euros, zero 5th years. The sample size argument is valid, they need more top 10 ranked wins. The AF game and Mount game are not as valid points.
Yeah. There is no reason to beat up on Navy. It’s nice to see what is coming together there.
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To start, I keep saying Navy is good so don’t take it as a slight. We are talking about top 10. Not if they are good or not. There is a big difference. Not sure that I am “anchoring” on the Mount. But it is a data point for their season so far. Not sure what is not as valid about the Air Force game. I also don’t know what no Euros or 5th years has to do with them being worthy of top 10 or not. You are saying they need more top 10 ranked wins. They need any, not more. Currently have zero. And two very close games, 1 goal each, to unranked teams. One of those being VERY unranked. Beating Santa Clara and LMU is good. Just not top 10. LMU has better wins, and more of them, and didn’t get to top 10. Because they play so many highly ranked teams and when you do you are going to lose several.
I will say it again. Navy is good. Worthy of a good ranking. Don’t take the not top 10 argument as anything more than that.
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Such is life with Merrill at the helm.
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USC over UOP 15 - 8. Watched game on Overnght. USC is so talented but they lacked intensity today. Up 11-3 at half, they then lost the second half 4-5. The stream showed star players arguing and the head coach screaming the whole second half. Georgaras (4 goals, 2 assists, 3 steals) was their best player again. Lopez Duarte only had 2 shots and 1 FB. Anybody attend the game and see it differently?
Watched the game on stream as well.
I noticed the same thing - USC players yelling at each other every possession after missed shots, seems to be a real issue for this group. I even saw 2 occasions where USC scored a goal, and the shooter was yelled at by another player for not passing up the ball.
You don’t see this with UCLA and Stanford.
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UCI was up 5+ goals vs Santa Clara and Navy. UCI needs to learn to keep the gas pedal at full throttle at all times–there is no room for error when teams ranked 6-16 play, IMO. Also, Cole Francisco did not play in 2nd half against Navy due to injury. Wiley Dale did not play all weekend as well due to injury.
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At some point Gavin has to figure out that just throwing a bunch of guys in the pool isnt going to cut it. He may have to actually learn to coach, inspire and develop a group that actually competes as a team and not as a bunch of individuals. Embarrassing weekend for the 49ers.
This seems to be true across the board. Teams need to find time to develop their players and try things as teams but can watch a four goal swing happen in moments. As mentioned by others many times, this is one thing that separates the top teams from everyone else. They build 8-1 leads so they don’t have to panic when the score becomes 9-5 while resting some and developing others. From my observations, UCLA and Stanford seem to be doing this a lot. USC not nearly as much. Pepperdine is doing a lot of this too but isn’t having any success.
This may or not be due to transfer portal strategies and the elimination of the redshirt.
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Cutino watchlist is out. As usual, there is very little to take from this, as the voting was done so early in the season. My sources tell me nominations were sent out in late August with nominations due before the MPSF Invite, which is just ridiculous and takes away any merit this list has.
USC and Stanford lead the way with 3 players each (Krstic, RLD, Mills & Gheorghe, Balogh, and JRH). UCLA and Cal have two each (Dodd and Liechty; Dom Brown & Pina). So half of this list is the Big Four, but it’s just such an inaccurate representation of the season thus far.
The rest of the list has representation from Fordham (1), LBSU (1), SJSU (1), UCSB (1), Santa Clara (1), CBU (1), Navy (1), Brown (1), Harvard (1), Air Force
Teams without a single player: UCSD, Princeton, Irvine, LMU, Pepperdine, Pacific, Davis, Saint Mary’s.
- I think Liechty and Dodd are accurate for UCLA. You could make a case for Gladovic, but I think Liechty is more deserving.
- For USC, Krsitc is a no-brainer. I think one of RLD or Georgaras should’ve made it, but do not think Mills has been deserving of it thus far.
- For Cal, I’m not surprised to see Pina, though I think he had a disappointing MPSF Invite. Very surprised not to see Beso Akhvlediani, who leads Cal with 49 points (29 G, 20 A). Think he is more deserving than Dom Brown.
- For Stanford, I would’ve liked to see Herzer along with Balogh and only one of Gheorghe/JRH. I think Herzer has been playing at the highest level out of any goalie in the Big Four.
I was surprised to see no player from UCSD, Princeton, or Irvine, despite representation from Brown and Harvard.
I would’ve liked to see Christian Hammonds, Kristof Kovacs, Cole Francisco, Erik Ionescu, Thomas Kiesling, and Borisz Kasa-Gal over Burghardt, Kratimenos, De Simon, and cut one player from USC and Stanford to limit it to a maximum of two players per team.
This is not to take away from the Big Four players, but I think having players from as many teams as possible will only grow the sport and put more eyes on it. If you want my honest opinion, the Cutino Award Watch List should be either reformed to come out in mid November before conference championship games and be an accurate representation or just be completely taken away all together.
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I was in attendance. Game was 9-1 at one point during the first half. Nemo played the whole fourth quarter. UOP played a 10 man rotation way too late into this game. I think the players played the 2nd half as if the game was over. Like many of the early UCLA games, this was a character building game for USC. The arguing didn’t seem as egregious on the deck.
Fordham beats CBU 10-6 to end their first West Coast trip 2-1. I didn’t watch the game as I mixed up the start time, but according to the Fosh, Fordham took 14 exclusions, but CBU converted only one of the power plays. Veklyuk, Dragosevic, and Toth combined for 8 goals. @WaterPoloTrevor - I’m curious about your thoughts on this, but to me, it seems like Provenziani has taken a step back this season.
With wins over LBSU, CBU, SJSU, Pacific, Pepperdine, and Davis, Fordham is in an amazing position to be in the 4-5 game at NCAA’s and make potentially a third consecutive NCAA final four. Outside of the Big Four, Fordham will have only 4 ranked teams on their schedule (Navy 2x, Princeton 2x).
Saturday, October 10th is the date to circle. Fordham hosts Princeton at 10:30 A.M before playing Navy that same afternoon at 3:00 P.M. For Navy, it will be their first game of the day. If they go 2-0 on 10/10, I believe they will have solidified their spot as the No.4 seed should they win the MAWPC championship, regardless of what happens in the second matchups against both teams.
The game was 5-4 with 21 seconds left in the 3rd. CBUs six on five was atrocious.
You think Herzer is playing over Tauscher? Stanford has designed a defense to protect Herzer. There are 10 goalies that would be equal or better in that same setup. He gets nutted young players all the time.
And you don’t think the UCLA defense is designed to funnel shots directly to Tauscher??
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Herzer is the leader in saves in the MPSF and has a 59% save percentage, the best of the big 4 starters. So he’s leading in both major goalie categories. Why would he get knocked for Stanford having a good defense? He played really well in Stanford’s MPSF tourney games that I saw
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Would love to hear you name those 10 goalies equal or better than Herzer.
There is a reason Herzer is on the USMNT and the likely backup goalie at LA28.
I’ve seen Herzer block 5m direct shots from Giacomo Cannella, Matteo Iocci Gratta and Francesco Condemi. I don’t know another collegiate goalie who is on that level.
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