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SOCCER Men’s soccer 2023

I guess stick w/Grassie:
"It's a lot to do with us defending with the ball where we move the ball and pick where we go," Herd men's soccer head coach Chris Grassie said about his team conceding just four goals so far this season. "It starts with Morris (Duggan) and Taka (Fujita), our center backs, and Taimu (Okiyoshi) screening in front of them. Then our two fullbacks. Theo (Godard) I thought was excellent tonight. (Alex) Bamford and Rai (Pinto) did a great job tracking."
 
I streamed the last 20 minutes or so. I'm not a big watcher of soccer, but just witnessed perhaps one of the most amazing goals I've ever seen. Announcers called it a bicycle goal, but it was truly the best one I've ever seen. Please post a video of that one. I just want to watch again to see if what I thought I saw actually happened.
 
Listening to Coach’s post-match comments, seems like he realizes this can be a very dominant group. He’s fighting to keep them aggressive once they go up, say 2-nil, then they relax. If he can get them to keep their foot on the gas, we could be looking at a natty contender!
 
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Listening to Coach’s post-match comments, seems like he realizes this can be a very dominant group. He’s fighting to keep them aggressive once they go up, say 2-nil, then they relax. If he can get them to keep their foot on the gas, we could be looking at a natty contender!
Oh we’re looking at a natty contender already. There’s no doubt about it.
 
So, wanting to hear more soccer talk. With big match upcoming Wednesday in Morgantown, what problems does WVU pose for the guys?
 
So, wanting to hear more soccer talk. With big match upcoming Wednesday in Morgantown, what problems does WVU pose for the guys?
Pressuring us in the MF and our CB's in the back and trying to get us in card trouble is going to be their MO in my opinion. WVU has a decent backline, but no where near the level of ours. We are going to be able to score on them, and their best shot to score on us is going to come from catching us lacking in the back.

This isn't to say that they don't have good shooters, because they have some very good ones in Navarro and Caldeira. I just don't think that they're going to have a ton of success against our backline. Their passing is decent, but not the best.

The match will probably be like the previous Derby's, it is going to start fast and be really intense for the first 15'-20' - but at the end of that I expect WVU will show us respect in letting us hang onto the ball.

At the end of the day, and not to sound too arrogant - I have watched WVU play about three times this year and the gap between us and them is extremely wide in terms of tactics, talent, and coaching. Hell, a good chunk of our bench would start for them lol.

We will only lose this game if our backline gives up a lazy goal like we did against Coastal, GASO, etc. or we get into card trouble.
 
Jbab: Complete novice here, but it seems (regarding our back line) that we are pretty unique in individual movement of the ball and short passing with defenders all over us, deep back at or near the 6…. pretty much showing off our skills.
On track, or am I missing something?
 
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Jbab: Complete novice here, but it seems (regarding our back line) that we are pretty unique in individual movement of the ball and short passing with defenders all over us, deep back at or near the 6…. pretty much showing off our skills.
On track, or am I missing something?
Correct, Grassie plays a very possession oriented game. He talks a lot about how our players are taught to possess the ball until the absolute last moment before it could be taken.

There's a lot of discipline in Grassie's style, and it takes a very skilled player to play in his system. 99% of the time it works, but that 1% (Coastal, GASO, ODU last year, etc.) that it doesn't is mayhem.

A random thought while talking about our backline is that the argument can be made that the easiest keeper position in the country for the last three years has been in Huntington under Grassie's system. Through 12 matches Perrotta has faced only 89 shots.. not SOG, but shots in general.
 
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Pressuring us in the MF and our CB's in the back and trying to get us in card trouble is going to be their MO in my opinion. WVU has a decent backline, but no where near the level of ours. We are going to be able to score on them, and their best shot to score on us is going to come from catching us lacking in the back.

This isn't to say that they don't have good shooters, because they have some very good ones in Navarro and Caldeira. I just don't think that they're going to have a ton of success against our backline. Their passing is decent, but not the best.

The match will probably be like the previous Derby's, it is going to start fast and be really intense for the first 15'-20' - but at the end of that I expect WVU will show us respect in letting us hang onto the ball.

At the end of the day, and not to sound too arrogant - I have watched WVU play about three times this year and the gap between us and them is extremely wide in terms of tactics, talent, and coaching. Hell, a good chunk of our bench would start for them lol.

We will only lose this game if our backline gives up a lazy goal like we did against Coastal, GASO, etc. or we get into card trouble.
Those are my concerns as well, they'll be chippy, get us carded, the crowd gets into our heads. Our back line needs to be crisp, don't mess around with the ball, clear it out if they have to and re-set. Those passes in the box give me palpitations. ugh!
 
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Those are my concerns as well, they'll be chippy, get us carded, the crowd gets into our heads. Our back line needs to be crisp, don't mess around with the ball, clear it out if they have to and re-set. Those passes in the box give me palpitations. ugh!
I'm actually not too worried about the crowd. After going to IU last year for the S16, it appeared that our guys loved the animosity - hell a bunch of them were straight up talking back and enjoyed it.

Like you said though, the emotion could come from WVU players trying to get us in card trouble. We need to know what to sell, and not to sell and stay away from arguing every little thing with the refs.

Play with the same intensity that we did against Coastal and we'll walk out of that sh!thole with a multiple goal win.
 
I'm actually not too worried about the crowd. After going to IU last year for the S16, it appeared that our guys loved the animosity - hell a bunch of them were straight up talking back and enjoyed it.

Like you said though, the emotion could come from WVU players trying to get us in card trouble. We need to know what to sell, and not to sell and stay away from arguing every little thing with the refs.

Play with the same intensity that we did against Coastal and we'll walk out of that sh!thole with a multiple goal win.
I'd love to beat those clowns by 4-0 or more. Just pound them.
 
I was traveling last night and didn't get to watch. Judging by the score, I'm glad I missed it.
 
I was more sick watching that game last night than I am watching a football loss. I don't know a ton about the sport but I know that our passing was sloppy, we couldn't keep possession and the guys seemed flat after that goal wasn't counted to end the first half.
 
I was more sick watching that game last night than I am watching a football loss. I don't know a ton about the sport but I know that our passing was sloppy, we couldn't keep possession and the guys seemed flat after that goal wasn't counted to end the first half.
It looked like their guy (Jorgensen) got to it an inch before it would have counted….helluva effort on his part.
Honestly, it could easily have been 7 or 8. It was their night on the pitch, for sure.
 
It looked like their guy (Jorgensen) got to it an inch before it would have counted….helluva effort on his part.
Honestly, it could easily have been 7 or 8. It was their night on the pitch, for sure.

Yeah, especially in the 2nd half WVU had lots of opportunities. We were just too casual at times on our end of the field. Sometimes they just need to clear the ball and reset. Really it comes down to one thing though. WVU out hussled the Herd. They wanted it more. The second half especially, WVU dominated.
 
Well, the last games of the regular season are Tuesday.

In SBC soccer, teams get 3 points for a win, one point for a tie. The current standings are:

UCF 6-1-1 (19)
MU 6-2 (18)
WVU 4-1-3 (15)

WVU hosts Old Dominion, UCF hosts James Madison, MU hosts South Carolina. The top two teams each host half of the conference tournament, with the finals at the highest remaining seed. While MU can still win the regular season, second is a much easier path and still gets us home field through the finals. Worst case scenario, would be a MU loss and WVU win, which would send the games to the Land of Spam.
 
On a related note Ky had their walk thru this morning at Barboursville Park. At the old youth football field.
 
vs Kentucky Weds nite @ 7. Wildcats collected a red card, so one of theirs will be standing on the sidelines…..
UCF stunned by S.C. 2-1! S.C. vs wvu same bat time…you know the line!
 
Outstanding match! Go Herd!!! Now we get a chance to avenge our other loss against the hated Mountaineers!
 
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