BreadBoy Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 5 hours ago, Vic said: Canadian championships start tomorrow in Ottawa. Mostly the usual suspects (Trinity Western, Montreal, Laval, Cape Breton, Ottawa) and some fresh-ish faces (McMaster, Calgary, Western) in the mix. Montreal looking to repeat. Laval has won two of the past four. TWU has won four of the past 10. All teams play Thursday and two or three games each of Friday - Sunday. Just checked the weather and they're calling for snow and rain and gusts of 50kph for the semi's on Saturday, high of 0 for the final. https://usports.ca/en/championships/soccer/f Broadcast Schedule (different site) $15 for all games or $10 for a day. Link Why is this under Jesse Fleming? Why not it's own thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 18 minutes ago, BreadBoy said: Why is this under Jesse Fleming? Why not it's own thread? This topic drifted into "Canadians in the NCAA", and then to college women's soccer in general a while ago. It seemed the same people were interested in it all, and the traffic was still low enough not to mask the Fleming chat too much. Personally, I like the convenience of it. Jamaicanadian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 Yeah thanks that was the thinking and the plan. The only people who've shown any interest in college soccer are here and it was the easiest place to reach them. Feel free to start any threads anytime though. The more the merrier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBoy Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 7 hours ago, Vic said: Yeah thanks that was the thinking and the plan. The only people who've shown any interest in college soccer are here and it was the easiest place to reach them. Feel free to start any threads anytime though. The more the merrier. Gotcha. Hopefully the TV feed/stream works this weekend. The OUA one didn't for the Friday games last week. Vic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamaicanadian Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 On 11/6/2018 at 8:25 PM, rkomar said: Here are the brackets for the NCAA championships: brackets. I don't much about teams outside of the Pac-12 and ACC, but I'm guessing that UCLA doesn't have any really difficult opponents until UNC in the quarter finals. As long as they don't get too complacent, I think they have a good chance of getting to that game. Edit: Looks like I was wrong. Santa Clara is ranked 12th in the nation, so UCLA does have stiff competition before North Carolina. Other than JF and UCLA I am excited about another first round match up. Texas Tech v. Princeton. Both squads starting keepers' are Canadian and very good! Marissa Zuchetto (So)/Mississauga, ON for Texas Tech and Natalie Grossi (Jr)/Woodbridge, ON. Other news: Sarah Stratigakis (So) Michigan/Woodbridge ON and Devon Kerr (Jr) Ohio State/GTA were selected to 2018 Big Ten All Tournament Team!! Kerr switched to the States internationally and seems to be highly regarded in their system! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 1 hour ago, BreadBoy said: Gotcha. Hopefully the TV feed/stream works this weekend. The OUA one didn't for the Friday games last week. Yeah that was rather frustrating wasn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 I don't have a lot to report on the UCLA vs SJSU game myself. It looked pretty one-sided in the first half, and I gave most of my attention to the Leafs game instead. I watched the second half a little more closely, and SJSU wasn't as bad as the 5-0 loss made them out to be. They weren't very effective on attack, but they were fit and physical when defending. It seems that for most teams not near the top of the table, a lot of training goes into defending. Perhaps that's analytics rearing its ugly head. It would be nice to see them try to string some passes together in a structured attack, rather than just boot and chase. Fleming had a goal and two assists, and was very effective in the midfield. Faulknor got to play forward towards the end of the game. With her size, strength and skill on the ball, she wasn't bad at holding the ball with back to goal, and waiting for support. Maybe Forgedias can finally give UCLA the thumb's up for that, wherever he may be. Hopefully someone who paid more attention in the first half can give a better summary than I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamaicanadian Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 In the first half, at full strength UCLA simply had too much talent for SJSU to handle. The game was over by the end of the first half. UCLA combined very well in the final third. Mace popping up on the left. Sanchez Fleming and Viillacourta all over the middle and Sheehan bombing down the right just to name a few. They were making very good runs off the ball, the passing was on point and their finishing was clinical for the most part. Fleming played well pulling the strings in the middle of the park and making runs from deep. The goal she scored with her head was a great team and individual effort. I felt early on that SJSU didnt really have anything going forward that would or could trouble the UCLA backline. Faulknor was converted to a defender in the national program. As a youth player she was very comfortable playing up top with her back to goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 Usports semi-finals today. Games are delayed an hour from the original scheduled times. TWU v. Cape Breton and McMaster v. Ottawa in the other and in a repeat of the provincial semi. Both Quebec teams out from the get-go, including top-ranked Montreal. The tournament format is pretty harsh and unforgiving. They would be better suited to two groups of four, play each team in your group once and the group champions meet in the final. Would make it a day or two longer but when you're travelling that far and there for that long anyway... Nothing against CBU or especially Mac (who are wonderfully organized defensively and have a marquis striker and two quality midfielders to link things), but an Ottawa/TWU final would probably be the most entertaining, both have quality across the lineup and pretty good balance and move a ball pretty well. It's a joy to be dancing and dangling on grass in the California sunshine, but a different story on a nice Canadian November day with snow and howling wind when you can't feel your feet and when you block a shot it feels like you got hit by a howitzer. Live this morning from the Hill webcam... rkomar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 5 hours ago, Jamaicanadian said: Faulknor was converted to a defender in the national program. As a youth player she was very comfortable playing up top with her back to goal. That's good to know. I have a lot of hope for her to make the national team, because she's good in so many ways (strong yet with a good touch, big but deceptively quick, understands how to play in all parts of the field,...). The only knock I have against her is that she still thinks the game a bit too slowly, which would be disastrous in international matches. But she's young, and if she can develop her thinking speed (perhaps with training from the national program), I think she can play a valuable role on the national squad. Fingers crossed... Jamaicanadian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamaicanadian Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 I think your critique is spot on rkomar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 Canadian final this afternoon. TWU v Ottawa as expected. Another frosty day in the capital today and should be below zero for all games. Consolation is at 10:00am EST (Laval/Calgary) Bronze at 12:30pm EST (CBU/McMaster) Gold at 3:00pm EST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBoy Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Vic said: Canadian final this afternoon. TWU v Ottawa as expected. Another frosty day in the capital today and should be below zero for all games. Consolation is at 10:00am EST (Laval/Calgary) Bronze at 12:30pm EST (CBU/McMaster) Gold at 3:00pm EST For such a small school, how does TWU always seem to field a good squad? Coaching, recruiting? ETA: 5 Canadian women's soccer championships in 18 years Edited November 11, 2018 by BreadBoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 They are one of the programs in Canada who commit heavily to women's soccer. Beyond that their fees to attend are in the USA range and with them come better perks and they have an edge in recruiting. TWU also only have five women's sports so it's a bit easier to focus on, whereas in most schools things like football are the significantly major priority and programs like women's soccer are necessary evils and lost in the woodwork. Similarly Cape Breton has only two varsity sports, soccer and basketball and coming from such a small catchment recruit heavily in central Ontario and the men in the UK and Caribbean. There are a few off the beaten path programs in Canada, RMC would be another. Bit of a segue but whilst on the topic of soccer NAFTA... our national hockey program found our players were getting marginalized in the NCAA and as a result we're a few years into a five year pilot program of offering virtually full-ride scholarships to Canadian women. We've been performing badly against the US in women's hockey for a while now and the idea is to bring them home. Canada recently got rid of the red-shirt rule in women's soccer and allowed players to come back from the NCAA and play immediately without having to sit a year. There are a few of these in the tournament this year. Both progressive on the university athletics front. I think both the Canadian and American systems have their pros and cons, but anything towards movement to the middle is usually never a bad thing. rkomar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 The hosts Ottawa win the gold with both goal scorers NCAA returnees. https://ottawasun.com/sports/soccer/gee-gees-defeats-spartans-to-become-national-champions As this thread is about a quality small central player, only fitting the winning goal is a from another diminutive midfielder (who was both the tournament and final game MVP). An absolute monster of a goal and one we all dream about. rkomar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 On a totally different topic, when I was in university 30 years ago, we would chant "What the f**k's a Gee-Gee?" Is that chant still a thing? This is probably the wrong thread to get an answer to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 That was on Twitter too this week, both with and without the f**k. So it must be. A couple of the teams had generic nicknames: Mustangs (SMU, Western New Mexico, MAC, Midwestern, Cal Poly...) Spartans (Michigan State, San Jose State, UNC Greenboro, Aurora, York NY, Tampa...) Marauders (U of Mary, Millersville, Central State, UW Marshalfield...) But most had distinct nicknames, kind of prefer the creativity. Although a mascot can sometimes be challenging: Dinos Carabins Rouge et or Gee Gees Capers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 I think "Golden Gaels" is also unique to Queen's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 A high School in Kitchener has the same nickname but were founded in 1969 and Queens adopted it in 1947. There are some other interesting ones like Cascades, Vikes, Pronghorns, Wesmen, Paladins, Ridgebacks, Martlets, Gaiters, Sea-Hawks, Mounties, Aigles Bleu, and of course the Tommies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamaicanadian Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 When I was at York we were known as the Yeomen. Always liked that name but alas it wasn't inclusive. I get that. I have always thought (from a Canadian perspective) that the ideal is not for Canada to send their elite athletes away to complete their schooling and athletic development. Good to read that there are some changes being made, or considered, to the funds allocated to University athletics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 (edited) Found the link, it's from 2014:https://www.sportsnet.ca/usports/cis-offering-full-ride-womens-hockey-scholarships/ Edited November 13, 2018 by Vic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 UCLA cruise to another 5-0 victory, this time over the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Again, it's hard to say just how good UCLA are, except that they are good enough to dominate this opponent. Fleming had another effective game, helping UCLA to control the midfield. I didn't see anything from her that concerned me, except for the few times _she_ made the physical tackles on her opponents. Maybe she wants to balance the books in that respect, for her own peace of mind. Kennedy Faulknor scored a goal, but I didn't find her as effective as in previous games. I suspect she wasn't playing like she really meant it, since the game was already out of reach. Perhaps she needs to learn how to be more ruthless. On a different note, I was sad to see the West Virginia Mountaineers go out in a penalty shootout, especially as it was Nadya Gill who muffed her shot and tipped the balance in favour of Wake Forest. She had an excellent game before that, setting up the tying goal that forced the overtime. Unfortunately, four Canadians bow out of the NCAA championships with WVU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 UCLA win in the third round by a score of 5-0, again! It could have been more, even though they took their foot off the gas. North Carolina State proved tougher opposition than UCLA faced in the two games before, but the latter are gelling and not leaving much for their opponents. Fleming scored the first two goals, and was pulled about mid-way through the second half to keep her out of the physical play. She was taking a few rough tackles as the NCST players got more frustrated. NCST is a good team, and probably wasn't used to being out of the play so much. Kennedy Faulknor came on in the last quarter as a forward. She missed a tap in for an easy goal, but made up for it a minute later by dribbling through the defense and setting up a team mate for another goal. She may be a sub, but she's proven to be a safe one at that. I doubt the coach will have any reservations about using her when the time comes. UCLA dominated so much that, again, it's hard to say how good they are and how poor their opponents are. In this case, NCST looked pretty good in their previous game, so I think it's a case of UCLA playing really well. We'll know for sure when they play UNC in the quarter finals, because there's no doubt that they are a top-notch opponent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkomar Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 UCLA lost to UNC in penalty shots. I didn't watch the game, I only followed it in the Play-By-Play tab of the NCAA site. I can say that UNC got off to a 2-0 lead, before Hailey Mace scored two straight to tie the game. UCLA seemed to have the upper hand in shots until the last part of the game, whereupon UNC seemed to get most of the chances. I was thinking that UCLA had the momentum when they tied the game and would go on to win it, but it wasn't the case. UNC must have had some quality to turn things back in their favour. Perhaps someone who watched the game can make some informed comments on the overall game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamaicanadian Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Great season. Not the ending they wanted but they battled and fought admirably especially after going down two. rkomar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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