Friday, November 13, 2009:
The season is officially over for us. Tonight we played our last game of the 2009 season against Berry College, an old rival from a long time ago. Our last game against them was in 2000 and they beat us by the same score then, that they did tonight...1:3! So, we picked up right where we left off 9 years ago.
Tonight's game was a poor example of all the good things we accomplished in the first part of the season. I wish I had an explanation as to why our play went so badly in our last 9 games, but unfortunately I don't! We have never had a team that went from a great start to a poor finish like this one. All our other teams that started so well early in the season, always finished the second half of the season getting better, not worse. All I can say is we got way too satisfied in securing a winning season early and just coasted after that. Berry's first goal came on their corner kick with 1 minute remaining in the first half, that we flicked on to their player for the goal. We came back and tied the game, 5 minutes in to the second half on a great half volley by Tony Crocker, only to see more poor defensive mistakes beat us again. Late in the game, they dribbled 3 of our players on the end line and played it across where we scored another "own goal" for them. Our 3rd own goal of the season. That happens because we are never prepared with our bodies to play any ball that comes to us, thus resulting in either a poor touch or "own goal" in this case.Their third goal was because we were beaten defensively in the midfield and allowed the opponent to get a shot off to the near post. We never stay with our men and let them dictate what they want to do. So, the game ended with Berry College beating us 3:1. Our overall record for the season is 11 wins, 6 losses and 2 ties, a far better season and good turn around from our previous season record of 4 wins and 16 losses. There were some really good wins and some really poor losses this season, but a far cry better than last year. It is still a big learning curve for our very young team. But, until we learn to stop making so many foolish mistakes in the defensive third and learn how to prepare our bodies to receive any type of ball played to us, we will never be able to play a complete game. We must learn how to think on and off the ball.
Hopefully, we will be able to correct some of these things during the off season and learn how to think between the white lines. I want to congratulate Stephen Rumble and Scott Shelton for all their hard work over their careers and their total loyalty and honor they have shown to this program. As Stephen so prophetically announced last year, "Never Again" and he made sure that it did not repeat itself. Again, I want to say thank you to them both and I know we would not have been nearly as successful this season, had it not been for their outstanding devotion to "Never Again" and making sure their honor was intact to this program and what it stands for. They have been great Captains and an inspiration to this program, especially after the kind of season they endured last year. "Never Again" was their honor to this program! I can't thank them enough and I will miss them both very much. I know they will continue to be a big part of this program for many years to come!
We will get it done in our march to a Division III Championship, just like we did in the NAIA and NCAA Division I. We must also remember, that "Winning is a by-product of teaching,thinking and execution, not teaching, thinking and execution becoming a by-product of winning!" So, until next year, we will improve and close out the season with a championship....
Coach G from BSC
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009:
This is my next to last re-cap for our season. My last one will be next Friday, after we conclude our season against a very old rival from our NAIA years, Berry College. They, too have decide to move from the NAIA to NCAA Division III, beginning next year. This should be a fun game to re-kndle a once storied rivalry.
This week-end we played our last two Conference games. On Friday, we played a very good Colorado College team and while we played poorly for 70 minutes, we decided to finally play in the last 20. We scored 2 goals to win 2:1. Kyle Sherrin came on in the 70th minute and scored the tying goal in the 74th minute off a cross from Tyler Evans. 11 minutes later, Kyle scored again off an assist from Tony Crocker. We felt we made a little progress from precious games in the last 20 minutes to carry us in to today's game with Austin College. That did not happen! We got behind early on extremely poor defending (3 players had a chance top clear the ball and didn't), resulting in Austin's first goal. late in the half, we scored a nice goal off a corner from Andrew Shelton to Tyler Evans, who headed the ball in the back of the net, to make it 1:1 at the half. We stressed intensity of purpose during the half and also about better first touches and better passing with hard runs. In the first part of the 2nd half, it looked like we were going to score, but 2 chances back to back went for nothing. Late in the half, they had a free kick from 40 yards and played it in to the box, where they headed the winning goal. Final score BSC 1, Austin College 2. This was our first loss at home all season and it couldn't have come at a worse time. That loss drops us to a 3 way tie fro 3rd in the Conference.
I really do not have a lot to say, other than it was poor execution, poor passing, poor clearances and extremely soft and timid tackles. Turning your body, is not hard play, but scared play and we have perfected that technique to a science. I am extremely disappointed in the total effort of our team. Something positive to say after this loss, is hard to find. Hopefully, we will find something deep down to finally say "Never Again!"
Coach G from BSC
This is my next to last re-cap for our season. My last one will be next Friday, after we conclude our season against a very old rival from our NAIA years, Berry College. They, too have decide to move from the NAIA to NCAA Division III, beginning next year. This should be a fun game to re-kndle a once storied rivalry.
This week-end we played our last two Conference games. On Friday, we played a very good Colorado College team and while we played poorly for 70 minutes, we decided to finally play in the last 20. We scored 2 goals to win 2:1. Kyle Sherrin came on in the 70th minute and scored the tying goal in the 74th minute off a cross from Tyler Evans. 11 minutes later, Kyle scored again off an assist from Tony Crocker. We felt we made a little progress from precious games in the last 20 minutes to carry us in to today's game with Austin College. That did not happen! We got behind early on extremely poor defending (3 players had a chance top clear the ball and didn't), resulting in Austin's first goal. late in the half, we scored a nice goal off a corner from Andrew Shelton to Tyler Evans, who headed the ball in the back of the net, to make it 1:1 at the half. We stressed intensity of purpose during the half and also about better first touches and better passing with hard runs. In the first part of the 2nd half, it looked like we were going to score, but 2 chances back to back went for nothing. Late in the half, they had a free kick from 40 yards and played it in to the box, where they headed the winning goal. Final score BSC 1, Austin College 2. This was our first loss at home all season and it couldn't have come at a worse time. That loss drops us to a 3 way tie fro 3rd in the Conference.
I really do not have a lot to say, other than it was poor execution, poor passing, poor clearances and extremely soft and timid tackles. Turning your body, is not hard play, but scared play and we have perfected that technique to a science. I am extremely disappointed in the total effort of our team. Something positive to say after this loss, is hard to find. Hopefully, we will find something deep down to finally say "Never Again!"
Coach G from BSC
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009:
Well, we continued our poor play with a 0:2 loss to DePauw at Greencastle, Indiana. We played on perhaps to worst playing conditions I have ever seen. However, both teams The field was soft mud all over with a line of standing water down one side of the field. However, both teams had to play on it and from the outcome, they were better "mudders" than we were. Knowing this after a walk through on Saturday, we decided to alter our style of play and look to play balls in the air and long. At first it seemed to be working, then in the 9th minute, one of our defenders got turned on the left side and that player played a ball across to a player running and our defender marking him, did not react to that run and when he did he slipped in the mud and they scored. We could never find our rhythm and our passing continued to let us down. The score was still 0:1 at the half.
The 2nd half was more of the same...very poor play by us. Late in the game we made some offensive changes and in the 75th minute they struck again, only this time we scored the goal for them with an own goal. This is the first time in our history that we have not only had 2 own goals in one season, but in back to back games. In our last 9 games, we have played very poorly in all but the Trinity game. Somewhere along the way, we have lost the fire that had carried us in the first part of the season and it seems to have been replaced with just being satisfied with securing a winning season. We must re-kindle that spark to create our fire in ourselves immediately! We only have 2 weeks remaining in our season with just 3 games. This coming Friday, we play Colorado College at home at 6 PM and on Sunday, we play Austin College at 11 AM at home as well. We will end our season on Friday, November 13th against an very old rival, Berry College at home at 7 PM.
Now, why has our play dropped so drastically? I truly believe we have become quite complacent and satisfied with where we are at the moment. There is no burning desire to excel, only to maintain. We are continuing to play difficult soccer and not simple soccer. We do not know how to prepare our bodies to receive a ball, pass a ball or move off the ball. These are things that should have been learned a long time ago. What we are great at is being fancy and seeing how many step overs, cut backs and juggling we can do. This is not soccer the simple way. We must understand that in order to get better, we must play simple, not complicated and prepare our bodies appropriately to be able to receive and pass a ball with precision. In my opinion, the worst thing that has happened in our youth training is teaching the Coerver Method of ball skills and teaching kids how to win, without teaching them how to Think and prepare their bodies for the ball. We shall keep teaching and hopefully, the simple game will come through again, just like in the first part of the season.
See you next time and hopefully at our games this coming week-end.
Best regards,
Coach G somewhere on our way home in our bus
Well, we continued our poor play with a 0:2 loss to DePauw at Greencastle, Indiana. We played on perhaps to worst playing conditions I have ever seen. However, both teams The field was soft mud all over with a line of standing water down one side of the field. However, both teams had to play on it and from the outcome, they were better "mudders" than we were. Knowing this after a walk through on Saturday, we decided to alter our style of play and look to play balls in the air and long. At first it seemed to be working, then in the 9th minute, one of our defenders got turned on the left side and that player played a ball across to a player running and our defender marking him, did not react to that run and when he did he slipped in the mud and they scored. We could never find our rhythm and our passing continued to let us down. The score was still 0:1 at the half.
The 2nd half was more of the same...very poor play by us. Late in the game we made some offensive changes and in the 75th minute they struck again, only this time we scored the goal for them with an own goal. This is the first time in our history that we have not only had 2 own goals in one season, but in back to back games. In our last 9 games, we have played very poorly in all but the Trinity game. Somewhere along the way, we have lost the fire that had carried us in the first part of the season and it seems to have been replaced with just being satisfied with securing a winning season. We must re-kindle that spark to create our fire in ourselves immediately! We only have 2 weeks remaining in our season with just 3 games. This coming Friday, we play Colorado College at home at 6 PM and on Sunday, we play Austin College at 11 AM at home as well. We will end our season on Friday, November 13th against an very old rival, Berry College at home at 7 PM.
Now, why has our play dropped so drastically? I truly believe we have become quite complacent and satisfied with where we are at the moment. There is no burning desire to excel, only to maintain. We are continuing to play difficult soccer and not simple soccer. We do not know how to prepare our bodies to receive a ball, pass a ball or move off the ball. These are things that should have been learned a long time ago. What we are great at is being fancy and seeing how many step overs, cut backs and juggling we can do. This is not soccer the simple way. We must understand that in order to get better, we must play simple, not complicated and prepare our bodies appropriately to be able to receive and pass a ball with precision. In my opinion, the worst thing that has happened in our youth training is teaching the Coerver Method of ball skills and teaching kids how to win, without teaching them how to Think and prepare their bodies for the ball. We shall keep teaching and hopefully, the simple game will come through again, just like in the first part of the season.
See you next time and hopefully at our games this coming week-end.
Best regards,
Coach G somewhere on our way home in our bus
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009:
Well another very ugly performance. This time we found a new way to give up a goal. After having the better of play in the first 8 minutes and 3 really good scoring opportunities, we had a foul about 40 yards out in our defensive middle. It was certainly not a bad foul, but a foul. No problem, right? Wrong! They took a direct shot from 40 yards and the ball was deflected in our own goal by one of our players who turned away from the ball. Score 1:0 for Centre. A very bad goal and a first in my career to have a goal scored on us from 40 yards out! We tried to get control again was was a little successful. However, at the 27 minute mark, they had a throw in in our defensive third and after having talked about their very long throw all week, we fell asleep on it. They threw the ball to the back post where 2 of their players were unmarked and left alone to score the 2nd goal. Score now 2:0 for Centre. Again, we have given up 2 bad goals, that were very defendable and preventable. The half ends and we are down 2 goals.
Early ion the 2nd half, Garner Shivers hits a good cross to Tyler Evans, who just misses the target, but Garner re-injures his hip flexor muscle. This time it is torn we believe and his season is most likely over.
The real problem right now for us, is not in our physical fitness, but in our mental fitness and ability to make passes. This is most disturbing, since 45 to 50 minutes of every training session is geared to passing and moving off the ball. In our system of play, it is predicated on short accurate passes played to feet and played early and then movement off that pass. We are not executing this at all. It appears that we have become quite satisfied with our won-loss record and not willing to work harder to get better. Our intensity is lacking and mostly from the way we train everyday and that carries over to the games.No one wants to go to battle each and every training session to get better, but rather, they just want to maintain the satisfaction level they are feeling from the 10 wins. This is a new wrinkle for me and I am not sure how to correct it. All we can do is continue to try and get them to battle everyday during training and make it tough on the opponents, so we can at least have a sense of pride in working hard to get better.
We have 4 games left in our season and we must get better and strive for perfection and battle to the final whistle blows. This is a must! We shall see!
Until tomorrows game against DePauw University at 11 AM our time, I will say good bye.
Coach G from Greencastle, Indiana
Well another very ugly performance. This time we found a new way to give up a goal. After having the better of play in the first 8 minutes and 3 really good scoring opportunities, we had a foul about 40 yards out in our defensive middle. It was certainly not a bad foul, but a foul. No problem, right? Wrong! They took a direct shot from 40 yards and the ball was deflected in our own goal by one of our players who turned away from the ball. Score 1:0 for Centre. A very bad goal and a first in my career to have a goal scored on us from 40 yards out! We tried to get control again was was a little successful. However, at the 27 minute mark, they had a throw in in our defensive third and after having talked about their very long throw all week, we fell asleep on it. They threw the ball to the back post where 2 of their players were unmarked and left alone to score the 2nd goal. Score now 2:0 for Centre. Again, we have given up 2 bad goals, that were very defendable and preventable. The half ends and we are down 2 goals.
Early ion the 2nd half, Garner Shivers hits a good cross to Tyler Evans, who just misses the target, but Garner re-injures his hip flexor muscle. This time it is torn we believe and his season is most likely over.
The real problem right now for us, is not in our physical fitness, but in our mental fitness and ability to make passes. This is most disturbing, since 45 to 50 minutes of every training session is geared to passing and moving off the ball. In our system of play, it is predicated on short accurate passes played to feet and played early and then movement off that pass. We are not executing this at all. It appears that we have become quite satisfied with our won-loss record and not willing to work harder to get better. Our intensity is lacking and mostly from the way we train everyday and that carries over to the games.No one wants to go to battle each and every training session to get better, but rather, they just want to maintain the satisfaction level they are feeling from the 10 wins. This is a new wrinkle for me and I am not sure how to correct it. All we can do is continue to try and get them to battle everyday during training and make it tough on the opponents, so we can at least have a sense of pride in working hard to get better.
We have 4 games left in our season and we must get better and strive for perfection and battle to the final whistle blows. This is a must! We shall see!
Until tomorrows game against DePauw University at 11 AM our time, I will say good bye.
Coach G from Greencastle, Indiana
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009:
Good morning! I hope everyone had a great week-end. Before I begin, I must wish my brother a Happy Birthday on his 71st! Our last game was this past Friday evening in Jackson, MS, against conference rival Millsaps College. After having played Huntingdon College on Wednesday evening, we were hoping for a much better performance against Millsaps and we did get a much better one indeed. The game was a tale of total possession by BSC as Millsaps did not look to attack unless it was off an unforced error by us and then they would counter attack with a long pass and a prayer for a shot! They put all 11 players behind the mid-line and tried to just play for a tie. We had 19 shots on goal to their 3! We just could not find the back of the net. We had plenty of good opportunities, but on this night, it was not to be. The game went into double overtime and the final score was 0:0 after 110 minutes of play.
Now, while we are all disappointed that we did not win the game as we should have, we were delighted to finally find our rhythm and flow again. We cut our unforced errors down from a high against Huntingdon of 34 to just 14 in this game. It was very nice to see that we could persevere and not lose concentration or have a mental breakdown to allow a goal. The longer you play in a game where you have total domination and possession, sometimes you become a little complacent and lose focus and that is when a goal can occur. The best part of the this game was that we never lost focus. We played all our starters and made only one substitute and that was for only 18 minutes. I am extremely proud of our team for their focus, but also for their fitness. As most of you know, I do not make a lot of changes during the games, as I truly believe it disrupts the rhythm and flow you are creating. So, I am very happy we did what was necessary to come out of that game with no worse than a tie. Should we have won? Certainly, but sometimes soccer can be a cruel game and just because you have total domination and possession and your stats show a great disparity between the 2 teams, does not mean that you will win every time. This was one of those games. We did not play poorly, but I knew going in, especially after our long layoff and the way we played on Wednesday, this would be a test for us to regain some of our rhythm and hopefully prepare us for our final 5 games, with 4 of those against conference rivals. We continue our conference play this week-end on the road against Centre College in Danville, KY on Friday evening and then on Sunday we take on DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. After this week-end, we come home for our final 3 games against Colorado College on Friday, November 6 and Austin College on Sunday, November 8. We will then conclude our 2009 season against a very old rival from our NAIA days, Berry College at home on November 13.
So, until after this week-end, when I write about our games, I will say good bye and wish everyone a great week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
Good morning! I hope everyone had a great week-end. Before I begin, I must wish my brother a Happy Birthday on his 71st! Our last game was this past Friday evening in Jackson, MS, against conference rival Millsaps College. After having played Huntingdon College on Wednesday evening, we were hoping for a much better performance against Millsaps and we did get a much better one indeed. The game was a tale of total possession by BSC as Millsaps did not look to attack unless it was off an unforced error by us and then they would counter attack with a long pass and a prayer for a shot! They put all 11 players behind the mid-line and tried to just play for a tie. We had 19 shots on goal to their 3! We just could not find the back of the net. We had plenty of good opportunities, but on this night, it was not to be. The game went into double overtime and the final score was 0:0 after 110 minutes of play.
Now, while we are all disappointed that we did not win the game as we should have, we were delighted to finally find our rhythm and flow again. We cut our unforced errors down from a high against Huntingdon of 34 to just 14 in this game. It was very nice to see that we could persevere and not lose concentration or have a mental breakdown to allow a goal. The longer you play in a game where you have total domination and possession, sometimes you become a little complacent and lose focus and that is when a goal can occur. The best part of the this game was that we never lost focus. We played all our starters and made only one substitute and that was for only 18 minutes. I am extremely proud of our team for their focus, but also for their fitness. As most of you know, I do not make a lot of changes during the games, as I truly believe it disrupts the rhythm and flow you are creating. So, I am very happy we did what was necessary to come out of that game with no worse than a tie. Should we have won? Certainly, but sometimes soccer can be a cruel game and just because you have total domination and possession and your stats show a great disparity between the 2 teams, does not mean that you will win every time. This was one of those games. We did not play poorly, but I knew going in, especially after our long layoff and the way we played on Wednesday, this would be a test for us to regain some of our rhythm and hopefully prepare us for our final 5 games, with 4 of those against conference rivals. We continue our conference play this week-end on the road against Centre College in Danville, KY on Friday evening and then on Sunday we take on DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. After this week-end, we come home for our final 3 games against Colorado College on Friday, November 6 and Austin College on Sunday, November 8. We will then conclude our 2009 season against a very old rival from our NAIA days, Berry College at home on November 13.
So, until after this week-end, when I write about our games, I will say good bye and wish everyone a great week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009:
First of all, I must say Happy Birthday to my son Sean, as today is his 24th Birthday. I woke him up early this morning to tell him the same.
Now, last week, we had to cancel our game with Maryville College, as the field was unplayable and the rain was non-stop all day. We will not make that game up, as neither of us has a good date available.
About our game last evening against Huntingdon College from Montgomery, Alabama. They were an old rival from our NAIA days and we last played them in 1997. Needless to say, this old rival was ready for a renewal so to speak. I can not begin to express how poorly we played in this game. We had been off from last Thursday until Sunday night, fro Fall Break. It was quite obvious that we did not need that long of a break, as our play showed how truly bad we are at the moment. Let me begin by stating our first goal came late in the first half on a goal from Garner Shivers from a cross by Tyler Evans. The half ended with us up 1:0. At halftime, we addressed our many deficiencies during the half and implored each of them to clean up their passes and thought process. Well, I thought it worked, as we scored our second goal 5 minutes into the second half on a goal by Tyler Evans from a Garner Shivers cross. We now led 2:0 and I thought we have our rhythm back, only to be brought back to reality, that we did not have any rhythm at all. It was only in 2 instances in the game that we found it. To say we have no idea about the fine art of passing (which by the way is integral to the game of soccer), is a gross understatement. Not only can we not pass properly or to our own teammates, we can not even think when to make the pass. If we were relying on a paid attendance to watch a circus act, we would fill the stadium, as we look like trained seals, who only want to show how fancy we are and not how simple we can play to be effective. That is the problem with today's young players...they do not know how to play and think simply in the flow of the game. They just want to impress you with how many touches and fancy moves they can execute before releasing the ball. Last night was a microcosm of what is wrong with the game today in my opinion. Soccer is supposed be a simple game played with passion and thought in order to create a rhythm in the game that has balance thus creating the flow necessary to be effective. If we continue to not play simple we will become bit players in a small circus trying to attract fans to watch how fancy we can be. We must learn somehow to be simple and play 1 and 2 touch soccer with great movement off the ball. In all the goals we have given up (12 in 13 games), I would bet you that over 90% have come because we pass our opponents the ball in the defensive third of the field. Never does that happen for us by our opponents. This happens when we are under very little or no pressure and everyone else is now moving forward in the attack, when we make this horrible pass and we are now numbers down in the defense and can not recover quickly enough to stop the counter. last night, we had clear possession in our defensive to middle third of the field and moving into our attack, when we passed a ball directly to the opponent, who immediately countered and left a player one on one against our keeper. Our keeper came out to narrow the angle and then he shot and as the ball was going way wide of goal, one of our defenders rushing back, hit the ball with his hand and although it was surely wide of the goal, the referee called the hand ball and not only awarded the penalty kick (which was justified and correct), he issued a Red Card to our defender. This happened with about 9 minutes remaining in the game. They converted to make the score 2:1 and he held on with 10 men to get the win.
In summary, all I can say is what I told the team in the locker room after the game and that was, you cannot become a great team, unless you play simple soccer and learn how to not only pass the ball early and accurately, but also be able to think! We have a Conference game tomorrow evening (Friday) in Jackson, Mississippi, against Millsaps College on artificial turf. If we play the same kind of poor balls, we will not be very successful, if at all. I am greatly disappointed in how we have been playing lately against lesser opponents. We have always told all our teams, that our only opponent is ourselves. What I mean by that is, we play a certain way and if we execute and play our game at our level, it does not matter what our opponents do. They will have to play as good as us to get a tie and better than us to win. We must stop all this foolish passing and fancy playing in order to become what our potential tells us we can become. I hope we can learn from this game and apply it for the remainder of the season!
So, until tomorrow evening, I will say good bye and hopefully, everyone will have a great week-end.
With my best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
First of all, I must say Happy Birthday to my son Sean, as today is his 24th Birthday. I woke him up early this morning to tell him the same.
Now, last week, we had to cancel our game with Maryville College, as the field was unplayable and the rain was non-stop all day. We will not make that game up, as neither of us has a good date available.
About our game last evening against Huntingdon College from Montgomery, Alabama. They were an old rival from our NAIA days and we last played them in 1997. Needless to say, this old rival was ready for a renewal so to speak. I can not begin to express how poorly we played in this game. We had been off from last Thursday until Sunday night, fro Fall Break. It was quite obvious that we did not need that long of a break, as our play showed how truly bad we are at the moment. Let me begin by stating our first goal came late in the first half on a goal from Garner Shivers from a cross by Tyler Evans. The half ended with us up 1:0. At halftime, we addressed our many deficiencies during the half and implored each of them to clean up their passes and thought process. Well, I thought it worked, as we scored our second goal 5 minutes into the second half on a goal by Tyler Evans from a Garner Shivers cross. We now led 2:0 and I thought we have our rhythm back, only to be brought back to reality, that we did not have any rhythm at all. It was only in 2 instances in the game that we found it. To say we have no idea about the fine art of passing (which by the way is integral to the game of soccer), is a gross understatement. Not only can we not pass properly or to our own teammates, we can not even think when to make the pass. If we were relying on a paid attendance to watch a circus act, we would fill the stadium, as we look like trained seals, who only want to show how fancy we are and not how simple we can play to be effective. That is the problem with today's young players...they do not know how to play and think simply in the flow of the game. They just want to impress you with how many touches and fancy moves they can execute before releasing the ball. Last night was a microcosm of what is wrong with the game today in my opinion. Soccer is supposed be a simple game played with passion and thought in order to create a rhythm in the game that has balance thus creating the flow necessary to be effective. If we continue to not play simple we will become bit players in a small circus trying to attract fans to watch how fancy we can be. We must learn somehow to be simple and play 1 and 2 touch soccer with great movement off the ball. In all the goals we have given up (12 in 13 games), I would bet you that over 90% have come because we pass our opponents the ball in the defensive third of the field. Never does that happen for us by our opponents. This happens when we are under very little or no pressure and everyone else is now moving forward in the attack, when we make this horrible pass and we are now numbers down in the defense and can not recover quickly enough to stop the counter. last night, we had clear possession in our defensive to middle third of the field and moving into our attack, when we passed a ball directly to the opponent, who immediately countered and left a player one on one against our keeper. Our keeper came out to narrow the angle and then he shot and as the ball was going way wide of goal, one of our defenders rushing back, hit the ball with his hand and although it was surely wide of the goal, the referee called the hand ball and not only awarded the penalty kick (which was justified and correct), he issued a Red Card to our defender. This happened with about 9 minutes remaining in the game. They converted to make the score 2:1 and he held on with 10 men to get the win.
In summary, all I can say is what I told the team in the locker room after the game and that was, you cannot become a great team, unless you play simple soccer and learn how to not only pass the ball early and accurately, but also be able to think! We have a Conference game tomorrow evening (Friday) in Jackson, Mississippi, against Millsaps College on artificial turf. If we play the same kind of poor balls, we will not be very successful, if at all. I am greatly disappointed in how we have been playing lately against lesser opponents. We have always told all our teams, that our only opponent is ourselves. What I mean by that is, we play a certain way and if we execute and play our game at our level, it does not matter what our opponents do. They will have to play as good as us to get a tie and better than us to win. We must stop all this foolish passing and fancy playing in order to become what our potential tells us we can become. I hope we can learn from this game and apply it for the remainder of the season!
So, until tomorrow evening, I will say good bye and hopefully, everyone will have a great week-end.
With my best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009:
Good morning to all and I hope the week-end was great! We won our game on Sunday by a score of 2:1! that makes our record at the moment 9 wins 2 losses and 1 tie! A far cry better than last year, that is for sure.
Now to the game itself. I knew after the emotional and tense game we endured on Friday evening, against the number 12 team in the nation, Trinity University, we would be hard pressed to duplicate that effort on Sunday. I was correct! We came out very flat, just like we did against Oglethorpe the previous Sunday. We were emotionally and physically drained to start the game. We gave up a goal in the 28th minute, but we would find ourselves getting some good chances to score in the remainder of the first half, but to no avail and the score would remain 0:1 at the half. We made some changes at halftime in our approach and our intensity started to pick up and take over the game during the second half. In the 63rd minute a great cross from Sean Head to an onrushing Andrew Shelton would knot the score at 1 a piece. Andrew Shelton's goal was a diving header and a great one at that. Our winning goal was tallied by Sean Head with an assist from Tony Crocker in the 80th minute. That is how the game would end, 2 to 1 for BSC.
It was certainly not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes winning "ugly" can be a great catalyst for the remainder of the season. What winning 'ugly" can do is make the team acutely aware that they are good enough to overcome anything in a game in order to secure a victory. We did that in this game. I truly believe that they now know they can win every time they step on the field regardless of the circumstances. They have also learned the meaning of "battling" to the final whistle is blown and they are back in the locker room! Good teams always find ways to win and great teams do it with a sort of arrogance. That arrogance is not cockiness, but confidence in that, no matter what the score is or how poorly they are playing, they will always win by "battling" to the end! We are on the verge of some great things and only time will give us the momentum to achieve these great things!
Our next game is this Thursday, October 15 at 7 PM against Maryville College on our field. So, I hope to see you all at the game and wish each of you a great start to the week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
Good morning to all and I hope the week-end was great! We won our game on Sunday by a score of 2:1! that makes our record at the moment 9 wins 2 losses and 1 tie! A far cry better than last year, that is for sure.
Now to the game itself. I knew after the emotional and tense game we endured on Friday evening, against the number 12 team in the nation, Trinity University, we would be hard pressed to duplicate that effort on Sunday. I was correct! We came out very flat, just like we did against Oglethorpe the previous Sunday. We were emotionally and physically drained to start the game. We gave up a goal in the 28th minute, but we would find ourselves getting some good chances to score in the remainder of the first half, but to no avail and the score would remain 0:1 at the half. We made some changes at halftime in our approach and our intensity started to pick up and take over the game during the second half. In the 63rd minute a great cross from Sean Head to an onrushing Andrew Shelton would knot the score at 1 a piece. Andrew Shelton's goal was a diving header and a great one at that. Our winning goal was tallied by Sean Head with an assist from Tony Crocker in the 80th minute. That is how the game would end, 2 to 1 for BSC.
It was certainly not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes winning "ugly" can be a great catalyst for the remainder of the season. What winning 'ugly" can do is make the team acutely aware that they are good enough to overcome anything in a game in order to secure a victory. We did that in this game. I truly believe that they now know they can win every time they step on the field regardless of the circumstances. They have also learned the meaning of "battling" to the final whistle is blown and they are back in the locker room! Good teams always find ways to win and great teams do it with a sort of arrogance. That arrogance is not cockiness, but confidence in that, no matter what the score is or how poorly they are playing, they will always win by "battling" to the end! We are on the verge of some great things and only time will give us the momentum to achieve these great things!
Our next game is this Thursday, October 15 at 7 PM against Maryville College on our field. So, I hope to see you all at the game and wish each of you a great start to the week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
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