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
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009:
Good morning to all! I hope this email finds everyone having a great start to the week-end as we are! Last night was a fun game to be a part of, not to mention it was my wonderful wife Marie and my 25th Wedding Anniversary! It was 25 years ago that we got married and then had a soccer game that evening, in which we won. We did not win last night, but we did not lose either. Trinity University came here ranked 12th in the Nation and we showed them for 110 minutes what real soccer is all about.They are a very physically talented team, with great technical ability and tremendous speed at every position. If you were there, you got to finally see our team learn the meaning of "Battling" until we got back to our locker room after the game. We have borrowed this "battling" phrase from the German National Teams, who never say it is over until they get back on their bus. This phrase was coined by the Netherlands player Ronald Koeman about how hard it is to beat the Germans! It was such a pleasure to watch these young men battle for 110 minutes and never say it was over.
Let us get to the game itself. The field was quite wet, put very playable and fast. We could certainly play our style and Trinity obviously played there usual long ball style of by-passing the midfield and sending the ball from the back directly to the strikers up front. We were ready for this and held them to a 0:0 halftime score. As each minute ticked by, we gained more and more confidence and knew that we were not going to lose this game. We gave up a goal in the 48th minute and that would be Trinity's last shot on goal for the remainder of the game. Tony Crocker hit a great shot that hit the crossbar midway through the 2nd half, that would have tied the score. Later in the half, Tyler Evans was pulled down by the goalkeeper and Tyler was the one called for the foul. It was clearing a penalty kick for us and the linesman had it right, only to be overruled by the center referee. We did not panic and kept pressing forward until the 80th minute, when Nico Reitmeier sent a beautifully played ball through to Kyle Sherrin, who finished it with great composure in the back of the net, to beat the keeper and knot the score at 1:1! In the first overtime, not much happened, as neither team took at shot on goal. But, in the second overtime. it looked like we would get the winner, when Tony Crocker took a great shot to the corner of the goal, only to see the Trinity goalkeeper stretch his 6'4" frame fully, to just tip the ball wide of the post. It was a great shot and and a great save for them to preserve the tie. Both teams had 4 shots on goal, which really makes the final score corrrect at 1:1. That result was a fair result for both teams in my opinion.
Last year, Trinity beat us 0:7 and it could have been worse. With hard work, a team of dedicated players who believe not only in themselves, but each other and a "battling" attitude to the finish, this team is poised to do great things this season and beyond! We finally 'Know" we are going to win, everytime we step on the field, instead of hoping and thinking we can win! This type of relentless pursuit of excellence that is being shown now by our team, is even more reason for our turn around from last year. Let us know that it will continue.....
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 AM, we will play Southwestern University from Georgetown, Texas. They have a talented team, especially with their 6'4" striker up front. This will be a great test for us, to see how we respond to finally getting it. The it being, "knowing" we will win and "battling" until we arrive back in our locker rom or on our team bus!
Have a great week-end and come see us win tomorrow.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Good morning to all! I hope this email finds everyone having a great start to the week-end as we are! Last night was a fun game to be a part of, not to mention it was my wonderful wife Marie and my 25th Wedding Anniversary! It was 25 years ago that we got married and then had a soccer game that evening, in which we won. We did not win last night, but we did not lose either. Trinity University came here ranked 12th in the Nation and we showed them for 110 minutes what real soccer is all about.They are a very physically talented team, with great technical ability and tremendous speed at every position. If you were there, you got to finally see our team learn the meaning of "Battling" until we got back to our locker room after the game. We have borrowed this "battling" phrase from the German National Teams, who never say it is over until they get back on their bus. This phrase was coined by the Netherlands player Ronald Koeman about how hard it is to beat the Germans! It was such a pleasure to watch these young men battle for 110 minutes and never say it was over.
Let us get to the game itself. The field was quite wet, put very playable and fast. We could certainly play our style and Trinity obviously played there usual long ball style of by-passing the midfield and sending the ball from the back directly to the strikers up front. We were ready for this and held them to a 0:0 halftime score. As each minute ticked by, we gained more and more confidence and knew that we were not going to lose this game. We gave up a goal in the 48th minute and that would be Trinity's last shot on goal for the remainder of the game. Tony Crocker hit a great shot that hit the crossbar midway through the 2nd half, that would have tied the score. Later in the half, Tyler Evans was pulled down by the goalkeeper and Tyler was the one called for the foul. It was clearing a penalty kick for us and the linesman had it right, only to be overruled by the center referee. We did not panic and kept pressing forward until the 80th minute, when Nico Reitmeier sent a beautifully played ball through to Kyle Sherrin, who finished it with great composure in the back of the net, to beat the keeper and knot the score at 1:1! In the first overtime, not much happened, as neither team took at shot on goal. But, in the second overtime. it looked like we would get the winner, when Tony Crocker took a great shot to the corner of the goal, only to see the Trinity goalkeeper stretch his 6'4" frame fully, to just tip the ball wide of the post. It was a great shot and and a great save for them to preserve the tie. Both teams had 4 shots on goal, which really makes the final score corrrect at 1:1. That result was a fair result for both teams in my opinion.
Last year, Trinity beat us 0:7 and it could have been worse. With hard work, a team of dedicated players who believe not only in themselves, but each other and a "battling" attitude to the finish, this team is poised to do great things this season and beyond! We finally 'Know" we are going to win, everytime we step on the field, instead of hoping and thinking we can win! This type of relentless pursuit of excellence that is being shown now by our team, is even more reason for our turn around from last year. Let us know that it will continue.....
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 AM, we will play Southwestern University from Georgetown, Texas. They have a talented team, especially with their 6'4" striker up front. This will be a great test for us, to see how we respond to finally getting it. The it being, "knowing" we will win and "battling" until we arrive back in our locker rom or on our team bus!
Have a great week-end and come see us win tomorrow.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009:
Well, we are back home in rainy Birmingham, after a week-end of conference games. Yesterday(Sunday), we visited Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. This would prove to be the most complete game of our season thus far....only from the standpoint of putting 2 complete halves of the worst soccer of the year. We got off the bus with no energy, emotion, desire or "want" and I knew at that moment we would be in for a very long day! That proved to be true, only worse than I could have ever imagined. This game may have been the worst complete game of ineptness of my coaching career. We never made good decisions, only bad ones throughout the entire game. We could not pass, we had horrible touch on the ball, we dribbled way too much and eventually wound up losing possession because of the excessive dribbling and again, just like the first half at Sewanee on Friday night, we could not even clear a ball out of our own 18 yard box. 2 terrible clearances and watching led to both goals. Again, off our possession in our own defensive third of the field! I cannot find the correct words to convey how much this loss has affected me as a coach. To watch as your players make the same mistakes over and over again is not only disheartening, but disastrous in its effect!
Sometimes as coaches we sit back and say, well we just all had a bad game, but this is certainly not the case here. We did have a bad game, but even when you are playing bad, you can still have a strong desire and work ethic to try and do something else to help correct it. We did not even attempt to hustle or change our game work ethic to make them have to work to beat us. There is never an excuse for not having a strong work ethic in each and every time you step on the field. Yesterday, was a clear example of horrible effort throughout the entire game on our part. We deserved to lose the game and justice prevailed....we lost 0:2!
As a coach, I am not sure where to turn to try and correct these repetitive mistakes of every game. We address these the moment they happen and we discuss them after the games as well. It must come down to the individual taking personal account of his play at every moment of the game. Like the old saying goes, "you can lead the horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink, unless he is ready."
It is very easy to make excuses after a horrible game, like their field was very small and we could never get in to a flow or rhythm, but, just because it looked as if we were playing in a bathtub, because of how we were all so close to one another, you can still overcome these issues if you just try! We did not even try to overcome them and that is what makes me the angriest. Mistakes of effort are always acceptable, but mistakes of laziness and not thinking is totally unacceptable. At halftime, I told them we could make some tactical adjustments, but in order to do that, we first had to correct our effort and lack of ability in clearing balls. If you can not do the simple things, you do not need to try and adjust the difficult ones.
Now, we have a top 10 team coming here on Friday and if we do not play better, we will have zero chance of success against them. Trinity, is who we play Friday night and they defeated us last year 0:7! It was embarrassing to say the least, but we are on paper a better team than last year, but after this past week-end, I am not so sure we are better on the field. We shall see soon enough. On Sunday, we play Southwestern University to conclude the week-end.
We will try to make some adjustments to our game tactics this week in preparation for Trinity. It remains to be seen if we are capable of doing what we are taught. The angriest I ever get is when players do not think on and off the ball! Right now we do not think at all during the game. In a soccer players formative playing years, he must be taught how to think, instead of how fancy we can be with the ball at his feet! The game of soccer is very simple. It is about thinking before you get the ball, when you get the ball and after you release the ball. That is it! Just think!!
Until this weekend, have a great week,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Well, we are back home in rainy Birmingham, after a week-end of conference games. Yesterday(Sunday), we visited Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. This would prove to be the most complete game of our season thus far....only from the standpoint of putting 2 complete halves of the worst soccer of the year. We got off the bus with no energy, emotion, desire or "want" and I knew at that moment we would be in for a very long day! That proved to be true, only worse than I could have ever imagined. This game may have been the worst complete game of ineptness of my coaching career. We never made good decisions, only bad ones throughout the entire game. We could not pass, we had horrible touch on the ball, we dribbled way too much and eventually wound up losing possession because of the excessive dribbling and again, just like the first half at Sewanee on Friday night, we could not even clear a ball out of our own 18 yard box. 2 terrible clearances and watching led to both goals. Again, off our possession in our own defensive third of the field! I cannot find the correct words to convey how much this loss has affected me as a coach. To watch as your players make the same mistakes over and over again is not only disheartening, but disastrous in its effect!
Sometimes as coaches we sit back and say, well we just all had a bad game, but this is certainly not the case here. We did have a bad game, but even when you are playing bad, you can still have a strong desire and work ethic to try and do something else to help correct it. We did not even attempt to hustle or change our game work ethic to make them have to work to beat us. There is never an excuse for not having a strong work ethic in each and every time you step on the field. Yesterday, was a clear example of horrible effort throughout the entire game on our part. We deserved to lose the game and justice prevailed....we lost 0:2!
As a coach, I am not sure where to turn to try and correct these repetitive mistakes of every game. We address these the moment they happen and we discuss them after the games as well. It must come down to the individual taking personal account of his play at every moment of the game. Like the old saying goes, "you can lead the horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink, unless he is ready."
It is very easy to make excuses after a horrible game, like their field was very small and we could never get in to a flow or rhythm, but, just because it looked as if we were playing in a bathtub, because of how we were all so close to one another, you can still overcome these issues if you just try! We did not even try to overcome them and that is what makes me the angriest. Mistakes of effort are always acceptable, but mistakes of laziness and not thinking is totally unacceptable. At halftime, I told them we could make some tactical adjustments, but in order to do that, we first had to correct our effort and lack of ability in clearing balls. If you can not do the simple things, you do not need to try and adjust the difficult ones.
Now, we have a top 10 team coming here on Friday and if we do not play better, we will have zero chance of success against them. Trinity, is who we play Friday night and they defeated us last year 0:7! It was embarrassing to say the least, but we are on paper a better team than last year, but after this past week-end, I am not so sure we are better on the field. We shall see soon enough. On Sunday, we play Southwestern University to conclude the week-end.
We will try to make some adjustments to our game tactics this week in preparation for Trinity. It remains to be seen if we are capable of doing what we are taught. The angriest I ever get is when players do not think on and off the ball! Right now we do not think at all during the game. In a soccer players formative playing years, he must be taught how to think, instead of how fancy we can be with the ball at his feet! The game of soccer is very simple. It is about thinking before you get the ball, when you get the ball and after you release the ball. That is it! Just think!!
Until this weekend, have a great week,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Saturday, September 3, 2009:
Good morning,
I hope you all are doing well. Well, last night at Sewanee, Tennessee, we defeated the University of the South (Sewanee), by a score of 6:3! Yes, 9 goals were scored and yes it was a testy first half. The re-cap goes like this...BSC scored 30 seconds into the game with an up back and through ball played beautifully by Tyler Evans to a hard running Tony Crocker, who put it in the back of the nest to make it 1:0 for us. 3 minutes later, Sewanee scored off a very poor clearance right back to them for the goal. Score now is 1:1. 2 minutes later, Sewanee scored the go ahead goal when another poor clearance in the back, went to their player once again to make the score 2:1 for Sewanee. Did we quit? Absolutely not! 8 minutes later in the 13th minute, Tyler Evans played a great through ball to Jonathan Alexander, who slotted the ball perfectly past the Sewanee goalkeeper to knot the score at 2:2. 5 Minutes later, Tyler Evans got his first goal of the night, on a corner kick from Carter McLean, who placed the ball to Tyler's head for the go ahead goal, making it now,3:2 for us. The score remained that way until the 36th minute, when we misplayed another ball inside our own 18 yard box directly down to them, who one timed the ball in the back of the net to make the score 3:3. That was not to be the halftime score, as Tyler Evans, was played a great ball through the middle by Jonathan Alexander for our 4th goal and Tyler's 2nd goal of the night, with 3 seconds showing on the clock, to make the score at half, BSC 4, Sewanee 3!
During halftime, we made some adjustments, both tactically and verbally! The defense was having their worst game of the year, so we needed to have a tongue lashing, so to speak in order to try and get their attention.I believed it would motivate them to stop being embarrassed by their opponents. We also addressed their pressure defense and how to break it and get some more offensive opportunities.
The second half started, and our defense too to heart our talk and made their opponents understand that the first half was not going to be a repeat this half and if they were going to beat us, we were not going to assist them again. In the 65th minute, Tyler Evans got his 3rd goal, with an assist this time, from Tony Crocker to make the score 5:3 for us. In the 75th minute, Tyler got his 4th and final goal, with an assist from Jonathan Alexander, who headed the ball to Tyler, who then headed it past the Sewanee goalkeeper top make the score 6:3 for BSC. The game would end that way!
While we played a poor first half, we never lost our composure or knowledge that we would win the game eventually. Games like this this certainly test your dedication and "commitment of purpose", as well as testing your character as a team. I believe we showed tremendous character to keep coming back after they scored each time. It showed our resiliency in testing our "commitment of purpose", and how we would honor that commitment! We are on the right path at the moment and hopefully, this will be a great lesson learned and we can continue on the path tomorrow against Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. Our record at the moment is 8 wins, 1 loss and 0 ties!
So, until tomorrow, I will sign off and wish everyone a great week-end.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Sewanee, TN
Good morning,
I hope you all are doing well. Well, last night at Sewanee, Tennessee, we defeated the University of the South (Sewanee), by a score of 6:3! Yes, 9 goals were scored and yes it was a testy first half. The re-cap goes like this...BSC scored 30 seconds into the game with an up back and through ball played beautifully by Tyler Evans to a hard running Tony Crocker, who put it in the back of the nest to make it 1:0 for us. 3 minutes later, Sewanee scored off a very poor clearance right back to them for the goal. Score now is 1:1. 2 minutes later, Sewanee scored the go ahead goal when another poor clearance in the back, went to their player once again to make the score 2:1 for Sewanee. Did we quit? Absolutely not! 8 minutes later in the 13th minute, Tyler Evans played a great through ball to Jonathan Alexander, who slotted the ball perfectly past the Sewanee goalkeeper to knot the score at 2:2. 5 Minutes later, Tyler Evans got his first goal of the night, on a corner kick from Carter McLean, who placed the ball to Tyler's head for the go ahead goal, making it now,3:2 for us. The score remained that way until the 36th minute, when we misplayed another ball inside our own 18 yard box directly down to them, who one timed the ball in the back of the net to make the score 3:3. That was not to be the halftime score, as Tyler Evans, was played a great ball through the middle by Jonathan Alexander for our 4th goal and Tyler's 2nd goal of the night, with 3 seconds showing on the clock, to make the score at half, BSC 4, Sewanee 3!
During halftime, we made some adjustments, both tactically and verbally! The defense was having their worst game of the year, so we needed to have a tongue lashing, so to speak in order to try and get their attention.I believed it would motivate them to stop being embarrassed by their opponents. We also addressed their pressure defense and how to break it and get some more offensive opportunities.
The second half started, and our defense too to heart our talk and made their opponents understand that the first half was not going to be a repeat this half and if they were going to beat us, we were not going to assist them again. In the 65th minute, Tyler Evans got his 3rd goal, with an assist this time, from Tony Crocker to make the score 5:3 for us. In the 75th minute, Tyler got his 4th and final goal, with an assist from Jonathan Alexander, who headed the ball to Tyler, who then headed it past the Sewanee goalkeeper top make the score 6:3 for BSC. The game would end that way!
While we played a poor first half, we never lost our composure or knowledge that we would win the game eventually. Games like this this certainly test your dedication and "commitment of purpose", as well as testing your character as a team. I believe we showed tremendous character to keep coming back after they scored each time. It showed our resiliency in testing our "commitment of purpose", and how we would honor that commitment! We are on the right path at the moment and hopefully, this will be a great lesson learned and we can continue on the path tomorrow against Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. Our record at the moment is 8 wins, 1 loss and 0 ties!
So, until tomorrow, I will sign off and wish everyone a great week-end.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Sewanee, TN
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009:
Sorry for the delay in writing this post about our game on Sunday, against Hendrix College (conference foe), but is was for us Jews, the Holiest day in the year....Yom Kippur. That is the Day of Atonement, in which we ask forgiveness for all our sins of the past year and perform a 24 hour fast as part of the atonement. It was a good day, ending with family at our home for a break the fast dinner. It was great!
Now, on to the re-cap from Sunday's game. The field was still an issue, due to over 10 inches of rain during this month (the most in our recorded history). We scored first with a terrific goal. Nico Reitmeier play a ball through to Tyler Evans, who finished a perfect goal to make the score 1:0. The rest of the half was a repeat of Friday night, where we just could not get into any type of rhythm to create our flow. We kept pressing, but the score would end 1:0 at the half. We came out to start the second half, like we finished the first...not in a rhythm at all. We certainly foud some chances but all for naught. Then in the 80th minute, Tyler Evans was sent through on the outside and he made a cut around the end and played a perfect up, back and through ball back toward the 18 yard box, where Kenan Le Parc dummied the ball and Tony Crocker put an exclamation point on the game with a wonderful right footed finish to make the score 2:0! That is how the game would end, with our record now standing at 7 wins 1 loss and 0 ties with 5 shutouts in our first 8 games!
I would not call that win a pretty win, but sometimes good teams find ways to win "ugly". We certainly mastered that on Sunday. Overall the week-end, despite the weather and field conditions, was a great week-end and start of conference play for us. We have told the team, that last year we "Hoped" to win and beginning this year we "Thought" we "Could" win and now we told them we now "Know" we "Will" win! We have moved from 'Hope" to "Thinking" to "Knowing". It is the right way for this team. We must continue to work harder each and every day and not take anything for granted. Every team we play, takes special pride in wanting to beat us. This has not changed since we played in the NAIA to NCAA Division I and now to NCAA Division III. We are the spoiled boys of BSC. That is okay, as long as we continue to remember where we came from in order to get to where we are going and realizing that we are indeed spoiled, but we know how to deal with it......Winning!!
We will travel to play Sewanee on Friday night and then Oglethorpe on Sunday at noon. We must play better and keep up our "Knowing"!!!!
So, until this week-end, I will say, have a great week.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Birmingham, Alabama
Sorry for the delay in writing this post about our game on Sunday, against Hendrix College (conference foe), but is was for us Jews, the Holiest day in the year....Yom Kippur. That is the Day of Atonement, in which we ask forgiveness for all our sins of the past year and perform a 24 hour fast as part of the atonement. It was a good day, ending with family at our home for a break the fast dinner. It was great!
Now, on to the re-cap from Sunday's game. The field was still an issue, due to over 10 inches of rain during this month (the most in our recorded history). We scored first with a terrific goal. Nico Reitmeier play a ball through to Tyler Evans, who finished a perfect goal to make the score 1:0. The rest of the half was a repeat of Friday night, where we just could not get into any type of rhythm to create our flow. We kept pressing, but the score would end 1:0 at the half. We came out to start the second half, like we finished the first...not in a rhythm at all. We certainly foud some chances but all for naught. Then in the 80th minute, Tyler Evans was sent through on the outside and he made a cut around the end and played a perfect up, back and through ball back toward the 18 yard box, where Kenan Le Parc dummied the ball and Tony Crocker put an exclamation point on the game with a wonderful right footed finish to make the score 2:0! That is how the game would end, with our record now standing at 7 wins 1 loss and 0 ties with 5 shutouts in our first 8 games!
I would not call that win a pretty win, but sometimes good teams find ways to win "ugly". We certainly mastered that on Sunday. Overall the week-end, despite the weather and field conditions, was a great week-end and start of conference play for us. We have told the team, that last year we "Hoped" to win and beginning this year we "Thought" we "Could" win and now we told them we now "Know" we "Will" win! We have moved from 'Hope" to "Thinking" to "Knowing". It is the right way for this team. We must continue to work harder each and every day and not take anything for granted. Every team we play, takes special pride in wanting to beat us. This has not changed since we played in the NAIA to NCAA Division I and now to NCAA Division III. We are the spoiled boys of BSC. That is okay, as long as we continue to remember where we came from in order to get to where we are going and realizing that we are indeed spoiled, but we know how to deal with it......Winning!!
We will travel to play Sewanee on Friday night and then Oglethorpe on Sunday at noon. We must play better and keep up our "Knowing"!!!!
So, until this week-end, I will say, have a great week.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Birmingham, Alabama
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009:
Today, we had a warm down session at 9 AM, after a tough game last evening against Rhodes College, in our first Conference game of the year. Before the game began, the bottom fell out and the heavy rain made the field just about unplayable. The game started and we took the ball and went on attack, only to have the ball stop in a puddle on a break away, that most assuredly would have put us up 1:0. But, as the weather continued to deteriorate, so did the field. We have had so much rain, that the field was past the saturation point. Normally, our field will not hold water and drains really well. However, due to so much rain over the past few weeks, it just was not the same. We continued pressing and finally, in the 15th minute, Andrew Shelton, took a hard shot right at the keeper, who bobbled the ball and Tyler Evans finished it off to give us a 1:0 lead. From that point on we were really on our heels and did not do our usual pressuring. That type of play made for their goal in the 38th minute, when a bad clearance allowed them to get a shot off and score the equalizer. So, at half, it was now 1:1.
In the second half, we began playing a bit better and created a few good chances that saw them block one with their hand, that would have been a sure goal and it was not even called a hand ball. We also had one just go wide in an easy scoring opportunity. Then they had a great shot from about 35 yards out hit the crossbar. We were extremely luck to have the score remain 1:1 at that moment. They also missed a clear chance a little bit later, that saw their shot go just wide. Again, luck seemed to hold for us. Then on a really good counter attack, one of our players was taken down in the box and a penalty kick was called. This happened with about 8 minutes remaining in the game. Scott Shelton, stepped up and calmly put us ahead 2:1. The game would end that way! Our record now stands at 6 wins and 1 loss and 0 ties. Sop far so good on this young season. We must remain resolute in our purpose and keep our focused channeled on each game. If we continue doing this, we could very well have a great season and a terrific turn around from last year.
What we found out last night, was that we could indeed adapt to bad circumstances and conditions and hold fast in taking care of our game and making sure we came out on top. In horse racing parlance, we were truly "Mudders" last night!
Sunday, we play Hendrix College at noon in another conference game. Hopefully, we will stay focused and resolute in our purpose. Until then, I will say have a great weekend and I will write again tomorrow.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Birmingham, Alabama
Today, we had a warm down session at 9 AM, after a tough game last evening against Rhodes College, in our first Conference game of the year. Before the game began, the bottom fell out and the heavy rain made the field just about unplayable. The game started and we took the ball and went on attack, only to have the ball stop in a puddle on a break away, that most assuredly would have put us up 1:0. But, as the weather continued to deteriorate, so did the field. We have had so much rain, that the field was past the saturation point. Normally, our field will not hold water and drains really well. However, due to so much rain over the past few weeks, it just was not the same. We continued pressing and finally, in the 15th minute, Andrew Shelton, took a hard shot right at the keeper, who bobbled the ball and Tyler Evans finished it off to give us a 1:0 lead. From that point on we were really on our heels and did not do our usual pressuring. That type of play made for their goal in the 38th minute, when a bad clearance allowed them to get a shot off and score the equalizer. So, at half, it was now 1:1.
In the second half, we began playing a bit better and created a few good chances that saw them block one with their hand, that would have been a sure goal and it was not even called a hand ball. We also had one just go wide in an easy scoring opportunity. Then they had a great shot from about 35 yards out hit the crossbar. We were extremely luck to have the score remain 1:1 at that moment. They also missed a clear chance a little bit later, that saw their shot go just wide. Again, luck seemed to hold for us. Then on a really good counter attack, one of our players was taken down in the box and a penalty kick was called. This happened with about 8 minutes remaining in the game. Scott Shelton, stepped up and calmly put us ahead 2:1. The game would end that way! Our record now stands at 6 wins and 1 loss and 0 ties. Sop far so good on this young season. We must remain resolute in our purpose and keep our focused channeled on each game. If we continue doing this, we could very well have a great season and a terrific turn around from last year.
What we found out last night, was that we could indeed adapt to bad circumstances and conditions and hold fast in taking care of our game and making sure we came out on top. In horse racing parlance, we were truly "Mudders" last night!
Sunday, we play Hendrix College at noon in another conference game. Hopefully, we will stay focused and resolute in our purpose. Until then, I will say have a great weekend and I will write again tomorrow.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Birmingham, Alabama
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009:
been
Today we completed our road trip with a win at Fontbonne University. After Friday's lack of intensity and commitment to purpose for 90 minutes, today was a little better. Again we played on turf and it was pretty good as it had been raining most of the morning, so not having mud to contend with was a bonus. Our intensity seemed better at the start, as was our commitment to our purpose. However, our passing, touch on the ball and communication both on and off the ball was certainly not where it needed to be in order to sustain a complete game.
The game started uneventful, with our team trying to regain what was lost on Friday against Washington University....our balance, rhythm and flow to the game! In the 10th minute we struck with some great combinations, resulting in a great through ball by Tony Crocker to Tyler Evans for our 1st goal. 6 minutes later, Sean Head hit a great shot from about 25 yards out that went in the upper 90 of the goal, to make the score now 2:0. The first half ended that way. In the second half we started controlling the tempo of the game, thus creating our lost rhythm. We had many nice combinations and finally in the 80th minute, we finished a nice cross from Tyler Evans to Andrew Shelton, to make the score now 3:0. We had some other really good chances, only to see them either go just wide or right to their keeper. The game ended 3:0 for our 4th shutout of the season. One of our freshman goalkeepers, Charlie Boles stepped in quite ably for Shachar and our other freshman keeper, Clint Lum finished off the shutout for us. Our record now stands at 5 wins, 1 loss and 0 ties. We will begin conference play this coming Friday at home against Rhodes College and on Sunday, against Hendrix College.
We must continue to improve and stop playing without intensity or a sense of purpose. We must also take better care of the ball, improve our communication on and off the ball, as well get into our rhythm earlier in order to create our type of flow that will continue to make us successful. It was nice to see how we responded today after hitting rock bottom on Friday. We started our bounce back up, but not all the way or as high as we need, in order to dominate from start to finish. I know it is there! I told each of them about what I always say to my daughter before she competes in her running or pole vaulting..."believe in yourself and trust your ability"! Once they start believing in that, we will be able to accomplish great things together as at team of one!
So, until this coming week-end games, I will say good-bye from the road home on our team bus.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from the road home
been
Today we completed our road trip with a win at Fontbonne University. After Friday's lack of intensity and commitment to purpose for 90 minutes, today was a little better. Again we played on turf and it was pretty good as it had been raining most of the morning, so not having mud to contend with was a bonus. Our intensity seemed better at the start, as was our commitment to our purpose. However, our passing, touch on the ball and communication both on and off the ball was certainly not where it needed to be in order to sustain a complete game.
The game started uneventful, with our team trying to regain what was lost on Friday against Washington University....our balance, rhythm and flow to the game! In the 10th minute we struck with some great combinations, resulting in a great through ball by Tony Crocker to Tyler Evans for our 1st goal. 6 minutes later, Sean Head hit a great shot from about 25 yards out that went in the upper 90 of the goal, to make the score now 2:0. The first half ended that way. In the second half we started controlling the tempo of the game, thus creating our lost rhythm. We had many nice combinations and finally in the 80th minute, we finished a nice cross from Tyler Evans to Andrew Shelton, to make the score now 3:0. We had some other really good chances, only to see them either go just wide or right to their keeper. The game ended 3:0 for our 4th shutout of the season. One of our freshman goalkeepers, Charlie Boles stepped in quite ably for Shachar and our other freshman keeper, Clint Lum finished off the shutout for us. Our record now stands at 5 wins, 1 loss and 0 ties. We will begin conference play this coming Friday at home against Rhodes College and on Sunday, against Hendrix College.
We must continue to improve and stop playing without intensity or a sense of purpose. We must also take better care of the ball, improve our communication on and off the ball, as well get into our rhythm earlier in order to create our type of flow that will continue to make us successful. It was nice to see how we responded today after hitting rock bottom on Friday. We started our bounce back up, but not all the way or as high as we need, in order to dominate from start to finish. I know it is there! I told each of them about what I always say to my daughter before she competes in her running or pole vaulting..."believe in yourself and trust your ability"! Once they start believing in that, we will be able to accomplish great things together as at team of one!
So, until this coming week-end games, I will say good-bye from the road home on our team bus.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from the road home
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Saturday, September 19th, 2009:
Well, today we are recovering from perhaps the worst performance of the year. Yesterday, we lost to Washington University 1:2. It was remarkable that we were able stay that close, knowing how poorly we played for the entire game. We were out shot 2-8 on goal and really never threatened to score after the 8th minute, when Tony Crocker scored on a direct free kick to tie the score at 1:1. From that point on, we were never in the game.
The game started and a goal by Wash U. 30 seconds after kick-off. Our wing was certainly not paying attention and they were able to down the flank and get the ball in for the goal. So, we came back and scored in the 8th minute as I said above. In the 34th minute they scored, what would prove to be the winning goal after a corner kick, that was not cleared properly again (just like the goal we gave up against Washington and Lee last week). The first half ended with the score wash U 2, BSC 1!
At the half we tried to address the issues that were problems for us and hoped that we would correct them quickly. It never happened! In the 60th minute, Shachar Hovan, came out for a 60-40 ball and wrapped it up in his hands, only to be kicked in the face and suffer a bad broken nose. Their player was ejected, so we were now a man up. Did that motivate or cause us to have a stronger sense of urgency about the game? Absolutely not. We continued our passive, lethargic play for the rest of the game with a man up advantage. Of the 4 strikers we played, not one had a shot on goal. It was a terrible game for us.
Where do we go from here? Well, that will be quickly determined tomorrow against Fontbonne University at noon. The mark of a potentially great team, will be determined by how they address their poor performance and how high they will bounce after hitting the absolute bottom. We certainly have the potential to be a great team, but consistency must become priority number one! If we can be consistent each and every time we step on the field, we can overcome many obstacles, but not being consistent, we will never be able to recover!
So, until tomorrow, I will say goodbye,
Coach Goldfarb from St. Louis, MO.
Well, today we are recovering from perhaps the worst performance of the year. Yesterday, we lost to Washington University 1:2. It was remarkable that we were able stay that close, knowing how poorly we played for the entire game. We were out shot 2-8 on goal and really never threatened to score after the 8th minute, when Tony Crocker scored on a direct free kick to tie the score at 1:1. From that point on, we were never in the game.
The game started and a goal by Wash U. 30 seconds after kick-off. Our wing was certainly not paying attention and they were able to down the flank and get the ball in for the goal. So, we came back and scored in the 8th minute as I said above. In the 34th minute they scored, what would prove to be the winning goal after a corner kick, that was not cleared properly again (just like the goal we gave up against Washington and Lee last week). The first half ended with the score wash U 2, BSC 1!
At the half we tried to address the issues that were problems for us and hoped that we would correct them quickly. It never happened! In the 60th minute, Shachar Hovan, came out for a 60-40 ball and wrapped it up in his hands, only to be kicked in the face and suffer a bad broken nose. Their player was ejected, so we were now a man up. Did that motivate or cause us to have a stronger sense of urgency about the game? Absolutely not. We continued our passive, lethargic play for the rest of the game with a man up advantage. Of the 4 strikers we played, not one had a shot on goal. It was a terrible game for us.
Where do we go from here? Well, that will be quickly determined tomorrow against Fontbonne University at noon. The mark of a potentially great team, will be determined by how they address their poor performance and how high they will bounce after hitting the absolute bottom. We certainly have the potential to be a great team, but consistency must become priority number one! If we can be consistent each and every time we step on the field, we can overcome many obstacles, but not being consistent, we will never be able to recover!
So, until tomorrow, I will say goodbye,
Coach Goldfarb from St. Louis, MO.
Monday, September 14, 2009
September 14, 2009:
Today is Monday and a day after we won the Kyle Rote, Jr. Invitational Soccer Tournament at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN. We won the game and tournament by defeating Emory and Henry College by a score of 6:0! The score sounds good, but the storyline of the game was in two halves. The first half we played like we were sleep walking for 45 minutes. Finally, Tony Crocker scored our first goal with 8 minutes remaining in the first half. That seemed to energize us just a bit going in to halftime. At half, for the first time this season, they had a lesson in anger....my anger!!! We went over again what we discussed before the game about denial defense and high pressure. We also covered about concentrating more, especially as you become fatigued. Our passing was terrible, our touch was worse and our thought process and movement off the ball was non-existent! Our goal in every game is to play at our level and standard and not to drop down or play at our opponents level or standard. Unfortunately, in the first half that is all we did. We made a few defensive adjustments to our pressure and told then to play like they were capable of playing.
The second half began and we scored 4 minutes after the start. Nico Reitmeier scored on an assist from Garner Shivers. In the 57th minute Garner Shivers scored the 3rd goal on an assist from Nico Reitmeier. The 4th goal was also scored by Garner Shivers in the 58th minute on an assist from Tyler Evans. Garner Shivers completed his hat trick with his 3rd goal in the 64th minute on an assist from Andrew Shelton making the score 5:0. In the 75th minute Kyle Sherrin a freshman from Fairhope, Alabama scored our 6th and final goal on an assist from another freshman, Jonathan Alexander, from Birmingham, Alabama. We out shot them 19 to 3 with shots on goal. The final score again was BSC 6, Emory and Henry 0!
Needless to say, our halftime discussion made our players start "thinking" again. I am proud of how they recovered and got back on track. I must also admit, that the circumstances surrounding this tournament were very unique for us. First we had the 1 1/2 hour delay on Saturday and then had to turn around and play a second game in less than 24 hours, which made this game even more difficult. I also must mention that the field was very narrow. It was actually about 15 yards narrower than ours, so another adjustment had to be made. It is in these type of circumstances that we must compensate by concentrating even more. These type of games determines the character of a team and which direction they will choose to travel. I believe our team answered that in the second half of Sunday's game!
Another highlight to the week-end was the awards our players received. Tyler Evans was awarded the Offensive MVP while Andrew Stein was the Defensive MVP. making the All-Tournament team was Evans and Stein along with Garner Shivers and Nico Reitmeier. Congratulations to them all. I usually do not mention individual awards, as I believe that the "Team is the Superstar" and not the individual. But, because of last season, I felt this was necessary and warranted enough to mention.
I believe that champions are made out of difficult situations and how they adjust to them. I think we are on the right path at the moment. This coming week-end will be another difficult week-end for us. On Friday afternoon, we will play Washington University in St. Louis, on their artificial turf. Wash U is always a top 20 team and a virtual lock for the NCAA Tournament each and every year. Fontbonne University also is a tournament participant most years and both will be a great test for our young team. I believe we can win both of these games if we play like we are capable of playing. We can not have any lapses and must stay focused for 90 minutes and execute our game plans to perfection. This can be a memorable first three weeks to the season if we take care of business this week-end. It was 10 years ago that we had another great start to the season. In 1999, we started off with 7 straight victories and we can get to 6 in a row this week-end. I know we will do whatever is necessary to continue our winning formula.
So, until this week-end I will say take care and best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Birmingham, Alabama
Today is Monday and a day after we won the Kyle Rote, Jr. Invitational Soccer Tournament at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN. We won the game and tournament by defeating Emory and Henry College by a score of 6:0! The score sounds good, but the storyline of the game was in two halves. The first half we played like we were sleep walking for 45 minutes. Finally, Tony Crocker scored our first goal with 8 minutes remaining in the first half. That seemed to energize us just a bit going in to halftime. At half, for the first time this season, they had a lesson in anger....my anger!!! We went over again what we discussed before the game about denial defense and high pressure. We also covered about concentrating more, especially as you become fatigued. Our passing was terrible, our touch was worse and our thought process and movement off the ball was non-existent! Our goal in every game is to play at our level and standard and not to drop down or play at our opponents level or standard. Unfortunately, in the first half that is all we did. We made a few defensive adjustments to our pressure and told then to play like they were capable of playing.
The second half began and we scored 4 minutes after the start. Nico Reitmeier scored on an assist from Garner Shivers. In the 57th minute Garner Shivers scored the 3rd goal on an assist from Nico Reitmeier. The 4th goal was also scored by Garner Shivers in the 58th minute on an assist from Tyler Evans. Garner Shivers completed his hat trick with his 3rd goal in the 64th minute on an assist from Andrew Shelton making the score 5:0. In the 75th minute Kyle Sherrin a freshman from Fairhope, Alabama scored our 6th and final goal on an assist from another freshman, Jonathan Alexander, from Birmingham, Alabama. We out shot them 19 to 3 with shots on goal. The final score again was BSC 6, Emory and Henry 0!
Needless to say, our halftime discussion made our players start "thinking" again. I am proud of how they recovered and got back on track. I must also admit, that the circumstances surrounding this tournament were very unique for us. First we had the 1 1/2 hour delay on Saturday and then had to turn around and play a second game in less than 24 hours, which made this game even more difficult. I also must mention that the field was very narrow. It was actually about 15 yards narrower than ours, so another adjustment had to be made. It is in these type of circumstances that we must compensate by concentrating even more. These type of games determines the character of a team and which direction they will choose to travel. I believe our team answered that in the second half of Sunday's game!
Another highlight to the week-end was the awards our players received. Tyler Evans was awarded the Offensive MVP while Andrew Stein was the Defensive MVP. making the All-Tournament team was Evans and Stein along with Garner Shivers and Nico Reitmeier. Congratulations to them all. I usually do not mention individual awards, as I believe that the "Team is the Superstar" and not the individual. But, because of last season, I felt this was necessary and warranted enough to mention.
I believe that champions are made out of difficult situations and how they adjust to them. I think we are on the right path at the moment. This coming week-end will be another difficult week-end for us. On Friday afternoon, we will play Washington University in St. Louis, on their artificial turf. Wash U is always a top 20 team and a virtual lock for the NCAA Tournament each and every year. Fontbonne University also is a tournament participant most years and both will be a great test for our young team. I believe we can win both of these games if we play like we are capable of playing. We can not have any lapses and must stay focused for 90 minutes and execute our game plans to perfection. This can be a memorable first three weeks to the season if we take care of business this week-end. It was 10 years ago that we had another great start to the season. In 1999, we started off with 7 straight victories and we can get to 6 in a row this week-end. I know we will do whatever is necessary to continue our winning formula.
So, until this week-end I will say take care and best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Birmingham, Alabama
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009:
Well, our season continues to unfold in a most positive manner. Yesterday (Saturday, September 12), we defeated a very good Washington and Lee University team 2:1 at the Kyle Rote, Jr. Invitational at Sewanee, TN. The game did not start as planned, as we had a one and one-half hour delay, due to the officials for our game not showing. So, instead of starting at 12 noon, we kicked off at 1:30 PM. We had our pre-game meat at 8 AM giving us our 4 hour window before the game and had our 30 minute warm-up as usual, only to find out we must wait for the officials. Well, they never showed. The game officials for the 2nd game showed at 1:15 PM, so we used them.
The game kicked off and we started off quite well and scored in the 21st minute off a nice ball played by Tony Crocker to Nico Reitmeier, who then sent a ball through to a cutting Tyler Evans, who finished off to make the score 1:0. We kept up the pressure and had some more great opportunities, with one hitting the crossbar by Sean Head. The half ended at 1:0. We started the 2nd half the same way and scored in the 57th minute off a corner kick from Andrew Shelton to Tyler Evans, who took a half volley and put it away in the upper ninety of the far post. It was a beautiful goal. That made it 2:0. Now, we seemed to be rolling, until the wheels started coming off. We started making some very bad mistakes defensively in and around the midfield area and finally, Washington and Lee scored in the 68th minute off a throw-in and a very poor clearance by us to the 18 yard mark to one of their players, who put it in the goal to make the score 2:1. We were able to hold on a take our 3rd win of the season and giving up our very first goal. We out-shot them by a margin of 10-2.
We must now learn how to play on a very small field and not make so many unforced errors, especially defensively. Our thought process and touch and passing was very poor today probably because we only had one true training session last week due to the field being unplayable due to all the rain we had. Again, we have to learn how to have more concentration, especially under these circumstance alluded to above. If we can do this, we have the potential to become a very good team.
In closing, I would like to thank our parents who were in attendance for getting our team some snacks while we were waiting for an hour and a half for the game to start. It certainly helped our guys get some much needed nourishment. So, again thank you very much. It is a tribute to our guys, who faced the adversity of a long game delay and lack of training last week, to come out on a small field and do what was necessary to overcome these odds and win the game to remain unbeaten on this young season.
Today, we play Emory and Henry and hopefully, with less than 24 hours rest, we will have a good game and continue our winning season in a positive way. I will rec-cap this game and preview our upcoming trip to St. Louis tomorrow. So, until then keep us in your thoughts.
With my very best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Sewanee, TN
Well, our season continues to unfold in a most positive manner. Yesterday (Saturday, September 12), we defeated a very good Washington and Lee University team 2:1 at the Kyle Rote, Jr. Invitational at Sewanee, TN. The game did not start as planned, as we had a one and one-half hour delay, due to the officials for our game not showing. So, instead of starting at 12 noon, we kicked off at 1:30 PM. We had our pre-game meat at 8 AM giving us our 4 hour window before the game and had our 30 minute warm-up as usual, only to find out we must wait for the officials. Well, they never showed. The game officials for the 2nd game showed at 1:15 PM, so we used them.
The game kicked off and we started off quite well and scored in the 21st minute off a nice ball played by Tony Crocker to Nico Reitmeier, who then sent a ball through to a cutting Tyler Evans, who finished off to make the score 1:0. We kept up the pressure and had some more great opportunities, with one hitting the crossbar by Sean Head. The half ended at 1:0. We started the 2nd half the same way and scored in the 57th minute off a corner kick from Andrew Shelton to Tyler Evans, who took a half volley and put it away in the upper ninety of the far post. It was a beautiful goal. That made it 2:0. Now, we seemed to be rolling, until the wheels started coming off. We started making some very bad mistakes defensively in and around the midfield area and finally, Washington and Lee scored in the 68th minute off a throw-in and a very poor clearance by us to the 18 yard mark to one of their players, who put it in the goal to make the score 2:1. We were able to hold on a take our 3rd win of the season and giving up our very first goal. We out-shot them by a margin of 10-2.
We must now learn how to play on a very small field and not make so many unforced errors, especially defensively. Our thought process and touch and passing was very poor today probably because we only had one true training session last week due to the field being unplayable due to all the rain we had. Again, we have to learn how to have more concentration, especially under these circumstance alluded to above. If we can do this, we have the potential to become a very good team.
In closing, I would like to thank our parents who were in attendance for getting our team some snacks while we were waiting for an hour and a half for the game to start. It certainly helped our guys get some much needed nourishment. So, again thank you very much. It is a tribute to our guys, who faced the adversity of a long game delay and lack of training last week, to come out on a small field and do what was necessary to overcome these odds and win the game to remain unbeaten on this young season.
Today, we play Emory and Henry and hopefully, with less than 24 hours rest, we will have a good game and continue our winning season in a positive way. I will rec-cap this game and preview our upcoming trip to St. Louis tomorrow. So, until then keep us in your thoughts.
With my very best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Sewanee, TN
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sunday, September 6th, 2009:
Today was the second game of the BSC Labor Day Classic with Sewanee defeating Blackburn College 6:0 in the first game of the day. In the final game BSC defeated Mississippi College by a score of 3:0. This win assured us of winning the tournament and starting our young season with a 2-0-0 record. It has been an awfully long time since we have begun the season with two straight victories, let alone 2 straight shutouts. Boy, does it feel really good, especially after last season. We still have a very long way to go to reach our full potential, but we are on the right path at the moment. Nothing ever makes me happier than seeing our team execute a game plan to perfection, especially defensively. Today, we learned what it meant to have some luck! Yes, it is the same luck we always talk about..."when opportunity meets preparation". Today we were prepared for those opportunities and succeeded in having our "luck"!
Now, to the actual game and how we played. We started off a little sluggish, but were able to re-group and score a beautifully executed goal in the 16th minute. Tony Crocker received a great ball from Stephen Rumble and beat his man on the end line and played a perfect ball to an on rushing Tyler Evans, who put a perfect finish to a terrific ball and make the score 1:0 BSC. The score remained that way until half. We certainly started finding our rhythm and balance and started creating a great flow to our attack. Our defense was super, with our marking backs, Andrew Stein and Michael Alfano completely neutralizing their strikers, to the point of great frustration on their parts. Our sweeper, Scott Shelton was always in the correct position to shut down any impending attack through the middle. Shachar was up to the test in goal and make great saves to keep us with a 1:0 lead until the 60th minute when Nicolas Reitmeier played a through ball to Garner Shivers for our 2nd goal. 8 minutes later Andrew Shelton sent Tyler Evans a terrific ball which Tyler put in the back of the net for a 3:0 score, which would prove to be the final tally of the game. During the second half, there was about a 15 minute period when we were completely out of rhythm, but again we bounced back and finsihed the game game off with another clean sheet. This team is learning about Pride and what the Tradition of this program has meant to so many former players. I believe we can do great things this season, if we continue to believe in ourselves and each other and continue to learn and work even harder. It si very easy to work hard when you are losing in order to try and make things right, but it takes a greater amount of work in order to continue to build and keep winning. Losing makes you say "I did my best", but it takes "winning to always strive to do more than your best". We are learning what it takes to win and I truly believe this is going to be a very special season for our young team. We must work harder than ever before and make sure we have always done more than our best.
Now, we will take tomorrow off and then get back to training Tuesday afternoon in preparation for another tournament at Sewanee this coming week-end. On Saturday, we will play Washington and Lee University at 12 noon and then on Sunday, we will play Emory and Henry at 12 noon as well. This will be a tough test in that we must play 2 games in 24 hours. We have not done this in the regular season since our NAIA days. We can do it, as I believe we are in great condition. Today, that fitness level of our team was the determining factor in our victory. I felt Mississippi College was not very fit through-out the game.
On a special note, I would like to thank all our Alumni who came out to support us this week-end. It is always very special seeing my former players and knowing how much loyalty they always continue to show to our program. Today was a very special day for me personally, as we won our 300th game since we started the program in 1983. It was a great milestone, but I certainly did not win all those games by myself. My players were the ones that put that number up for me. I was just the lucky one to have been on the sideline and coaching them for all these victories. They are the ones that deserve all the credit. This milestone would never have been possible if were not for the love and support of my wonderful family, who have been by my side from the beginning. They are my Heart!! I must also thank my Athletic Director, Joe Dean for all his support and especially all his Loyalty to me over the years. It was quite special to have him present for this milestone and having him share it with me was even more special. I would be remiss if I did not thank the one person to whom I am most grateful for giving me this opportunity 27 years ago...Dr. Neal Berte. If were not for him, none of this would have ever been possible. Now, the person I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart is Greg Vinson. He has been with me as a player since 1991 and a fellow coach since 1996. He has seen all milestones as either a player or coach from the 100th win to the 20oth win and now to the 300th win. I could never have done this without his help. He is very, very special to me as a person, a friend and fellow coach. Thank you Greg for all your help, support, loyalty and especially your friendship. It has been quite a journey and hopefully, this present journey is only beginning!
So, I will say goodnight and thank you to my present team, for such a wonderful week-end that will always be such a special day for me and my family. Thank you! Now, let's keep the Pride intact!
Coach Goldfarb from BSC
Today was the second game of the BSC Labor Day Classic with Sewanee defeating Blackburn College 6:0 in the first game of the day. In the final game BSC defeated Mississippi College by a score of 3:0. This win assured us of winning the tournament and starting our young season with a 2-0-0 record. It has been an awfully long time since we have begun the season with two straight victories, let alone 2 straight shutouts. Boy, does it feel really good, especially after last season. We still have a very long way to go to reach our full potential, but we are on the right path at the moment. Nothing ever makes me happier than seeing our team execute a game plan to perfection, especially defensively. Today, we learned what it meant to have some luck! Yes, it is the same luck we always talk about..."when opportunity meets preparation". Today we were prepared for those opportunities and succeeded in having our "luck"!
Now, to the actual game and how we played. We started off a little sluggish, but were able to re-group and score a beautifully executed goal in the 16th minute. Tony Crocker received a great ball from Stephen Rumble and beat his man on the end line and played a perfect ball to an on rushing Tyler Evans, who put a perfect finish to a terrific ball and make the score 1:0 BSC. The score remained that way until half. We certainly started finding our rhythm and balance and started creating a great flow to our attack. Our defense was super, with our marking backs, Andrew Stein and Michael Alfano completely neutralizing their strikers, to the point of great frustration on their parts. Our sweeper, Scott Shelton was always in the correct position to shut down any impending attack through the middle. Shachar was up to the test in goal and make great saves to keep us with a 1:0 lead until the 60th minute when Nicolas Reitmeier played a through ball to Garner Shivers for our 2nd goal. 8 minutes later Andrew Shelton sent Tyler Evans a terrific ball which Tyler put in the back of the net for a 3:0 score, which would prove to be the final tally of the game. During the second half, there was about a 15 minute period when we were completely out of rhythm, but again we bounced back and finsihed the game game off with another clean sheet. This team is learning about Pride and what the Tradition of this program has meant to so many former players. I believe we can do great things this season, if we continue to believe in ourselves and each other and continue to learn and work even harder. It si very easy to work hard when you are losing in order to try and make things right, but it takes a greater amount of work in order to continue to build and keep winning. Losing makes you say "I did my best", but it takes "winning to always strive to do more than your best". We are learning what it takes to win and I truly believe this is going to be a very special season for our young team. We must work harder than ever before and make sure we have always done more than our best.
Now, we will take tomorrow off and then get back to training Tuesday afternoon in preparation for another tournament at Sewanee this coming week-end. On Saturday, we will play Washington and Lee University at 12 noon and then on Sunday, we will play Emory and Henry at 12 noon as well. This will be a tough test in that we must play 2 games in 24 hours. We have not done this in the regular season since our NAIA days. We can do it, as I believe we are in great condition. Today, that fitness level of our team was the determining factor in our victory. I felt Mississippi College was not very fit through-out the game.
On a special note, I would like to thank all our Alumni who came out to support us this week-end. It is always very special seeing my former players and knowing how much loyalty they always continue to show to our program. Today was a very special day for me personally, as we won our 300th game since we started the program in 1983. It was a great milestone, but I certainly did not win all those games by myself. My players were the ones that put that number up for me. I was just the lucky one to have been on the sideline and coaching them for all these victories. They are the ones that deserve all the credit. This milestone would never have been possible if were not for the love and support of my wonderful family, who have been by my side from the beginning. They are my Heart!! I must also thank my Athletic Director, Joe Dean for all his support and especially all his Loyalty to me over the years. It was quite special to have him present for this milestone and having him share it with me was even more special. I would be remiss if I did not thank the one person to whom I am most grateful for giving me this opportunity 27 years ago...Dr. Neal Berte. If were not for him, none of this would have ever been possible. Now, the person I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart is Greg Vinson. He has been with me as a player since 1991 and a fellow coach since 1996. He has seen all milestones as either a player or coach from the 100th win to the 20oth win and now to the 300th win. I could never have done this without his help. He is very, very special to me as a person, a friend and fellow coach. Thank you Greg for all your help, support, loyalty and especially your friendship. It has been quite a journey and hopefully, this present journey is only beginning!
So, I will say goodnight and thank you to my present team, for such a wonderful week-end that will always be such a special day for me and my family. Thank you! Now, let's keep the Pride intact!
Coach Goldfarb from BSC
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009:
Well, our season has begun in earnest. Last evening we opened our season against Blackburn College from Illinois and it could not have been a better start to the 2009 season. Playing against Blackburn brought back a wave of memories, not about playing them particularly, but playing once again against one of my oldest and best friends in soccer coaching...Aydin Gonulsen. We go back a very long way and had some great battles playing each other almost every year and especially in the NAIA National Tournaments, when he was at Illinois-Springfield. It is always such a special treat for me to play against my friends from coaching and it certainly makes the game that much more enjoyable. We will always battle as warriors, but in the end we will always hug and remind ourselves of our great friendship, forged through these battles! Tonight was no different. My only regret is that one of his players broke his leg in 3 places and had to have surgery last night. He is doing well after surgery and we wish him a very speedy recovery. His name is Andrew Leonard.
As I said, last night could not have gone better. It was the first time in my career that we played 26 players in a game. We are carrying 28 players on our roster and the only reason the 27 and 28th players did not play was because one is injured and the other was not ready yet. The game itself began with a goal in the 8th minute by Garner Shivers, a sophomore from Oxford, MS with an assist from Tyler Evans, another sophomore from Panama City, FL. Our 2nd goal came in the 17th minute by Tyler Evans on an assist from Nico Reitmeier, a freshman from Stadtallendorf, Germany. The 3rd goal was again scored by Garner Shivers with another assist from his counterpart up front, Tyler Evans in the 28th minute of the first half. The 4th goal was scored by Tony Crocker, a sophomore transfer from Appalachian State and a Birmingham resident, with an assist again from Nico Reitmeier. The 5th and final goal of the first half was scored by Nico Reitmeier, with an assist from Tony Crocker. So the score at half was BSC 5, Blackburn College 0! Blackburn did not have a shot on goal during the first half and our defense, with Shachar Hovan in goal had a clean sheet thus far!
The second half began with our starting team now back in the game after a good rest, including the 15 minutes of halftime. We did make a change in goal with Charlie Boles, a freshman goalkeeper from Florida starting ther 2nd half in place of Shachar. Charlie played 23 minutes and was replaced by another freshman, Clint Lum, from Pearland, TX. Their goalkeeper came up really big, with some great saves. Finally, after making more substitutions, we scored again in the 68th minute, with a goal from Jonathan Alexander and an assist from Jared Brookins. Both are local Birmningham freshmen playing in their first intercollegiate game. That was great to see! The 7th and final goal was scored in the 80th minute by Stuart Weekes, a freshman from Bridgetown, Barbados, with an assist from Brice Hunt, a sophomore from West Plains, MO.
So, our final score was BSC 7, Blackburn College 0! Overall, it was a good result for us in our opening game. We now play Mississippi College a 3:0 winner over Sewanee in the first game of our tournament. This will be a really good test for our very young team. Mississippi College is a very talented team with a great striker who scored all 3 goals against Sewanee. last year they beat us 6:3, in a game we could have done a lot better in. Now it is time for payback and we must come out determined to influence the flow and direction of this game. We have talked about restoring the great Pride our tradition has instilled in the program through the years. We must take Pride in the Jersey we wear; take Pride in doing whatever it takes to make something happen in a positive way; take Pride in knowing you can do your best each and every time we step on the field; take Pride in limiting our unforced errors; take Pride in not allowing your opponent to beat you and take great Pride in winning as many individual battles against your opponent that you can in order to make sure we win the war! Pride is an individual thing in each of us and those of us that have this Pride will always be successful!! BSC through the years has always had great Pride in the Jersey, representing our College, our families and most importantly our team! Tradition and Pride will always be evident in everything we do as team, never forgetting the past Traditions of this program and always striving to forge new Traditions and Pride in ourselves, our team and our history!
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our constant and wonderful sponsors Jim 'N Nick's Bar-b-q and PUMA and all that they do to help keep our Tradition and Pride alive. Jim 'N Nick's has been with us since 1984, Buffalo Rock (Pepsi) since 1987 and PUMA has been with us since 1992. Our program could never have accomplished all that we have over the years,without their constant support and loyalty to our program. So, on behalf our our team, once again, thank you so very much for always being so loyal to us!
So, until Sunday, I will say goodbye. Have a great week-end and we hope to see all of you at our game at 2:30 PM tomorrow.
Coach Goldfarb from BSC
Well, our season has begun in earnest. Last evening we opened our season against Blackburn College from Illinois and it could not have been a better start to the 2009 season. Playing against Blackburn brought back a wave of memories, not about playing them particularly, but playing once again against one of my oldest and best friends in soccer coaching...Aydin Gonulsen. We go back a very long way and had some great battles playing each other almost every year and especially in the NAIA National Tournaments, when he was at Illinois-Springfield. It is always such a special treat for me to play against my friends from coaching and it certainly makes the game that much more enjoyable. We will always battle as warriors, but in the end we will always hug and remind ourselves of our great friendship, forged through these battles! Tonight was no different. My only regret is that one of his players broke his leg in 3 places and had to have surgery last night. He is doing well after surgery and we wish him a very speedy recovery. His name is Andrew Leonard.
As I said, last night could not have gone better. It was the first time in my career that we played 26 players in a game. We are carrying 28 players on our roster and the only reason the 27 and 28th players did not play was because one is injured and the other was not ready yet. The game itself began with a goal in the 8th minute by Garner Shivers, a sophomore from Oxford, MS with an assist from Tyler Evans, another sophomore from Panama City, FL. Our 2nd goal came in the 17th minute by Tyler Evans on an assist from Nico Reitmeier, a freshman from Stadtallendorf, Germany. The 3rd goal was again scored by Garner Shivers with another assist from his counterpart up front, Tyler Evans in the 28th minute of the first half. The 4th goal was scored by Tony Crocker, a sophomore transfer from Appalachian State and a Birmingham resident, with an assist again from Nico Reitmeier. The 5th and final goal of the first half was scored by Nico Reitmeier, with an assist from Tony Crocker. So the score at half was BSC 5, Blackburn College 0! Blackburn did not have a shot on goal during the first half and our defense, with Shachar Hovan in goal had a clean sheet thus far!
The second half began with our starting team now back in the game after a good rest, including the 15 minutes of halftime. We did make a change in goal with Charlie Boles, a freshman goalkeeper from Florida starting ther 2nd half in place of Shachar. Charlie played 23 minutes and was replaced by another freshman, Clint Lum, from Pearland, TX. Their goalkeeper came up really big, with some great saves. Finally, after making more substitutions, we scored again in the 68th minute, with a goal from Jonathan Alexander and an assist from Jared Brookins. Both are local Birmningham freshmen playing in their first intercollegiate game. That was great to see! The 7th and final goal was scored in the 80th minute by Stuart Weekes, a freshman from Bridgetown, Barbados, with an assist from Brice Hunt, a sophomore from West Plains, MO.
So, our final score was BSC 7, Blackburn College 0! Overall, it was a good result for us in our opening game. We now play Mississippi College a 3:0 winner over Sewanee in the first game of our tournament. This will be a really good test for our very young team. Mississippi College is a very talented team with a great striker who scored all 3 goals against Sewanee. last year they beat us 6:3, in a game we could have done a lot better in. Now it is time for payback and we must come out determined to influence the flow and direction of this game. We have talked about restoring the great Pride our tradition has instilled in the program through the years. We must take Pride in the Jersey we wear; take Pride in doing whatever it takes to make something happen in a positive way; take Pride in knowing you can do your best each and every time we step on the field; take Pride in limiting our unforced errors; take Pride in not allowing your opponent to beat you and take great Pride in winning as many individual battles against your opponent that you can in order to make sure we win the war! Pride is an individual thing in each of us and those of us that have this Pride will always be successful!! BSC through the years has always had great Pride in the Jersey, representing our College, our families and most importantly our team! Tradition and Pride will always be evident in everything we do as team, never forgetting the past Traditions of this program and always striving to forge new Traditions and Pride in ourselves, our team and our history!
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our constant and wonderful sponsors Jim 'N Nick's Bar-b-q and PUMA and all that they do to help keep our Tradition and Pride alive. Jim 'N Nick's has been with us since 1984, Buffalo Rock (Pepsi) since 1987 and PUMA has been with us since 1992. Our program could never have accomplished all that we have over the years,without their constant support and loyalty to our program. So, on behalf our our team, once again, thank you so very much for always being so loyal to us!
So, until Sunday, I will say goodbye. Have a great week-end and we hope to see all of you at our game at 2:30 PM tomorrow.
Coach Goldfarb from BSC
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