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
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