Topic: Great news on the pitch

[herdman22]

AAC Soccer Player of the Year coming to the Herd! Herd keeps rolling.


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[herd2win]

AAC Soccer Player of the Year coming to the Herd! Herd keeps rolling.


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Proud of our  soccer program but this would be a restart not a keep rolling.  We lost at home as a heavy favorite.  We are not currently rolling anywhere but to Christmas break.

[wesnky]

Proud of our  soccer program but this would be a restart not a keep rolling.  We lost at home as a heavy favorite.  We are not currently rolling anywhere but to Christmas break.

You can't be serious

[whf]

Proud of our  soccer program but this would be a restart not a keep rolling.  We lost at home as a heavy favorite.  We are not currently rolling anywhere but to Christmas break.

I'm just going to bet you've never been a soccer fan or understand the game much.  No one is a heavy favorite in the NCAA tourney.

[svherd]

Proud of our  soccer program but this would be a restart not a keep rolling.  We lost at home as a heavy favorite.  We are not currently rolling anywhere but to Christmas break.

Sorry man, this is a bad take. If this is the thought, our other sports must be Gawd awful.

[herd2win]

I'm just going to bet you've never been a soccer fan or understand the game much.  No one is a heavy favorite in the NCAA tourney.

I am a fan, not an expert but if the number 1 team gets beat at home by a team that travelled across country then to me that is not a good thing. 

[chris88]

I am a fan, not an expert but if the number 1 team gets beat at home by a team that travelled across country then to me that is not a good thing.

A 5 yr old could figure out it's not a good thing when you lose. 2.5 years ago we beat #1 overall seed Clemson in round of 16 and we won the natl title.  #1 seed (UK) in tourney last year lost at home in round of 16 to a team that wasn't even seeded (Pitt). Of top 8 seeds this year, only 3 made it to elite 8 and 2 of those three advanced on penalty kicks. This isn't basketball. Eventually it would be great if we got to be like Indiana going to elite 8 almost every year, but few programs are at that stature. The team that beat us (Stanford) lost at home as a top 4 seed recently as well. Nobody is immune to parity in a sport that is designed to have little margin for error for best 20-30 teams in a playoff. In end, only one team will be happy out of 211. Being a consistent top 10 program over last 4 years is pretty rarified air.

As has been discussed, we probably got out schemed or maybe out structured is a better term vs Stanford. Our structure worked pretty well all year on defense but in this match, Stanford's structure was the difference and they executed much more effectively with the desperation needed at this time of year. Grassie seems to be a guy who will take notes and adapt accordingly.....unlike the higher resourced, higher profile programs at MU. How we played in the rematch of our two losses seemed to support that notion turning 2-5 and 0-2 matches into 3-0 and 3-2 wins in SB tourney.

[herd2win]

A 5 yr old could figure out it's not a good thing when you lose. 2.5 years ago we beat #1 overall seed Clemson in round of 16 and we won the natl title.  #1 seed (UK) in tourney last year lost at home in round of 16 to a team that wasn't even seeded (Pitt). Of top 8 seeds this year, only 3 made it to elite 8 and 2 of those three advanced on penalty kicks. This isn't basketball. Eventually it would be great if we got to be like Indiana going to elite 8 almost every year, but few programs are at that stature. The team that beat us (Stanford) lost at home as a top 4 seed recently as well. Nobody is immune to parity in a sport that is designed to have little margin for error for best 20-30 teams in a playoff. In end, only one team will be happy out of 211. Being a consistent top 10 program over last 4 years is pretty rarified air.

So you are happy and satisfied with our season?

As has been discussed, we probably got out schemed or maybe out structured is a better term vs Stanford. Our structure worked pretty well all year on defense but in this match, Stanford's structure was the difference and they executed much more effectively with the desperation needed at this time of year. Grassie seems to be a guy who will take notes and adapt accordingly.....unlike the higher resourced, higher profile programs at MU. How we played in the rematch of our two losses seemed to support that notion turning 2-5 and 0-2 matches into 3-0 and 3-2 wins in SB tourney.

[Herdalum83]

Happy with a season where we won both the regular season and tourney conference championship? Um. Yes.

Am I disappointed that we got beat? Of course, I'm always disappointed anytime we lose. But, it was by any measure a successful season. Could it have been more successful? Yes, but not much. Outside of winning the National title losing this week or next doesn't make much of a difference. This team accomplished every goal we as fans could have except for winning a national title. Which is extremely hard to do.

[banker]

As a general rule, the overall #1 seed rarely wins multiple round tournaments.  You have 4 #1 seeds in the NCAA tourney, but they have t even taken half of the available final two spots since the tourney expanded in 1985. So basically 3 out of 4 #1s don?t win their bracket every year.  Now consider that 64 teams make the tournament so they are play #61-64 in round one and #29-32 in round two.  They aren?t facing a top 16 team till the third round and often an upset means they may be playing a team ranked in the 40s or 50s.

[MUther]

As a general rule, the overall #1 seed rarely wins multiple round tournaments.  You have 4 #1 seeds in the NCAA tourney, but they have t even taken half of the available final two spots since the tourney expanded in 1985. So basically 3 out of 4 #1s don?t win their bracket every year.  Now consider that 64 teams make the tournament so they are play #61-64 in round one and #29-32 in round two.  They aren?t facing a top 16 team till the third round and often an upset means they may be playing a team ranked in the 40s or 50s.

How often does the consensus #1 for most of the season not make it farther?  I mean you're talking about seeds.  I think he was talking about the overall #1 ranking and the RPI #1 and the #1 overall seed.  That's a lot of #1-age to lose to anyone at home.  And even when we lost the #1 ranking, we took it back in a matter of a couple weeks.  We had a great season, no doubt.  But it was a disappointing finish.  To argue that it was not is just silly.

[THECHAMPISHERE]

Nm

[svherd]

Nm

What's your reality? Should be a fun read. You must be one of those crazies on the Herd fans facebook group. I was invited, but after seeing some of the most delusional posts and constant negativity, I said no thanks. Couple of dudes on there should be in the state hospital. lol!

[elginherd]

Of course we all would have loved the team to advance further.
Soccer games are about match ups. Stanford was a bad matchup for us.

That said, it was a really good season with regular season and conference tournament trophies AND beating the SPAMites for the tournament trophy at home.

This 2023 team was fun to watch and brought home some hardware...great year.

[chris88]

The soccer nuts are a real special group. Real special. Their takes, excuses, and "facts" are like nothing I've ever seen before. With the absolute thinnest skin they live in a whole different world - the closest things to aliens we'll ever encounter.

When all 1500 MU soccer fans are at a home game there is literally no one left to start a simple game thread on this board for the biggest games of the year when the team is at it's peak in it's history...so the majority of people on this board don't even care when the team is #1 and yet somehow "everyone loves soccer nationally" despite the fact you can't find it on the ESPN website without pretty much hacking the site and now the new one  "every sport is dying except soccer" though American interest says otherwise. Lol.

The Soccer Sims have literally created their own reality and by golly they're sticking to it.

What's really interesting is that people who don't follow or like the sport seem real comfortable chiming in about the fans that do despite their lack of knowledge about the game or even our own attendance figures. Soccer seats about 1,500 people, yet we have averaged 2,491 fans since mid Sept. and way more than a sellout for entire season. That 2,491 would be more than or very close to at least half of the SBC men's basketball teams have averaged so far this season. I guess when the schools primary programs are mired in mediocrity you have to take shots at the one program we have that competes at a national level consistently in order to feel better about how you spend your time/money. The disappointment of not reaching our full  potential is balanced against a great and enjoyable season. I'm quite confident if you asked each season ticket holder if they thought the season tix were worth having and if they plan to renew, the overwhelming majority will say yes.  If you asked the same question about FB/BB I doubt that is true. But I guess if it helps you sleep better at night than good for you.

[svherd]

What's really interesting is that people who don't follow or like the sport seem real comfortable chiming in about the fans that do despite their lack of knowledge about the game or even our own attendance figures. Soccer seats about 1,500 people, yet we have averaged 2,491 fans since mid Sept. and way more than a sellout for entire season. That 2,491 would be more than or very close to at least half of the SBC men's basketball teams have averaged so far this season. I guess when the schools primary programs are mired in mediocrity you have to take shots at the one program we have that competes at a national level consistently in order to feel better about how you spend your time/money. The disappointment of not reaching our full  potential is balanced against a great and enjoyable season. I'm quite confident if you asked each season ticket holder if they thought the season tix were worth having and if they plan to renew, the overwhelming majority will say yes.  If you asked the same question about FB/BB I doubt that is true. But I guess if it helps you sleep better at night than good for you.

Well said! And yeah, we'll be doubling our season tix for next year.

[Herdalum83]

How often does the consensus #1 for most of the season not make it farther?  I mean you're talking about seeds.  I think he was talking about the overall #1 ranking and the RPI #1 and the #1 overall seed.  That's a lot of #1-age to lose to anyone at home.  And even when we lost the #1 ranking, we took it back in a matter of a couple weeks.  We had a great season, no doubt.  But it was a disappointing finish.  To argue that it was not is just silly.

Better question. When is the last time the #1 seed won the NCAA soccer tournament? It doesn't happen very often.

Again, losing is always a disappointment but if the only way a season can be labeled as successful is if we win a national title then we won't ever have many successful seasons.

[marshallmark]

Better question. When is the last time the #1 seed won the NCAA soccer tournament? It doesn't happen very often.

Again, losing is always a disappointment but if the only way a season can be labeled as successful is if we win a national title then we won't ever have many successful seasons.

We've become Alabama football!  lol

[herdfan129]

We also have to remember a lot of our guys were playing injured. We real need to switch the tournament to the spring.

I love Marshall soccer.

Great season.

[Garbanjo]

Nm

GFY chump

[marshallmark]

We also have to remember a lot of our guys were playing injured. We real need to switch the tournament to the spring.

I love Marshall soccer.

Great season.

Huh?  I don't think anyone seriously wants to move a traditional fall sport to the spring.

And you are right about the injuries.  I thought Amoro was our best defender the middle part of the year - certainly a great 'enforcer' - but he didn't play after getting a concussion against Kentucky (I think).  Fujita was a top 100 freshman in the country but he seemed to be nicked up and didn't play a lot the last several games.  Bamford was a great alternative to both, but it would have been nice to have the other bigger defenders at full strength. 

[herdfan129]

Huh?  I don't think anyone seriously wants to move a traditional fall sport to the spring.

And you are right about the injuries.  I thought Amoro was our best defender the middle part of the year - certainly a great 'enforcer' - but he didn't play after getting a concussion against Kentucky (I think).  Fujita was a top 100 freshman in the country but he seemed to be nicked up and didn't play a lot the last several games.  Bamford was a great alternative to both, but it would have been nice to have the other bigger defenders at full strength.

There?s been a major push supported by Grassie and many others to split the season.

OOC games in the fall and then conference/NCAA tournament in the spring. Making this switch would be the best thing for college soccer. I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

Plus the tournament would compete with baseball instead of college football.

[pricherd]

I thoroughly enjoyed the soccer season and look forward to lots of success in the future.  Renewing my season tickets will be something I don't have to debate (unlike some of the other sports choices I have to make).

One thing I noticed as a fan at Herd soccer games is that a good portion of the people in the stands were in their 20s or 30s.  Contrast that with attendees at Herd men's basketball games, where the majority of fans are probably 50 and up.   The anti-soccer curmudgeons can continue to say it ain't so, but the sport is definitely on an upward path.  Travel to Cincinnati sometime and take a look at their MLS team -- they pack their beautiful new stadium on a regular basis and are drawing plenty of attention in the city.  Then take a look at the Reds stadium, which is regularly half-empty during home games.

[herdfan129]

Want proof of how successful Grassie and our soccer program is?

We have fans who are upset that we lost in the Sweet 16. We now have expectations much higher than that.

Keep investing and growing soccer which is now a money making sport at Marshall.

[elginherd]

I thoroughly enjoyed the soccer season and look forward to lots of success in the future.  Renewing my season tickets will be something I don't have to debate (unlike some of the other sports choices I have to make).

One thing I noticed as a fan at Herd soccer games is that a good portion of the people in the stands were in their 20s or 30s.  Contrast that with attendees at Herd men's basketball games, where the majority of fans are probably 50 and up.   The anti-soccer curmudgeons can continue to say it ain't so, but the sport is definitely on an upward path.  Travel to Cincinnati sometime and take a look at their MLS team -- they pack their beautiful new stadium on a regular basis and are drawing plenty of attention in the city.  Then take a look at the Reds stadium, which is regularly half-empty during home games.

Great point!