Charlotte at Home with College Cup on line...

[Gurleyman]

Man - this is one the program needs. A great opportunity after so many frustrating near-misses since the 2000 championship game. Instead of facing Akron, the defending champs who are used to these big games, you get a Charlotte team in new territory. Hate to put a "must win" tag on it, but this would be a rough piggy-back on the overtime loss to St. John's in the BET.

The stat sheet looked great in the James Madison game - was anyone there?

 

[Gregory Koch]

I was not.... Stupid medical leave [expletive here]. I will be there next year and we'd better win another championship. That's right. Two in a row, starting this year.

 

[zls44]

They need to get this one. No excuses. The VT loss in 2007 still stings around the program, the one that got away. They need to come out flying and get one early or it's going to be a nightmare.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Just committed to heading to Storrs on Sunday for this one. Haven't even been in the new and improved stadium. Saw all the games back in the day as part of the north goal gang. Trip to the final four looks likely. Creighton would be tough. Nice showing for the Big East so far.

 

[ASweet3781]

Trip to the final four looks likely. Creighton would be tough. Nice showing for the Big East so far.

Nothing is likely in the sport of soccer. It's the only sport where you can have more talent at every position and still lose. Which is what happened the last time we were in this situation against VA Tech in 2007. We were thought to be unstoppable playing at Morrone that year and lost to a decent but certainly not a great team. All a weaker team needs is that first goal and they can pack it in the rest of the game. That's what VA Tech did. That's what Charlotte did to Akron last week apparently. Hopefully we get it done this time.

 

[DieHardHusky]

Expect this to be the craziest game ever at Morrone...More than 6,000 are expected including the UConn Drumline! Goal Patrol will be at its best ever as well...1.5 hours till "kick-off" LET'S GOOOO!!!

 

[FfldCntyFan]

IIRC, the night before the Va Tech game was unexpectedly cold (even for that time of year in this climate) and there was a layer of frost on the pitch for the entire game. Players were slipping all over the place, Va Tech scored on a fluke goal (in a game where the strategy should have been to put anything on net once you were in a position to reach it) and we dad a couple of near misses (along with a couple of point blank opportunities lost when we slipped).

That said, we seem to reign in our offense far too much once playoff time comes around and it usually bites us in the ass. We had the talent to do far better than we did in many seasons this past decade and we may have had the best team in the country in both '05 & '07. Reid needs to lighten up a bit when we are in elimination games.

 

[Robertelamin]

FYI it is streaming for free on UConnhuskies.com. They also just missed a breakaway.

 

[Robertelamin]

They just gave up the game tying goal with 5 minutes to go.

 

[ASweet3781]

Unbelievable. They finally broke through to score with just 8:45 left in the game.

Than a team that had a huge scoreless streak this season due to their defense/goalie give up the tying goal not even 3 mins later.

You cannot make up the near misses this program has had this decade. How the heck do you not protect a 1-0 lead on your home field with just 6 mins left and a trip to the College Cup on the line is beyond me.

 

[ASweet3781]

Whatever Ray Reid. I swear I just don't know about him anymore. What a brutal loss.

 

[Gurleyman]

Man - I just don't know what it is. Part of me wants to say that hey, we aren't guaranteed a top 10 program in the Northeast and there's something to be said for putting yourself in these positions to even have a chance to lose a disappointing game. But when you keep losing to inferior teams at home with so much on the line, you have to wonder (Monmouth-JMU-Charlotte all at home doesn't get easier)). Maybe it's the system, maybe our warm-weather recruits don't play well in the cold when November/December hit, maybe we play tight. But in the post-Gbandi Era, we never play our best soccer at the end of the year. Even when we were #1 and rolling, I just had that nagging feeling that this would happen again. That said, we had the 1-0 lead and a defensive-minded team built to hold on to it and just didn't do it -- so if the coaching staff's primary job is to put the team in a position to win, they did. Just wish we'd have played better - if you outshoot a team 16-5, hit the bar twice and lose 1-0, it feels like bad luck. If you play 110 minutes and shots are around 10 apiece, the door's open for anything to happen. I don't think we should do anything drastic, since Reid has shown he can put a team in the top five with lots of different personnel, but he needs a Kemba Walker to will him back to the College Cup one of these years.

 

[ThetaZoo]

you "don't protect a lead" by playing 5 yards off your man outside the penalty area. UConn makes it so it easy for their opponents to get scoring chances.

 

[HuskyHawk]

you "don't protect a lead" by playing 5 yards off your man outside the penalty area. UConn makes it so it easy for their opponents to get scoring chances.

The best defense is a good offense. Once we scored, we didn't even try to possess the ball in the attacking half of the field. This team is too cautious, very slow on the break and doesn't put much pressure on the opponent, offensively or defensively.