The 2011 UConn Soccer Thread

[zls44]

I'd like to take credit for bothering Nan into creating this forum while she had a million other things on her plate. So I'm going to act like a de-facto mod.

This is the spot for it all. Goal Patrol meeting notes, Andrew Jean-Baptiste defending worship, is-he-or-isn't-he-taking-Botox discussions about the ever-youthful Len Tsantaris, Top 5 John Tuite calls of 1978, whatever you'd like. A one-stop shop.

MEN'S NEWS

- There was a great segment on WILI with Coach Reid earlier this week. You can find the entire audio podcasted here: http://www.wili-am.com/images/audio/ucmenssoccer_aug_24_2011.wma

- Tomorrow's home opener against St. Francis HAS BEEN MOVED TO 1 PM due to Hurricane Irene

- They beat Stony Brook 3-2 in their last preseason game. If you can check out the highlights on UConnHuskies.com, do so. The free-kick and third goals were exceptional quality. Don't read too much from the 2nd half, they were playing the reserves, esentially

- Horizontal-striped blue road unis? Class. Could use numbers on the front to help people ID the players, though

- Good preview from the Courant: http://articles.courant.com/2011-08...823_1_huskies-aim-morrone-stadium-tony-cascio

WOMEN'S NEWS

- Their season is well underway, having lost 2-1 to Northeastern on opening day, but rebounding with a good shutout 3-0 of Colgate.

- SUNDAY'S HOME GAME AGAINST CCSU HAS BEEN CANCELED due to Hurricane Irene.

- They will next play in a tough tournament at Wake Forest, against Wake and Virginia Tech. 2 ACC teams is always a good test.

 

[Gregory Koch]

Update on St. Francis: After an apparent own goal which would have put us up 1-0 was disallowed due to offsides, Mamadou Doudou Diouf scores the first goal of the season to put us up 1-0. It was our 10th shot of the game. Slippery conditions are making for messy play.

Edit: Halftime. 1-0 us.

 

[Gregory Koch]

Correction: Diouf did not get the goal. It was an own goal. Go figure. Too bad. Ricardo Blake doesn't get the assist.

 

[zls44]

Good 2-0 win for the men today. Teeming rain, still got a great student turnout.

Greg, get well!

 

[Husky83]

Thanks for doing this. I liked the WILI interview in particular. The new assistant coaches are impressive. And I got a kick out of Wayne Norman needling Ray Reid about not keeping his "Off the Pitch" blog up to date.

 

[UConn4ever]

Who are we playing next?

 

[zls44]

Thursday night against Michigan State at home.

 

[EricLA]

anyone know what the preseason rankings were for both teams? either of them expected to be a NC contender?

 

[Gregory Koch]

anyone know what the preseason rankings were for both teams? either of them expected to be a NC contender?

UConn was ranked #7 in one poll and #8 in another. St. Francis is a middle-of-the pack team within their conference, the NEC, which is one of the worst in D1. As for Michigan State, I believe they are expected to do well, but they're not an elite team by any means.

 

[Waquoit]

MSU fans are the scum of the earth.

EDIT: My apologies to scum.

 

[DieHardHusky]

The men are expected to be a serious National Title contender. The team is LOADED this year. The best part of the game vs St. Francis was when Alvarez scored, he hopped the fence right into GOAL PATROL!! (Who had a decent showing despite the showers, we were able to spell out U-C-O-N-N H-U-S-K-I-E-S-!)
yes the paint started running but remarkably stayed on even if it was faded. Hung out with Mamadou and Flo last night and they are very thankful for the turnout on Saturday. BRING ON STATE.

 

[Gregory Koch]

Huskies are ranked #4 and #5 in the two major polls. Michigan State dropped out of the rankings. Big game Sunday vs. #7/#12 California.

 

[DieHardHusky]

Michigan State....awwww man. Should be a great showing from Goal Patrol considering the Football game is cancelled. A fair amount of info out there on their players.

 

[UConn4ever]

MSU fans are the scum of the earth.

EDIT: My apologies to scum.

I totally agree the Final Four in 09 was a disgraceful display by them

 

[HuskyNan]

anyone know what the preseason rankings were for both teams? either of them expected to be a NC contender?

UConn women are unranked.

Surprisingly, perennial women's soccer power Notre Dame is 1-2 and after being ranked #1 last week has dropped to #10.

 

[Gregory Koch]

MSU game is reportedly changed to 5 PM tomorrow because Irene screwed up the lights. This is per the Goal Patrol facebook group. I can't find that anywhere else.

Update 2:40 PM - this press release mentions the time change. No word on whether it will still be on WHUS 91.7 FM and WHUS.org. Actually, the article didn't say it was (which it probably would if it were aired), but the schedule still lists it as being on the radio. So I don't know.

 

[EricLA]

well good for the men - being ranked that high and in the top 5. i'm a bit surprised the women aren't ranked - not because i know anything about them but because usually i think of them as better than that. have they been sliding lately or is this just a down/rebuilding year for them?

 

[Gregory Koch]

For those who are interested, the game will air on WHUS on one-hour delay tomorrow. It will run from 6-8. Morrone Stadium has no power, but WHUS's main office in the Student Union does. So they will record the first half on a casette tape, run it over, play it, record the second half, run it over, and play it when the first half is done.

 

[HuskyNan]

well good for the men - being ranked that high and in the top 5. i'm a bit surprised the women aren't ranked - not because i know anything about them but because usually i think of them as better than that. have they been sliding lately or is this just a down/rebuilding year for them?

Last year was the beginning of a rebuilding period after the loss of All American Brittany Taylor to graduation and this year the team has to adjust to the loss of First Team BEasters Elise Fugowski and Kasey Richards. This season the team continues to rebuild with 9 of the 28 players, a full third, freshmen. There are no Huskies on the preseason BEast teams. Yet, UConn is picked to finish third in the BEast after ND and WVU. Go figure.

 

[EricLA]

Last year was the beginning of a rebuilding period after the loss of All American Brittany Taylor to graduation and this year the team has to adjust to the loss of First Team BEasters Elise Fugowski and Kasey Richards. This season the team continues to rebuild with 9 of the 28 players, a full third, freshmen. There are no Huskies on the preseason BEast teams. Yet, UConn is picked to finish third in the BEast after ND and WVU. Go figure.

thanks for the info. well i guess maybe 3rd is a reward for a good crop of freshmen and how strong the rest of the league feels the overall team is?

 

[HuskyNan]

thanks for the info. well i guess maybe 3rd is a reward for a good crop of freshmen and how strong the rest of the league feels the overall team is?

Well, ND is the defending National Champion and Marquette & WVU made it to the NCAA tourney third round last year. 2010 Division winner Marquette returns 21 players from that team while WVU lost quite a few (not sure how man). The Big East women's soccer is pretty strong.

 

[DieHardHusky]

What a game today vs MSU. 2-1 win Wasserman scored on a free kick in the 76th. One sparty left the game on a stretcher. Fights almost broke out and the game was heated throughout. The refs did not help out...Nor did security who really put a wet blanket on the well-known Goal Patrol. They will not let us say almost anything at all this year. That's what makes GP fun and helps give UConn the Top student section in the nation.

 

[Gregory Koch]

What a game today vs MSU. 2-1 win Wasserman scored on a free kick in the 76th. One sparty left the game on a stretcher. Fights almost broke out and the game was heated throughout. The refs did not help out...Nor did security who really put a wet blanket on the well-known Goal Patrol. They will not let us say almost anything at all this year. That's what makes GP fun and helps give UConn the Top student section in the nation.

So sue security for violating your First Amendment rights. They work for the University, which makes them employees of the State of Connecticut. That means that the First Amendment is applied to them and they cannot prevent your free speech. As long as you're not screaming "FIRE" in a crowded stadium or anything like that, go get a court order preventing them from censoring you.

 

[HuskyNan]

So sue security for violating your First Amendment rights. They work for the University, which makes them employees of the State of Connecticut. That means that the First Amendment is applied to them and they cannot prevent your free speech. As long as you're not screaming "FIRE" in a crowded stadium or anything like that, go get a court order preventing them from censoring you.

It's unclear if the fans' First Amendment rights were violated. Schools can ban profane t-shirts worn by students. Anyway, I found this article:

But even if it’s not a contract, and even if the purchase of the ticket doesn’t amount to an acceptance of all of its terms and conditions, a ticket to a sporting event constitutes a license to enter and remain at the stadium. The owner of the premises and/or the operator of the event have the ability to place reasonable restrictions on that license, especially when the behavior of one licensee can impact in a negative way the experience of another licensee.

 

[DieHardHusky]

Understandable....but the restrictions they all of a sudden decided to place on Goal Patrol this season is completely absurd. There was somebody who radioed to security when GP chanted "It's all your fault!" after we scored our first goal and they told us we can't do that now because it could be considered harassment. it had/has NEVER been an issue in the past. Also, someone, (no idea if they're on this board or not) decided to sit in the student section and see how long the students heckled St. Francis' goalie. The timed us at 41/45 minutes in one of the halves. Then they e-mailed either Susan Herbst, or Coach Reid.
Greg be certain GP plans on taking appropriate action.