#IUMS - 2017 College Cup

[rebelhoosier848891 9,588]

Proud to be a Hoosier! Let’s get them next year!


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[HoosierAloha 30,068]

Ignorant on soccer but the thrower can step into the field of play and then back out on the throw in without a violation?


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From officiating soccer YEARS ago... no. You can step over the line if you toss the ball underhand or set it down. I don't believe that play was legal and should have been an IU throw in. However, getting picked inside your box is worse than that.


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[KB0 827]

Frustrating to lose like that. Can't afford to play with it at the back in the second overtime of the national championship. Feel bad for Dorsey. That will stay with him forever. 

Thomas and Rennicks seemed like the only two players comfortable with the ball in tight spaces today. Indiana was the better team for the first 10-15 minutes. Stanford took control of the match for a long while after that. Muse made some huge saves. Last 20 minutes of regulation and the first OT was all Indiana. Controlled the match, but couldn't produce any substantial chances on goal. 

There's no replacing Lillard at the back. He's an extraordinary college player. Gutman and Muse are the two others I would be concerned about leaving. Maybe this makes them more inclined to return. I wouldn't worry as much about Dorsey and Toye. I still think they have a year or two left on campus, personally.

Great season with a frustrating end. Stanford is a good team and great program. Have to tip your cap and hope the 9th star comes next season. 

[323SGrant 1,176]

Frustrating to lose like that. Can't afford to play with it at the back in the second overtime of the national championship. Feel bad for Dorsey. That will stay with him forever. 
Thomas and Rennicks seemed like the only two players comfortable with the ball in tight spaces today. Indiana was the better team for the first 10-15 minutes. Stanford took control of the match for a long while after that. Muse made some huge saves. Last 20 minutes of regulation and the first OT was all Indiana. Controlled the match, but couldn't produce any substantial chances on goal. 
There's no replacing Lillard at the back. He's an extraordinary college player. Gutman and Muse are the two others I would be concerned about leaving. Maybe this makes them more inclined to return. I wouldn't worry as much about Dorsey and Toye. I still think they have a year or two left on campus, personally.
Great season with a frustrating end. Stanford is a good team and great program. Have to tip your cap and hope the 9th star comes next season. 

Well, excellent season men! Stanford seems to be a powerhouse. Is Bryce Drew recruiting for them?


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[Brass Cannon 24,813]

12 minutes ago, 323SGrant said:

Well, excellent season men! Stanford seems to be a powerhouse. Is Bryce Drew recruiting for them?


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They had a very special class 4 years ago. Lose like 6 contributors to graduation. 

[323SGrant 1,176]

They had a very special class 4 years ago. Lose like 6 contributors to graduation. 

Appreciate that info. I don’t know much about soccer, but I always want IU to win. I believe Stanford has now won three championships in a row? Glad they’re losing some key players.

 

 

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[Naturalhoosier 15,434]

I blame @ALASKA HOOSIER.

[ALASKA HOOSIER 11,276]

It was all nattys fault!

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[LamarCheeks 18,948]

I was so honked off that I turned off the TV almost as soon as the winning goal was scored. I didn't realize it was No. 23. That guy was a douchebag the whole game. Now, I'm even more honked off! 

[Aaron 4,293]

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I stupidly forgot to bring my charger with me to the east coast for the day so I had to conserve my phone battery for 15 hours (which I did with 20% left by using it only for really needed stuff). Than when I got home at almost midnight I fell straight asleep. 

First before I get into game and season as a whole I want to say two things:

1. I truly am so proud of this team. Other than the great tourney run to the 2012 title this was the first IU team since Jerry retired that I followed for a whole season and truly had a blast watching throughout and had the quality and elite talent of a team from the glory days. This team provided me so many good moments in what was otherwise a rough fall for sports locally and at IU. I am overjoyed to have followed this IU soccer team so closely throughout the season!

2. Holding the College Cup in an MLS stadium is crazy. I said that heading into the game yesterday but attending only enhanced my view. The fans who attended made some noise but to have 5,000 in attendance in an 18,000 seat stadium made for an awful atmosphere. This felt nothing like a national championship game other than the elite quality of the teams on the field. It's a gorgeous stadium (in a bad area) but it never should of hosted this type of match. I stand by my view that the higher seed should host all the way through. The Elite 8 game felt like an atmosphere of a championship and would only be more intense if you played the Final Four games on campus of the higher seed. I know it would be unfortunate if a lower seed won and had to celebrate on the other teams home field but its worth the tradeoff. If the NCAA is willing to let teams celebrate walk offs on other teams home fields in baseball by switching team that bats last each time you can certainly allow a national champion to celebrate on another teams home field and to me it would be well worth the trade off for having an elite tourney atmosphere for final games.

Now lets move to the game. I am proud to have attended and represented IU yesterday despite the craziness of the trip and it was worth spending the day with a college buddy who I don't get to see often. I knew when I went (despite the expense) I took a risk of a heartbreaking loss but the tradeoff of potentially celebrating a national championship was worth it and I have no regrets. My college buddy who does not follow the team as closely (we were in school during the Freitag days so it was doubly 'ugh' at that time) said how much better this team looked compared to any of the teams we saw. I always described the "Jerry Yeagley days" to him in school I experienced as a kid with fond memories and for the first time he got to witness it with what "IU Soccer" really looks like despite the loss.

Now lets get to the elephant in the room. As I said I was deadly afraid of Stanford from beginning and thought they are our worst matchup in college soccer. They are the only team that plays defense to the level we do and can fully give us no chances in an entire game. We tried everything (balls over top, run of play, set pieces, counter attacks) and they turned it all away. I am sure most offenses that played us throughout the season (and especially UNC in semi's) felt the same way we did today and now we got the feeling thrown back in our faces. I said our only hope was PK's and we almost made it. I feel like any other team we played whether it be Akron, Wake, Louisville or anyone else we would be holding the trophy today. We can shut down any attack no matter how good but need to score a goal at some point and Stanford is the one team besides us that really does not allow that opportunity. Any other team built on offense I am pretty confident plays out like UNC with a 1-0 or maybe even a 2-1 win. Defense always win championships which is why us or Stanford was always destined to hold the trophy at the end as these 2 D's are far and away the best in college soccer and its not close (the other's in top 10 are either Mid Majors or Akron, Wake or MSU who while very good are not quite to IU or Stanford's level).

As for the goal we gave up as much as its great having elite talent again the reason we lost was a direct result of it. Dorsey trying to dribble out of the box instead of clearing it away is a direct result of him believing he has the elite skills to do that (and most times he does as his possession and speed skills are above anything I have seen from an IU player in a while). Chalk it up as a freshman mistake he will learn from but it happened at worst possible time. The goal and play happened right in front of me and as soon as he took that dribble I yelled 'what are you doing" even seconds before the goal was scored.

Moving to next year I am not sure who bolts but no matter what we should be in contention for all the marbles again. Worst case we potentially lose Gutman, Muse, Toye and Dorsey to MLS along with Lillard for sure (I am not including Hyacinth as Warr with a year of seasoning is a better back up or starter. I love Hyacinth but he we was never destined for this level of play). If everyone but Lillard returns I am confident we are still the no. 1 team in the country. Maybe everyone comes back for a true shot at the title next year since they feel they have unfinished business. To me the most critical peace to return but also the most likely to leave is Muse. Unless we have another goalie in the pipeline I have seen enough of Gruber and Caulfield to know they are decent but a light year behind Muse in skill. If one of them played behind this D we are looking at 10-15 goals given up. With Lillard and this D any goalie was bound to be decent but a combo of Muse with this D made it the best in IU history. Losing Lillard makes it especially important we have the elite goalie back there as without him teams will have a few more chances. Even if Buckmaster, Kleyn or someone else solidly fill that role which is likely they cannot match Lillard. Gutman may strike while his stock is hot and a D of Buckmaster, Kleyn, Mehl and maybe Palazzolo with Gruber in goal is not bad and a D most teams would kill for. However, most teams are not IU and this would probably give up 15-20 goals next year which would put us in contention but would require a lot of luck to win it all. If the defense is Buckmaster, Kleyn, Mehl, Gutman and Muse your looking at again probably 10 goals or less given up and again the best D in college soccer and a great chance at playing for all the marbles again. Midfield we may lose Dorsey but we are so deep no matter who we plug in there I am confident it will be top 5 in nation regardless. This leaves Forward. I think Toye probably returns (but you never know) and if so another year of development under Yeagley you are looking most likely at Eriq Zavaletta numbers next year as a true bona fide go to scorer. If Toye bolts I saw enough from Warr that makes me think with another year of seasoning we can create enough goals out of mid to still put up really good offensive numbers. In conclusion no matter what happens we are a top 10-15 team with a top 10-15 offense no matter what. The question is going to be what the D looks like which could range anywhere from Top 20-25 to best in college soccer again depending on Muse and Gutman. We will be a contender no matter what but question is will we be a 10-15th ranked team that will really need some luck (like 2012) and go on the road and win tough games to get a title or will be the number 1 team again with a very friendly path at home and about as high of a shot as anyone in nation to win title.

I was not sure what the reaction to the loss would be on the boards today but I am truly happy to see everyone shares my sentiment that this was a great season and the start of something big again rather than the end. I again thank the team for this great ride all year and giving me wonderful moments throughout the season. Things can change on a whim but for the first time since Jerry Yeagley retired the program finally feels like its on solid footing again moving forward. Todd has always been great at developing talent and in game strategy but recruiting was only solid. Now recruiting was finally elite again this year and we saw the difference. If Todd can recruit finally like he did this year (and hopefully now that he's done it once he can do it again every year moving forward) we will stay at the top of college soccer year in and year out. Like I said at most programs everything would be hunky dory the last 13 years but at IU it feels like something was missing in that time. Finally this team really felt like "IU Soccer" again and feels like it should be that way moving forward. Rather than the end I am looking at this as the beginning of recapturing the glory of the program. 

Go Hoosiers and again thanks for a spectacular season!