Season Aborted. UNC 2-0 Brown

"Time flies when you're having fun." I don't know who it was who originally came up with that well-worn cliche, but it certainly is most poignant when reflecting on the season that was 2009 Brown Men's Soccer.....
The harsh reality of the college game is that a succesful year almost always has to finish with a loss - only the national champion and perhaps a handful of teams unfortunate to not get selected for knockout bracket can reflect on a winning end to a good season. And so it proved for these Brown Bears at Chapel Hill last Sunday afternoon......
After the euphoria of the extra-time win against Stony Brook in the first round it was back to business quickly as preparations were made for the treck south to the home of the 2002 national champions and number 5 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels. The first leg of our journey was a bit special for the boys as the NCAA chartered a private aircraft for the two-hour flight to Raleigh-Durham. We "lived large" as the bus pulled into the private apron at TF Green to put us on our outbound flight, and we arrived into a similar scenario two hours later in North Carolina.
Onto the real business of the match now - our boys started somewhat tentatively, showing some lack of experience in dealing with the occasion, perhaps a little intimidated even..... It was during this shaky spell early in the match that our fate was sealed when we failed to deal properly with a free-kick from the right side of our box. The home centre-forward ghosted in behind our defence and glanced a header into the net for the early goal. 1-0 to the boys in powder blue...
Awoken by the harsh reality of the goal, and a dose of realization that we had to play to our potential to win, our boys responded almost immediately. A well-timed ball behind the UNC defence was pounced upon by Jonny and he raced clear of the last defender. In what can best be described as a clumsy challenge Jon was upended in the box. A clear penalty. But, not in the eyes of a referee who would go on to prove his ineptitude over and again throughout the course of the contest. It was an injustice of mammouth proportions.
Minutes later, Nicky was upended after a sublime piece of skill on the edge of the box. Once again the referee waved away the appeals. Meanwhile, several members of the home side were performing some astute and acrobatic techniques in winning free-kicks at will, as they threw themselves to the floor and cried in "pain" at the slightest hint of physical contact. Greg Luganis would have been proud of these performances. UNC rarely threatened our goal as we grew in confidence and began to create a few half-chances. On the occasion that they did threaten Grandstrand was on-hand to keep them at bay.
Half-time was an opportunity for Coach Noonan to re-organize and rally the troops. A little more self-belief was injected into the boys and they took to the pitch in more confident mood. For a period of about twenty-five minutes in the second half the powder-blues were chasing shadows. They were defending deeper and deeper and digging deep into their proverbial bag of dirty tricks to keep these Brown Bears at bay. Their goalkeeper was busy and they played most of the half with ten men camped inside their own half. But, for whatever reason, it was just not meant to be for our boys on the day. In a frantic final few minutes, immediately following a Dylan cross-shot that cannoned off the crossbar, their centre-forward broke clear of our last man back and put the ball past a helpless Grandstrand. It is an unfair and unrealistic reflection of a contest that the score reads 2-0. But these players left the field with heads held high, comfortable in the knowledge that they had just spent the last 90 minutes playing a hard honest game of football in the spirit in which the game is supposed to be played. The Tar Heels could certainly learn a lesson or two there......
As it has been all season, the traveling support was unexpectedly large and predictably vocal. The only regret has to be that we were unable to extend the adventure for a few more games and reach the pinnacle of the game that this group of players truly deserves. There is no way to describe that empty feeling that you get after such an ending to the season. Immediate thoughts are with the seniors, knowing that this was truly the end for their collegiate soccer careers. Over time, it will sink in that indeed, 2009 was a success and a season to be proud of, but for now it just leaves a pit in the stomach.....
Onwards we roll now towards the 2010 season. Like the 2008-09 transition, there is plenty of work to do between now and next August to ensure that we can produce a season that can bring the success and sense of achievement that this one just has. If the players can reproduce the same effort, energy, enthusiasm for the game and each other, and work-rate, that they have shown over the past year, then there is no reason why 2010 cannot see Brown Men's Soccer end the season with a win....
Many thanks to all of you who have given your support to the team throughout this year. It rarely gets acknowledged publicly, but you'll have to trust us that it is truly appreciated in so many ways by the players and staff.

"What's a Seawolf?" Brown 1-0 Stony Brook

When Stevenson Field is packed to the rafters as it was last night there is a special feeling about the place. One of the things that you can always rely on is some "intelligent" heckling from the home fans. So it was yesterday evening when the home fans responded to the small but loud contingent from Long Island with the lyrical question you see in the headline above..... do Seawolves swim?
The team knew before yesterday's contest that they were in for a battle - this Stony Brook team had an unbelievable run of results in their final seven games of the season, conceding just two goals en route to the America East championship. Many of you will have seen the YouTube video of their comical penalty shootout victory versus Hartford.....
Preparing for tournament games on two days notice is always a challenge. Information is difficult to get and rarely have we seen these teams live. Ray Houghton had the lead on this one, while The Tourist got to work on the "what if" preparation work for the next round. When you come to the games and watch this team play for 90 minutes, the fact that our team has such an advantage in terms of knowledge of the opponent, and a game plan to beat them, is testament to the unbelievable amount of prep time put in by the coaching staff.......
The match kicked off under a perfect Fall evening sky. The temperature was surprisngly warm for late November. From the kick-off it was clear that, once again, our boys had the energy and desire to take the game to this team. Just 90 seconds in Sean had an opportunity and put the ball narrowly wide. Within the next 20 minutes we created a hatful of chances to score, yet uncharacteristically we couldn't find the target. Dylan, in particular was having joy on the left flank and bamboozled a couple of Seawolves before serving a quality ball into the box. On the opposite side the Wallsy/Jonny combination was opening up the visitors defence like a can of beans.....
How we didn't score in the opening half was anyone's guess. Our boys played at a ferocious pace, while the visitors were limited to one half-chance from a narrow angle that Grandstrand dealt with comfortably.
The second-half, predictably, was played at a slower pace, with the visitors changing their shape and style to deal with our passing more effectively. We still created some decent scoring opportunities and looked comfortable defensively for the most part. On the two occasions that the visitors did get behind us Evan was on hand with a last-ditch tackle and Big Paul made a good stop from a header.
In similar fashion to the Dartmouth game, after a twenty-minute spell for the visitors our team began to control the contest again. Rob was biting in with tackles, while Jonny, Sean, Nicky and Tayls all caused problems for the visiting defence. The back-four were excellent throughout, with Evan and Fluffy looking solid in the middle.
As the second-half wore on it seemed like a matter of time before we scored. TJ went closest with an excellent header that cannoned off the foot of the post....
And so it was to extra time..... the calm, soothing and efferevescent words of Coach Noonan relaxed the players during the intermission...... oh sorry, wrong script...... our leader proceeded to leave the players in no doubt that the passing needed to improve if we were to get the win that our superiority deserved....!
The first extra period passed without major incident, except for one ludicrous decision by the referee in awarding Stony Brook a free-kick after Evan had been dragged to the ground and man-handled by the chippy and pesky visiting striker from Long Island. Thankfully Grandstrand dealt comfortably with the ensuing free-kick.
The second period of extra time was all Brown. Stony Brook were struggling to cope and the introduction of Jonny just two minutes into the period proved to be the super-sub decision of the night. Just a minute after being introduced Jon received a great ball into the channel from Robbie (who was blatantly pole-axed by a nasty tackle in the process), he took one touch and clipped the ball to the back post with the outside of his foot. The ball was deflected into the path of Sean who made no mistake from eight yards away. Cue pandemonium! With just six minutes remaining in the game we had done it!
Up next for these resilient and resourceful boys is a trip to Chapel Hill to take on the number five seeded Tar Heels of North Carolina..... wear your seat belts!

Big Green With Envy. Brown 3-0 Dartmouth

THANK YOU SENIORS!

Four brilliant young men were honored before the Dartmouth match with fitting tributes read aloud over the public address system at Stevenson Field. T-Time, Schlenks, Nicky and TJ have all added so much to this program over the years and it is difficult to imagine that the end of their time in a Brown uniform is so close. All four have made their teammates and the coaching staff so very proud to be associated with them. The fact that the excellent vistory ensured an extension to their time in the program was a perfect way to end the day.....

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT PICTURED WITH THEIR PARENTS:
TJ THOMPSON, THOMAS THUNELL, JARROD SCHLENKER, NICK ELENZ-MARTIN

After the euphoric reaction to the excellent win at Yale, the boys had been brought back to earth with a week of intense and thorough preparation for this match against perennial Ivy-rival Dartmouth. A 2-0 reverse in Hanover at the end of the 2008 campaign had ensured that last-season was ended without a tournament appearance. Revenge was not the buzz-word of the week, but a certain amount of edge was added to the contest for the boys who had suffered in the freezing rain on national television last year.....

Nick Elenz-Martin

Coach Noonan rallied the troops in his pre-game talk, and the players entered Stevenson field with a determined and energetic look about them. From the first whistle it was clear that we were "up for it." Tackles were flying in, headers won, and the movement was crisp and quick. Chances came and went. Then, after about fifteen minutes Nicky played a wonderful 50-yard cross-field ball over to T-Mac who found himself in space on the left flank. He ran at the defender, beat him with a piece of sublime skill and planted the ball under the 'keeper and into the back of the net. 1-0 Brown.

Jarrod Schlenker

Dartmouth were clearly rocked, and for the remainder of the first-half our boys chased and worked their socks off as the visitors struggled to cope with the ferocious speed of play that our team produced. It was unsurprising when we added to the lead with another piece of excellent build-up play that finished with Jonny chipping the ball across to Tayls, who drove a volley into the ground and watched it bounce over the stranded Big Green goalkeeper. 2-0 Bears.

The Captain - Thomas Thunell

This well-coached Dartmouth team came out in the second half with a new plan and for the first fifteen minutes of the half passed the ball well in the middle of the park. They created some half-chances, but the work-rate of these Brown Bears remained steadfast. We blocked shots, tracked runners and got men behind the ball to ensure that the 2-0 lead stayed intact.
Slowly but surely we regained momentum and started to come back into the game. A couple of chance came and went.... Then, with about fifteen minutes left, T-Mac was felled by a forearm shiver to the face that wouldn't be out of place in the UFC. The ensuing red-card for the visitors put an end to any chance they had of getting back into a game that, to be honest, they were struggling in anyway. Minutes later Jay and Nicky combined on the left flank and crossed for Austin, who made no mistake with a header from about seven inches away.....! 3-0 Bears.

TJ Thompson

The rest of the contest was a formality. Dartmouth acted and looked like a well-beaten team - they were. This match was an outstanding performance and a perfect way to end the regular season. Up next is the NCAA tournament selection show..... who will we face???

CATCHING UP.......

Apologies to those of you that rely on the blog as a source of information - a few extra assignments have led to a back-log and the blog has suffered...... sorry blog.... :(

So, to catch up...... since Cornell our season has hit a low point then rebounded in spectacular style. First there was the Penn game - the less said about this 1-0 reverse, the better. We still cannot believe we came out of this contest on the wrong side of the result. Like any one-off loss, we'll just have to confine this match to the trash and move on...

Yale are "Popped...." Yale 1-2 Brown
The only high point of the Penn contest was the cameo performance of TJ "Pop" Popolizio. He came on late in the first-half, brought great energy to the team, and perhaps came closest to turning the game in our favor. Such was his impact that he was given the nod for a starting berth when we traveled to New Haven on November 7th..... The boys knew that they had under-performed in their last match and knew that something had to be done about it. Although it was never talked about, this was a "must-win" game. Preparations all week had been intense and thorough - the team had no doubts about what was expected.
The contest got off to the worst possible start on what was Yale Senior night. Within minutes we had conceded a poor goal after the home winger had been given too much space on the left side. Grandstrand was helpless and it was 1-0 Bad Guys.
This was the jolt that our team needed and for the next 42+ minutes the visiting Bears took the game to the hosts. It was no surprise when, late in the half, a five-man passing move led to the equalizer - a diving header of epic proportions by that man Pop! The build up play for the goal was a masterpiece of football and the finish typified the bravery of our diminutive striker...
The half-time break was the only method that Yale had to break our momentum. For a while the second period it looked as if the home team might just squeeze their way back into the contest, despite these Brown Bears playing a far superior brand of football.
With ten minutes left the home 'keeper flapped at a cross and the ball was quickly played back into the Yale box by Jonny. Despite the ball being played behind him that-man Pop contorted his body and kept the ball alive as T-Mac stode in to drive the ball into the Yale net. 2-1 Brown! the on-field celebration that followed was hilarious..... bettered only by the off-field celebration that took place in the locker room afterwards!
With less than ten minutes left our boys were too savvy and too experience to allow a solid yet unimaginative home team back into the match. Despite some desperate balls played into our box, our boys came out victorious and very much relieved. They had bounced back from adversity in exactly the way they had been expected to. With the final match at home versus Dartmouth on the horizon it was all to play for in search of the NCAA berth and possible Ivy title....