Eagles Coming to Town....

NCAA Selection Day is an almost-expected tradition on the Brown Men's Soccer calendar. Some people may view post-season play as a bonus on the ned of a surprisingly good year...... We view it as an opportunity to cement this program as a legitimate national contender, year in, year out.....

The irony of a first-round match-up with Boston College is not lost on anyone who has been involved with Brown Soccer over the past decade or so. The newest members of the ACC have been rumored to not really enjoy match-ups with the Brown Bears. So, it is an exciting time for all connected with the program. The local TV station was on-hand to witness the euphoric reaction at Hope Street Pizza on Monday evening, as ESPNU broadcast the draw live to the nation. If we can beat the pesky Eagles then it's another old, local foe in the form of the UConn Huskies that await us in Storrs....... very interesting - a couple of dogs....

How did we get here? Well, despite some bumps in the road, notably at Penn and Dartmouth, we now sit poised to write another chapter into the record books. Here's how we got here.....

Brown 2-0 Holy Cross

Let's face it, the Crusaders weren't exactly coming to College Hill expecting to roll over our Bears. They've had a difficult season, but still presented a different kind of challenge. Could our boys self-motivate against a team sandwiched between two tough Ivy games? Could we avoid being caught napping and thinking of other things? Well, the simple answer is, Yes. Despite an early scare which Big Paul dealt with fairly comfortably, it was one-way traffic into the Holy Cross 18-yard box for much of the opening half. Jonny, Evan, Dyland and Rob all went close in the opening 15 minutes, before we finally got the goal we deserved through Jonny, following good work by Wallsy and Evan. This was the first Coleman-Oki combo since those two "goals" that were called back at Santa Clara and vs. BU in 2009......
As has been the case on many occasions this year, Patdidas Laughlin went to our bench for additional energy during the closing stages of the half, and kept faith as we entered the second period. Dividends were handsomely paid just minutes into the second-half as Mikey produced a bit of magic on the right flank and sent over a teasing cross that Jay "the salmon" Hayward rose majestically to nod home. 2-0, and it was over as a contest. The remainder of the game was a continual onslaught onto the Crusaders goal, while The Wall, Fluffy, Robbo, Dylan, and the Old-Timer had an easy evening at the back. T-Mac produced a few moments of magic, while Bobby-megged Belair tormented the visitors centre-backs. I'm not sure what the stats say about shots on goal, but it seemed like we did everything but score in those final 40 minutes or so.
Holy Cross, gracious in defeat, simply knew they'd been outplayed.....

Penn 1-0 Brown

Frustrated to the extreme. This was a hard loss to take. Just like the Princeton debacle, we started well enough and had the vast majority of the attacking play. Then it happened - they had their first real attack, and one catastrophic mistake later the ball was slotted into the back of our net. We brought it upon ourselves...
We spent the remainder of the ninety-minutes huffing and puffing, but we simply couldn't blow the house down..... Credit to Penn, they defended well. But we simply weren't clinical enough, and games like this are usually settled on a mistake..... and so it proved to be.....

Brown 4-1 Yale

It was time to welcome the Bulldogs back to College Hill for our Senior Night game. The pre-game was outstandingly executed by all concerned with Sean, Smithy, Oki, Paul, and Wallsy all being joined on the pitch by their families. It was with a nice emotional lift that we kicked off this game, and was therefore shocking to go a goal down after nine minutes! We fell asleep at the back as a cross came over and the Yale forward must have thought Christmas had come early as he gleefully nodded home from six-yards out.... 0-1 and the sense of deja-vu from Penn was undeniable. But, teams rarely leave Stevenson field nowadays with much to show for their efforts. Late in the half Jay sent over a long throw (we didn't plan that one!) and the ball fell to Pops for the simplest of finishes. The celebration was less simplistic - but that's Pops! So, it's half-time and we're level - not what we wanted, but better than being a goal down!
The second half was a clinic. Three goals scored, Grandstrand picking his nose with boredom, and wave after wave of attacks on the Yale goal. We scored two quick goals (Evan and Sean) and as the game wore down there was the opportunity to, once again, use the bench to it's fullest. A delightful fourth goal came about with five minutes left as S-Mac played in Sean in the channel. His cross found Smithy who headed back across goal where Kev was on hand to bury a header.
This was a great night at Stevenson, and the seniors all left with smiles and the contentment of a job well done....

Dartmouth 1-0 Brown

Not a good day in New Hampster. We didn't play like a Brown team. We folded. It wasn't fun. Boo.