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.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The Story So Far
With apologies for the large gaps in posts (being actually "on" the staff is actually a little harder than it looks!!), I shall attempt to bring all up-to-speed on events to date.....
Brown 1-0 St. John's.
The rivalry continued between the Red Storm of Jamaica, NY and our Brown Bears. A fantastic advertisement for college soccer, this game had it all. Goal-line clearances, fierce challenges, intensity for 90+ minutes, coaches going crazy on the sidelines (even Biggsy had a yell or two!) and a contingent of fans in the bleachers roaring the Bears to victory! It was actually a trademark Evan Coleman strike just two minutes into the contest that sealed the win for the boys. He latched onto a loose ball at the top of the box and dispatched it into the back of the net before many of the crowd had settled onto their aluminum benches at Stevenson Field. This was, for sure, a very talented St. John's team, but try as they might our defence stood tall when it mattered and Grandstrand finally had a lot of work to do! The last fifteen minutes, as St. John's threw everything at us (including the kitchen sink) was described by our two Texan centre-backs as "just like the Alamo." Hmmmmmmm......
Princeton 3-0 Brown.
Wake-up call time. We were good for ten minutes. Then we stunk for eighty. 'Nuff said. Moving on......
Brown 0-0 Haaaaarrvaaaard
I just don't like these people. I don't know why. Well, I do, somewhat..... We out-played them, out-ran them, out-worked them, out-shot them (26-5) and made them look second-best for 110 minutes. But someone put helium in the match-balls that night. We put more shots into the parking lot and practice field than you can imagine. We did everything but score. Sometimes you don't win because you are up against a well-matched opponent, sometimes because a bad call from a referee goes against you, and sometimes it just isn't your day. This just wasn't our day. We didn't lose! But we should have won. Up next.... Hartwick.
Brown 3-1 Hartwick
In 2008 we lost 1-0 at Hartwick. It was the most miserable experience that I've ever experienced on a soccer field. A frozen field on top of a hill, in upstate New York, in October, with horizontal snow, and a performance to match..... We never like to talk about "revenge" in the coaching ranks, but....... Well our 2010 Brown Bears put in a performance on this night that clearly laid to rest the ghosts of performances-past. Despite conceding a somewhat soft goal when we held a comfortable 2-0 lead, it was difficult to see us ever losing this one. The fact that Wallsy scored two goals (one from a free-kick and another following a howler by the visiting 'keeper) says it all really. Our aging captain took advantage of two situations to lead by example. Sandwiched between those two pieces of brilliance was a trademark Sean Rosa effort following excellent work by Dylan and Austin..... Of course, Wallsy has now spent the last two weeks moaning that he didn't get the man-of-the-match award - ah well, you can't win 'em all!
Brown 2-0 Cornell
And so, back to the business-end of things..... The Big Red (isn't that a cinnamon gum?) visited college hill having secured some very creditable results to-date, and we certainly weren't expecting an easy night. Two giant centre-backs, a lethal long-throw play, and a big, direct team descended upon us, and clearly weren't in the mood to leave us unscathed. Yet, to be fair, we were the superior side more-or-less from start to finish. Tommy-Mac was too much to handle for the visitors on this night, and he followed a simple finish from Tayl's cross with a expertly taken second goal following the annual Robbie assist (we think Rob was trying to kick an opponent, but missed and instead kicked the ball over the top for Tommy to use his blinding pace and beat the entire Cornell defence to the ball. A very good (but cold) night at Stevenson gets our Ivy season back on track. Oh, and Haaaaaarvard lost the next day...... :)
Brown 1-0 St. John's.
The rivalry continued between the Red Storm of Jamaica, NY and our Brown Bears. A fantastic advertisement for college soccer, this game had it all. Goal-line clearances, fierce challenges, intensity for 90+ minutes, coaches going crazy on the sidelines (even Biggsy had a yell or two!) and a contingent of fans in the bleachers roaring the Bears to victory! It was actually a trademark Evan Coleman strike just two minutes into the contest that sealed the win for the boys. He latched onto a loose ball at the top of the box and dispatched it into the back of the net before many of the crowd had settled onto their aluminum benches at Stevenson Field. This was, for sure, a very talented St. John's team, but try as they might our defence stood tall when it mattered and Grandstrand finally had a lot of work to do! The last fifteen minutes, as St. John's threw everything at us (including the kitchen sink) was described by our two Texan centre-backs as "just like the Alamo." Hmmmmmmm......
Princeton 3-0 Brown.
Wake-up call time. We were good for ten minutes. Then we stunk for eighty. 'Nuff said. Moving on......
Brown 0-0 Haaaaarrvaaaard
I just don't like these people. I don't know why. Well, I do, somewhat..... We out-played them, out-ran them, out-worked them, out-shot them (26-5) and made them look second-best for 110 minutes. But someone put helium in the match-balls that night. We put more shots into the parking lot and practice field than you can imagine. We did everything but score. Sometimes you don't win because you are up against a well-matched opponent, sometimes because a bad call from a referee goes against you, and sometimes it just isn't your day. This just wasn't our day. We didn't lose! But we should have won. Up next.... Hartwick.
Brown 3-1 Hartwick
In 2008 we lost 1-0 at Hartwick. It was the most miserable experience that I've ever experienced on a soccer field. A frozen field on top of a hill, in upstate New York, in October, with horizontal snow, and a performance to match..... We never like to talk about "revenge" in the coaching ranks, but....... Well our 2010 Brown Bears put in a performance on this night that clearly laid to rest the ghosts of performances-past. Despite conceding a somewhat soft goal when we held a comfortable 2-0 lead, it was difficult to see us ever losing this one. The fact that Wallsy scored two goals (one from a free-kick and another following a howler by the visiting 'keeper) says it all really. Our aging captain took advantage of two situations to lead by example. Sandwiched between those two pieces of brilliance was a trademark Sean Rosa effort following excellent work by Dylan and Austin..... Of course, Wallsy has now spent the last two weeks moaning that he didn't get the man-of-the-match award - ah well, you can't win 'em all!
Brown 2-0 Cornell
And so, back to the business-end of things..... The Big Red (isn't that a cinnamon gum?) visited college hill having secured some very creditable results to-date, and we certainly weren't expecting an easy night. Two giant centre-backs, a lethal long-throw play, and a big, direct team descended upon us, and clearly weren't in the mood to leave us unscathed. Yet, to be fair, we were the superior side more-or-less from start to finish. Tommy-Mac was too much to handle for the visitors on this night, and he followed a simple finish from Tayl's cross with a expertly taken second goal following the annual Robbie assist (we think Rob was trying to kick an opponent, but missed and instead kicked the ball over the top for Tommy to use his blinding pace and beat the entire Cornell defence to the ball. A very good (but cold) night at Stevenson gets our Ivy season back on track. Oh, and Haaaaaarvard lost the next day...... :)
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