Any early season thoughts on the MIAC?

Had the opportunity to watch Carleton get trashed by Wartburg 3-0 on 9/1/09.

Carleton looked to be missing any sort of touch and fitness during the match.  A player I know indicated that the first year players don't have the training intensity necessary for proper match preparation.  Could be a long season and a longer fall from the national rankings for the Knights.  They were really truely outclassed throughout the match up; poor build up play and a really awful left back (a small first year who couldn't distribute out of the back at all..completed 1 out of 12 passes up-field during the second half).  The goalkeeper can be outkicked by a kid on the u12 team I coach but he can make some saves.  

Macalaster got beat by St. Scholastica on 9/4/09, 2-1 in overtime.  

Scholastica have won the UMAC 2 years straight and would be a mid-level MIAC team so it isn't too surprising of a result.  Didn't see the match myself.  I'm curious how many minutes Carson Gorecki played and how effective he was coming off last seasons injury.  He could be the man to make or break the Scots season.  

I heard Augsburg is already looking strong...doesnt surprise me much as they return alot of their back-line and Pascal Venter as the GK.  Van Hung in the midfield has enough vision to be a fortune-teller.  

on an unrelated note does the UMAC get an automatic NCAA bid this year?  If so look for UM-Morris and St. Scholastica to battle it out for the bid.

FYI AUGSBURG VS. WARTBURG IS GOING TO HAVE LIVE VIDEO FOR THE GAME THAT STARTED 1 minute ago. 

 http://athletics.augsburg.edu/sports/2009/3/17/webcasts.aspx?id=76

Personal comments on the vid feed:

Great to have, but the window is reflecting the announcers shirt and it is showing up in the background.  Also the announcer is awful (in a nice way), a good effort though. 

This Auggie/Wartburg matchup is showing off two of the top five keepers in the region.  As JoeHoe noted on d3kicks (RIP) Trent Michael is excellent.

carlEton loses to north central?

wow talk about horrible result, especially after hamline beats north central away

Wow CarlEton is in trouble of losing their season, no more slip ups or it's curtains.

CarlEton is playing like the CarlEton of the past.... I think they will probably recover for the MIAC season but they are likely only the 4th or 5th best team in the conference at best. 

MAC v. Wartburg today will have a live video broadcast.

http://athletics.macalester.edu/sports/2008/1/29/GEN_0129082203.aspx?id=34

After watching the Augsburg feed you have to appreciate the quality of Mac's video and announcing.  Although you do have to like the fact that Augsburg is showing the games live!

Predictions: Wartburg 3 MAC 1 

I can't get the video, only audio working

Video is working fine for me. Go back to the original link I have.  On the top of the site they have a tutorial link that will walk you through any difficulties in accessing the live feed.  

New user checking in, glad to see you guys got a new site up and running.

WAR 1-0 MAC, couldn't get the video for the life of me, but sounded like a close match.  How did the teams fair GG?

Didn't get to see all of the Wart v. Mac game but what I saw it seemed as if Wartburg controlled the match.  Looking forward to seeing the box score and hearing details from others.  

I've been told Carson Gorecki featured but did not make too much of an impact on the match.

On another note, SJU squeked one past UM-Morris in the 76th minute.  Took a look at the box score and UM-Morris outshot SJU 19 to 10 (7 to 4 on target).  I don't know if the goal came against the course of play but it seems as if UM-Morris had an attacking advantage...looking forward to some game reports or feedback from others.

St. Thomas lost 3-2 to Pacific Luthern yesterday at GAC but bounced back today versus Northwestern of the UMAC and won 1-0.

UST played Northwestern midweek last week.  They play  Whitworth on Sunday afternoon.

GG33 nice catch...i was fooled by the UST website not being updated promptly... 

Mac played reasonably well against Wburg. Yes, it was a loss, but the game was pretty evenly played. The goal was on a corner kick that eluded M. defenders and fell to a foot of a Knight. As the Italian coach said after their loss to Italy: A goal off a corner is acceptable.

Mac's offense looked a little better -- at least they got a couple shots on goal -- it was the best of the three games they've played so far.

Recieved an update on the PLU at GAC game.

PLU leades 1-0 with a few minutes left in the 1st half. GAC has had good majority of the possession. Had 2 defensive breakdowns in the very early minutes of the match, and then took control. GAC had a goal disallowed by the refs (guessing offside), and had another off the post.

Hopefully the Gusties can get a couple in the back of the net.

UPDATE: 1-0 PLU, atHalf time.

Chadder and GG site looks great!! 

I will be at the Augsburg v Central game today and will post thoughts either tonight or tomorrow. 

Just saw the Gac - PLU final. 2-0 PLU. Stats looked pretty even. I was pulling for GAC on this one (I'm a midwest guy).

Just got back from the game, going to be hard to put a positive spin on this one.  Both PLU goals were from defensive breakdowns.  GAC controlled the ball in the first half and it looked like the game was going to get ugly in there favor.  Two goals disallowed for offsides, both questionable.  The center ref also missed a handball in the box which would have resulted in a GAC PK, the officiating in all games this weekend was poor to be honest (same center).  

PLU's second goal was terrible, two GAC defenders took big swings and missed the ball and it was knocked in from about 6 yards out.  Fraser Horton missed out on the entire second half due to a hip flexor issue.  Without Horton in the game GAC looked average, and certainly was less of a threat on the attack. 

There almost seemed to be a lack of effort from the GAC players.  This team certainly has the tools to be an NCAA tournament team and compete for the MIAC title but they really need more of a competitive edge.  This team looked heartless out there today.  Practice how you play is a motto used often, I hope that the GAC players maybe take that to heart a bit because todays performance was not good.  Either GAC has a slow team or there are some major fitness issues as well.  

Going 0-1-1 this weekend is disappointing especially since both games were very winable.  Going to need to turn things around quickly with big games at Central and Simpson next weekend.

*** One note on the UST vs. PLU game, UST was missing four of there best players due to swine flu and I would assume they will be missing todays game against Whitworth.

I believe that MIAC will this year, for the first time, offer 3 points for a win and one for a draw (as opposed to traditional 2 and 1). The percentages in their current standings (non-conference games of course) do not reflect this, and they should reprogram their way of computing them too. But I think this is a good thing for the conference. There won't be big differences, but there have been some amazing bottlenecks in the fight for playoff spots, especially on the women's side, and this rule might have an impact on that.

St. Scholastica - Mac game: That was a bizarre goal with a minute left to gain the OT...

I must say, I am pleased to hear that the MIAC will join the rest of civilization by moving to the 3 point system. 

yeah several times in the past the two point win system eliminated teams earlier than if they used the standard three point win. hopefully this will punish teams that don't try to win, or hang on for the draw and promote more interesting, attacking soccer. ideally it will allow teams to be a little more open and prepare better for the ncaa tourney