Welcome back to Blue Devil Country, a place where 90 minutes of soccer is rarely enough. Five of our first nine games have gone into overtime. By now we have made up the 90 minutes of soccer that we missed due to Irene. Overtime is one of those strange customs that US college soccer has adopted. In the rest of the world a tie is a draw. End of story! A point earned or two points dropped, whatever way you want to look at it. But for some reason we feel the need to have a winner and loser in regular season games. I¹ve had a fair few overtime games over the years. I cannot speak with scientific certainty here but I think that most college games that go into overtime usually end in a tie. Teams tend to be a little more cautious because of the fear of conceding a golden goal. There is great excitement in an overtime win. The bench charges on the field and there¹s a lot of hype. I remember last year we were winning a came 1-0 but it was pretty comfortable. Then in the 89th minute we conceded a goal against the run of play. We regrouped and scored early into overtime and the place went mad. If we had won in regulation it would have been no big deal but overtime, different story.
Speaking of idiosyncrasies. I’m developing a pet peeve towards ‘The Assist’. Now don¹t get me wrong. I love the build up to a goal as much as the goal itself. It’s the statistic in the college game that I have a problem with. In case one a winger gets the ball on the half way line, beats three players, has only the keeper to beat and lays the ball off to the forward who taps in from six yards. Goal to the forward, assist to the winger (Fair enough). In case two a winger gets the ball on the half way line, beats three players, shoots, keeper gets his hand on it, the ball stops on the line, the forward runs in and taps it home. Goal to the forward. Unassisted! (Hang on,that doesn¹t seem fair) In case three the goalkeeper punts the ball up the field, it bounces three times, the defender whiffs while attempting to clear and the forward taps it in. Goal to the forward. Assist to the keeper. (Really, the keeper gets an assist?)
Speaking of idiosyncrasies. I’m developing a pet peeve towards ‘The Assist’. Now don¹t get me wrong. I love the build up to a goal as much as the goal itself. It’s the statistic in the college game that I have a problem with. In case one a winger gets the ball on the half way line, beats three players, has only the keeper to beat and lays the ball off to the forward who taps in from six yards. Goal to the forward, assist to the winger (Fair enough). In case two a winger gets the ball on the half way line, beats three players, shoots, keeper gets his hand on it, the ball stops on the line, the forward runs in and taps it home. Goal to the forward. Unassisted! (Hang on,that doesn¹t seem fair) In case three the goalkeeper punts the ball up the field, it bounces three times, the defender whiffs while attempting to clear and the forward taps it in. Goal to the forward. Assist to the keeper. (Really, the keeper gets an assist?)
Now in all of these cases the rules have been applied to the letter of the law and I can live with that. Fairly black and white stuff. My pet peeve comes when we get into the grey area. The domain of the score keeper and the statistician. The advent of the double assist for goals scored by the home team and only unassisted goals for the away team. We recently played a game when the opposition player dispossessed my central midfielder 30 yards from goal. She took two touches and scored with a brilliant shot from 20 yards out. Amazingly the home score-keeper awarded an assist to a player that was not involved in the play. If anyone should have got the assist it should have been my midfielder.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, what difference does it make who gets the assist or how many assists are given for each goal. The truth is that it has no effect on the game but it does have a bearing on end of season all-conference, and all-American voting. I also feel a little bad for the players from yesteryear who held records for most assists. There should be two sets of records. One for players who were awarded assists in the era of single assists and a second category for the double assist era.
My old friend Carolyn Cacolice (Micheel) had a phenomenal 29 assists in her four years at UMASS. Coincidentally the same four-year stretch when the team went to the Final Four every year. She retired as the all time assist leader at UMASS but in recent years has dropped to #4 on the list behind players who have played in the era of the double assist.
Two big games coming up this weekend for the Blue Devils. Hope we get some double assists on the overtime winners in both games :-)
Until the next time.
Enjoy the Game!
Mick
Now you might be thinking to yourself, what difference does it make who gets the assist or how many assists are given for each goal. The truth is that it has no effect on the game but it does have a bearing on end of season all-conference, and all-American voting. I also feel a little bad for the players from yesteryear who held records for most assists. There should be two sets of records. One for players who were awarded assists in the era of single assists and a second category for the double assist era.
My old friend Carolyn Cacolice (Micheel) had a phenomenal 29 assists in her four years at UMASS. Coincidentally the same four-year stretch when the team went to the Final Four every year. She retired as the all time assist leader at UMASS but in recent years has dropped to #4 on the list behind players who have played in the era of the double assist.
Two big games coming up this weekend for the Blue Devils. Hope we get some double assists on the overtime winners in both games :-)
Until the next time.
Enjoy the Game!
Mick
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