Men's Soccer 2023

[stuball888]

so the American East gets two
Into the NCAA tournament, and the CAA gets only one

[Polito]

Great to see the 1st round bye and hosting another game! Winnable opponents too, let's see if they can go on a run here...

[EvanJ]

so the American East gets two
Into the NCAA tournament, and the CAA gets only one

The America East got three, as Bryant is now in the America East, along with New Hampshire and Vermont. The Big Ten got one, and the Big East got two. Teams outside the Power Five + Big East can do better at Men's Soccer than Men's Basketball, but all three cases of a team with a top 16 RPI unseeded and a team with an RPI not in the top 16 seeded were teams from those conferences seeded and teams outside those conferences unseeded. Asssuming Bryant beats Yale, Bryant at us will be the best pair of teams in a Second Round game. Both teams deserved better seeds. The ACC got nine, and is adding Stanford and Southern Methodist (SMU) who got in.

Sunday's game will be at 6:00 P.M. on ESPN Plus. I hope one of the ESPN channels or ACC Network will televise it if we play North Carolina in the Third Round, which is the Round of 16.

[EvanJ]

Yale at Bryant is scoreless with under 23 minutes left. A graphic just showed that Bryant has more shots 7 to 2. It could help us if it goes overtime and the players have to play 110 minutes and then get only two days rest that includes traveling to us. In a Men's Basketball topic, we discussed playing the Buffalo Bulls and South Florida Bulls. On Sunday we will play the Bulldogs in Men's Soccer because Yale and Bryant both have that name.

Edit: There was a big surprise for the only goal of the game with 1:4X left (I do not remember the ones digit). Bryant turned the ball over in the midfield, and Yale scored from the 43rd yard line. The goal line is at the back of the end zone, so the goal was scored from 53 yards away. I wonder if that will be the longest goal of the tournament. Soccer does not require fields to be the same size. There is a range of allowable lengths and allowable widths. I do not know if the NCAA requires field to be the same size. Red Bull Arena in New Jersey is 120 yards long, and Bryant's field is also 120 yards long (100 yards plus 10 in each end zone).

[Polito]

Let's GOOOOO people!

This is another great time for a match, and should be a great crowd - I like the chances here for HU, perhaps this team could make a run???

Me and the fam will be there again, even better time than the last one - perfect Sunday evening, hope everyone who can on this board goes to give some yell for these fellas.

[EvanJ]

Ryan Carmichael scored at 37:00 (8:00 left in the first half) and 66:48 (23:12 left) of a 2-0 win. The announcer said the first goal was a lucky bounce, and I did not see it. The NCAA says the first goal had "Assist by Eliot Goldthorp and Eoin Farrell," and the second goal had "Assist by Eliot Goldthorp and Eliot Goldthorp."

We go to 3 seed North Carolina, who defeated Memphis 2-0.

[Wags]

My first Hofstra soccer game tonight, sitting with Polito and his family. Fun time. Good atmosphere. Hofstra controlled the match even aside from the scoring, just in terms of possession and putting a lot more pressure on Yale and vice versa. Could have easily been 3-1. Each team hit the crossbar in the second half.

The Round of 16 match at 3rd-seeded North Carolina will be next Sunday, 11/26, at 5 pm ET.

[Jojogunne]

Goldthorp's pass on the second goal was a thing of beauty. A natural rightly, he crossed the ball with his left foot to Ryan Carmichael, who headed it into the net. Carmichael also scored the first goal.

[triplec2195]

Great times for this program but can they beat N Carolina on the road. I know Goldthorp and Carmichael are very good players with a good supporting cast but how many of those type players does N Carolina have! Too bad our women's team couldn't repeat.

[Polito]

Another AWESOME time! And a great game by the good guys, CONGRATS to this team!! Enjoyed hanging with Wags too, was nice to be out there together supporting our alma mater - after our past battles, we are carrying olive branches and breaking down barriers lolol.

Championship game was free, this game was 8 bucks, jam packed rowdy crowds, weekend games, folks this is such a great time for peanuts, esp in NY!! Everyone on this board who lives in this area should attend these games - and hey we are the diehards on here, and this is the equivalent of hoops making the sweet 16, just awesome - I should've been at more, and will make it a point going forward - our family loved it

I have been very impressed with this squad. Eliot can bend that ball something fierce, kid can really play. He could've had 2 more goals / assists, easy. Goalie could be our starting hoops F lol, dude is huge. And every player comes over at the end to cheer the fans - as we were walking out our girls high fived a lot of them, and every single one was grateful, respectful, and appreciative, thanking us for coming out. This team is super easy to root for.

UNC is obviously a powerhouse in this sport, and this will be a tough task on the road. But quit a few ranked foes went down yesterday to unranked squads, #4, 10, 12, and 15 are out, two of those by JMU and Vermont, so anything is possible! They earned a big opportunity next week. Find a way to topple this giant and they'll make Hofstra history. Will be watching!

[stuball888]

Polito nice to see you and Wags getting along
Folks we are seeing a gentler and kinder Polito
Newsday has a nice article on our win
Coach Nutall said all the right things
We did want we needed to be done
unfinished business

[HUSID80]

Love this program, coach and team! Class acts!!! Met most of them at the Pride Golf Outing where each team has a hole and the players/coaches greet the fans...always fun to chat with Coach Nuttal and the players...LET'S GET US AND ELITE EIGHT SPOT....GO PRIDE!!!!

[Wags]

I hope they have enough confidence going into the next round. I was trying to encourage a few of the players on the way out, telling them to keeping this going and to make some noise in Carolina. They responded with, "We'll do our best," etc. That's not a bad response at all, but I got the vibe that they know being the 14 seed and going to play at one of the nation's best teams is a daunting task (which it is). But that's for us to think, not them. And soccer's different. You're not going to win in basketball and some other sports if you're very overmatched and and get outplayed. But in soccer, we know the other team can possess the ball for most of the match, outshoot you by a lot, but if your defense bends but doesn't break and if you can just get that one opportunity at the other end and cash in on it, you can come away with a win or even get to PKs and win that way. I hope this team truly believes that it can make some noise next Sunday because we never know when these kinds of opportunities come along next. In any case, it's already been a great season for this group but I hope they won't just be happy to be there next week. I hope they really believe that they can keep this going, play like that for at least 90 minutes or more if that's what it takes, and let the chips fall where they may.

[EvanJ]

And soccer's different. You're not going to win in basketball and some other sports if you're very overmatched and and get outplayed. But in soccer, we know the other team can possess the ball for most of the match, outshoot you by a lot, but if your defense bends but doesn't break and if you can just get that one opportunity at the other end and cash in on it, you can come away with a win or even get to PKs and win that way.

It makes me think of how Italy was eliminated from World Cup 2022 Qualifying hosting North Macedonia. It needed a winner, and it looked like it would go to extra time, but North Macedonia scored in the 90+2nd minute to win. In professional soccer, the clock never stops, and time is added so that nobody knows exactly when the game will end. Referees sometimes do not want to stop the game during a scoring change. Italy had more shots 32 to 4, and 16 corner kicks to none for North Macedonia. Shots on goal were closer at 5 to 2. In the ELO ratings before the game, Italy was 7th, and North Macedonia was 49th.

Championship game was free, this game was 8 bucks, jam packed rowdy crowds, weekend games, folks this is such a great time for peanuts, esp in NY!! Everyone on this board who lives in this area should attend these games - and hey we are the diehards on here, and this is the equivalent of hoops making the sweet 16, just awesome - I should've been at more, and will make it a point going forward - our family loved it

I hope you go to more games, but I am worried we will be worse next year because of graduating players. Our roster has 30 players. Almost half are seniors or graduates, with 7 of each. Ryan Carmichael and goalkeeper Wessel Speel are seniors, and Eliot Goldthorp is a junior.

[stuball888]

Does Ryan and Wessel have an extra year due to Covid

[Polito]

Thought about that too Evan and Stu... saw the same from the roster, this is a very experienced group and built to win.

Next year will be interesting to see how they approach, much depending on the eligibility of the Sr's and their potential COVID years - really confusing, pretty hard to keep track so let's see how things play out. I like the Teddy Baker fella too, a Jr I believe. They have some young talent, but would certainly need to boost the roster if it turns out the question marks are out.

Having Eliot back for another year is huge - that guy is something - if somehow Carmichael and the goalie can and do return, watch out.

But for now, it's Tar Heel time... let's make some history!

[Jojogunne]

UNC game on ESPN+ Sunday, Nov. 26, at 5 pm.

[Polito]

Thanks Jojo, looking forward to this, big time opportunity for Hofstra athletics.

[EvanJ]

Oregon State won 7-1 at 6 seed Southern Methodist (SMU). I wonder if that is the record for greatest margin of victory for an unseeded team over a seeded team. That means that if we beat North Carolina, we will host Oregon State with the winner going to the four team College Cup.

[Polito]

WOW, that's yet another big upset in this tourney with another top seed going down!!

I really think HU can make a historical run here... their path is more than reasonable, UNC will be the toughest test, but I believe this HU squad can do it - they are very seasoned, super skilled, and built to win right now.

Find a way to get this done today and HU would make history and could even continue on to a true unprecedented cinderella level season for this university.

H U G E opportunity here - go get em fellas, ROLL PRIDE!