Duke Women's and Men's Soccer 2021 Fall Regular Season

[DoubleBlue]

Terrible weekend for Duke other than the MBB win over Gonzaga. One more game tomorrow with WBB vs Troy in Cameron.

[TheTrain]

Men and Women both lose at home. Kerr and Church did very well and I believe their programs will be in the mix 2022 for post season play.

Church loses Boade and Cosme….my understanding is that Delaney Graham is coming back for her COVID bonus year. Sprinkle a star-studded recruiting class with 3 of the top 10 high school seniors in the country and the future is bright.

Kerr’s team is almost entirely freshmen and sophomores. They have the top freshman next year in Kenny Hot plus 3 other. Barring the unforeseen, they will be loaded as well.

[heyman25]

Both teams could use some Extra motivational preparation when they are in the NCAA tournament. Both Men's and Women need to triumph over adversity like Duke Men's Basketball last night in Las Vegas. Duke Women took second but have never won the Cup. Coach Kerr was on the only Men's championship.

[DoubleBlue]

Both teams could use some Extra motivational preparation when they are in the NCAA tournament. Both Men's and Women need to triumph over adversity like Duke Men's Basketball last night in Las Vegas. Duke Women took second but have never won the Cup. Coach Kerr was on the only Men's championship.

I wonder if our Soccer coaches bring in alumni and outside motivational speakers like Coach K does for his MBB teams? But then again, that's what upperclassmen/women are good for too. I noted how Coach K gushed over Wendell Moore's leadership and huddle talk in the Gonzaga post-game press conference. He said it means so much more coming from a player. Maybe our Soccer teams lacked that internal leadership spark.

[quahog174]

Both teams could use some Extra motivational preparation when they are in the NCAA tournament. Both Men's and Women need to triumph over adversity like Duke Men's Basketball last night in Las Vegas. Duke Women took second but have never won the Cup. Coach Kerr was on the only Men's championship.

Come on. Do you really think both teams weren't motivated to win? Sometimes things don't go your way in a game despite all the preparation and motivation in the world. That's life. Reference UNLV 1990.

[TheTrain]

On the women’s side, we lost by 1 goal to the defending National champions. The Elite 8 is an amazing accomplishment. There is no shame or lack of motivation. They had a lapse in concentration for 5 minutes and it cost them. It happens. It was a great year that was inches away from a season for the ages

On the men’s side, the vast majority of the team are freshmen and sophomores. They are loaded. There is tremendous parity among the seeded teams and you need some luck. The soccer gods were not favorably disposed last night. With another stellar recruiting class coming in, Duke’s future looks very bright as well.

[DoubleBlue]

On the women’s side, we lost by 1 goal to the defending National champions. The Elite 8 is an amazing accomplishment. There is no shame or lack of motivation. They had a lapse in concentration for 5 minutes and it cost them. It happens. It was a great year that was inches away from a season for the ages

On the men’s side, the vast majority of the team are freshmen and sophomores. They are loaded. There is tremendous parity among the seeded teams and you need some luck. The soccer gods were not favorably disposed last night. With another stellar recruiting class coming in, Duke’s future looks very bright as well.

Thanks for the valuable perspective, Train. All season-ending losses are dissapointments. Its good to have so much to look forward to next year, for both the Men's and Women's teams.

[TheTrain]

One other thing on the women’s side….Church reeled in 3 of the top 10 players in the US. He is recruiting on all cylinders right now. He landed the 2 top players in Florida; one of which is the #1 midfielder in the US, Carina Lageyre, and the #3 ranked striker in Kat Rader. I am hearing scuttlebutt that it would have been 4 of the top 10 but admissions declined a recruit.

He is eating UNC’s lunch on the recruiting trail right now. Like Duke and Kentucky in mens hoops; it is Duke and Stanford in women’s soccer

[TheTrain]

He is also off to a huge start with the junior class too: 3 of the top 26 (including the #7 player in the US)

[OldPhiKap]

On the women’s side, we lost by 1 goal to the defending National champions. The Elite 8 is an amazing accomplishment. There is no shame or lack of motivation. They had a lapse in concentration for 5 minutes and it cost them. It happens. It was a great year that was inches away from a season for the ages

On the men’s side, the vast majority of the team are freshmen and sophomores. They are loaded. There is tremendous parity among the seeded teams and you need some luck. The soccer gods were not favorably disposed last night. With another stellar recruiting class coming in, Duke’s future looks very bright as well.

This is an excellent analysis IMO. Thanks for your info on the soccer team through our run (I love fútbol but do not get the ACCN so I mainly get my Duke info from these threads).

Sporkz sent.

[chrishoke]

Coopper is a 1st team All American. https://goduke.com/news/2021/12/3/wo...r-coaches.aspx

[DoubleBlue]

Coopper is a 1st team All American. https://goduke.com/news/2021/12/3/wo...r-coaches.aspx

Wow, a great accomplishment and a very bright future!!

[burnspbesq]

If we’d asked you in August whether you would take Sweet 16 for the men and Elite Eight for the women, I think you would have unanimously said “hell yeah.” Both teams’ regulat-season performance raised expectations to unrealistic levels. So it goes. I’m willing to bet that none of us are as disappointed as the players.

[RepoMan]

He is also off to a huge start with the junior class too: 3 of the top 26 (including the #7 player in the US)

Thanks for sharing this. Where on line can you see the 2023 recruiting rankings? Thx

[JetpackJesus]

Wasn't there so a high degree of speculation in this post but I was told by a friend who was at the game that the UCLA goalie was taking his time to clear on goal kicks and generally abusing the 6 seconds (?) allowed to clear the ball up field, part of UCLA's defensive strategy the entire second half. Doesn't justify what Thor did which was punk, bush league kind of stuff IMO.

I know this kerfuffle happened a while ago now, but Jomboy did a breakdown of the whole thing that I just saw yesterday (link below) that gives some fuller context. IMO, the goalie was egregiously delaying the game every time he touched the ball starting while there was at least 20 minutes left in the game. Delay tactics like this are not at all normal with that much time left to play.

What the video also shows is that Thor pleaded with the ref almost every single time to enforce the rules. The ref never did. The rule is rarely enforced, and never without a warning first, but you only get 6 seconds to get rid of the ball. The ref needed to warn the UCLA keeper to stop violating the rule and then issue a yellow if he refused to comply. I blame the ref more than anyone else for this situation. He does his job and this likely never escalates.

Also, it is not shown in the Jomboy video, but I understand that at some other point in the half Thor took a shot that missed over the bar. The UCLA goalie apparently mocked and taunted Thor about how high his shot was, which is what I assume precipitated Thor pantomiming the goalie's save attempt. If that's all accurate, then it seems Thor's mocking was a direct (and I would say proportionate) response to what the UCLA keeper apparently had already done to him. That does not excuse the behavior, but it may explain it. Again, I'm going back to the ref here. How the hell does Thor manage to mock the goalie continuously for nearly 60 yards with no intervention? Do your job, and none of this happens.

To be clear, I think Thor should've gotten two yellows. One for the taunting and one for the embellishment after he hit the ground. Do that and the second round of taunting before the kickoff never happens (what was the coach thinking putting him back on the field, btw?). The UCLA player who pushed Thor rightly earned a red card. I also would have booked the UCLA goalie. Red if he spit on Thor (can't say for sure he did because video quality is poor) or a yellow for whatever he screamed/did while standing over Thor. Also, it seemed to take the refs a really, really long time to appear anywhere in the frame when the poop hit the fan? I would've thought the game had no refs if I hadn't seen them earlier in the video.

Link to the breakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlnY82npUsA

[DoubleBlue]

The Women's NCAA Final is tomorrow 12/6 at 8pm ET between FSU and BYU.
The Men's NCAA Semi-Finals are on 12/10 with Clemson/Notre Dame and Georgetown/Washington. The final is on 12/12.

[cspan37421]

What the video also shows is that Thor pleaded with the ref almost every single time to enforce the rules. The ref never did. The rule is rarely enforced, and never without a warning first, but you only get 6 seconds to get rid of the ball. The ref needed to warn the UCLA keeper to stop violating the rule and then issue a yellow if he refused to comply. I blame the ref more than anyone else for this situation. He does his job and this likely never escalates.
...

Link to the breakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlnY82npUsA

Amusing breakdown - thanks for the link.

Agreed. The ultimate cause was the referee failing to enforce the rules against delay. That said, I still think Thor's childish taunting was wildly unsportsmanlike, and reflected very badly on Duke. Disproportionate to the delay tactics, but maybe not to any earlier taunts he received. UCLA's physical retaliations were pretty clear & obvious, and should have been easy to sanction.

To me it's a beautiful game that has a cancer of poor sportsmanship. Too few (of those who matter) want to treat it. For them, it's benign. For my fandom, it's malignant.

[burnspbesq]

Coop is in Chula Vista for U-20 national team camp.

[DoubleBlue]

Clemson beats Washington 2-0 for the Men's National Championship.

[heyman25]

Women's and Men's. Might even be revenue sports now.