Part 2 in a 2-part article. Click here to read Part 1. 

 

Fairfax, VA – With the first night of fall weather in the DC area, Central Florida and George Mason battled to a 1-1 draw in one of the better games that I’ve seen this year with the first half being particularly delightful.

 

F: McKauly  “Jimmy” Tulloch

W/D F: Nik Robson

M: Cameron Cooksey, Warren Creavalle, Luiz Yamashita

DM: Kevan George

D: Leonardo Ayala, Ben Hunt, Andrew Quintana, Steven Lamberta

GK: Shawn Doyle

F: Taylor Morgan

M: Ryan Gracia, Verneri Valimaa, Leo Stolz, Wesley Sever

DM: Julio Arjona

D: Draymond Washington, Paul Andrews, Eric Zuehsow, Alex Herrera

GK: Sean Cote

 

When I inadvertently left Nik Robson off my top 25 non-seniors list in the preseason, I was excoriated by college fans. After seeing him live for the first time, the outrage was appropriate. Robson is a sensational player, but he is recovering from a minor injury and he had less impact in the second half after a dominating performance in the first half.

Robson is a strong, tall, fast player with a controlled mean streak. He has exceptional technical skills and he serves dangerous set pieces. In the 23rd minute, Robson audaciously passed the ball with a slick drag move – right to the foot of his teammate without him breaking stride.

In the 29th minute, Robson hit a low driven free kick that bounced around the box before sophomore “Jimmy” Tulloch opportunistically touched in from 6 yards for the lone goal of the game.

Tulloch was red carded in the 98th minute earning a 2 game suspension because the foul was ruled with violent conduct. On the play, Tulloch slapped Paul Andrews on the back of his head, because Andrews was shielding him off the ball. It was a dumb reaction. Coincidentally at approximately the same time, Tulloch’s former teammates Akron forward Darren Mattocks was ejected for a similar ill-advised conflict in the nationally televised Fox Soccer match of the week against New Mexico. 

In the 40th minute, Tulloch lost his head against senior right back Draymond Washington after being fouled. He’s too good to allow himself to be ejected for lack of discipline.

Tulloch has a good motor on a thick body. Oddly, he held the ball in the box beating the goalkeeper and several defenders in the 70th minute without releasing his shot. Shot shyness is not normally a problem from his history at Akron.

Senior Furman transfer Warren Creavalle has outstanding foot speed that he utilizes for defending. I project that he’ll be a defender at the next level. In the 39th minute, he dispossessed sophomore West Virginia transfer Julio Arjona deep in his attacking area. However, after beating the goal keeper, his cross was blocked. In the 20th minute, Creavalle made a poor decision tackling senior Ryan Gracia from behind.

Senior defensive midfielder Kevan George looks bigger than when I last saw him live as a freshman. George reads the game exceptionally, anticipating where the ball is going to be played. He is a good passer that can be dangerous going forward. He reminds me of a thin Shalrie Joseph without the crazy hair-do.

 

Seniors Ryan Gracia and Eric Zuehsow are coming back from injuries, but played well

Gracia is in mid-season form with his trapping, taking the ball out of the air with his feet better than some players with their hands. For example, in the 31st minute, he made a flying foot trap controlling the ball immediately before crossing the ball on a dime that junior Taylor Morgan wasted with an off target shot. Morgan did score a few minutes earlier, though. In the 27th minute, he made a snap trap, having the ball stop on his desired spot. Neat!

Zuehsow has good technical skills in the back, exhibited with a nice chest trap in the 66th minute. I like the way he steps up on defense. He battles in the air.

Baltimore, MD – Loyola-MD squeaked a 1-0 victory from Campbell. These two teams came into this match with the same 3-1-1 record. 

Campbell had the better of play, but they were burned by a player with tremendous potential.

 

F: Ricki Gaez

M: Jonathan Ray, Mitchell Cardenas, Jhuvon Francis

DM: Ben Iiames, Jared Girard

D: Nick Burdett, Travis Golden, Aleksi Tossavainen, J. J. Elder

GK: Ryan Amos

F: Diego McQuestion

M: Connor Thompson, Geaton Caltabiano, Wade McHugh, Stephen Dooley

DM: Hector Arellano

D: Kevin Curran, Gerwyn Jones, Jamie Libby, Zach Tweddell

GK: Kyle Wittman

 

Junior midfielder Mitchell Cardenas is a classy player – one of the best players on the field with his slick ball handling, soccer IQ and his ability to find the right open teammate. He is composed on the ball and he isn’t challenged enough to be pressured. His energy level dropped at the end of the half – I suspect because of fitness and his ability to coast through games. If he lacks the self-discipline to push himself, he won’t be successful. 

Cardenas is dangerous on corner kicks, putting a couple directly on goal. Although, he had his first few corner kicks mildly roll to the first defender.

Sophomore J. J. Elder is athletic but was picked apart by freshman Connor Thompson. Elder’s left foot is accurate on crosses and he has the ability to get forward. He has good jumping ability.

Junior Ben Iiames has a dangerous left foot, but his shooting is inaccurate, but with power. Iiames is a good passer beating 3 defenders with a grass burner through midfield for 30 yards. He lost the ball in the 50th minute at midfield because he didn’t care for it properly.

Freshman Jonathan Ray is very active and he has readily apparent talent.

Freshman Ricki Gaez is a stout forward who calmly brought the ball down from his chest but his point blank shot was stopped with a foot save by senior goalkeeper Kyle Wittman. 

 

Freshman wide midfielder Connor Thompson broke open the game splitting 3 defenders and burying his shot past the helpless goalkeeper in the 74th minute. Because Thompson was blowing by J. J. Elder throughout the first half, Campbell tried to provide additional coverage, but this wasn’t a successfully implemented. On the play, sophomore Stephen Dooley took the ball from his side and horizontally came across the field to supply service to Thompson. I was excited to see Thompson and Dooley near each other believing that they might be able to feed off each other. But, Thompson went solo scoring the goal.

Thompson is a remarkably quick winger with a high work rate. He uses his speed to beat players. He’s going to need to continue to develop another move because teams are going to learn how to close him down and force him centrally into the defensive support.

In the 24th minute, Thompson air dribbled beat Elder and his support sophomore Jared Girard. Thompson softly went down and didn’t get the call.

I’d like to see Thompson reward his overlapping back, but the team trust is being severely tested.

Loyola has a problem possessing the ball. Too many players turn it over too easily causing trust issues for providing service. The central midfield is a prime candidate, but the forwards don’t care for the ball well enough, either. The spine of the team is not holding/moving the ball in an acceptable manner. The two best technical players, Dooley and Thompson both play wide midfield and don’t get to combine with each other enough – almost like a wall separates them. 

Dooley was not as impactful as Thompson. Dooley generally takes good corner kicks, although he had a howler that was over the end line before the near post in the 25th minute. I think Dooley needs to slide more centrally to hold possession better and spring the forward while combining with Thompson.

Kyle Wittman had another good game preserving the victory for Loyola. This is his second consecutive quality win.

In other MAAC action, Dermot McGran earned his first victory as the head coach of Canisius in an unusual manner. With Canisius up 2-1 in the 71st minute, Saint Bonaventure’s coach Mel Mahler was ejected. Because no assistant coach was listed on the official game day roster, the match was suspended with Canisius awarded the victory. Just when you think that you’ve seen everything in soccer, something else happens such as this.

Akron, Ohio – After a thrilling draw on Friday night against the host school, Akron, New Mexico needed overtime to beat Syracuse 2-1 after dominating play in the second half.

New Mexico did not play as well as they did against Akron for what should have been a thorough victory, mainly not finishing their chances and not completing the final pass.

 

F: Devon Sandoval

M: Blake Smith, Lance Rozeboom, James Rogers

DM: Michael Green, Michael Kafari 

D: Mathew Gibbons, Kyle Venter, Travis Campbell, Levi Rossi

GK: Victor Rodriguez

F: Dan Summers

M: Lars Muller, Ted Cribley, Mark Brode, Nick Roydhouse

DM: Nick Perea

D: Chris Makowski, Jordan Murrell, David Neumann, Ryan Tessler

GK: Phil Boerger

 

Junior forward Devon Sandoval scored both goals. The first to open the scoring was in the 82nd minute from 6 yards. The play started with one of the countless New Mexico corner kicks in the second half by junior Blake Smith. The ball was defended by Syracuse, but bounded out to Smith who straddled the line beating a Syracuse defender before crossing the ball into the box. The cross was deflected to junior Levi Rossi at the top of the box. Rossi took a shot, but Sandoval heel flicked it into the goal.

Then, in the 96th minute, Sandoval powered a header from 12 yards from a driven cross by Rossi to secure the victory.

Sandoval has a big body and he uses his girth to get position in the box. He knows how to fill the lanes to enable service to be provided. He had a chance to end the game in regulation with a smart run that senior Michael Green found him from 3 yards, but the tap-in was wide under considerable pressure.

Green is an athletic midfielder with tight turns that he accelerates into the attack. He’s better when he’s sitting deep initiating the attacks. In the second half, he moved more forward and he was incapable of moving effectively off the ball into dangerous goal scoring positions. Green keeps his head up while on the ball enabling him to see the pitch and make appropriate decisions.

Senior Lance Rozeboom was injured in Friday’s match and only played 22 minutes in the first half, before the New Mexico staff shut him down for the week-end. Rozeboom suffered a deep muscle bruise and he should be fine for next week-ends match against Loyola-Marymount. He’s the vocal leader and the linchpin of the attack which helps explain the issues that New Mexico had capitalizing on their goal scoring opportunities. In Rozeboom’s limited minutes, he made a nice pass on his second touch after a sloppy first touch popping the ball up in the air.

Junior Blake Smith is a quick player with a sweet left foot.

Sophomore Kyle Venter is a tall, quality defender with a large heart. In the 89th minute, he made a diving header and hurt his shoulder. He shook off the injury and kept playing in obvious discomfort. Venter is a solid center back who handles attackers with relative ease.

 

Senior Dan Summers is a beefy forward who has surprisingly soft feet with an inconsistent shot represented by a play in the 8th minute. He brought down a knee-high pass but then flubbed the shot with a mis-hit. He is aware of his options but lacks that 3rd or 4th gear to get behind players with speed. In the 64th minute, he motored forwarded with the ball deep into the New Mexico half. He assessed the players running with him, but was dispossessed from behind by a swifter player.

Senior midfielder Nick Roydhouse is the best overall Syracuse player. He runs well, mixed with competent technical skills. He’s a little smaller than average, but is just a little quicker than average. In the 93rd minute, Roydhouse could have won the game from a square ball from junior Mark Brode, but the shot was just high.

Isn’t the rat tail out of fashion? If not, Roydhouse should kill it. For more hair commentary, please check back next week! 

Akron, OH – With an experienced team starting 6 seniors, Cal Poly lost to a young Akron team 1-0 that didn’t start a single senior. The difference was a late legitimate penalty kick.

Akron, the 2010 national champions, is a good team, but they aren’t special like they have been for the past 2 seasons.

 

F: Ian Clark

M: Kyle Montgomery, George Malki, Benny Estes, Ryan Anderson

DM: Evan Richter

D: Wes Feighner, Connor Drechsler, Patrick Sigler, Cameron Walters,

GK: Patrick McLain

F: Akeil Barrett

M: Scott Caldwell, Aodhan Quinn, Eric Stevenson

DM: Will Trapp, Reinaldo Brenes

D: David Mayer, Chad Barson, Bryan Gallego, Yedlin DeAndre

GK: David Meves

 

In the 93rd minute, senior left back Wes Feighner pulled down freshman DeAndre Yedlin in the box, setting up the game winning penalty kick. Yedlin took a give-n-go to get by Feighner. With Yedlin in front of Feighner, Yedlin’s too fast for Feighner to catch. I would have liked to see the defense, specifically sophomore Connor Drechsler, cycle over to support Feighner.

Feighner is a small left back with above average speed. He strokes the ball cleanly generating crisp passes. Feighner made a critical defensive stop in his box in the 50th minute when Akron sophomore Aodhan Quinn released Scott Caldwell.

Senior Patrick Sigler is a large imposing center back. Sigler will step into the passing lanes primarily vertically not horizontally. He doesn’t have quick feet, but can cover large amount of area with his substantial stride. He’s a target in the box on corners, but Drechsler was much more dangerous. However, with Sigler’s size advantage, he should win more high balls, but he doesn’t.

In the 24th minute, Sigler awkwardly passed the ball weakly to his goalkeeper forcing a clearance over touch. In the 45th minute, he lost junior Thomas Schmitt in the box after colliding with him. Schmitt wisely circled to the back post and Sigler never found him.

Senior goalkeeper Patrick McLain is a sturdy-sized goalkeeper. In the 59th minute, he made a key foot save when junior Scott Caldwell slipped a pass to Schmitt to get behind the defense. On the play, Sigler stepped up to challenge Caldwell but Drechsler didn’t mark Schmitt coming through. McLain made a nice snag on a hanging cross by freshman David Mayer in the 72nd minute. I didn’t like how McLain defended a free kick in the 68th minute swinging at the ball without making the play.

 

Freshman Will Trapp replaced senior Michael Balogun in the critical deep defensive midfielder role for Akron in the first half. Trapp keeps his head on a swivel to ensure that no one picks his pocket from behind. I like this composure and his ability to change the point of attack. Like an overeager puppy, he over ran a high ball in his box unbalancing his defense in the 35th minute. Trapp is an outstanding 2 way player. His passing is accurate, well weighted and well construed. In the second half, Balogun teamed with Trapp in the defensive midfield. It seemed that Trapp didn’t understand his role in the second half with Balogun dropping deeper.

Junior Chad Barson is the lone defender remaining from the defense that shut down other colleges for the past 2 years. He is a savvy defender with superlative tactical position and with a solid feel for the game. In the 10th minute, he stopped a through pass with his head at midfield, stopping an attack and starting one for Akron. Barson understands the game and he is a solid passer out of the back. He’s not flashy, but very methodical.