12-11-2015, 10:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-11-2015, 11:06 PM by Viking_Guy.)
Whew. I thought it was going to end like the women, especially when Drew Skundrich hooked the first PK wide. But Epstein (and the post) came up brobdingnagian, and Stanford survived. After Skundrich missed, everyone converted until a key Epstein save in the 4th round leveled it at 3. Then in the 7th round, Slater Meehan hit a saveable ball that put Stanford on the brink of elimination. The Zips' player stepped into and hammered a ball to the left past a diving Epstein... but hit the very inside of the post and ricocheted back across the face of goal and out.
How close was it? The ball went BEHIND Epstein; it could easily have ricocheted off his heel and in, and never got more than 2 yards off the line in its journey clear of the goal mouth.
How clutch were certain players? Mark Verso and Adam Mosharrafa, who hadn't played all game, converted PKs. Sam Werner, who had played a bit, buried his in the ninth round to put Stanford ahead.  Then Corey Baird in the tenth.
Taylor Twellman, the commentator, was having issues with some of the Zips' PK technique - they employed a short run-up. One key thing about a PK is to get the keeper leaning the wrong way, and he argued that a short run-up didn't allow it. All I know is that two of the saves made by Epstein were off short run-ups, including the game-winner in round 10.
A couple of asides:
(1) I'm not sure the men's college cup is big enough yet to be played in MLS stadiums, especially MLS stadiums where the closest participant is more than 700 miles away. The stadium was just dead; what fans there were cheered, but the few thousand were lost in the stadium. I think for both semi-finals, it really affected the energy.
(2) Both games were very similar. In the first semi, Syracuse had very much the better of the play - more chances, more quality chances. Both sides had a couple of really quality chances. However, in that game, Syracuse was done in by Clemson's keeper, Andrew Tarbell, who has been absolutely on fire in this tourney. Stanford will have to get a really good shot in to beat him.
GAME REPORT
It was really a tale of two games - apart from the first 5-7 minutes, Stanford really dominated the first 60 minutes of play. Then seemed to run out of gas, and retreat into almost a purely counter-attacking mode, which is really counter to our normal style. Akron had none of the play up to that point, and the vast majority of the play after.
In the first half, Stanford had two quality chances to the Zips' none. Morris sprang Langsdorf through and in alone against the keeper on the right side, but Akron keeper Jake Fenlason, sporting an awesome 70s stache, got down well to block a low liner that Foster took as the defense closed him down about 10 yards out and about 7 yards outside the right post. It was a tough angle, but Foster struck it well. A few minutes later, a high bounding ball at the edge of the area on the left was won by Morris, who sent the ball into Langsdorf, who took a back-to-goal deflection attempt with a man on his back that forced Fenlason to sprawl across the cage to cover his far post.
Akron, meanwhile, was dominating the center of the pitch in their 4-2-3-1 formation against Stanford's 4-4-2. None of Stanford's midfielders were contributing much; almost all of the outside offense was coming from Vincent and Skundrich overlapping up the wings. The Zips really didn't have a dangerous chance in the half.
SECOND HALF
Stanford was on the front foot early in the second half, but starting around minute 55, Akron started to tilt the field and the Cardinal went back into a much more counter-attacking mode. However, the Stanford backline swallowed up most of the Zips' attacks, which were often only one or two players deep. However, the situation was always tense, because Akron was in possession probably 75% of the time, and seemed at points very close to having a ball fall to their feet in dangerous spots. And as it got closer and closer to 90 minutes, more and more of the offensive chances were 4 players running against 6 or 8 defenders going each way.
The best chance of the second half was probably a handball that wasn't called, as Ty Thompson blocked a shot just outside the top of the area that deflected off his head/shoulder and hit his right hand.Â
For the most part, the run of play was not nearly as chippy as some of the games I've seen. There were several yellow cards, mostly for "professional" fouls to deny breakaways. In fact, Thompson probably should've been booked for one midway through the half, which became important at the very end of the game.
Mostly, it was a game that was contested in the midfield. Stanford consistently tried to go over the top, trying to bypass the crowd and get the ball to Morris, and he had several very close off-side calls. Meanwhile, Akron would work the ball around the back, then eventually push the ball into the middle - where Thompson or Meehan would touch it away.
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How close was it? The ball went BEHIND Epstein; it could easily have ricocheted off his heel and in, and never got more than 2 yards off the line in its journey clear of the goal mouth.
How clutch were certain players? Mark Verso and Adam Mosharrafa, who hadn't played all game, converted PKs. Sam Werner, who had played a bit, buried his in the ninth round to put Stanford ahead.  Then Corey Baird in the tenth.
Taylor Twellman, the commentator, was having issues with some of the Zips' PK technique - they employed a short run-up. One key thing about a PK is to get the keeper leaning the wrong way, and he argued that a short run-up didn't allow it. All I know is that two of the saves made by Epstein were off short run-ups, including the game-winner in round 10.
A couple of asides:
(1) I'm not sure the men's college cup is big enough yet to be played in MLS stadiums, especially MLS stadiums where the closest participant is more than 700 miles away. The stadium was just dead; what fans there were cheered, but the few thousand were lost in the stadium. I think for both semi-finals, it really affected the energy.
(2) Both games were very similar. In the first semi, Syracuse had very much the better of the play - more chances, more quality chances. Both sides had a couple of really quality chances. However, in that game, Syracuse was done in by Clemson's keeper, Andrew Tarbell, who has been absolutely on fire in this tourney. Stanford will have to get a really good shot in to beat him.
GAME REPORT
It was really a tale of two games - apart from the first 5-7 minutes, Stanford really dominated the first 60 minutes of play. Then seemed to run out of gas, and retreat into almost a purely counter-attacking mode, which is really counter to our normal style. Akron had none of the play up to that point, and the vast majority of the play after.
In the first half, Stanford had two quality chances to the Zips' none. Morris sprang Langsdorf through and in alone against the keeper on the right side, but Akron keeper Jake Fenlason, sporting an awesome 70s stache, got down well to block a low liner that Foster took as the defense closed him down about 10 yards out and about 7 yards outside the right post. It was a tough angle, but Foster struck it well. A few minutes later, a high bounding ball at the edge of the area on the left was won by Morris, who sent the ball into Langsdorf, who took a back-to-goal deflection attempt with a man on his back that forced Fenlason to sprawl across the cage to cover his far post.
Akron, meanwhile, was dominating the center of the pitch in their 4-2-3-1 formation against Stanford's 4-4-2. None of Stanford's midfielders were contributing much; almost all of the outside offense was coming from Vincent and Skundrich overlapping up the wings. The Zips really didn't have a dangerous chance in the half.
SECOND HALF
Stanford was on the front foot early in the second half, but starting around minute 55, Akron started to tilt the field and the Cardinal went back into a much more counter-attacking mode. However, the Stanford backline swallowed up most of the Zips' attacks, which were often only one or two players deep. However, the situation was always tense, because Akron was in possession probably 75% of the time, and seemed at points very close to having a ball fall to their feet in dangerous spots. And as it got closer and closer to 90 minutes, more and more of the offensive chances were 4 players running against 6 or 8 defenders going each way.
The best chance of the second half was probably a handball that wasn't called, as Ty Thompson blocked a shot just outside the top of the area that deflected off his head/shoulder and hit his right hand.Â
For the most part, the run of play was not nearly as chippy as some of the games I've seen. There were several yellow cards, mostly for "professional" fouls to deny breakaways. In fact, Thompson probably should've been booked for one midway through the half, which became important at the very end of the game.
Mostly, it was a game that was contested in the midfield. Stanford consistently tried to go over the top, trying to bypass the crowd and get the ball to Morris, and he had several very close off-side calls. Meanwhile, Akron would work the ball around the back, then eventually push the ball into the middle - where Thompson or Meehan would touch it away.
MORE>>>