[DenverCard]

I hope plenty of Cardboarders got to watch the Men's soccer game.  Like Ali-Frazier (for those who remember them).  End to end action, both teams pressing to score from the opening kick-off.  Really fun game to watch.

In brief, it went to a penalty kicks, and although the Seattle keeper stopped 2 of 4 of Stanford's efforts, the Stanford GK, Andrew Thomas, stopped 4 of 5 shots he faced.  Amazing!

More to be said I'm sure, but for now, a celebratory drink.  On to the next round, with the game to be at Cagan Stadium next weekend.

[DenverCard]

I hope plenty of Cardboarders got to watch the Men's soccer game.  Like Ali-Frazier (for those who remember them).  End to end action, both teams pressing to score from the opening kick-off.  Really fun game to watch.

In brief, it went to a penalty kicks, and although the Seattle keeper stopped 2 of 4 of Stanford's efforts, the Stanford GK, Andrew Thomas, stopped 4 of 5 shots he faced.  Amazing!

More to be said I'm sure, but for now, a celebratory drink.  On to the next round, with the game to be at Cagan Stadium next weekend.

[Viking_Guy]

We got REALLY frickin' lucky.

While the overall game was fairly even, Seattle had quite a few more direct chances to score, because of some really chancy passes in midfield.  Midway through the second half, Gabe Segal, working backwards about 15 yards outside the top of the box, laid the ball off to no one, and Seattle had two doorstep chances at it.

Another bad pass in the midfield led to a break down the right side that the Seattle forward really should've shot, instead of trying to lay it back.

And the Seattle goal was a direct result of a boneheaded foul at the top of the area.

We are very fortunate that those mistakes weren't punished more directly.

That said, the forwards played well, and the center of the defense came up big a few times.  We'll need more out of the midfield going on; there was a lot of "hoof it up to Bouda" playing tonight because Seattle challenged the Stanford mids with numbers.

But Thomas was just spectacular.  Beyond the shootout, he had an amazing parry on a short near-post run that the forward tried to go cross-goal with; that would've ended the game 1:30 into the second OT.

As for the shootout, the first two were not great shots - the very saveable "18 inches off the ground, 6 feet from the centerline" sort of shots.  But the last two, a two handed parry of a driven ball in the lower left corner, and the last, a one-handed palm away of a ball heading into the upper half of the goal as Thomas dove left, were bloody amazing.  Someone buy that man an age-appropriate beverage tonight.

On to the round of 16, with #10 seed Virginia Tech coming in next weekend.  

On the scoreboard: great win from UW, beating BC 2-0. and will host #11 Marshall.  UCSB hammered #12 St. Mary's 4-0, and goes to Bloomington for #5 Indiana. And on a sadder note, UC Davis' great season ended with a 1-0 loss at home against Louisville.  The Aggies outshot the Cardinals 18-5, including 5-1 on goal.  Louisville's went in.

Positives today: Beason shaking off more of the rust, and scoring on a quick flick off a ball dropping in the area following a free kick from Panchot almost at half line on the right sideline.  Some nice work by our freshmen, especially Cilley.  But we need to get more shots on goal - a lot of noise and a lot of forward possession, but only 3 shots on frame.

Survive, advance, and trust the Gunn.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

We got REALLY frickin' lucky.

While the overall game was fairly even, Seattle had quite a few more direct chances to score, because of some really chancy passes in midfield.  Midway through the second half, Gabe Segal, working backwards about 15 yards outside the top of the box, laid the ball off to no one, and Seattle had two doorstep chances at it.

Another bad pass in the midfield led to a break down the right side that the Seattle forward really should've shot, instead of trying to lay it back.

And the Seattle goal was a direct result of a boneheaded foul at the top of the area.

We are very fortunate that those mistakes weren't punished more directly.

That said, the forwards played well, and the center of the defense came up big a few times.  We'll need more out of the midfield going on; there was a lot of "hoof it up to Bouda" playing tonight because Seattle challenged the Stanford mids with numbers.

But Thomas was just spectacular.  Beyond the shootout, he had an amazing parry on a short near-post run that the forward tried to go cross-goal with; that would've ended the game 1:30 into the second OT.

As for the shootout, the first two were not great shots - the very saveable "18 inches off the ground, 6 feet from the centerline" sort of shots.  But the last two, a two handed parry of a driven ball in the lower left corner, and the last, a one-handed palm away of a ball heading into the upper half of the goal as Thomas dove left, were bloody amazing.  Someone buy that man an age-appropriate beverage tonight.

On to the round of 16, with #10 seed Virginia Tech coming in next weekend.  

On the scoreboard: great win from UW, beating BC 2-0. and will host #11 Marshall.  UCSB hammered #12 St. Mary's 4-0, and goes to Bloomington for #5 Indiana. And on a sadder note, UC Davis' great season ended with a 1-0 loss at home against Louisville.  The Aggies outshot the Cardinals 18-5, including 5-1 on goal.  Louisville's went in.

Positives today: Beason shaking off more of the rust, and scoring on a quick flick off a ball dropping in the area following a free kick from Panchot almost at half line on the right sideline.  Some nice work by our freshmen, especially Cilley.  But we need to get more shots on goal - a lot of noise and a lot of forward possession, but only 3 shots on frame.

Survive, advance, and trust the Gunn.

VG