BU home soccer opener - on National TV this Friday!

[tornado]

BU Soccer - season opener..late game 10PM this Friday, Sept. 4 - at Shea Stadium in Peoria -
game is part of NATIONAL TV PACKAGE! - SO LET'S PACK THE PLACE FANS!!

[MVCSports]

BU Tops NIU, 2-1

Bradley was a winner on opening night. Chris Cutshaw with the game-winner.

[Big Mike]

Congrats to the Braves on the 1st W!

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1886198700/Bradley-bends-but-beats-Northern

[Da Coach]

For a laugh, see the last part of this article about the Bradley-Memphis game that will be on Fox Soccer Channel's Game of the Week.
The writer correctly identifies the game as Bradley vs. Memphis, but then repeatedly refers to "Butler" in the article.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/2617/youth-soccer/2009/09/01/1475662/college-soccer-professor-titillating-trivia-and-preseason

Television game of the week: Bradley vs. Memphis: Friday, September 4th, 11:00 PM (EST) FSC: Not the most enticing match up on paper with both teams below 150 in the RPI from last year and neither is currently nationally ranked, but there are a few players worth a watch in this game.

Senior Forward, Chris Cutshaw, Butler, is the Missouri Valley Conference active leading scorer with 22 goals in his career. He scored the only goal of the Butler pre-season. True freshman, J.J. Greer, from Memphis has been solid in the pre-season with a goal and an assist. Memphis sophomore, Thomas Shannon, had three assists in the pre-season. All of his assists have come on set pieces which has accounted for 60% of the offense for Memphis in their two pre-season games. Bradley University is already in session, so there is potential for a good crowd. Last year, their best attendance was 1,359. Hope for a number similar for the nationally televised game.

[tornado]

Interesting to see Creighton soccer...ranked as high as #2 nationally
struggled with Chicago Loyola, and ended in 0-0 tie...
Creighton should have dominated

http://creighton.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=983231

http://www.gocreighton.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1000&ATCLID=3756116

[BU and the Lesticles]

It's not as if Loyola is a bad team. They returned eight of their top nine scorers from last year's NCAA Tournament team.

[tornado]

so you don't think the #2 ranked team in the nation should have won this game at home?

That's fine...but I am only echoing what a lot of the Creighton fans have confirmed...that their team did NOT play very well and did NOT look like a ranked team.

"I'm surprised Coach Warming is so pleased with the effort tonight. I though
the team came out flat and didn't play with much energy until the final 20
minutes of regulation. It sure seemed like we lost a lot of 50/50 balls tonight.
Didn't look like a Top 10 team."

"I agree..We came out sluggish, and didnt look sharp with the passes and
dribbling in the final third of the field. We also gave them too much space on
the wings at times. We have to play better, or we'll be in trouble on
saturday vs Poly."

"that was not a match that's going to have casual fans saying "Hey, let's be
sure not to miss the next home game. This soccer stuff's exciting"!
yikes, I feel like I watched a 2 1/2 hour seance. I've sat through detentions
that were more fun than that. Students were swarming for the exits at the
end of regulation, and there was still 20 minutes of nonstop action yet to go."

"...the jays have the talent and potential to challenge for a national title. Loyola does not, period..."

[BU and the Lesticles]

Where did I say that Creighton shouldn't have won?

You claimed they should have dominated, I was simply saying Loyola is a good team, which in fact they are.

Creighton outshot Loyola 22-10 (including 17-5 after the second half). The Bluejays simply couldn't find the back of the net. Soccer is much more prone to upsets, because of the very few scoring opportunities.

[tornado]

I agree...but still I see a whole lot of Bluejay fans who were disappointed and who thought their team should have dominated and should have won...
Hard to know exactly how good teams are this early in the seaosn, but Creighton's rankings didn't come from spinning a wheel...they also return almost all of a very, very good team...

[BU and the Lesticles]

I'm sure they are disappointed, but I wouldn't consider it time to start panicking if I were a Creighton fan. They tied a good (not great) team. It happens.

Coach Warming isn't concerned because he will more than likely have his team peaking toward the end of they year like they have in recent years.

[tornado]

Here's some good reading...
Saint Louis, a perennially good soccer team and program, was beaten 3-0 by New Mexico.

well, I won't say, just read it for yourself...in the words of the SLU soccer coach...

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/billiken-beat/billiken-beat/2009/09/donigan-am-embarrassing-start-to-the-soccer-season/

[BU and the Lesticles]

Are you trying to compare a scoreless tie with an NCAA Tournament team to losing 3-0 at home to a team that didn't make the tournament last year?

[battlebasset]

FSC on DishNetwork

In a stroke of luck, one of the free preview channels on DishNetwork this month is FSC. Normally, this one is only available at the highest level. So, even if you only have the lower tier DishNetwork packages, you will be able to watch this game.

Now if only they would do this with ESPNU during basketball season.....