Friday, October 12, 2007

Macalester Soccer: Yeahbutwhat?

We haven't checked in with either the women or men of the Fightin' Scots in a couple of weeks, and apparently, everything went to hell while we were laughing at Questionable Columnists, frisky Pandas and Shitty Trumpet players.

The Lady Fightin' Scots went on an unprecedented four game losing skid (seriously, I can't remember the last time they dropped two in a row, much less three, and 4? Fucking Four games? Crazy.) The Scottettes lost to Wartburg, Augsburg, St. Benedict, and Concordia (Moorhead) by a combined score of 6-2. The offense is clearly the problem at the moment, though the Lady MacBeth's may have righted the ship against the dirty Papists of St. Mary's, who they beat 2-0, this very evening.

The Scots face the Cornholios of St. Thomas on the 16th, in a huge game, rife with MIAC positioning implications. Don't get behind St. Thomas Women, Macalester--there's where they like it!

The Men of Macalester have been having similar problems, though for them it was somewhat more expected. But the last time I wrote about them, I stated that they had to get right against Wartburg, and then they absolutely had to take care of business againt MIAC doormats Bethel.

While the Scots did lose to Wartburg, they did finally break their scoreless streak, losing 2-1. Ryan Palmer stopped 13 shots to help Mac beat Bethel 1-0 (sheesh!). So, maybe, you'd think, there is some momentum to be gained, but the Lads dropped a goal in the first 2 minutes against St. John's Johnnies. First Two Minutes. I've seen it happen from the sidelines; I've sadly been on the pitch once or twice, and I still don't understand how anyone scores in 2 minutes. It should be impossible. And yet, it happened. But the men have put a good sheen on the week, by beating Concordia 1-0 a couple of days ago, to get themselves at .500 in the MIAC.

I gotta say though, asking for saves like this from your keeper doesn't seem like a recipe for long term success. Tighten' up Macalester midfield and defense. No way you should get beaten on a long throw-in, and no way you should let dinky passes to the top of your 18 go unchallenged:





That said, much praise to Eric Tettegah, which I sure hope is pronounced Titty-Gah!, for his game winner. You'll see patterns here--quick counter, short passes with a long ball, and a run from a winger. I'm sure the preferred thing for Tettegah to do in his position would be to put it in the mixer, but he went with the near post shot, and in this instance, it paid off. Good for you, Titty-GAH!

2 comments:

Andrew Wice said...

I generally skip through soccer posts with great speed, but I couldn't help but notice there's an opponent named Wartburg.

Come on, THOFM, when you lose to Wartburg, we all lose to Wartburg.

Gross.

Big Blue Monkey said...

In this instance, Wice, "Wartburg" doesn't refer to your girlfriend's genitalia.

Oh, SNAP!