For a rematch of the 2020 NCAA college soccer championship. Winner advances to play the winner of #5 Stanford/#12 UNC Greensboro.

5 of the 8 Sweet 16 games are completed, and 3 unseeded teams (Creighton, Vermont, Portland) and 2 ACC (Syracuse, Duke) are through. Both Sun Belt teams kick off in the next hour - UK at 6, Marshall at 6:30.

I am cautiously optimistic about our chances tonight. I expect Indiana to play more defensive and try to capitalize on counters and mistakes. Marshall will play possession.

Lets go Herd

(11-27-2022 06:06 PM)ODU-Z8 Wrote:  Lets go Herd

Herd and Hoosiers at 0-0 at half. The ref is keeping his whistle quiet and letting them play in the rainy mist. Indiana controlled the action for the better portions of the half.

UK got a goal in the 52', but Pitt responded less than 2 minutes later, and they are knotted up at 1-1.

Hoosiers score Bad guys up 1-0 with 40 minutes left.

UK's in a long delay as one of their players is stretchered off the field in the 80th minute.

Pitt will finish with 10 men against UK. Clear Red on the tackle that took the UK player out.

Pitt just scored an incredible short handed goal to basically defeat UK Its 2-1 with 3 minutes left.

(11-27-2022 07:49 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Hoosiers score Bad guys up 1-0 with 40 minutes left.

Unfortunately now all the Hoosiers have to do is play keep away.

Lost 0-1.

Good run Herd.

#1 seed UK lost to Pitt too.

So SBC is out.

Nice run by Kentucky and Marshall.

Great job representing either way!

I think both UK and Marshall are a bit stunned today. Pitt had gone down a man with a red card shortly before scoring the late game winner. I am shocked that we're both knocked out at this stage.

Some intrigue to look forward to SBC Men's Soccer 2023 -

* UCF joins the league next year, already touting the "Big 12 Derby" with WVU.
* Coastal Carolina's Alvaro Garcia-Pascual, first-team all-SBC and a candidate for preseason SBC player of the year next year, announced he's transferring to Marshall - adding some spice to that emerging rivalry.
* The SBC Tournament surprise JMU returning 9 starters. ODU's as well returns 9 starters including a freshman GK, Michael Statham, who had some solid performances during the year. The Virginia squads looks to elevate their play next year.
* UK will be retooling next year - their team was filled with 5th year and regular seniors. I do think South Carolina is poised to be a scary darkhorse next year.
* Marshall is largely replacing the last remaining starters from the national title team, but enough proven talent remains to show that Marshall will still be formidable. Marshall needs to find significant improvement in its midfield if it wants to stay nationally competitive next season.
* Georgia State was "THIS CLOSE" in terms of competition in the conference standings, the conference tournament, and being on the wrong side of the bubble for the NCAA. They lose some "stats" this offseason - is their program able to reload or are they rebuilding?
* Georgia Southern will have a new head coach - it will likely take some time to build up to play at the level of the rest of the SBC (who were otherwise in the Top 80 RPI), so I expect a patient build is needed there.

An interesting next season for this league is in the offering. The SBC was largely all Kentucky and Marshall in 2022. I think we have a much more competitive league in store for 2023.