NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

But not really. Jason's been around for a while. It just took him a few years to put all the right pieces together to go all the way. It helped him that his timing happened to coincide with the demise of what we call "the club team," which in actuality is just Dustin and Justin and Brad when he can make it, and the other Justin (OK, so there's a couple of them still around). And I think the biggest surprise of the season isn't so much that Jason and Jordan took The A-Team, Sucka all the way, but moreso that Evil Dustin made the playoffs in only one of the four soccer leagues we offer in the fall. This wasn't one of them. In fact, if you made it to the finals, you had just as good of a shot at winning as anybody else. Both semi-final games and the championship game were all decided by a shootout, and each game was equally exciting. Game one saw Cola's Shooting Stars match up against Yan and Pierre's United Talents. This was a matchup of two teams that split from each other after the outdoor season, so I imagine this was also a grudge match for both squads. A two-point goal by Cola at the beginning of the second half looked to put this low-scoring game just about out of reach. But Yan and Leye rallied off another two goals to force overtime. After a scoreless overtime period, Mohammed and Leye managed to squeeze in their shots in the breakaway shootout, while Ero pitched a shutout, advancing the United Talents to the finals. The other semi-final was between the A-Team, Sucka and Teke. From even before the first whistle, it looked like the A-Team had the decided advantage because none of Teke's playmakers showed up. Val was the only guy they had and he was stuck playing goal the entire game. The A-Team ended the first half with a three goal lead, thanks mostly to Mike D (formerly of Dirty South) and his two goals. And so it looked like another romp. But Teke would rally in the second half. Emmanuel scored his first goal early and tied it up with a two-point goal with about five minutes left to play. These games were absolutely nuts. Regulation ended in a 3-3 tie, as did overtime. The A-Team switched the keeper in overtime and put the smaller, skinnier Clint in front of the goal. But not before he took and made his shot. As it turns out, that's all they would need. Jason put one in just to make sure, but Clint managed to stop everthing Teke kicked at him to advance them to the finals.

And all that jazz was just warmup for the excitement of this game. The first 26 minutes were completely scoreless and it looked like another overtime game was brewing. And with little over 5 minutes, Simon snuck one in to give the United Talents the first goal of the game and a one goal lead with little time left. But less than 2 minutes later, Clint put in a heck of a shot from the neutral zone, giving The A-Team, Sucka a 2-1 lead. With less than a minute left, it was desperation time for the United Talents. In what seemed like half an hour, but was probably only about 15 seconds, United Talents lived in the A-Team's goalie box, firing off somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 or 8 shots. But none of them could get passed the goalie and nobody from the A-Team could properly clear the ball either. And with litterally less than 2 seconds left on the clock, the ball looked like it was finally cleared up the center of the court, but Ero, United Talent's big strong goalie, came sprinting in from his mid-court position and blasted a shot on the inside panel that nobody I've ever seen play goale would have been able to stop. And so we went to yet another overtime, and yet another shootout after a scoreless overtime. And this shootout started much like A-Team's other shootout. Clint was to play keeper for them again, but first, he managed to sneak his shot through to give his team a one-goal lead. This time, it was Jordan who added another goal and Clint who stopped all United Talents' shots once again to..., well we can call it an upset I guess - yeah, to upset the former indoor soccer champs. It was one of the best games I've ever seen and I think both teams agreed it was one of the most exciting they've played in. Good for Jason, and congrats to Clint, this season's hands down MVP.

The A-Team, Sucka, Fall 2003 Mens Indoor Soccer Champs

OLD KIDS ON THE BLOCK

We'll call this the "forfeit season." Of the 12 games we had scheduled, only 8 got played. Team did it once, Casa De Sol did it once and Africa United did it twice. It was so bad, that by virtue of merely showing up, With Honors of the Honors College made it to the playoffs without having won a single game. So it makes sense that they were beaten fairly convincingly by Explosive Rockets in the first round of the playoffs (9-0). The other semi-final game would be the only appearance by "the club team" in all of the four soccer leagues we had. And in the only goal they scored in that game against Casa De Sol, Sebestian broke his finger. So on one hand, at least he scored while breaking his finger. But on the other hand, they lost 4-1. Sorry, Seb. The finals was liek a little circus. Yannick took off to New York so he wasn't even there and McMullin pretty much ran the show for them with Simon playing goalie everywhere but in the goal box. Casa De Sol, who finally all showed up, couldn't find an answer. Within the first two minutes, McMullin and Simon (yeah, the goalie) put the Yan-less Rockets up 2-0. McMullin added one more and some guy named Greg got 3 goals to solidify a 6-2 victory in the final game. Congrats Explosive Rockets, you did it without Yannick. Hmmm...

Explosive Rockets, Fall 2003 Coed Indoor Soccer Champs

October 21, 2003 -
Black - And nobody has been statistically eliminated yet. Though it kinda looks real bleak for some. Like FBH United, formerly known as the club soccer team. They missed playoffs in the mens and coed outdoor tournament and lost two games within the first three hours of this tournament on Saturday. Their win over Biohazard on Sunday probably won't be enough to get them into the playoffs now. They'll need Biohazard to beat the A-Team, Sucka, but lose to United Talents SC, making a 3-way tie for second at 1-2. They'll also need to have a better point differential than Biohazard and the A-Team, which is actually likely in the case that Biohazard splits the way I mentioned above. But still not definate. Also, with one game left to play, the United Talents SC is the only team to have secured a playoff spot. The other spot will likely be determined by the winner of the Biohazard/A-Team, Sucka game. But if Biohazard loses to United Talents, they'll have to make up the huge point differential (-5 to their +1) so that FBH United doesn't undercut them and sneak in. And I doubt the A-Team will give up that many points. And if the A-Team comes out and wins the noon game, all this was for nothing.

Gold - On the other side, nobody is eliminated either. Except in this bracket, nobody is safe at all. Teke is sitting pretty at 2-0 and only has to tie or beat Pi Kapp to get in as the #1 seed. However, if they lose to Pi Kapp and the Scrap Heap beats the Shooting Stars, there will be a three-way tie at 2-1, and we will need to go to point differential to determine the seeding, and right now everybody is pretty even. To make things more complicated, a Pi Kapp one-goal victory will give both them and Teke a +1 goal differential. If the Scrap Heap then wins by 1 goal, all three will be tied at 2-1 and all will have a +1 differential. We'd then look at all three games involving just those three teams and all one-goal wins would mean that the point differential for all three teams would be even. So we'd need to flip a coin to see who would be number #1 and the other two would have to battle in a shortened "play-in" game on Sunday morning to determine the #2 seed. If the Scrap Heap wins by two or more in this scenerio, they'll be the #1 seed and Pi Kapp will be the #2 because of their victory over Teke. Again, that's only if all this stuff happens. To get the Shooting Stars into the plyoffs, we'll need some help. Teke will need to win and go 3-0 and the Shooting Stars will need to beat the Scrap Heap to force a three way tie for second at 1-2. We will then go to point differential. Again, if Pi Kapp loses by one and the Shooting Stars beat the Scrap Heap by one, we'll have a three way tie with every tie-breaker knotting up the standings, forcing an unprecedented three-way tie for the last playoff position. If this happens, I don't honestly know what I'll do. It's never happened before to either me or Geoff and there's no real precident. I'll come up with something before Saturday in the off chance all that happens. It's a little tough to have a play-in game between three teams. I don't know what it's going to be, but I'm going to call it a "Three-For-All." Most other scenerios are easier to figure out.

October 2, 2003 -
Mens - Well, All That's Left did their part. They blew out SAE by 11. All they needed was for the A-Team, Sucka to win. Or lose. Just as long as they didn't tie Teke, All That's Left would be in. Oh well. This will be the first year without the core club team members in either the mens or coed playoffs since the conception of the club about seven years ago. With about 4 minutes left to play, Teke took a corner that would have normally been easily trapped and cleared. But the W factor kicked in. The wind started blowing the shot closer and closer to the goal, until evertually the defender accidentally chested the ball right into his own goal to tie the game at 2-2. At this point, both teams realized that they would still make the playoffs with a tie, whereas a loss would send them home, so there were a few more people back on defense for both teams than there were in the beginning of the game. The settled for the tie, thus knocking All That's Left and Pi Kapp out of the mix with thei 3-2 records. They also gave the Chess Team the #2 seed and the other bye. The Mandingo Superstars are still #1, despite the forfeited game to the Jello Jigglers, who climber the ladder to third place because of the tying shenanigans. So the A-Team at 2-0-3 are tied with Baltimore FC and Teke at 3-1-1. Since no team beat another (though the A-Team tied them both), we can go straight to the point differential tie-breaker. The A-Team had a +11 point differential and the other two were knotted at +10. So the A-Team got the #4 seed and for the first time since Geoff and I started working here, we needed to have a coin toss to determine the seedings. Baltimore FC won the toss and became the #5 seed and Teke will be the #6 seed. The A-Team will face Baltimore FC and the Jello Men will battle Teke in the quarterfinals on Monday. The Chess Team and the Mandingo All Stars will be awaiting the outcome of those games to see who they'll face in the semis.

Coed - Well it's hard to believe that Team Inches made the playoffs after their 0-3 start. But they got the OE forfeit that everybody in that bracket got, and they picked the right game to win. It was an exciting battle between them and FASA for the final spot. They had to win too, a tie would favor FASA. FASA looked like they had it put away when a goal by Melissa Roche in the last 3 minutes of the first half put them up by a goal. But with under 3 minutes left in the game, on of the Inches hit a dribbler by Larry to go up by one and FASA couldn't get another goal to tie it back up. So they'll play Bullocks on Tuesday for the right to get to the finals. Meanwhile, Casa De Sol ripped through Team like tinfoil in the last game of the regular season, winning 8-4. This doesn't look good for Team going into the playoffs, who happens to be facing Casa De Sol in the first round. They were just about scoring at will it seemed. And Casa played the entire game 5 on 7. Good luck on Monday, Woody.

October 1, 2003 -
Mens - There was some pretty HUGE action on the mens scoreboard today even before the first ball was put into play. It was brought to our attention yesterday that one of the players on The A-Team, Sucka had accidentally played for another team, the Mandingo Superstars in their win against the Jello Jigglers Hate Spam. Though it was an accident, it was decided by the department that it is unfair that a player play on more than one team, especially since the player had such a pivotal role in the games that he played in against the Jello Men. So the original game that the Jello Guys lost to Mandingo Superstars was reversed and the Jello Fellows were awarded a 2-0 forfeit victory, which had temporarily put them in first place. After the action today, Mandingo found themselves up on top again at 4-1, despite the overturned forfeit against the Jello Molds. And right behind them are, believe it or not, the Chess Team. That's right, the Chess Team is in second place with a 4-1 record. So the question you must all be asking yourselves is - "Who the heck did they play?" Well the answer is nobody. Almost littereally. They gave the Jello Boys their only loss of the season and they lost 6-2 to Baltimore FC. Then they won their other 3 games by forfeit. It looks on the surface that everyone out there is afraid to play these chess folk. I mean, they're pretty good, but at least show up and maybe you'll get a good bounce here or there. Clinging onto their last bit of playoff hope, Pi Kapp won both of their games today. The fact that Jorge's Basement Ball Handlers forfeited to them actually hurt their chances. They are stuck at 3-2 and needed a lot of goals to have a chance. They still have an outside shot, but I told Bruce and Bobby not to hold their breath. There are still two games left and only 4 of the 6 playoff spots have been secured. There are five teams still alive in the race for the last two spots and four of them are in action tomorrow. And here's the team by team breakdown of exactly what needs to happen for them to... well, read it if you want to:

Mandingo Superstars - They are definately in and unless the A-Team beats Teke by 6 or Teke beats the A-Team by 7, they will be the top dog going into the playoffs.
Chess Team - They are also in and currently the #2 team. They will stay there if the A-Team ties Teke. Otherwise they'll be the #3.
Jello Jigglers Hate Spam - These guys had the extra game, so their record of 4-1-1 ranks slightly lower than a 4-1 record. But after the overturned Mandingo game, they're not complaining. They are #3 if the A-Team ties Teke. Otherwise, they'll be the #4.
Baltimore FC - They were the first team to clinch a playoff berth and will just barely squeeze themselves into the playoffs. If the A-Team and Teke tie tomorrow, they will be in a dead heat with Teke and we will flip a coin to determine who will be #5 and #6. In the case the game isn't a tie, they will be the #5 seed.
The A-Team, Sucka - Win and they're in. And they'll have a bye. Win by 6 and we flip a coin between them and Mandingo for the #1 seed. Win by 7 and we don't have to flip a coin. Tie and they are #4. Lose and they'll be in a goal differential battle with Pi Kapp (+5) and the winner of All That's Left (+3) vs. SAE (-5) for the last spot. The A-Team is +11 right now.
Teke - Same as A-Team's outlook, but they win by 7 and we flip the coin, by 8 and they get the top seed. And if they tie, we flip a coin between them and Baltimore FC for #5 and #6. They lose and they're in a goal differential battle between Pi Kapp (+5) and the winner of All That's Left (+3) vs. SAE (-5). Teke is +10 right now.
All That's Left - Lose or tie and they're home for the playoffs. If The A-Team ties Teke, they're also finished. They need to win and have a better point differential than Pi Kapp (+5) and the loser of the A-Team (+11) vs. Teke (+10) game. So provided the A-Team doesn't tie Teke, a 7 point victory over SAE would grant them at least a play-in game.
SAE - First of all, they need to win. By at least 10. Secondly, they need The A-Team and Teke to not end in a tie. Then they need the loser of that game to have a worse point differential than they do. So a 15 goal victory over the club team would grant them at least a play-in game. If the other game isn't a tie.
Pi Kapp - Good luck boys. You also need the A-Team and Teke not to tie. Then you'll need either Teke to lose by at least 5 or the A-Team to lose by at least 6. AND you need either a tie in the All That's Left vs. SAE game or you'll need SAE to win by less than 11 or All That's Left to win by less than 3. It ain't easy, but at least you can't do anything to control your own fate anymore. And at least you still have a chance. If nothing else, you could be the spoiler (see below):
Real Immigrants, Skullz, Jorge's Basement Ball Handlers, Bildirbache - Out of contention.

So if you're still reading, here's what could happen. If Teke loses and All That's Left wins, they will be tied at 3-2. If Pi Kapp hadn't won their games today to make them 3-2, Teke would automatically advance because they had beaten All That's Left and they'd be the only two teams at 3-2, so head-to-head would apply. Since Pi Kapp won and none of the teams either swept or got swept by each other, we need to go to the point differential, which could go in favor of All That's Left in a blowout of SAE. On the other side, if Teke loses and SAE wins, both teams will be 3-2. If Pi Kapp wasn't 3-2, SAE advances because they beat Teke in the regular season. But since Pi Kapp is also 3-2 and no teams did the sweep thing, we have to go to point differential, which will in all likelihood be in favor of Teke. So it could go either way with Teke. So even though they might be dead as of tomorrow, they can still drag somebody down into the grave with them just by having the same record, even if they wouldn't have made it there themselves anyway. Funny. But not to SAE.

If you have any questions, please shoot me (Dustin) an e-mail at recsports@umbc.edu or give me a call at 410-455-1540. Thanks and I'll see you on the field.

September 30, 2003 - Three HUGE games today in the mens bracket. Six of the top seven teams were involved in three games eariler today. In the #1 Baltimore FC vs #2 Mandingo Superstars game, Mandingo reminded Baltimore that if you're going to try to win it all, you're going to need to go out and get a keeper. Chris Rowley is the guy who will probably take them to the finals. Both teams had quick guys who could shoot, but you need a keeper to beat the best in this league and his experience helps out a lot back there. In the other early game, All That's Left lost a one-goal game to Teke. Some would call this an upset, but the club team just lost a few too many weapons from last year and tomorrow's game against Mandingo isn't going to be any easier. And this Teke team looks a lot more like the team that won the indoor tourney last year than the team that lost to SAE earlier this season. The last game was between The A-Team, Sucka and Jello Jigglers Hate Spam, incidentally the two most annoying team names to type over and over again. I knew the A-Team was good, but these Jello guys have had a surprising freshman season. I didn't really think anything of their early victory over the other freshman team, Jorge's Basement Ball Handlers, but they were winning most of their game against Mandingo and lost it in the last minute, litterally. They played an excellently fought game today against an experienced, very good team and the tie that they forced with 1:05 left may have been enough to sneak them into the playoffs. If you have any questions, please shoot me (Dustin) an e-mail at recsports@umbc.edu or give me a call at 410-455-1540. Thanks and I'll see you on the field.

September 24, 2003 - The soccer games that were postponed because of Isabel have finally been rescheduled. Check out the new schedules. Also, one game scheduled for next Tuesday (Pi Kapp vs. Skullz) had to be rescheduled. All apologies to Pi Kapp and Jorge's Basement Ball Handlers for the Wednesday double-header, but it needed to happen. Barring any more hurricanes, playoffs should start by next Friday, 10/3, possibly a coed game or two on Thursday, 10/2. If you have any questions, please shoot me (Dustin) an e-mail at recsports@umbc.edu or give me a call at 410-455-1540. Thanks and I'll see you on the field.

September 23, 2003 - I felt the need to post this on the internet because I was asked three times if we were playing soccer before I even got past the front desk. So to answer your question, yes we can and will still play soccer on the turf even though it's wet. Just not in a hurricane.

September 17, 2003 - And it feels good to be back. All the same old faces and a few new ones. And I forgot how hot it gets out on the turf. Somebody bring me some sunscreen before my face peels off. In case you missed it last time I mentioned it, we have more mens teams than we've ever had. And the field looks to be a lot more competitive than it's been in a while. It used to be everybody chasing the club team for a chance to lose to them in the finals. But as indicated by their team name, there aren't many of them left. Still, All That's Left has got to be one of the favorites as long as they get Brad and Dustin (not me) to show up. Baltimore FC and the Mandingo Superstars are probably the scariest of the bunch though, with a surprising The A-Team, Sucka just behind them just because they've only played one game so far. But the most surprising turn-around of the tourney is the team that will remain in third place for at least the next 5 days is a team that only won one game last year. SAE is riding high right now, but let's not jump on the bandwagon just yet. They have thus far beat an undermanned Skullz team and a Teke (formerly Psi Kiev) who just doesn't look like the team that won the indoor tourney last year. In fact, SAE's only victory came against Psi Kiev last year. Teke better figure it out quick because they've probably already played the easiest two teams on their schedule. Also, don't be too surprised if the 0-2 Pi Kappers win out and make the playoffs. They started the season against two tough opponents and should match up better against teams from here on out. The Monday game against SAE could determine which of them makes the playoffs. The Skullz still have a few of their soccer guys hanging around, but they're hurting for players. I don't think they've had a full squad yet. The Real Immigrants look tough, but they hit a wall in the front end of their schedule. Of the four new teams (Bildirbache, Jorge's Basement Ball Handlers, Chess Team & Co. and Jello Jigglers Hate Spam), these Jello guys look for real. They really scared Mandingo by hitting a sweet (extremely lucky) 40 yard shot into the upper 90 of the goal early in the game and then sitting back and playing good ball control defense for the rest of the game. It wasn't until midway through the second half that the Superstars were able to tie it up and eventually go ahead for the one goal win. And the Chess Team surprised people by making it to the playoffs in the indoor tourney last year, so don't think that's an automatic W for you if you see them on your schedule. I have a feeling I know 4 of the teams that will make it to the 6 team playoff bracket this year, but it's a dog fight for those last two spots. And not even those top four are guaranteed. That's why they play the games.

The coed brackets actually don't look too much different than they did last year. The teams individually look different, but the same ones are here from last year. And I've got to admit, I love the coed league. Four minutes into this year's second coed game, Casa De Sol kicked the ball out of bounds off one of the Team Inches' players. I didn't see it so I called Team Inches ball. They corrected me and told me they tipped the ball out of bounds and gave the throw in to Casa De Sol. Not more than two minutes later, the same sort of thing happened, and I couldn't see who the ball went off of. I called Casa De Sol ball, and they corrected me again, and gave Team Inches a goal kick. That kind of thing doesn't happen too often if at all in the mens division. That speaks highly of the caliber of people that play in this league. It also, unfortunately says something about my officiating too. But teams can be behind in a game and still have fun playing. Most of the mens teams are too competitive to see that kind of attitude. Anyway, I just wanted to give props to the league for their good sportsmanship. As far as who looks like they can go all the way, that's a tough one. The club soccer team, disguised as Not the Usual Suspects, is usually a good bet, but they lost a little too many people from last year and a little too many games in the first half of the season. They lost two key division games to Bullocks and Team and they still have to face Casa De Sol from the other division. They'll need to be perfect from here on and they'll need help. Like they'll need either Team or Bullocks to lose the rest of their games, and one of them is against Lambda Chi. Good luck, Dustin. On the other side, Casa De Sol looks to be in good form early on and FASA is riding high after their forfeit victory over OE. Team Inches always has a chance if Brandon can play the entire game and muster up like 4 or 5 goals. But they are at least amusing to themselves and others. Good luck everyone and I'll see you on the field.