Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Sept 22, 2018 21:06:31 GMT -5
I agree. The ladies play a beautiful brand of soccer and are a threat to go very deep in the tourney.
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Sept 23, 2018 9:30:34 GMT -5
bearsandbulls - while The Beautiful Game is no longer a lesser sport at GU (other than in relation to basketball, of course), I think most HoyaTalk members focus on hoops. But the support and interest for both soccer programs is growing as they establish themselves as national contenders. The women can definitely go a long way this season, they just have to keep focus and keep learning how to work together.
Hoya Saxa!
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Sept 23, 2018 9:34:03 GMT -5
bearsandbulls - while The Beautiful Game is no longer a lesser sport at GU (other than in relation to basketball, of course), I think most HoyaTalk members focus on hoops. But the support and interest for both soccer programs is growing as they establish themselves as national contenders. The women can definitely go a long way this season, they just have to keep focus and keep learning how to work together. Hoya Saxa! To your point Frazier, wouldn’t every basketball fan be thrilled with the successes of both the men and the women in soccer over the last 6 years?
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Post by bearsandbulls on Sept 23, 2018 10:40:20 GMT -5
Coach Nolan has really elevated this program to national contender level year by year. The Final Four appearance of two years ago was no fluke, although we were helped with Santa Clara upsetting Stanfurd. We also got little respect last year after winning the BEAST regular season title as well as the tournament and then given a roadie vs. #5 ACC team Wake Forest.
The youth of this current team is building rapidly and by year's end I would not be surprised this could be the best yet at G'town. However, you always need some luck in the NCAA draw and how it plays out. Being on the West Coast I can tell you we would not want to be playing in the Pac 12. U$C, Stanfurd, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, WSU are all tougher than nails and pound each other weekly. Leah Pruitt for U$C may be the best player in the country. If you recall she had the game winner vs. us two years ago, and has gotten even more dominant.
Beat the Johnnies.
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Sept 23, 2018 11:23:10 GMT -5
bearsandbulls - while The Beautiful Game is no longer a lesser sport at GU (other than in relation to basketball, of course), I think most HoyaTalk members focus on hoops. But the support and interest for both soccer programs is growing as they establish themselves as national contenders. The women can definitely go a long way this season, they just have to keep focus and keep learning how to work together. Hoya Saxa! To your point Frazier, wouldn’t every basketball fan be thrilled with the successes of both the men and the women in soccer over the last 6 years? Heck yes, fingers crossed Patrick - and the women's team - will get there sooner rather than later.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Sept 23, 2018 11:51:54 GMT -5
Coach Nolan has really elevated this program to national contender level year by year. The Final Four appearance of two years ago was no fluke, although we were helped with Santa Clara upsetting Stanfurd. We also got little respect last year after winning the BEAST regular season title as well as the tournament and then given a roadie vs. #5 ACC team Wake Forest. The youth of this current team is building rapidly and by year's end I would not be surprised this could be the best yet at G'town. However, you always need some luck in the NCAA draw and how it plays out. Being on the West Coast I can tell you we would not want to be playing in the Pac 12. U$C, Stanfurd, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, WSU are all tougher than nails and pound each other weekly. Leah Pruitt for U$C may be the best player in the country. If you recall she had the game winner vs. us two years ago, and has gotten even more dominant. Beat the Johnnies. It's funny... in many ways the season has not shaken out in the way I'd expected up to this point, and yet here we are, regarding a team with an undefeated record and looking to be on the cusp of true greatness. If you had told me at the outset that through nine games Amanda Carolan and Carson Nizialek would only have only 1 goal apiece, and Jenna Menta none... I'd have assumed the season had gone off the rails. Instead, while the goalscoring has been unbalanced and by no means overwhelming, it has proven sufficient when paired with a seasoned and sturdy defense (and, of course, a few lucky bounces here and there). For the purposes of an undefeated non-conference slate, it certainly helps to not have Stanford on the agenda. Even so, hopefully the complete resume when all is said and done will be enough to avoid the ignominy of once again being shipped off to play on the road in the NCAA tournament. One of the things Coach Nolan has really excelled at is assembling a challenging but well-balanced non-conference schedule. Just one or two results one way or the other last year may have made a difference, but some key opportunities were missed. That fate has been mostly avoided this year, let's hope it stays that way. St. John's looks mediocre at best this year, but theirs has always been a tough place to play at. Important to get the Big East slate off to a strong start.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Sept 23, 2018 15:46:22 GMT -5
To your point Frazier, wouldn’t every basketball fan be thrilled with the successes of both the men and the women in soccer over the last 6 years? One would assume so, but Georgetown has tacitly endorsed a false narrative over the years that men's basketball is the only sport that matters and thus the only sport that deserves their interest and attention. If all you know about Georgetown Athletics were from social media, you might think the fall sports calendar was in a deep freeze until Meek Mill or some other rapper du jour shows up for Midnight (aka Hoya) Madness, because that's what's important. Thus Georgetown has nationally relevant soccer teams that were not among the top 50 in attendance in 2017, and the men's team wasn't even in the top half of the Big East last season. Women's basketball all but gave away tickets last season, and averaged 648 a game, 9th among 10 conference schools. The lack of promotion and alumni engagement regarding football needs no extended narrative.
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Sept 23, 2018 16:29:09 GMT -5
To your point Frazier, wouldn’t every basketball fan be thrilled with the successes of both the men and the women in soccer over the last 6 years? One would assume so, but Georgetown has tacitly endorsed a false narrative over the years that men's basketball is the only sport that matters and thus the only sport that deserves their interest and attention. If all you know about Georgetown Athletics were from social media, you might think the fall sports calendar was in a deep freeze until Meek Mill or some other rapper du jour shows up for Midnight (aka Hoya) Madness, because that's what's important. Thus Georgetown has nationally relevant soccer teams that were not among the top 50 in attendance in 2017, and the men's team wasn't even in the top half of the Big East last season. Women's basketball all but gave away tickets last season, and averaged 648 a game, 9th among 10 conference schools. The lack of promotion and alumni engagement regarding football needs no extended narrative. All good points. My point was simply that we would’ve thrilled if Basketball were performing on court as well as the men and women are performing on the pitch. I took my son to Friday’s men’s game. It was a nice afternoon and the beginning of Homecoming Weekend. Total attendance could not have been over 200. This is for a team that has been to the tournament every year but one since 2012 and played in a national final and an elite 8 game within the last 6 years. A program that turns out pros and plays a great style of soccer. I rally wonder what it will take for these guys to draw attendance commensurate with the product.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Sept 23, 2018 19:53:33 GMT -5
University of Portland usually leads the nation in attendance, probably approximately 4000 per game. Of course, the two major sports at UP are women's (and sometimes men's) soccer and cross country (#2 in the nation in men's XC). They have a field dedicated to soccer with stands that will fit 4000-5000. Instead of football, they support the European style of football. It was exciting to see a person like Christine Sinclair play there.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Sept 23, 2018 21:21:48 GMT -5
One would assume so, but Georgetown has tacitly endorsed a false narrative over the years that men's basketball is the only sport that matters and thus the only sport that deserves their interest and attention. If all you know about Georgetown Athletics were from social media, you might think the fall sports calendar was in a deep freeze until Meek Mill or some other rapper du jour shows up for Midnight (aka Hoya) Madness, because that's what's important. Thus Georgetown has nationally relevant soccer teams that were not among the top 50 in attendance in 2017, and the men's team wasn't even in the top half of the Big East last season. Women's basketball all but gave away tickets last season, and averaged 648 a game, 9th among 10 conference schools. The lack of promotion and alumni engagement regarding football needs no extended narrative. All good points. My point was simply that we would’ve thrilled if Basketball were performing on court as well as the men and women are performing on the pitch. I took my son to Friday’s men’s game. It was a nice afternoon and the beginning of Homecoming Weekend. Total attendance could not have been over 200. This is for a team that has been to the tournament every year but one since 2012 and played in a national final and an elite 8 game within the last 6 years. A program that turns out pros and plays a great style of soccer. I rally wonder what it will take for these guys to draw attendance commensurate with the product. I guess I don't really see soccer as having gotten short shrift on social media or promotions. Men's basketball is the flagship, for sure, but the soccer teams got their own hype videos, and I see their content all over Twitter and Instagram, including frequent features by the main athletics account or even the university account. Can't really say that for the likes of volleyball, field hockey, golf, etc. As for attendance... the big name opponents draw well, as have the tournament games (Big East and NCAA). Stanford turnout was pretty good for the men this season, for instance, and the women's battle with UVA awhile back drew plenty. At the end of the day, though, the biggest challenge here is the same one as with men's hoops, and without the excuse of not playing on campus: there are simply lots and lots of other things students and townies can do with their free time. It's no dig at our Big East peers (though they are at different rungs of the academic prestige hierarchy than Georgetown is), and most definitely not a discredit to those outside the National Capital Region, to say that the Hilltop and DC more generally are busier, more frenetic, and more oversubscribed places than the other Big East locales. Georgetown students, alumni, and others in the area have less time - and are less inclined to make the time - than other fan bases. More Tweeting will not solve that, and even Chris Grosse at maximum creativity can only have a marginal impact.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Sept 23, 2018 23:06:06 GMT -5
I guess this is where I should say that my wife, daughter and I attended the Duke game the day before we moved our daughter into Harbin. Early in the season but you could see that pretty much all the pieces were there.
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Post by TrueHoyaBlue on Sept 24, 2018 5:45:30 GMT -5
The biggest obstacle to attendance (at least for me) is that half the games are on weekday afternoons, which limits attendance to students who don’t have class on a given day, and people who don’t work 8-5 jobs.
That said, I try to get to at least 3-4 men’s and 3-4 women’s games each season with my son. Stanford was a sellout, and Xavier was more than half full (though disappointing in the closing minutes.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Sept 24, 2018 14:33:35 GMT -5
The biggest obstacle to attendance (at least for me) is that half the games are on weekday afternoons, which limits attendance to students who don’t have class on a given day, and people who don’t work 8-5 jobs. That said, I try to get to at least 3-4 men’s and 3-4 women’s games each season with my son. Stanford was a sellout, and Xavier was more than half full (though disappointing in the closing minutes. This. The lack of lighting at the soccer field limits us to afternoon games which severely dampens any attendance. In addition, parking is such a premium at Georgetown and traffic so poor that it makes it hard for people not already on campus to get to games.
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Post by bearsandbulls on Sept 25, 2018 12:06:04 GMT -5
We are now midway through the season and the positive vibes around this team grow. I feel Coach Nolan is still skeptical for he is used to having big name, star quality players. I guess you could argue Kira Carusa is that, but this team is playing with more balance than any team I have watched in the last four years (all of which were good teams). They are doing very well against very good competition---not only Duke, WVU, Princeton and Virginia Tech, but a friendly tie on the road with Penn State. And all of these wins were in the difficult preseason set up by Coach Nolan for purposes of seeding in the NCAA tourney later on. So they came at a time when this team really had not come together yet. And they still play at times where focus seems lost with long kicks to players of the opposing team as opposed to crisp triangulated passing to teammates. But, that is improving, and they give a definite aura of being young, and they are in many ways.
Right now, we must be considered a heavy favorite in the BEAST. That too may not be good. DePaul is not what we have seen in the past. Butler came out of the gate strong but is not overly impressive. Marquette, Providence, and Creighton may afford some resistance. But barring falling flat in a game this team should really cruise through the Big East. And it is this type thinking that the coaching staff must guard against. We have played much stronger opposition in the pre season than we face directly ahead. So go Hoyas and take down the Blue Demons at home Thursday.
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Post by FHillsNYHoya on Sept 27, 2018 8:01:41 GMT -5
Love the season the ladies are putting together. Keep the gas pedal on the floor!
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Post by bearsandbulls on Oct 1, 2018 11:35:06 GMT -5
Another victory on the road for the Hoyas. Took a while to break through Seton Hall's desperate 8-9 players in the box on defense, but when they did, the gates opened as SH had to loosen up to try to get back in the game. Another 3-0 win on the road. Road Warriors 6-0-1. Total 10-0-2.
Six games left in the Big East season and then post season most likely. Two weeks from now will be Senior Day with Providence in town at Shaw.
As much as Dave Nolan has always loved his super stars, this years senior class has the best four year record of any class in the history of Georgetown Women's Soccer. And next years seniors have the ability to erase that record. Right now we are at 56-11-13 for the last four years. If you factor a tie as a half win/half loss it leaves us 62-17. No other class has had less than 20 losses when factored similarl, and I realistically don't see five or more losses in the rest of our year. The program is on the rise. The coaching is great. The harmony of the players is great. The results are equally great.
Keep it going Hoyas.
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Oct 1, 2018 18:07:24 GMT -5
Thanks for the update b and b. A very impressive first half of the season - let's make a deep run this year!
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Oct 2, 2018 18:24:23 GMT -5
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Post by bearsandbulls on Oct 3, 2018 8:28:04 GMT -5
Thanks for the update b and b. A very impressive first half of the season - let's make a deep run this year! As you know FF, it is always so difficult depending a lot on the draw....Last year having to go on the road to a #5 seed ACC team after winning both the BEAST and the BEAST tourney, was a very questionable call. Then when we went to the Final Four having Stanfurd in our bracket looked like Death Valley, but they lost to SCU and then SCU had to come to us. So sometimes nice, sometimes cruel.
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Oct 3, 2018 9:54:57 GMT -5
HoyaTalk has been good this year, we deserve nice!
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