Rutgers Men's Soccer Hosts B1G Semifinal Against Ohio State Wednesday Night

[AreYouNUTS]

Easy. There are 48 spots in the NCAAs with only 25 at-large bids available and 23 AQ slots. Maryland just locked up one of those at-large bids, make it 22.

My point is simple. Yes, a win gets us in. But a loss at home to Indiana now would probably leave us out. A road loss to Maryland would look better for us. The loser on Sunday will likely be out IMO.

1) well aware of the available slots, et al, don't need the lesson but thx lol!

2) so we should've wanted to play for a conference title AT MARYLAND with 10,000 of their insane fans chanting "your sister sucks dick?" Yeah, no thanks, I'd rather play for a CONFERENCE TITLE AT HOME, where there is LESS PRESSURE, than in College Park. Not sure how you're coming up with this buddy. Sorrry.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

1) well aware of the available slots, et al, don't need the lesson but thx lol!

2) so we should've wanted to play for a conference title AT MARYLAND with 10,000 of their insane fans chanting "your sister sucks dick?" Yeah, no thanks, I'd rather play for a CONFERENCE TITLE AT HOME, where there is LESS PRESSURE, than in College Park. Not sure how you're coming up with this buddy. Sorrry.

1 - You kind of asked for the lesson by challenging my statement on the pressure being up.

2 - Please show me where I said we should prefer playing at Maryland to hosting Indiana. Hint - you won't find it. Duh, I want us to win on Sunday too, and Indiana at home is an easier matchup than Maryland on the road.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

1 - You kind of asked for the lesson by challenging my statement on the pressure being up.

2 - Please show me where I said we should prefer playing at Maryland to hosting Indiana. Hint - you won't find it. Duh, I want us to win on Sunday too, and Indiana at home is an easier matchup than Maryland on the road.

So how is there “more pressure?” That makes zero sense to me. Sorry lol!

 

[RUtrumpet92]

So how is there “more pressure?” That makes zero sense to me. Sorry lol!

Let me rephrase slightly. There is one less available at large bid because Maryland lost, so the chances of getting a bid if we lose in the final went down.

 

[rufeelinit]

Let me rephrase slightly. There is one less available at large bid because Maryland lost, so the chances of getting a bid if we lose in the final went down.

If it’s any consolation, I thought you made a good point and I got it the first time. It could be a win or go home game where if playing at Maryland they might have gotten in with a close loss to a higher quality opponent. That is less likely the case if they lose to IU at home whose resume is likely better than ours in part due to their win last night.

I think I prefer having the shot against IU at home and earning the bid on the field but an alternative route to possibly making the tourney may no longer exist

 

[richthedentist]

If it’s any consolation, I thought you made a good point and I got it the first time. It could be a win or go home game where if playing at Maryland they might have gotten in with a close loss to a higher quality opponent. That is less likely the case if they lose to IU at home whose resume is likely better than ours in part due to their win last night.

I think I prefer having the shot against IU at home and earning the bid on the field but an alternative route to possibly making the tourney may no longer exist

So lets just win and put all this discussion to bed so to speak

 

[rufeelinit]

So lets just win and put all this discussion to bed so to speak

Yep it is there for the taking. Just need to seize the moment and grab it. Don't follow soccer closely enough to know the relative strengths of all teams in contention but I thought OSU was a handful for us most of the night. I had seen a couple of other games on TV where I thought we strung together passes much better than we seemed able to do last night. OSU was very big and physical and while we did not back down, they seem to get a lot of the 50/50 balls as the game wore on.

Indiana is traditionally a top quality side in the conference but I guess this not their best team given the #4 seed.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Let me rephrase slightly. There is one less available at large bid because Maryland lost, so the chances of getting a bid if we lose in the final went down.

I get that (but thanks)/..that wasn't my confusion...I just don't find it to be "more" pressure as the GOAL, Sunday, is to win the conference title. Does that help?

 

[AreYouNUTS]

So lets just win and put all this discussion to bed so to speak

This. I'm 100% certain, from the moment IU won, McElderry told the team "we are focused on winning the Big Ten Tournament title, on OUR HOME TURF, and nothing else. We control our own destiny."

 

[RUTrack94]

Losing a competitive match to UMD does not guarantee a bid … this is RU where the 2nd best baseball team in season and the tourney got snubbed … only path to NCAA is to win the tourney … and Indy at home should be a better chance.

Indy has won multiple NCAA titles and B1G titles. Hate seeing teams win against us when we try to get a first.

Team has lost quite a few titles at home and won once (last year) … we are 1-8 overall all time including 1-3 last year … we are due.

 

[RU MAN]

Congrats to the men's team and let's go out there and KICK some Hoosier a$$!!!

 

[ecojew]

I haven't seen anything promoting the B1G championship game on Scarletknights.com or here, except for this thread. Hopefully, that will change immediately and RU will have the kind of excitement and crowd that the women enjoyed last year, when over 5000 turned out for the championship game and the NCAA game that followed it.

The men's team has earned it with the improvement that they have demonstrated throughout this season.

Good luck, guys!

 

[rufeelinit]

Going to be rather cool and windy on Sunday. Hopefully not too windy since I see that as a bigger potential issue than the coolness.

 

[GeddyHoosier]

Yep it is there for the taking. Just need to seize the moment and grab it. Don't follow soccer closely enough to know the relative strengths of all teams in contention but I thought OSU was a handful for us most of the night. I had seen a couple of other games on TV where I thought we strung together passes much better than we seemed able to do last night. OSU was very big and physical and while we did not back down, they seem to get a lot of the 50/50 balls as the game wore on.

Indiana is traditionally a top quality side in the conference but I guess this not their best team given the #4 seed.

Nice to see some soccer chat over here. This is a bit of an "off year" for IU as we've just never been able to get in a good groove. Our goalkeeping hasn't been that solid after Celentano went pro last year (FC Cincy). We have plenty of good players in the field, but lack that superstar/first team All American type player that we usually have. As inconsistent as the year has been, IU does seem to be playing its best soccer over the last 4 games, so here's hoping for a great match Sunday!

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Going to be rather cool and windy on Sunday. Hopefully not too windy since I see that as a bigger potential issue than the coolness.

It'll be an issue for both teams and isn't it supposed to be upper 50's? Zero issue with the temps whatsoever. Wind and/or rain potential could keep the crowd down HOWEVER, unlike the girls who have built a huge following with high school girls and their families, the men don't have that yet. It'll happen.