Over the past couple weeks, the DePauw University Men's Soccer team's Twitter account has been highlighting and welcoming in the incoming freshman players. First there were six announcements on May 8th, then another seven announcements on May 9th. At that point, with 13 new players to replace the outgoing 12 seniors, I fully expected that to be the extent of the announcements. However, over the next few days, another 13 guys were announced to be joining the team. With my interest fully piqued as to why Coach Hauter was bringing in that many guys, I reached out to DePauw's Athletic Communications office, as well as Head Coach, and friend of the site, Brad Hauter for more information. What I found out was that the original intent, as late as January, was to have a group of about 10 incoming freshman. There are now 27 incoming freshman being brought on to help develop the younger players (I didn't follow-up with why one of the players wasn't included in the Twitter introductions). Seems counter-intuitive, right? Bring on a couple dozen young guys to help develop other young guys? Well, it makes perfect sense if you're starting a reserve squad, which is exactly what DePauw is doing this year. Game Beckons: "Other than helping the younger players develop, what precipitated the addition of the reserve team? How many expected games?" Brad Hauter: "That is really the primary reason... I believe in a large roster for depth and competitive energy but the guys towards the bottom are there because they need time to develop... Once we get into the season there are few opportunities for them to grow... This will give them 6-8 matches to showcase themselves and to get needed game minutes." GB: "How long did it take to get the reserve team going? BH: "We had one back about 4 years ago but didn't have the budget to run it... I've been working on the budgeting since then and finally have it set." GB: "Who do you anticipate that team playing? Do other NCAC schools have reserve squads or will you have to expand beyond the conference for games for them?" BH: "Other teams with large rosters (They may not have a reserve team - Centre, Manchester, Wabash), as well as club teams at ISU and IU." GB: "Will you be coaching both squads or will a new assistant cover the reserve squad?" BH: "I will be at each but will have our assistant coaches coach so that they can also get 'game minutes'. Coach Hauter further added that he fully expects 75% of the incoming freshman to really compete for spots on the first or second teams and at least 6 or 7 of them to make an immediate impact. He was careful to not provide any indication to me on which players those might be, but doing a little research on the guys on Hudl and wherever else I could find highlight videos (see Collin Davidson's Hudl site for an extensive highlight reel), I can understand his enthusiasm and optimism. Last year's roster was listed as having 31 guys, which then lost 12 of those to graduation. The roster that Coach Hauter provided to me looks like he has also added some upperclassmen to the roster to go with the incoming freshman because this coming year's roster stands at 53 players. Almost half of that roster are midfielders and nearly 75% of the roster comes from Indiana, Illinois, or Ohio. The breakdown of the incoming freshman is even more heavily weighted on those three states with almost 90% of the freshman coming from those states. Given that "95% of our roster comes from our camp system," it's not surprising that the roster is Midwest heavy. The freshman class has a slight edge towards defenders, but just barely. The thing that surprises me most about Coach Hauter's roster is that there are only 5 forwards and 5 goalkeepers on the 53 man roster, with two each being freshman. I can understand only having a couple goalkeepers for each squad, but it would seem like both teams would need to have more forwards in case of injuries. One of those incoming freshman goalkeepers is Coach Hauter's son, Christian. Christian is one of a couple players where I found football Hudl sites, as Christian was a kicker for Marshall High School. His future teammate, outside back Kyler Schaetzle, was also a kicker for his high school team. Only Christian is considering doing both soccer and football, but Coach Hauter has indicated Christian is going to focus on soccer this season, so he won't be losing any guys to the football team this year. However, Christian's highlight reel shows him kicking field goals two years ago from 47 yards out so he definitely has the leg to play for the football team if he chooses to do so later. Coach Hauter also expects that a few guys may run track, but in general it sounds like he has some good athletes coming to play for him. For example, Butoyi Anaclet out of Mather High School in Chicago, is a top 10 wrestler in Illinois in his weight class, but chose to play soccer. Welcome to DePauw fellas and I look forward to hopefully catching some games this fall to see you in action. For the Indianapolis area soccer fans who read this site, head out to Greencastle in the fall to catch a game in a nice new soccer (and other sports) stadium and enjoy a beautiful campus about an hour's drive away. Stick around afterwards and get some dinner at Marvin's. Go with the Garlic Cheese Burger (GCB) and cheese fries. Trust me.
The following is a summary of the DePauw graphics used on Twitter for the guys:
The thing about doing what I, and the other "grassroots" media, do is that we discuss the team as writers, but we're all fans first. Unpaid writers who needed/wanted an avenue to discuss their team. As a writer, I wanted to get home so that I could watch the replay to confirm what I felt I saw at the stadium. As a writer, I wanted to dive into the stats. As a writer, I want to get the words out of my head and onto the screen in a measured approach.
As a fan, I want to get the words out of my head and onto the screen as fast as humanly possible so that I can put this horrible stretch of results the past week behind me. As a fan, I left the stadium dejected and upset about the result of the game tonight. As a fan walking back to my car, the best my family could come up with for the game was "at least it didn't rain and it turned about to be a good night." As a fan, that's a terrible place to be. When the weather is the best thing that you can talk about from a game.
It could be argued that last year's success created high expectations and a string of draws is no longer an acceptable goal. Despite the injuries that have absolutely plagued this team in the first half of the spring season, there are a lot of good players on this team and they could (should?) have lucked into at least one win in that timeframe against the bottom part of the league. Yet, it's like the first Puerto Rico game in Indy on April 1st broke this team. They came charging out of the gate in that game and ultimately had to get a come from behind draw at home. Since that game, they've score two legit goals since I absolutely refuse to count the two goals in Miami last week created off an own goal by Miami's Freeman and the breakdown in communication between Miami's Vega and Bernstein that gifted Braun a goal. Since that Puerto Rico game, the Eleven haven't scored a single goal at home. The offense is just not working.
The team has looked absolutely terrible at times and that includes, most notably, getting blanked on Wednesday by AMATEURS. After looking completely overmatched last weekend against Miami, Coach Hankinson was able to make some adjustments in the lineup thanks to Speas being back in better shape and Ring back from his red card suspension. That tinkering of the lineup put the team in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Franco back in the right back position and dual defensive midfielders of Ring and Palmer. This put Speas and Thompson as the wingers, Torrado in the attacking midfielder role, and Braun up top by himself.
Indy Eleven/Matt Schlotzhauer
This lineup and tactical formation was built out of necessity of opponent and player availability. What it meant was that the man who has been the bulk of the Eleven's offense in Braun was left on an island tonight. Nearly every time he received a ball, it was with his back to the goal, with at least two defenders on him, often three or four. So when the ball was delivered to him, he had no choice but to send it backwards more than a third of the time, assuming it wasn't immediately stolen away from him. It also meant that the team purposefully played a highly defensive game plan with the intent of counter attacking for their chances. However, a significant number of the counter attacks were of the slow developing kind and that is never going to work against a team like Miami that has as much team speed as they do. They were consistently able to get players back behind the ball to stifle any Eleven attack. The Eleven's defensive to offensive transition was not nearly fast enough against a team like Miami.
At this point in the spring season, winning a game is the goal, not the spring season itself. The Eleven have only managed 25% of the available points, while league leading Miami has achieved nearly 75% of their available points. The injury bug can only be used for so long before it becomes a tiresome excuse. Based on my review of the fans' comments online, patience is severely waning. After losing to Miami tonight, the team's 21 game home undefeated streak came to an end and a road trip to bottom of the table mate FC Edmonton this coming weekend might be a welcome sight.
As a fan, prior to the game I said to my family:
"The team needed a confidence boost by seeing the ball go into the net a few times against a bunch of amateurs. Instead they shit the bed and lost to said amateurs w/o scoring a goal. Tonight they face what some consider to be the best team in all of Div 2 & who destroyed them last week. Tonight is not a rebound game. A draw will be a miracle."
Watching the game, it's almost like I knew what I was talking about.
Lowlight of the Game - I'm fairly certain that the ref stood over the ball meaning that I believe he's supposed to blow the whistle to restart and I never heard one. Beating Miami was going to be hard enough without allowing a goal like this:
It's difficult for me to find a player in a game like this, but I'm going to reward Torrado tonight. His stats are a little off from his usual standard, but his work rate was on the level of Braun. Torrado was physical with Ryan all night and it cost him a yellow card, but he's one of the players who look like they actually care and was giving maximum effort. Unfortunately, I'm concerned that his effort now, and the minutes he's playing now, are going to come back to hurt the team towards the end of the season. At the end of the game, both he and Falvey were hobbling around so we'll see if his effort tonight turns into another entry in the non-stop injury report.
I was going to put my normal effort into this game, but the Eleven didn't, so I'm not. If you want to consider this the Eleven's "B" team, fine. Professional "B" teams SHOULDN'T LOSE TO AMATEURS! Yeah, I know. The Cosmos lost to Reading United.
Professional "B" teams SHOULDN"T LOSE TO AMATEURS!
The Bucks clearly read the scouting report. Or my recent posts. Indy's offense goes as Braun goes. As a result, Braun routinely found himself surrounded by a clash of Bucks with nowhere to go but go without the ball. The Eleven managed some shots, even a couple off the woodwork, but the Bucks always had numbers behind the ball. They had a plan and it worked.
Michigan parked the bus in the second half. There was always at least 10 players behind the ball through most of the half and countered quickly and effectively.
It was nice being able to watch the game, but watching the feed must be what it's like for my grandmother to watch games. Slow to react to the speed of play and always a little blurry.
Oh yeah, professional teams SHOULDN'T LOSE TO AMATEURS!
My favorite soccer player is Lauren Holiday. Period. Full stop. I like a lot of other players, but Lauren is my favorite for a lot of reasons. Despite her immense talent, ability, and hard work, she may be one of the most under-rated players to go through the Women's National Team. That seemed to be a conscious decision to let many of her teammates take the spotlight, while she quietly and strongly did whatever the hell was needed to help the team win. That could just be my opinion though.
For the past year, she's had to deal with a brain tumor that became apparent while pregnant with her first child with Jrue Holiday. As if having a kid isn't hard enough... Not long after giving birth to Jrue Tyler, Lauren had surgery to remove the tumor; a surgery that was thankfully successful. While many new parents show off their kids, which is what Lauren has done from time to time, it was striking to me that I never saw Lauren in any of the photos. Turns out, that too was a conscious decision until yesterday's Mother's Day celebrations.
A post shared by Lauren Cheney (@laurenholiday12) on
While most comments I have read after her post have been positive and are comments on how strong she is (which is true), I was surprised to read such a post from Lauren. It's such an indication of how fragile we can all be when faced with potentially life-threatening issues. Lauren is a World Cup Champion, an Olympic Gold Medalist, an NWSL Champion, a league MVP, a league final MVP, etc. and yet she's still self-conscious about the after-affects of brain surgery. She didn't feel comfortable letting people see her and that saddens me a bit.
Life is a messy business and sometimes it gets ridiculously messy. Being alive means that you've had to endure the ups and downs, the good and the bad, and the birth of a child and the affects of brain surgery within a month of each other. There's a lot that we can learn from Lauren's and Jrue's strength and relationship and her recent post reminded me that not only are people strong and compassionate, but that they are often going through a turmoil that you can't possibly fathom. Even the seemingly strongest people you know may be going through something that you can't understand because you're not in their position.
As a husband and a father of three very strong little girls (gymnasts), Lauren's post reminded me that no matter how physically strong they are and how strong headed they may seem, doubt and a lack of confidence is something that can affect anybody, at any time. It's those with whom we surround ourselves that help us get through those moments and that can make us even stronger.
I'm thankful that Lauren survived her surgery and has a beautiful daughter and a loving husband. The soccer stuff is just a bonus for the rest of us to have been able to witness, but it's not the most important part...
If you watched this game and aren't concerned, I envy you. I'm now fully on board with the worried crowd. The argument to date has been that there are so many injuries right now and the ship will right itself once everybody is healthy. I'm not sure that day is going to come anytime soon and the guys that Coach Hankinson has been forced to cobble together for a starting eleven haven't been able to manage anything on the offense end. With the exception of the Puerto Rico game where everybody took their foot off the gas and last night's game, the defense held together with duct tape has done a decent job. Yet just as the team starts to get Smart and Speas back into the fold, Henderson and Zayed are out with hamstring and back injuries, respectively. Plus, if you think that all of these minutes he's had to play on turf fields are good for Torrado's 38-year old legs, my 41-year old legs will tell you that you're overly optimistic. Hank has been forced to start, not just play, two guys that had signed with the team just a week ago. These are hints of the Ghosts of Eleven Past when new signees made starts within days of joining the team.
Photo credit: NASL
Every interview that I heard or read that involved Dylan Mares, he said exactly what he is supposed to say as a professional. This was just another game against a good team, they needed to be prepared, and he was going to do what he could to help Miami win. As I've said before, Mares was/is one of my favorite players and I don't fault him for making the change. It's been said that Indy offered him more money, but couldn't match what Miami offered him. An offer rumored to be 3 times his last Indy Eleven salary and would have made him the highest paid player on the Eleven roster. I'll let you make your own assumptions on whether his presence changes the nature of this season so far... Yet regardless of what he said, Mares played this game like a man showing his old team what they are missing. Mares had 58 touches; 4 shots on goal, 3 of which were on target; created 5 chances; completed 30 of 33 of his passes; was successful on all 4 of his tackles; and scored the dagger goal in the 61st minute just 5 minutes after the team drew equal on Miami's own goal.
NASL/Opta Stats - 1st Half Average Position
Mares wasn't the only part of the midfield who caused problems for the Eleven. Mares, Ryan, Rezende, and I'll include Poku in this, accounted for 171 touches, 6 shots (4 on goal), 11 chances, and completed 88% of their passes. Coach Hankinson commented earlier in the day on Soccer Saturday that he thought the Eleven could exploit Miami's wings and Plumhoff and Poltronieri in their first starts clearly listened to their coach. While both only played the first 45 minutes, their average position put them out wide to exploit whatever weakness Coach Hankinson felt was there to be exploited. Having watched the game, I'm not sure Coach Hankinson has the same opinion of their perceived weaknesses. Mares and Rezende completed all but 4 passes and created 6 chances. The Eleven midfield had absolutely no answer for Miami's midfield and maybe a fully healthy and match fit Speas and Smart and a non-red carded Ring changes things, but something has to change on the offensive end are it's not going to matter.
I've said before that right now, this team goes as Braun goes on the offensive end. Indy's first goal was an own goal scored by Miami's Freeman off a poorly directed header on an Eleven corner kick. Braun had a goal, but that's semantics and you could almost call it an own goal too. Braun's goal in the 83rd minute resulted from poor communication between Vega and, I think, Bernstein who let the ball roll, slowly roll, between them to Braun who was standing there and had to kick the ball five feet into the goal. Other than that, Braun had no other shots on goal and zero chances created. His up front mate, Goldsmith, managed 3 shots and 1 chance created. Those are the two guys paid to score goals and they created 4 shots and 1 chance created between them. Obviously, that's not good.
A mid-week USOC game against Michigan Bucks before heading home to face this same Miami team next week at Carroll Stadium means that the team is going to have to continue to shuffle around an already frequently changing lineup. Miami's last substitute in the game was Michel who came on in the 89th minute for Mares. Michel. The same Michel who was an NASL Best XI last year for Rayo OKC. Miami's depth and roster favors them in a short turnaround week for both teams, so as the season's undefeated streak came to an end in Miami, the Eleven's home undefeated streak looks to be in jeopardy too.
