“2 Games Back to Back”

William and Mary at ODU
Wake Forest at Virginia

The last time I studied this hard was back in college – no probably high school! When I say study I mean finding out about the tendencies of the teams, the history of the rivalry, each of the starters and main reserves for each team, etc. This week we had games Thursday night and Friday night. I had to be careful not to overlook Friday while preparing for Thursday. This was no different than when I was coaching and we had Friday – Sunday games as is often the case in college soccer. We would always only prepare the team for the next game, but in our minds as coaches we had to prepare for both games. Inevitably one could not be as prepared for the Sunday game as the Friday game, but you had to try your best for both.

So I talked with all 4 coaches, read and re-read and re-read all the press releases, media guides, web pages, etc about all the teams and jolted my memory banks about those players whom I knew from seeing on the recruiting trails. Many of the players I watched while working these Fox Soccer broadcasts were players I tried to get at Georgetown, so I had a lot of familiarity with them. Most made me pissed off that I didn’t get them at GU, but some made me happy I lost out!! (No names-sorry).

Old Dominion secured a spot in the NCAA tournament (at least in this reporters opinion) with a 2-1 victory over the Tribe (who’s season ended with the loss).

The Wake – Virginia match was great. #3 vs #2 in the country and it fit the billing – albeit in cold, rainy conditions that kept the crowd down to just under 3000. Good weather may have brought upwards of 8000 to Klockner Stadium. Wake “upset” U Va 2-1 on a great goal by Freshman Cody Arnealt. The game of inches cliché was back in order as U Va came that close to tying the score with 3 seconds left. The goal was disallowed as the assistant referee flagged the ball out of bounds first – but just barely. I supported the referees in this decision. They were delighted to hear that- although probably surprised after 22 years of me usually arguing their calls! Hey – why upset the referees now…I may return to the sidelines someday!!!