Our men's soccer team's season will come to a disappointing end on Saturday. Only five teams make it to the Sun Belt Tourney; and our Apps are winless in conference play and dead last in the standings. They have been mathematically eliminated from the tourney field. The Apps are 5-7-3 overall and 0-2-2 in Sun Belt play.

One game remains--a home (senior night) contest next Saturday night with the third place New Jersey Institute of Technology squad. Even with a win in that match, the Apps cannot catch fifth place Georgia State--who already has two wins and has a chance to pick up another.

I missed "covering" a match last Wednesday. The Apps picked up a non-conference road win over hapless Longwood--a team sporting a 3-12-1 record. From wire reports, it was an apparent struggle--but the Apps picked up a 3-2 win on a goal in the 73rd minute. Longwood apparently controlled much of the game--but didn't get the decision.

In the appstatesports.com report on the game, Coach Nelson made reference to "numerous injuries and suspensions" having an impact on the team's success. It's interesting this comes out at the end of the season. I'm unable to find any previous reference to serious injuries or player suspensions.

A season with precious few highlights soon will end.

I was under the impression that Howard was ineligible for post season play and thus only five teams compete in the tournament. I, obviously, could be wrong about that.

hapapp wrote:I was under the impression that Howard was ineligible for post season play and thus only five teams compete in the tournament. I, obviously, could be wrong about that.

You are correct about Howard being ineligible..App is going to be able to go to the tourney. I was also told once Howard comes back off APR issues the Tourney will move to six teams.

hapapp wrote:I was under the impression that Howard was ineligible for post season play and thus only five teams compete in the tournament. I, obviously, could be wrong about that.

It's my mistake. I just didn't do my homework about Howard's academic status. This'll give our kids another match and more experience against reasonably strong competition. It'd be bizarre to back into a tourney w/o winning a single conference match. Of course, our guys can fix that with a home win over NJIT on Sat.

MSOC season nears end...but...

...it isn't over yet. It's senior night at the AppState Soccer Stadium and the final game of the regular season. Our App have taken a 1 - 0 lead on New Jersey Institute of Technology [NJIT} (one of the best three or four teams on our schedule) on true freshman Jeremy Tshongo's goal in the 13th minute. Approximately 5 minutes remain in the first half.

NJIT scored in the 52nd minute to tie the score at 1 - 1. Their half-time adjustment paid dividends pretty quickly. Let hope the Appc can tough it out from here. Last chance to win a regular season Sun Belt match this season.

ASU's Mason McCarter scored in the 95th minute (first overtime) to give the Mountaineers a 2 - 1 win--their first as a member of the SunBelt Conf. Patrick Harrow and Keegan Tanaka were credited with assists on the play--a set piece.

NJIT finished the season at 7-7-4 overall and 2-3 in the SunBelt. This is a team that knocked off #22 Navy earlier in the season. We well remember the woodshed treatment the Apps received from Navy. This has to qualify as ASU's best win of the season--so far.

ASU finishes the regular season at 6-7-3 overall and 1-2-2 in SunBelt play. The Sun Belt Tourney championship begins Thursday (11.13) in Statesboro.

Last night was Senior Night, and time to pay tribute to four top notch young men. ASU MSOC seniors represent ASU athletics at their finest, and are an example of college sports the way they are meant to be. This group did an amazing job of balancing academic studies with the considerable time and travel demands of D-1 college soccer, and in fact excelled where it matters the most - in the classroom, Patrick Harrow and Walker White will graduate with honors from the business school and each had the distinction of being named 2014 Holland Fellows. This is quite a feat that speaks to their success in the classroom and in their development into leaders on campus. Harrow was recently honored as a Capital One All District All American for his performance on the field and in the classroom. Walker is an excellent player who might well have joined Harrow as District Academic All-American honors if not for injuries. Seth Williams and Stanley Broaden are excellent students as well and key contributors on the field. I understand Seth will be attending graduate school in physical therapy. Stanley had the distinction of excelling as a two sport athlete, and a top goal scorer for MSOC, which is pretty amazing . This is a classy group, to be sure, who will undoubtedly represent our school very, very well as they move into the working world.

As always, it's a great day to be a Mountaineer.

Stanley will also be here for another year because he was given a redshirt in track last year for a hamstring injury. So he will be at App another year but cannot play soccer next year as he has alreadyed used 4 years in that sport.