This article contains my previous week’s travel to Charlottesville, VA, Bronx, NY, Manhattan, NY, Providence, RI, Storrs, CT and Philadelphia, PA. This article includes the following schools: Radford, Virginia, Marist, Fordham, Monmouth, Columbia, Boston University, Brown, Cincinnati, Providence, Saint John’s, Connecticut, Long Island and Pennsylvania.

Next week, I’m watching several top teams in the country including Maryland, Charlotte, Creighton, Saint John’s and Notre Dame while caring for my darling wife who is having knee surgery. So, I’ll be staying close to home between Percocet-induced sleep sessions while I run out to games. Yes, I think she may nominate me for Husband of the Year. As an aside, because she mowed the backyard before her surgery, I wasn’t able to compare Connor Lade to my overgrown grass. Sometimes, she makes my life difficult!

Just a reminder, this year, I’m concentrating on just a few players at each game.

Charlottesville, VA – With 4 goals in the first 20 minutes by Virginia junior Will Bates, it seemed that the game was over early, but Radford scrapped back to make the result interesting with an ultimate Virginia 4-3 victory. 

Radford had played #1 Maryland tough earlier in the year eventually losing 2-1 at Maryland. The Radford team came out flat in the first half against Virginia. Until they earned a penalty kick in the 39th minute, they were devoid of any ideas on how to attack or possess. In the second half, Radford was much more composed and determined. Virginia simply lacked motivation to play earnestly.

 

F: Iyiola Awosika

M: Bernardo Ulmo, Chel Ho Kim Park, Anthony Payne, Luis Grande

DM: Brian Gwanzura

D: Matt Janssen, James Jordan, Aldo Macias, Carter Mills

GK: Ryan Taylor

F: Will Bates, Calvin Rezende

M: Felipe Libreros, Ari Dimas, Eric Bird, Brian Span

D: Sean Hiller, Greg Monaco, Grant Silvester, Ryan Zinkhan

GK: Spencer LaCivita

Radford Observations:

 

Radford Senior forward Iyiola Awosika scored a penalty kick in the 39th minute to provide a slight pulse to a limp Radford effort. The penalty kick was earned by sophomore Luis Grande dramatically falling over senior Greg Monaco just inside the box. It looked legitimate to me.

Awosika scored another goal in the 60th minute. The played started with freshman Dario Redondo squaring the ball to sophomore Matt Janssen who gave it back to Redondo who made a nice lead pass behind the defense and Awosika blasted the shot on goal.

With Awosika’s neon shoes, his quick feet look even more blurry. He’s quick and strong (holding off freshman Grant Silvester in the 43rd minute). He didn’t get much service. While quick, he didn’t beat Virginia defenders off the dribble instead looking to receive the ball behind them. He’s average sized, but has above average athletic ability and superior quickness.

Senior defensive midfielder Brian Gwanzura is a tall, thin, athletic player who is difficult to beat in the air. He works hard box-to-box. Gwanzura is skillful, but more importantly is his desire to go hard into 50-50 balls.

Sophomore Bernardo Ulmo understands how to play the game.

 

Will Bates scored 4 goals in 20 minutes. This is a combination of 2 factors. First, Bates knows how to find space and hits what he shoots at. Second, Radford doesn’t mark dangerous forwards in the box. Bates realistically should have had 2 more goals, but it’s kind of difficult to complain after Bates scored 4 goals in 20 minutes.

The first 2 goals were scored by Bates finding a passing lane to get into the box. The first goal was scored in the 4th minute from a through ball by freshman Eric Bird. The second goal was scored in the 6th minute from a through ball by freshman Calvin Rezende. Nice turn by Rezende to find the Bates running. The third goal was scored in the 16th minute (after 10 minutes of not scoring) on a 22 yard free kick. His fourth goal was scored with his head from a deep cross by sophomore Brian Span.

Bates is a smart attacker finding space to receive the ball and he can be depended upon to bury his shots, although I want him to be more selfish and hit the goal when presented. He’s a strong college player, but I’m not sure if he’d have the same strength advantage at the next level. He’s not a huge strong player like a Nate Jaqua – but I think he’s a better soccer player.

Senior Felipe Libreros is a technical player but he doesn’t motor appreciably. He sucks in centrally more than I prefer, and I acknowledge that Virginia wants to leave the flanks for the overlapping wide backs. In the latter part of the first half, Libreros was too slow to the ball; Rezende snapped an incisive pass to Bates who squared the ball to freshman Eric Bird.

Virginia has 3 fast, highly technical freshmen: Eric Bird, Calvin Rezende and Ryan Zinkhan. Bird may turn out to be the best – out of his attacking midfield position with a combination of size, skills and athleticism.

Bronx, NY – On a rainy, cold evening, Fordham and Marist drew 0-0 with play for much of the evening that was drearier than the weather.

 

F: Stephan Brossard

M: Alex George, Lucas Szabo, Krystian Witkowski, James Curley

DM: Josh Faga

D: Dylan Lee, Tony Carreras, Fred Osborne, Matt Wendelken

GK: Steve Skonieczny

F: Matt Courtenay

M: Jack-Tim Murphy, John Niyonsaba, John McHugh

DM: Nathaniel Bekoe, Andre Seidenthal

D: Sam Jolly, Ryan Curran, Casper Gimand, Michael Stalker

GK: Ryan Meara

 

Senior Krystian Witkowski is active, quickly closing on the ball. He made a 40 yard dribbling run in the 60th minute. He’s creative on the ball, but he lacks bravery in the air avoiding contact in the 76th minute.

Junior Stephan Brossard hit a dipping shot in the 25th minute from distance. In the 96th minute, Brossard unleashed a shot from Witkowski that was just high.

Freshman Matt Wendelken is a tall, talented right back that has a propensity to get forward into first-rate supportive positions. He made a 40 yard run to the corner before hitting his pass right to his teammate’s feet. He’s a player to watch develop.

 

Fordham kept playing better as the game progressed. They were dreadful in the first half, better in the second half, by overtime they were adequate. If the game kept going, they may have played well.

Senior goal keeper Ryan Meara missed his first game in 4 years against Drake just 10 days ago from a quad injury. He’s not fully recovered, but they were able to get him on the field, but limited some of his participation. For example, he didn’t take goal kicks and he took one punt with a nod to Ray Guy’s technique (straight on punt). His throwing distribution is exceptional. In the 21st minute, Meara threw a 40 yard pass that landed on the foot of his breaking attacker.

Even with his leg injury, he moved around the box gathering stray balls with no hint of slowness or impairment like he did in the 42nd minute. He makes good decisions including to back away in the 60th minute because he wouldn’t be able to get to the ball. The ensuing shot was easily handled by him. Meara has good hands, bravely going into traffic and coming down with the ball. He positions himself to close angles and make stops.

A surprise for me is that he’s still just 20 years old. I contend that he’s the best senior goalkeeper in the country – by far. I’d like to see him play against a more dangerous attacking team. It’s not surprising that the one game that he missed, 3 goals were scored while he was able to hold one of the best team’s in the nation, Creighton, to just 1 goal.

Senior John Niyonsaba is an intriguing player. He is quick and combines well. Niyonsaba was a touch better than anyone else on the field for Fordham. By the end of the game, his legs had abandoned him affecting his touch and passing. I’d like for him to protect the ball more rigorously.

The injection of sophomore Julian Nagel in the second half was critical for the improved play by Fordham.

The star of the Fordham team though is the Fordham media contact, Mike Balestra. He’s a foodie that made a sterling recommendation for dinner in the Bronx’s Little Italy. It was absolutely delicious. I think he’s in the wrong line of work – food critic would be much more applicable.

Manhattan, New York – In a game played under overcast skies, with both teams missing multiple players, Monmouth outlasted Columbia 1-0.

Monmouth was better in the first half; Columbia was better in the second half.

 

F: Andres Penfold, Kalle Sotka

M: Derek Luke, Joseph Schmid, Max Hamilton, Ryan Clark 

D: Christian Nogueira, Matt Jeffery, Anthony Vazquez, RJ Allen

GK: Alex Blackburn

F: Will Stamatis, Henning Sauerbier

M: Will Young, David Najem, Mike Mazzullo, Francois Anderson

D: Quentin Grigsby, Jesse Vella, Ronnie Shaban, Ifiok Akpandak

GK: Alexander Aurrichio

 

Senior RJ Allen is the class of this team. He is a powerful runner who is near impossible to knock off the ball. He is unconcerned from physical challenges shaking off the unnecessary extracurricular remaining focused on what he’s trying to accomplish. It shows a marked level of maturity.

Allen served in the cross from near the sideline that found freshman Derek Luke manning the far post for the lone goal. In the 47th minute at the goal line, Allen saved a goal with his head. Allen is a precision passer. In the 54th minute, he made a perfect pass into the right spot, but freshman Andres Penfold didn’t dig it out and lost possession.

Monmouth had a quick scoring opportunity in the 11th minute. The play started with defensive midfielder Max Hamilton holding the ball and distributing it wide to Allen who delivered an exquisite long ball along the sideline that Penfold hit with his second touch.

Senior Max Hamilton was inconsistent. At times, he controlled the ball well, before passing to the correct player. At other times, his touch escaped him with either a sloppy touch or a sloppy pass. Hamilton has a good engine – so I was shocked that he was taking a break on defensive transition in the 27th minute. With his work rate, I expect that he’ll take a break, but choosing the moment should not ever be controversial.

Senior left back Christian Nogueira had a horrible first touch in the first half; his touch was cleaner in the second. After seeing him last year, I had high hopes, but I was disillusioned with his play. Nogueira pressured high to earn a corner kick in the 68th minute.

With several attacking players missing, the duo of freshmen Andres Penfold and Kalle Sotka did admirably in the first half, but slowed down in the second. Sotka played particularly well – with unexpected composure on the ball. He’s a smart player.

Junior goal keeper Alex Blackburn made several critical stops in the second half. He kept Monmouth in the game.

 

Senior midfielder Francois Anderson is enigmatic. He’s exceptionally quick and technical. However, his tactical acumen is lacking. He doesn’t know how run off the ball. Of course, he’s better when he’s on the ball.

Anderson reminds me of Virginia’s sophomore Brian Span. Both are exceptional talents, but they don’t understand how to play with others and try to take too much repetitively into their own hands. While I appreciate the effort, if trying to dribble through everyone isn’t working, perhaps beat one player and pass. In the second half, he was much better but his crossing proficiency escaped him.

Anderson’s highlight for the first half occurred in the 27th minute when he held the ball until his team mate flashed to the spot and Anderson passed him the ball and moved to the empty space.

Anderson is a strong player – shielding off Hamilton in the 42nd minute. But, I was surprised when no foul was called when Anderson threw Hamilton to the ground like a bag of fertilizer in the 39th minute. Anderson has a long throw-in.

Senior Mike Mazzullo is a reasonable competent college defensive midfielder. He reads the game clogging up the middle of the field with his adequate rangy speed and his penchant for winning the ball in the air. In the 30th minute, he tried to change the point of attack, but his was off-target. I liked the thought, but execution was lacking. In the 59th minute, Mazzullo slipped a pass through to Anderson who viciously collided with Nogueira for a Columbia corner kick.

I was amazed by a very young Columbia fan named Max that looked to be 8 to 10 years old. He was engaged throughout the match continuously rooting for his lions, standing for much of the match in unbridled anticipation. With this type of concentration and focus for such a young boy, I expect that we’ll see more of this young lad in the future.