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For whatever its worth,in this weeks NSCAA coaches poll SMU dropped to 6th from 2nd after it's first loss. SMU is 13th in the Soccer America poll, which has some relevance because Soccer America is the primary Soccer journal in the country in my opinion.

What can we expect. We lost to an unranked (not in top 10) team and barely beat another one. If we start losing to conference teams we can kiss our national ranking goodbye. I hope this past weekend will serve as a wakeup call.

GO PONIES!!!

mustangbill67 wrote:For whatever its worth,in this weeks NSCAA coaches poll SMU dropped to 6th from 2nd after it's first loss. SMU is 13th in the Soccer America poll, which has some relevance because Soccer America is the primary Soccer journal in the country in my opinion.

Soccer America is the premier soccer journal, but the NSCAA is the one the coaches value and the one the NCAA considers come tournament time.

There are only two things as far as rankings go that matter. NSCAA ranking and RPI. first RPI should be out mid season. We need the teams we beat to win and we need NIU to break into the rankings. As far as the season goes, this was covered on another thread, so redpony you may go back and review that. I'm not going to go back and forth with the doom and gloom crowd. Best thing you can do is show up to a game and give us all the support you can. By your posts you sound like some jaded soccer parents I used to know.

Ikus wrote:

mustangbill67 wrote:For whatever its worth,in this weeks NSCAA coaches poll SMU dropped to 6th from 2nd after it's first loss. SMU is 13th in the Soccer America poll, which has some relevance because Soccer America is the primary Soccer journal in the country in my opinion.

Soccer America is the premier soccer journal, but the NSCAA is the one the coaches value and the one the NCAA considers come tournament time.

True but as far as national exposure for the team, SMU and potential recruits, it is good to have favorable press in Soccer America as well.

gk00dad wrote:There are only two things as far as rankings go that matter. NSCAA ranking and RPI. first RPI should be out mid season. We need the teams we beat to win and we need NIU to break into the rankings. As far as the season goes, this was covered on another thread, so redpony you may go back and review that. I'm not going to go back and forth with the doom and gloom crowd. Best thing you can do is show up to a game and give us all the support you can. By your posts you sound like some jaded soccer parents I used to know.

Couldn't have said it better

gk00dad wrote:As far as the season goes, this was covered on another thread, so redpony you may go back and review that. I'm not going to go back and forth with the doom and gloom crowd. By your posts you sound like some jaded soccer parents I used to know.

gk00dad- Well, I didn't think that my comments would be construed as 'doom and gloom'. I was just stating the obvious- losses against unranked schools=lower rankings. BTW- I am not a 'jaded soccer parent'. With all due respect you come across as the father of one of the players (current or former) and seem very defensive about any comments that could possibly be taken as negative.
As I have previously stated numerous times my only interest is in seeing our soccer program progress to national champions. To quote a great coach-Vince Lombardi-"Winning isn't everything- it's the only thing". That is my attitude with this team.

GO PONIES!!!

Okay I may have been a little harsh with the jaded soccer parent thing (seen way too many of them and wish they would drop their kids off and go home) . Hey if the soccer team came out and stunk it up as bad as the football team I'd be first in line saying fire the coach and the a.d. This is a very good team that is loaded with talent. However the bulk of this talent is young and inexperienced. Which would you rather do? Play with a short bench the whole season and pray that no one gets hurt so that you don't have to throw an inexperienced freshman into the mix either late in the season, or heaven forbid in the conference or ncaa tournament. Or run the youngsters out now and let them play some high level tournaments, get some experience, take some lumps and get ready for conference play. Yes we need to win now but we also have to build for the long haul. Trust me once conference play starts the bench is going to be very short and on field mistakes are not going to be tolerated much by coach T. No, we haven't won a national championship yet, but guess what we haven't lost one "this year" yet either. There is a lot of soccer to be played. If we start dropping games to teams like Memphis, UAB or FIU then you can worry. I like our odds to go undefeated in conference though.

Tulsa should tell us a little about where we are at present.

I think we'll have a good indicator of how the conference season will go this weekend against Tulsa. If we beat them handily, that will speak volumes. I agree that non-conference games give us a chance to let everyone play and that strengthens depth. It also keeps griping down. Remember yellow card accumulations take players off the field as well as injuries. I remember when our swimming program was so good and so deep that Coach Mac would hold three meets in three different places the same day, just to get them out of the way. I would like to see us do that sometime. That's when you know you're good and you're deep.

BTW new pictures are up from last weekend. If any of you see Jerry Lester at any of the games be sure to tell him thanks for the great photo's. Here's the link: http://jerrylester.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php

mustangbill67 wrote:Tulsa should tell us a little about where we are at present.

We're going to spank Tulsa. I'll be front and center.

GO MUSTANGS!

I will not be back from NO to see the Tulsa game. Hope both football teams do well.