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Looking forward to a big crowd on Thursday for the home match against Eastern Illinois. It's the "Forest Game" so that usually means a good student turnout. It's a 7pm kick but I will there early for some corn hole and bourbon sipping. Come out and say hi!!
 

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Thanks to all that came out. There was a great crowd that saw the Sycamores dominate EIU, we just couldn’t get one in the net despite several great chances. Last non-conference match is on the road Sunday versus an always tough SIUE.
 
A beautiful night to sit in the stands. 78'F and no wind.

ISU had 17 shots to EIU's 6 about 3-4X the corner kicks.

The final minute was quite harried as ISU had two corner kicks, the last coming with about 10-15 seconds to play. It ricocheted out deep and led to an EIU breakaway opportunity in the last five seconds; however, the shot had to be taken from about 30 yards out as time expired. Five more seconds on the clock and it could have been a stunning & ugly ending.
 
Stunning and ugly is an understatement. Bad enough they couldn't finish one of several really good chances. That would have been a heart breaker.
 

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So MVC Conference play is right around the corner, and I thought I would make some predictions on the Sycamore's chances here on out. My first observation is that the MVC seems wide open this year. Missouri State from my perspective was the best team last year, and English, a transfer from SLU was an absolute handful for everyone to deal with leading them offensively. She has since graduated, and while I still think Missouri State is probably the team to beat this year, the margin between them and everyone else has narrowed significantly. This is truly a year that anyone could take the hardware.

The Sycamores play Valpo, Missouri State, and Murray State on the road, and while I recognize that any conference match is going to be tough, those are arguably going to be the toughest matches of the regular season. If you believe the Massey Ratings (https://masseyratings.com/csocw2024/12684) those teams and UNI are the only teams ranked ahead of ISU going into conference play, which puts the Sycamores in a realistic position of a solid seed in this year's conference tournament. If the girls can earn points in 1 or 2 of those four matches, and take care of business elsewhere, a first-round bye is not out of the question.

When I was chatting with Hunter Tickel about this year's team before the season, I predicted a 10-win season. I still stand by that prediction. Honestly, I think I may have under shot a bit, and if the team that beat Miami of OH and RMU shows up more than the team that lost to UT Martin the rest of the MVC should be put on notice.

All of that said, my final prediction is 5 wins, 2 losses, and 3 ties in conference play, and an overall record of 10-4-5 heading into the post season. That should put the Sycamores in a great position to host a tournament game and maybe even make a run towards the ultimate goal of a conference championship. Why not dream big!!

Go Trees!!
 
howiemullen said:
How about a road W to start conference play versus Valpo!! LFG!!! March On
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Just wanted to say I've never followed women's soccer but feel like I'm a casual now simply because of your updates. It's much appreciated.

I'm not sure how the coaches recruit, but if you've got a bug in their ear, they really should look out West. Here in Vegas, we've got quite the youth soccer program and from what I can tell, a lot of the HS girls are underrecruited. I do see several girls always announcing they are going to UCLA

We have several massive soccer complexes including the Wilson complex sponsored by USA Soccer. It's a year round sport here because of our climate and we also host several pretty large tournaments.
 
Jason Svoboda said:
Just wanted to say I've never followed women's soccer but feel like I'm a casual now simply because of your updates. It's much appreciated.

I'm not sure how the coaches recruit, but if you've got a bug in their ear, they really should look out West. Here in Vegas, we've got quite the youth soccer program and from what I can tell, a lot of the HS girls are underrecruited. I do see several girls always announcing they are going to UCLA

We have several massive soccer complexes including the Wilson complex sponsored by USA Soccer. It's a year round sport here because of our climate and we also host several pretty large tournaments.
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I will pass it along to my inside contact. :-)

I know we have one girl from Vegas now, but not sure how feasible it is budget wise to consistently recruit that area. I do know that Paul is a great recruiter and I would expect him to continue to get players that raise the level of the team. He will find them wherever they are!! Thanks for info!
 
Jason Svoboda said:
Just wanted to say I've never followed women's soccer but feel like I'm a casual now simply because of your updates. It's much appreciated.

I'm not sure how the coaches recruit, but if you've got a bug in their ear, they really should look out West. Here in Vegas, we've got quite the youth soccer program and from what I can tell, a lot of the HS girls are underrecruited. I do see several girls always announcing they are going to UCLA

We have several massive soccer complexes including the Wilson complex sponsored by USA Soccer. It's a year round sport here because of our climate and we also host several pretty large tournaments.
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I know Howie replied to this but i will throw this out. This year ISU had scheduled a one day College ID Camp. It sold out, so it was expanded to a second day and i believe this sold out. Girls from the US are reaching out to coach Lawrence now instead of him chasing like he used to for talent. My daughter was lucky enough to get one of the few Goal Keeper Slots day one. She will be going back next year to remain in contact with the coaches.

This recruiting process stuff is mind blowing. I am watching her navigate with Twitter, IG, Youtube channel, email , ID camp sign ups, and i am probably forgetting something. She plays for Indiana's ODP (Olympic Development Program) team for her age group as well as Racing Louisville's national ECNL team, on top of her High school team just to get exposure to Scouting and recruiting and top level play.
 

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EvilleSycamore said:
I know Howie replied to this but i will throw this out. This year ISU had scheduled a one day College ID Camp. It sold out, so it was expanded to a second day and i believe this sold out. Girls from the US are reaching out to coach Lawrence now instead of him chasing like he used to for talent. My daughter was lucky enough to get one of the few Goal Keeper Slots day one. She will be going back next year to remain in contact with the coaches.

This recruiting process stuff is mind blowing. I am watching her navigate with Twitter, IG, Youtube channel, email , ID camp sign ups, and i am probably forgetting something. She plays for Indiana's ODP (Olympic Development Program) team for her age group as well as Racing Louisville's national ECNL team, on top of her High school team just to get exposure to Scouting and recruiting and top level play.
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Tell your daughter that the skills she is learning now in the recruiting process will pay off later as well. My daughter is now using those same skills to reach out, network, sell herself, etc... to future peers and executives in the Medical Sales industry as she starts to think about life after college. She is cold calling sales leaders from these companies, scheduling phone calls, and then preparing for and holding conversations with them just like she did coaches back in the day. It's really quite impressive, but it's old hat for her and anyone who has been through and managed the gauntlet that is recruiting.

Good luck to your daughter as she continues through the process!
 
😡😡😡GGGRRRR! Big pot of chili made, cornbread made, ready to watch the UIC GAME as one of my daughter’s old teammates plays at UIC. Guess what, not on ESPN PLUS! Can guess I’ll find another game and beg that Howie give updates!😆
 
EvilleSycamore said:
😡😡😡GGGRRRR! Big pot of chili made, cornbread made, ready to watch the UIC GAME as one of my daughter’s old teammates plays at UIC. Guess what, not on ESPN PLUS! Can guess I’ll find another game and beg that Howie give updates!😆
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Game was postponed. Field was unplayable. Next action is Thursday versus SIU at Memorial Stadium. 5pm kickoff.
 
Hot off the presses: “Our rescheduled soccer game with UIC will be Tuesday, October 8th at 7pm CT (8pm ET). Confirmed.”

No clue if ESPN will have a broadcast or not.
 

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Not a good first half for the Sycamores. Anything less than a win will be a bad result against SIU. We need a little intensity in the second half. This should be a W, 10 out of 10 times.
 
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