The pace of D1 college soccer

I never payed attention to College ball, until my kid started playing D1 and oh boy, how disappointing it is....
 
Now now Kicker, that wasn't very nice. I like change. Three point line sucks in the NBA and I thought it was a lame ideal and would change the game forever. I think soccer needs to allow subs in and out, like hockey. Time to toughen everyone up. This sport is too soft and needs some ganas and spice. We also need a Men's Coach like Herb Brooks to go make a miracle in the next 10 years or so. It can be done and we can win the World Cup against Brazil.
I hope you know that your DD knows much more about the game than you do because your ignorance of the game is astounding. Limited substitutions is one of the biggest defining characteristics of soccer. In the old days, there were no subs. Talk about tough.
 
I hope you know that your DD knows much more about the game than you do because your ignorance of the game is astounding. Limited substitutions is one of the biggest defining characteristics of soccer. In the old days, there were no subs. Talk about tough.
I played AYSO from 1st grade until 8th grade. I was good and I know the rules from England. Rules are made to be changed sometimes. Here's my point regarding females. Way too many girls sit on da bench and watch. That is stupid Outside. The GDA ruined the girls game brah. We will play like England now.....lol!!!!!
 
Soccer IQ is absolutely a thing. You can really see it with the youngers as kids develop this at different rates. Admittedly it's hard to watch when half the team is playing kickball and the other half wants to play more strategically.

As far as speed of the game...I love this read:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/messi-walks-better-than-most-players-run/#:~:text=This season in the Champions,your role on that team.
Awesome article. Thank you.

I recently heard my daughter’s coach explaining to her how to Hide her speed...

Similar?
 
I played AYSO from 1st grade until 8th grade. I was good and I know the rules from England. Rules are made to be changed sometimes. Here's my point regarding females. Way too many girls sit on da bench and watch. That is stupid Outside. The GDA ruined the girls game brah. We will play like England now.....lol!!!!!
I did not play much soccer, since it was not available in the small town we moved to. Your DD plays at a higher level than you ever did, hence she knows the game better than you. My kids know way more about the game than I do. The current college substitution rules allow hockey style line changes favored by Anson Dorrance at UNC. I personally feel that is an ugly style of soccer that does not prepare our players for the world game. We have an amazing sports infrastructure for college athletes, and the NCAA ruins it for soccer. If there were fewer substitutions and the season was not so compact, there would not be a need for such large rosters. Smaller rosters would be less expensive also. Since we have so many English youth coaches in the US, it is not surprising that we play with an English flavor. I look forward to the time when we have our own homegrown generation of coaches, and especially to the time when the generation they coach become coaches.
 
I did not play much soccer, since it was not available in the small town we moved to. Your DD plays at a higher level than you ever did, hence she knows the game better than you. My kids know way more about the game than I do. The current college substitution rules allow hockey style line changes favored by Anson Dorrance at UNC. I personally feel that is an ugly style of soccer that does not prepare our players for the world game. We have an amazing sports infrastructure for college athletes, and the NCAA ruins it for soccer. If there were fewer substitutions and the season was not so compact, there would not be a need for such large rosters. Smaller rosters would be less expensive also. Since we have so many English youth coaches in the US, it is not surprising that we play with an English flavor. I look forward to the time when we have our own homegrown generation of coaches, and especially to the time when the generation they coach become coaches.
My first game ever was CSUF vs USC at SC like 6 or 7 years ago. Titans won and played harder and had a chip on their shoulder. It was super physical and I was shocked. My dd IQ in soccer is very high and is made for possession with ganas. I understand the Blues way and I always say the silver lining of the age change was saving my dd body from injury. It's all working itself out.
 
My first game ever was CSUF vs USC at SC like 6 or 7 years ago. Titans won and played harder and had a chip on their shoulder. It was super physical and I was shocked. My dd IQ in soccer is very high and is made for possession with ganas. I understand the Blues way and I always say the silver lining of the age change was saving my dd body from injury. It's all working itself out.
I was at the CSUF vs. USC game last year at USC's embarassing field (I was first chair vuvuzela). USC had one player smaller than Titan's biggest player and played a very physical game. USC was the better team, but it was 0-0 at half. If Titan Sarah Davidson's first half shot would have even hit the post a little more towards the inside of the post than it did, it might have been a game were the better team did not win. Titan's Atlanta Primus scored a classy goal though.
 
One of the dumbest suggestions ever......

When professional soccer started, there were no substitutes allowed, and the team owners were happy with not having to hire extra people. . Now we are up to 5 in some professional/international games. Change is coming and will be welcomed with "Why didn't we do that before?"
 
I did not play much soccer, since it was not available in the small town we moved to. Your DD plays at a higher level than you ever did, hence she knows the game better than you. My kids know way more about the game than I do. The current college substitution rules allow hockey style line changes favored by Anson Dorrance at UNC. I personally feel that is an ugly style of soccer that does not prepare our players for the world game. We have an amazing sports infrastructure for college athletes, and the NCAA ruins it for soccer. If there were fewer substitutions and the season was not so compact, there would not be a need for such large rosters. Smaller rosters would be less expensive also. Since we have so many English youth coaches in the US, it is not surprising that we play with an English flavor. I look forward to the time when we have our own homegrown generation of coaches, and especially to the time when the generation they coach become coaches.

By the time my boys were 12, they were better than I ever was (my daughter had switched to lacrosse by that age, and I never had skill at all there). I will never forget the first game where my 9-year-old playing sweeper pulled off several offside traps in the first half of a game, a play that I had only seen on paper before.
 
Most US college soccer fields I have seen are narrower than pro soccer fields. Narrow fields mean each player has less time on the ball. The best field I have seen is CSUF's 120 x 70 yard field. For comparison, some other popular professional stadium field sizes are as follows:
  • Anfield – 100 yards by 74 yards (101m x 68m)
  • Camp Nou – 114 yards by 74 yards (105m x 68m)
  • Emirates Stadium –115 yards by 74 yards (105m x 68m)
  • Etihad Stadium – 115 yards by 74 yards (105m x 68m)
  • Old Trafford – 116 yards by 76 yards (106m x 69m)
  • Stamford Bridge – 112 yards by 73 yards (103m x 67m)
  • White Hart Lane – 109 yards by 73 yards (100m x 67m)
I agree with the OP that men's D1 soccer can play at a frantic pace. The games I have seen in person average 5 or so touches from one end of the field for much of the game such that it is like watching ping pong or tennis. The combination of lots of subs and a narrow field changes the game. I personally hope that FIFA takes nothing from the college game.

UC Davis field (measured on google maps) is 118 by 74 yards.
 
There not much pace in women's soccer compared to men.

I really enjoy skill soccer played by the likes of Stanford, UCLA, Pepperdine, etc. All that kick the ball down the field stuff and take your chances is reflective on the head coach's inability to develop his players and team.
 
I watched an interview of a college player on this topic a while back. The basic idea was that college players were told not to respect their opponents. Attempt tackles as quickly and frequently as possible outside your 1/3 and recover if it doesn't work. You get more goals off of forced turnovers and errors and the other team isn't so good in possession that there is much downside to missing a tackle. Apparently this makes for a transition if any of them ever make it to MLS but that type of recklessness is fun to see when a new player fresh from college starts.
 
I watched an interview of a college player on this topic a while back. The basic idea was that college players were told not to respect their opponents. Attempt tackles as quickly and frequently as possible outside your 1/3 and recover if it doesn't work. You get more goals off of forced turnovers and errors and the other team isn't so good in possession that there is much downside to missing a tackle. Apparently this makes for a transition if any of them ever make it to MLS but that type of recklessness is fun to see when a new player fresh from college starts.
With lots of subs, spending the effort to recover after a bad tackle is a viable tactic. Once the player can't recover quickly enough, sub them.
 
I did not play much soccer, since it was not available in the small town we moved to. Your DD plays at a higher level than you ever did, hence she knows the game better than you. My kids know way more about the game than I do. The current college substitution rules allow hockey style line changes favored by Anson Dorrance at UNC. I personally feel that is an ugly style of soccer that does not prepare our players for the world game. We have an amazing sports infrastructure for college athletes, and the NCAA ruins it for soccer. If there were fewer substitutions and the season was not so compact, there would not be a need for such large rosters. Smaller rosters would be less expensive also. Since we have so many English youth coaches in the US, it is not surprising that we play with an English flavor. I look forward to the time when we have our own homegrown generation of coaches, and especially to the time when the generation they coach become coaches.
One reason rosters are so big in college is that players quit, transfer, and are done. Many players on a roster receive no athletic money, their resources are financial aid, academic moneys and loans.
 
I hope you know that your DD knows much more about the game than you do because your ignorance of the game is astounding. Limited substitutions is one of the biggest defining characteristics of soccer. In the old days, there were no subs. Talk about tough.
Limited subs by the current international rule just means we get to watch clearly concussed players stumble along the sidelines, hoping to save their team a wasted substitution.

Tough? Certainly tough to watch. Not sure what you see in it. I'd rather see a rule that allows reentry but caps the total number of players at 14.
 
Limited subs by the current international rule just means we get to watch clearly concussed players stumble along the sidelines, hoping to save their team a wasted substitution.

Tough? Certainly tough to watch. Not sure what you see in it. I'd rather see a rule that allows reentry but caps the total number of players at 14.
One of the things US Soccer got right in the GDA was that a player who was suspected of being concussed could be subbed out for evaluation and re enter for the replacement player if cleared by the medic after evaluation.
 
Part of the answer is that the college rules are different. The ability to sub out players in the first half and bring them back in during the second half means you can play all out press style (see, e.g., Stanford men in recent years) and coaches recruit for those athletic traits to suit that style. Not as much need to pick your runs carefully because of that.

As far as field size, there is more variability because teams play on more multi-use fields than in the pros in the modern day. Width is sometimes lost because of a track for instance, whereas soccer specific stadiums are common in the pros these days.
Use to play against Jeremy Gunn (Stanford Men) back when. He's doing what he knows and as you mention its a very old style English form of the game. Though some EPL teams still employ it. Its a huge contrast when you watch Paul Ratcliff's ladies play quality soccer.
 
Back
Top