Losing to B team.

[KnoxVegas]

It may make sense to set up the A and B leagues to realign yearly, as per the model of the English Premier Soccer leagues.

Relegation is something that I am in favor of. I understand the objections regarding money but really how much more is it. It is not like the A and B teams of a given conference are not geographically conducive to travel.

[Bluevelvet]

Well, way back when, this thread was about the UCSD loss to USD. Since that time UCSD has defeated #10 UCSB on the road and taken #2 Sonoma to overtime. USD has won the WCLL B division championship with a win over top 5 Claremont.
So what does it mean. It means that UCSD had a bad game and USD is good. UCSD did not dive into oblivion because they have a good team. UCSD wound up the #7 seed.
Even very good teams have bad games. Michigan, Colorado St. and Sonoma etc. all lost to lower ranked teams.
The moral of the story is that when a good team loses unexpectedly to a lesser team, the loser is still good.

[mrbxstr]

Blue Velvet- An alternative view is that the rankings are not necessarily perfect. Also- USD has remained a Div. B team by choice. I would suggest that the USD vs UCSD game outcome was not a fluke. The best team won. USD had an answer for Nick Dean, held him to less than one half his average, and for some reason no other Div. A team has been able to contain him until SSU did in the WCLL playoffs. USD has played UCSD close for each of the last 3 years, as others have noted in this discussion category.

This year's USD team is good enough to be a bonafide top ten team in Div. A, period. That may not always be the case in the future, but it certainly is this year. In the end, UCSD was not overly penalized for losing to USD. Their final ranking probably had more to do with not taking care of business in the WCLL playoffs. In other words- the "loser" is VERY good.

[sohotrightnow]

SSU did not contain Nick Dean in the playoffs. What game were you watching? He went 5 and 2, and if his team finished half his passes, the game would have been a blowout. I would say that USD is definitely a top 15 team, but top 10 is pushing it.

[mrbxstr]

[quote] Oh and Pinball, just a bit of a heads-up on the San Diego defense--since your visit in February they've found their happy place so watch out when next you meet in Texas!


Pinball- now you know what Cathi meant! Probably all teams improve through the course of the year- but certainly the degree of improvement varies widely from team to team. Performance at a given time, especially early season, may vary due to outside factors (such as injuries to key players.)

FYI- At the beginning of the season, USD had no defensive coach, they blew that lead against you in Feb., and they had very little guidance. If that level of play had continued, they would have been beaten easily by Claremont and UCSD. However, once their D coach returned by mid season, they virtually shut down every team they played the rest of the way, including 2 A div. opponents.

In Texas, you had a couple of early transition goals, and the Toreros clearly took some time to probe and figure out the your zone Defense. After that- USD finished the game with a 10-1 run, using a patient offense and stifling defense. I hope you'll agree that the USD team you saw in Plano was light years different from the team you beat in February.

Anyway, I hope your injured d-pole is going to be all right. I'm sure his injury had a major effect on your strategy for the championship game. Congrats on a great season. Looking forward to seeing SJU's continued success next year.