GUESS WHO'S BACK...

Well, I think it's safe to say that these guys are back. Yannick will argue that they only won the indoor title this year because he didn't play. But I don't think so. They dominated their division, winning two of their three games by the new mercy rule, and the other 6-2. But the new playoff rules give advantage to defense, and so they still only managed to be a #3 seed overall. Which was exceptionally scary for the #6 seed that had to face them. And Iceberg just couldn't hang with Dustin (I call him Evil Dustin) and his team's ball control style of play. I have a lot of respect for Mark Pedri, the goalkeeper for Iceberg who had to play without shoes because his had been stolen from his locker for putting up as much of a fight as he did. Pi Kapp couldn't hang on to the 2-0 lead they jumped out to either and their Cinderella season ended at the hands of the newest dynasty in Intramural soccer. FC Canonieri managed to squeeze two victories over the team that they split from (in the two most entertaining games of the tournament), the Bakassi Boyz to make it to the finals, and fell to the club soccer boys by a 4-2 score. Though GUTDS won the whole tournament, all five playoff games remained very close, with only one of the games being decided by more than two goals. But it looks like Yannick's turn is up. And with Theo back in Greece indefinately, he may not get another one. ;)

GUTDS, UMBC Fall 2002 Mens Intramural World Cup Indoor Soccer Champions

...BACK AGAIN

I really thought they were going to lose this one. They tried hard to throw it early too. They managed to get a first round bye, which they didn't do in the mens tournament. So I thought they were finally getting it together. And then about 5 minutes into the semi-final game, Justin West, their goaltender, gets himself red carded and kicked out of the game, thus causing the rest of the team to play down a man for the rest of the contest. The game was tied at halftime, but how long would Evil Dustin and his crew be able to stay afloat while playing undermanned against Iceberg's firepower? Well, just as the second half started, Jason Campbell put their mind at ease by scoring a 2-pointer from the neutral zone, putting them up by a score of 3-1. It didn't take Iceberg but a little over 3 minutes to tie it up before Dustin put FC FTS back ahead 4-3. Another 2-pointer by the makeshift goaltender, J Campbell put it out of reach and gave them a chance at the championship. But Biohazard was a lot better than any opponent they saw in either league. The Biology profs and TAs jumped out to a 5-1 lead midway through the second half and looked like they would easily cruise to a blowout victory to seal their out-of-nowhere season, putting the perfect nightcap on Ryan McMullin's comeback player of the year season. But with 7 minutes left, Brad Crocker put a shot high off the wall over the goal, which former Loyola hockey goaltender Barry Johnson came out to meet at the top of the box. He instead met Evil Dustin, who headed the ball overtop of him and just high of the goal. But this was the luckiest miss of the entire tournament, because it landed right on Cynthia Johnson's head without any goaltender or defender in sight. Her easy goal put FC FTS within two with 7 minutes left. A shot from the nuetral zone by Brad tied up the game, and who else but Jason Campbell would put the nail in the coffin with 3 minutes left. Biohazard was unable to score in the last 10 minutes of the game and took the 6-5 loss in stride. They'll be back, and next time maybe it will be a different ending. But for now, it's the same old ending to a familiar storyline. Congrats guys. And I wonder what FTS stands for.

FC FTS, UMBC Fall 2002 Mens Intramural World Cup Indoor Soccer Champions

• Coed Schedule
• Mens Schedule

October 9, 2002 -
OK. Just in case it comes down to any of this, it's probably important enough to dangle out there on the internet for all to see so that there's no confusion. First of all, the top two seeds from each division will make it to the playoffs. This league will be a little bit different than the past leagues however. One of the major reasons for this is the new mercy rule (if a team is winning by at least 8 goals with under 5 minutes left to play, the game will be stopped immediately). Also, there is a slightly unbalanced schedule since three teams will be playing only two games. So here it is:

DETERMINING THE SEEDING WITHIN A DIVISION:
1. Win-loss record: Subtract the number of losses from the number of wins.
2. Head-to-head: Look at all games played between the teams. If one team has a better record in these games, they get the higher seed. (This holds true equally for a three, four or five-way tie).
3. Goals Against: If teams are still tied, the team with the fewest goals scored against them in the course of the tournament will be the higher seed.
4. Sportsmanship: If teams are still tied, I will give one point to each team for each yellow card received and 2 points for each red card received. The team with fewer unsportsmanlike points will be seeded higher.
5a. Coin toss: In the unlikely event that two teams are still tied after all this, there will be a coin toss to determine seeding. This will only determine seeding within teams already making it to the playoffs (see 5b).
5b. Play-in game: A coin toss will not decide whether or not a team makes the playoffs. In the case that two teams are tied through the first 3 tiebreakers, there will be a game played between the teams involved.

In the case that there are more than two teams tied, use this procedure until a higher seed is determined, and then start over without that team in the mix to determine the seed for the rest of the teams involved.

DETERMINING A TEAM'S OVERALL SEEDING:
It should be first of all noted that the #1 seeds from each division will be seeds 1, 2, and 3 and the #2 seeds from each division will be seeds 4, 5, and 6.

1. Fewest losses: The team with the fewest losses will be the higher seed.
2. Fewest ties: If still tied, the team with the fewest ties will be the higher seed.
3. Goals Against Average: If teams are still tied, the team with the fewest goals scored per game against them in the course of the tournament will be the higher seed.
4. Sportsmanship Average: If teams are still tied, I will give one point to each team for each yellow card received and 2 points for each red card received. The team with fewer unsportsmanlike points per game will be seeded higher.
5. Coin toss: In the unlikely event that two teams are still tied after all this, there will be a coin toss to determine seeding.

In the case that there are more than two teams tied, use this procedure until a higher seed is determined, and then start over without that team in the mix to determine the seed for the rest of the teams involved.