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REPEAT DEFENDERS These guys had perhaps the quietest championship repeat in intramurals this year. After their 1-0 loss in the championship outdoor game to the Mandingo Superstars, it was easy to forget that they went all the way in the indoor tournament last year (under the name Psi Delt). And once again, they (this time under the name Teke) came in as the #3 seed. And just as last year, the Chess Team gave them their toughest win of the post-season. But last year's game was nothing like this year's game. But I have to go back to the most pivotal day of the season, March 16th, a day on which Teke didn't even have a game. Some extracurricular physical and violent activity led to the disqualification of two of the concensus favorite teams, 5 Heather Hill and FC Barley. From there, the field kinda of opened up and I think everybody had the feeling it might finally be their year. I know the Falcons were salivating in their nests, while the Chess Team was getting ready to make their move and Pi Kapp was getting the feeling it might be their year too (sorry, no easy metaphors for Pi Kapp). After Teke and the Chess Team took care of Gigolo and the Turks in the first round, both were underdogs in the semis. Teke squeaked out a close 3-1 victory over Pi Kapp and the Chess Team absolutely stunned the heavily favored Falcons 2-1 behind the outstanding goaltending of Rob Schaff. He was truly amazing that night. And with all due respect to him, he also had luck on his side. His posts were ringing all night long. I remember one shot that whizzed by him and hit one side post, rolled along the goal line behind him, hit the other side post, and came back out. But the Chess Team definately earned their way into the finals with their outstanding play in that game. And it looked like they were going to pull off another upset over Teke, going up 1-0 on them early in the first half. And then Slava showed up. Only this wasn't the same storybook start Teke had hoped for. With 7 seconds left in the first half, only a minute after Slava took the floor in goal, Josh from the Chess Team managed to put a rebound right by him, giving them a 2-0 lead going into halftime. Things were looking up for Teke when they scored 3 minutes into the second half, narrowing the margin to one goal. But not three minutes later, the margin was moved back up to 2 when Pawel Blehm managed to get his second goal of the day. And with under 5 minutes left and down 3-1, Teke's chances were looking bleak. I had already started writing the article headline in my head. "Checkmate" or something about UT Dallas. That's when Kevin King (yes, Kevin) somehow got a shot passed Rob and cut the lead to one. And two minutes later, Sam Webster got his second goal, tying the game at 3. And with one minute left, an improbable comeback was completed when Alex netted their 3rd goal in the last 5 minutes. The Chess Team could not manage that 4th goal to send it to overtime. And there ended the Chess Team's most impressive run yet. Also, there completed Greg's back to back mens indoor soccer championships. And I think the thing I liked most about this season is that there were a lot of contenders and you didn't know who was going to win it all. Maybe that's because of the two teams who weren't in it. But I don't think so. Next year should be fun to watch.
REPETIR DEFENSORS Les chicas y hombres suy bueno. OK, I don't speak spanish, but these ladies and guys are good. And Bullocks has got to be sick of seeing them in the championship game. Casa De Sol beat them in the famous undermanned Jen Bonass shootout game in outdoor. And though Casa was the lowest seed from their division going into the playoffs, they did exactly what they needed to do to win. I will admit that I didn't think it would be their year this time when they just barely squeaked out a 3-2 win over Bump Set Kick in the last game of the regular season, though it for all intents and purposes, was their first elimination game. One more goal and they would have been out. A tie would have given the better record to Korea and Casa wouldn't have even been in the playoffs. But they got their last goal. And they met their closest rivals in the club team, Euro FC, in the first round of the playoffs. A hard fought game and some uncharacteristically off-the-mark shooting granted Euro FC the 3-1 loss. Then Casa met the surprisingly undefeated Bill Lawson Is My Hero in the semis. Though Sarah Blum and gang beat them 5-1 in the season opener, I don't think it was the same Casa De Sol team as the one they were about to face. And sure enough, Casa just barely came out on top 3-2, granting them a trip to the finals. Bullocks had to face Teke Coed in the semis, who were coming off an impressive 9-0 victory over Team Inches in the quarterfinals. And I wouldn't have thought the game would end this way, but Bullocks came out on top 2-1, thanks in part to Nick's outstanding goaltending. But Casa has got their number. And the number happened to be 4-0 this time. No overtime. No dramatic shootouts. Just a straight forward shutout in the 30 minutes of regulation, thanks hugely to Mohamad Nabavi's hat trick. Well done, Rich and the rest of the gang. Now stop picking on Bullocks and let them win one next year.
Mens Playoff Predictions - I'm gonna try to be a little bold here with my predictions, so I apologize if I have the team you picked to win it all going out in the first round. After SAE's loss to the Turks, the Chess Team vs. Teke game was basically just for the top four positions. They were playing for the right to not have to see the Falcons until the finals. In winning, Teke jumped up from a #4 seed to a #3 seed, which doesn't look like much, but it is. Their victory yesterday earned them a game against the Turks in the first round and the winner of that game will face Pi Kapp in the semis, whereas the winner of the Chess Team vs. Gigolo game will have to battle the Falcons in the semis. And the Falcons are the team to beat. They are undefeated and they've scored 43 goals (the next closest is Pi Kapp with 20) while only allowing 4 goals against them (the next closest again is Pi Kapp with 9 goals allowed). They are a very scary team. They looked to be on pace to give 5 Heather Hill and FC Barley a run for their money, but without them in the tournament, they are almost the Dream Team of the soccer season. After them, I think it's a toss up for the next best team in the league. I don't have a lot of confidence in the Turks or Gigolo pulling off a first round upset. They are the only teams in the playoff with negative point differentials. The Turks beat Entezar FC 3-2 and lost to Gigolo in an abbreviated game 3-2. They played tough in 5 Heather Hill's first game, losing only 8-6, but I don't have a lot of faith in them going up against Teke, especially if Slava is in goal. The guy is a wall. And Gigolo has the second worst goal differential in the league with a -14 (the Free Agents have a -18). Their 4 wins were two forfeits, one half forfeit against the Turks, and a legit 3-2 victory over Entezar FC. Their two losses came to the Falcons (12-0) and the Chess Team (7-1). And they have a rematch against the Chess Team in the first round. Dom, it's been fun and best of luck, but it's going to be tough to pull off this one. The semis will be fun. If the Chess team misses as many chances as they did last night against Teke, they don't have a chance against the Falcons. They'll need to probably get at least 6 goals to keep pace with the quick-striking Falcons. Maybe more. If they convert all or most of their chances, they may upset the #1 seed. But that's a big if. Now here's my upset pick. Teke played as good as I've seen them play last night against the Chess Team. Pi Kapp is deeper than the Chess Team with Quigley, Bobby, Bruce and Sergio and I'd say Cash might have a slight advantage over Colin and Rob, but they don't have the hard shot that Pawel has. Their speed could pose problems for Teke's defense, but Slava is a wall. If he's there, I have to give Teke the advantage. Though I see a low-scoring game. This one is up in the air, but if I had to make a spread, I'd give it even odds. However, I think the winner of this game will have something to drink out of at the end of the championship game. Coed Playoff Predictions - Wow! With the possible exception of Team Inches, I'd say there might be a five-way tie for who I think might win it all (no offense Tri, but even we beat you guys). Yeah, so let me start by saying that I don't think Casa De Sol is the Casa De Sol they used to be. In a very important must-win game last night against the 2-3 Bump Set Kick volleyball kids, they pulled together a whopping 3-2 victory to ensure their place in the playoffs. Now I know that Euro FC hasn't been the best they've ever been, but I still think they'll be able to do a better job against them in the first round than Bump Set Kick did against them last night, even though Euro only tied Casa during the regular season. But Euro FC hasn't really been able to find a consistant keeper all year (no offense Tom) and the Sol has a couple. That could be the difference-maker. All it takes is one crap goal and the team that played the better game could be home watching the semifinals on TV. On the other hand, I think Teke Coed will tear through Team Inches. The Inches just has too many people. It's like a lacrosse sideline when they play. Ryan and Rich made a good team, but Teke is solid with their entire lineup. And Slava is a wall in the goal. They'll need to play some great defense and get a goal or two somehow to have a shot at the semis. The best advantage they have is that Teke has a mens game right before they play this game. They'd better hope Teke tires themselves out because I know not all of them are in back-to-back game type of shape. The winner of this game will play the surprising #1 seeded Bullocks in the semifinals. Bullocks happened to play both in the regular season. They beat Team Inches 6-1 in their first game and they lost to Teke Coed 6-0. I'm sure they're rooting for you, Tri. On the other side, Bill Lawson Is My Hero tore through the league, making a statement by whipping Casa De Sol 5-1 in the season opener. They stumbled a little bit on Team Inches, only beating them 5-3, and they tied Korea in the last game of the season. Granted the game was meaningless for them, but I think they were still trying to win. In fact, they haven't really played anyone as tough as Euro FC or Bullocks. They managed a 1-0 victory over a somewhat emaciated Teke Coed in the middle of the season. Their two crossover games were against Team Inches and Riff-Raff, not exactly the two powerhouses of the Gold division. I think this is evidenced by the fact that Team Inches, the #3 seed from the Gold division, would have come in 6th in the black division. And I honestly think that when Bill Lawson runs into Casa De Sol or Euro FC in the semifinals, they will have a much harder time than they are used to. Meanwhile, Korea at 3-2-1 and Bump Set Kick at 2-4 (with a victory over Team Inches) will both have to sit out in the playoffs while Team Inches at 2-4 will move on. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. And as evenly matched as all these teams in the playoffs are, luck will definately play a role in the outcome of most of these games.
Mens - Well, 5 of the 6 playoff teams have already been determined. The last spot will go to either the Turks or SAE and they happen to play each other Tuesday night. So that makes it easy to figure out. And exciting. SAE is 2-1-2 and the Turks are 2-3. If the Turks win, they will get the #6 spot and SAE will be out thanks to head-to-head. If they tie, SAE will get in with a better record than the Turks. If SAE wins, they will not only get in, but they'll be gauranteed at least a #5 spot over Gigolo. They could also go up as far as #4 depending on how Teke does against the Chess Team. An SAE win and a Teke loss will give 3-1-2 SAE the #4 seed, the static 4-2 Gigolo the #5 seed (thanks to SAE's better goal differential), and the 3-2-1 Teke the #6 seed. If SAE ties and Teke loses, the 4-2 Gigolo will be the #4 seed and the final two seeds will come down to goal differential (since they tied in the regular season). In this scenerio, if Teke loses by 1, Teke will get the #5 and SAE will get the #6. If Teke loses by 3, SAE will get the #5 and Teke will get the #6. If Teke loses by two, it will come down to whoever has the least points against after both games, which favors Teke by 4 right now. If they are still tied, we're flipping a coin. I hope that's cool with everybody. If SAE wins and Teke ties, the same situation occurs except they will be battling between the #4 and #5 seeds, since that will push Gigolo back to the #6 seed by point differential (-14). And let me say that the battle between #4 and #5 is pointless because they play each other in the first round. And now onto the higher seeds. The Falcons have the #1 seed. No matter what. Unless they forfeit and the Chess Team wins (forfeits trump all other tie-breakers after overall record). Assuming they show, all the Chess Team has to do is win or tie for the #2 seed and a first round bye (easier said than done). Both of those scenerios also has Pi Kapp getting the #3 seed. If Teke wins, they will have the same record as Pi Kapp at 4-1-1 and Pi Kapp has the head-to-head tie-breaker. It will however grant them the #3 seed and push the Chess Team down to at least #4, possibly #5 depending on how much SAE wins by (but like I said, competing between the 4 and 5 spots is pointless). And it's not probably going to happen, but if the Chess Team loses by 19, they may drop to the #6 behind Gigolo. And that's it. The Free Agents and Entezar FC can't buy back in and will call it quits after Tuesday. Coed - OK, I just realized it's 8:10pm on a Friday and I like to pretend I have a life outside the beach volleyball court and the softball field every once in a while, so I want to make this quick. In the black division, Bill Lawson Is My Hero has the #1 (barring a forfeit) and Teke Coed has the #2. Easy enough. Bump Set Kick is out, but they can take Casa De Sol with them. If Bump Set Kick beats Casa De Sol, Korea is in. If Korea beats Bill Lawson..., Korea gets the last playoff spot from this division. If Korea ties and Casa De Sol wins, Casa De Sol is in. If Casa De Sol ties and Korea loses, Casa De Sol is in. That should account for every scenerio. Now onto the gold division. Team Inches sealed the #3 spot with their victory over the Rally Monnkies last Tuesday. Bullocks will have to sit and watch Euro FC to see if they'll need to play in the first round. If Euro beats Teke Coed (who are already gauranteed #2 black), Bullocks' hard-fought victory over the Euro guys and girls will have been for nothing and they'll get the #2 seed, while Euro FC will get the #1 seed. If Euro FC ties or loses their game against Teke Coed, Euro FC will get the #2 seed and Bullocks will earn a #1 seed and a first round bye. There you have it. Now I'm gonna go see if I have any friends.
March 8, 2004 (8:44pm) - The indoor soccer schedule will probably be completely completed by the end of the night (I'm missing Two and A Half Men for this). For right now, here is tomorrow and Thursday's schedule:
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