Banged-up Bison enter league play

[imabison]

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=216117&section=columnists&columnist=Jeff%20Kolpack

From the Forum this morning by Kolpack

That’s on top of two players suffering ACL injuries over the summer. This week, the Bison had to activate freshman forward Katie Luce from the student body to the soccer team. She was already enrolled at NDSU.

It brings the number of freshmen on the roster to 13. It also means 65 percent of the available players are freshmen


Wow 13 of 20 players are freshman, and 4 are injured...Pete will getter done!!!!!

[beautiful game watcher]

They are banged up, but the coaching this year is a curious thing to watch. The freshmen, are of course, unknown entities and are being tested each game. The question lies in the healthy veterans have been quite effective in their positions for the last year or two. The most effective defender on the squad is playing forward, when it is obvious that the freshman goalie needs as much protection as possible. The defense has been repeatedly beat up and confounded by every opponent. A great midfielder with a great boot is playing close in forward, a speedster scoring forward is playing at defense and one of last year's top scoring forwards is playing mid. None of this would make any difference if they were winning games, but so far the apple cart upset seems to be for some reason other than effectiveness, scoring, or winning. I have played professionally, coached forever, and watched this game since I was a child. I became a fan of the Bison a few years ago when we moved to town, but this season's coaching has me quite befuddled.

[SlickVic]

They are banged up, but the coaching this year is a curious thing to watch. The freshmen, are of course, unknown entities and are being tested each game. The question lies in the healthy veterans have been quite effective in their positions for the last year or two. The most effective defender on the squad is playing forward, when it is obvious that the freshman goalie needs as much protection as possible. The defense has been repeatedly beat up and confounded by every opponent. A great midfielder with a great boot is playing close in forward, a speedster scoring forward is playing at defense and one of last year's top scoring forwards is playing mid. None of this would make any difference if they were winning games, but so far the apple cart upset seems to be for some reason other than effectiveness, scoring, or winning. I have played professionally, coached forever, and watched this game since I was a child. I became a fan of the Bison a few years ago when we moved to town, but this season's coaching has me quite befuddled.

maybe you could volunteer to help coach? im not being sarcastic im being serious i no nothing about soccer but you obviously do so why not give it a shot?

[beautiful game watcher]

It could be fun, but the Bison already have lots of coaches. I am just trying to understand their approach this season. This is not what I've seen from them in years before, or what has worked for them before, even if you factor in the number of freshmen and the injuries. I am not sure, but they may even have had more injuries last year. Seems to me there was a Forum article about the huge number of ACL problems last year.

[bisonme2]

If you're the Bison fan and pro that you profess, why didn't you apply for the coaching job 6 years ago? Why are you only complaining and questioning now during a difficult season? It's easy to bash the coach when you don't know the facts! Or were you the coach that got fired and you're just sour grapes! Yea, that must be it for you to be such a PRO! Stop whining. If you're a TRUE BISON FAN, SUPPORT THE TEAM!

[D_One_here_we_come]

Last year the Bison were pretty much injury free, only loss was Allie Radner I believe(ACL). The ACL article you mentioned was 2 years ago, they also had a rough stretch with ACL's then. Coaches know what they are doing, I am not worried about the program one bit. They graduate 1 senior from this team, Iwanicki is redshirting, Stratton and Christian are redshirting. Tons of youth getting great experience and will be better for it.

[beautiful game watcher]

First, sorry to anyone I offended. Not my intent. I certainly do support Bison Athletics. Second I am not the "other coach" you reference, so please do not assign my thoughts to him or her since I don't even know who they are and did not live here 6 years ago. Third, as suggested, I will keep my thoughts to myself going forward. Have a good weekend.

[roadwarrior]

As I recall, there were several injuries last year. At one point there was only one or two players on the bench that were not injured.

[BlueBisonRock]

First, sorry to anyone I offended. Not my intent. I certainly do support Bison Athletics. Second I am not the "other coach" you reference, so please do not assign my thoughts to him or her since I don't even know who they are and did not live here 6 years ago. Third, as suggested, I will keep my thoughts to myself going forward. Have a good weekend.

No offense taken here. Your comments were well thought out, were the type of comment that is often seen on this forum, and stayed away from the testosterone filled post that seemed to dominate the forum over the last few weeks.

The individual who challenged your comments only has that one post. Even if that individual had 5,000 posts, you owe it to yourself to ignore that comment and continue to represent your thoughts on your sport.

Keep those cards and letters coming!

[56BISON73]

First, sorry to anyone I offended. Not my intent. I certainly do support Bison Athletics. Second I am not the "other coach" you reference, so please do not assign my thoughts to him or her since I don't even know who they are and did not live here 6 years ago. Third, as suggested, I will keep my thoughts to myself going forward. Have a good weekend.

Wasnt offended at all. I appreciated your insight. Dont worry about the naysayer as I found his post to be rude. PL

[roadwarrior]

First, sorry to anyone I offended. Not my intent. I certainly do support Bison Athletics. Second I am not the "other coach" you reference, so please do not assign my thoughts to him or her since I don't even know who they are and did not live here 6 years ago. Third, as suggested, I will keep my thoughts to myself going forward. Have a good weekend.

I certainly do not have the knowledge of the soccer game, so I appreciate your opinions.

[bisonme2]

Whether I have 1 post or 1 million shouldn't matter. It's very dissappointing when "whanabees" are challenging the coaches' systems and abilities. I have read hundreds of posts at Bisonville just to keep up with Bison athletics. This year the Bison hit a few speedbumps in football and soccer. Immediately everyone is questioning and second guessing what these coaches are doing. Yes that's their jobs and they have to expect some of that - it goes with the territory. HOWEVER, all of this second guessing by outsiders of the programs also affects the players' confidence in the program. I've been around other university programs where the fans were more supportive in bad times. That was my point. There's been enough injuries that the teams need their fans' support even more. The media will do enough coach bashing for everyone and besides, if all this bashing continues, you'll just have new coaches next year to start on and the saga continues. So go ahead, media and fans and when these coaches lose their jobs because of all the negativity, you'll be on the bandwagon waiting for the next coaches to fail, too. NDSU has been EXTREMELY fortunate to have coaches like Craig and Pete. Go see how easy it will be to find some other guys who want to spend their winters in FARGO!

[ndsubison1]

Whether I have 1 post or 1 million shouldn't matter. It's very dissappointing when "whanabees" are challenging the coaches' systems and abilities. I have read hundreds of posts at Bisonville just to keep up with Bison athletics. This year the Bison hit a few speedbumps in football and soccer. Immediately everyone is questioning and second guessing what these coaches are doing. Yes that's their jobs and they have to expect some of that - it goes with the territory. HOWEVER, all of this second guessing by outsiders of the programs also affects the players' confidence in the program. I've been around other university programs where the fans were more supportive in bad times. That was my point. There's been enough injuries that the teams need their fans' support even more. The media will do enough coach bashing for everyone and besides, if all this bashing continues, you'll just have new coaches next year to start on and the saga continues. So go ahead, media and fans and when these coaches lose their jobs because of all the negativity, you'll be on the bandwagon waiting for the next coaches to fail, too. NDSU has been EXTREMELY fortunate to have coaches like Craig and Pete. Go see how easy it will be to find some other guys who want to spend their winters in FARGO!

i don't wanna touch this with a 50 foot pole...

[sambini]

Whether I have 1 post or 1 million shouldn't matter. It's very dissappointing when "whanabees" are challenging the coaches' systems and abilities. I have read hundreds of posts at Bisonville just to keep up with Bison athletics. This year the Bison hit a few speedbumps in football and soccer. Immediately everyone is questioning and second guessing what these coaches are doing. Yes that's their jobs and they have to expect some of that - it goes with the territory. HOWEVER, all of this second guessing by outsiders of the programs also affects the players' confidence in the program. I've been around other university programs where the fans were more supportive in bad times. That was my point. There's been enough injuries that the teams need their fans' support even more. The media will do enough coach bashing for everyone and besides, if all this bashing continues, you'll just have new coaches next year to start on and the saga continues. So go ahead, media and fans and when these coaches lose their jobs because of all the negativity, you'll be on the bandwagon waiting for the next coaches to fail, too. NDSU has been EXTREMELY fortunate to have coaches like Craig and Pete. Go see how easy it will be to find some other guys who want to spend their winters in FARGO!
I love winters in Fargo. That why they have direct flights to Phoenix. Good luck Bison we love ya+++

[tcTatanka]

Confidence, Teamwork, and patience. It's going to be a long season if all it's going to be is substitution, substitution and reassignment. Put the player in their natural position, let their instincts drive their play, allow them to get into the flow of the game and most of all, patience patience patience.

We've been here before and that was the answer.

[D_One_here_we_come]

Just heard they may have lost Whipple with an ACL as well vs. IUPUI. She was one of the better fresh. in the game I saw.

[d3boys]

was at the game and bison outplayed them the whole game
#7 for utah was very good but she could not score
we also had a couple other very good chances to blow them out