Results & Recaps

Rosenborg BK 3 – 2 Lyn Football [F]

The Troll ladies wrapped up their season with another strong victory, the team only dropped three games all year, but that was enough to send them home without any trophies. But if you measure success by growth, development and enjoyment, Rosenborg has been excelling for years. Unsurprisingly, Rosenborg’s final match starred the same person who has been driving them all year long: Julie Blasktad who knocked in two more goals.

Washington State Cougars 3 – 0 Montana Grizzlies

The Griz couldn’t take a step further on this campaign. Just as they did in the spring season, they had to bow out in the first playoff round. The scoreline doesn’t do the team justice. Last time out they lost by one, and here again they were tantalizingly close (before some late goals gave the Cougars a little more breathing room). Coach Citowicki’s game plan of sturdy defending and surprise attacks, served them well again with their best showing against a Pac-12 team. It wasn’t to be this year, but progress still feels terribly close.

FC St. Cyr 1 – 2 Grenoble Foot [M–Cup]

The Alpiners coasted through their first match in the Coupe de France against the local 11 of St. Cyr. A strong side including Esteban Salles, Jordy Gaspar, and Achille Anani got out to a fast start with Anani knocking it in in the sixth minute. The next round will come against another lower division side…though possibly a team that doesn’t look quite so much like middle schoolers trying to keep up with college kids.

SC Freiburg 1 – 0 Werder Bremen [F]

Freiburg got only their second win of the season, surprisingly it came with Hasret Kayicki on the bench after a second half red card. Instead the winner belonged to Kim Fellhauer who delivered just enough on her header to convert a vital free kick just a few minutes in.

Legon Cities FC 0 – 1 Great Olympics

Well, there went the top of the table. Great Olympics beat their training ground rivals with a first half goal.

News & Notes

Wishing them the best

The end of the Griz season comes with one consequence no other team faces: players having to leave. Student athletes only stay athletes as long as they are students, and graduating is even more important than winning. So, Sami Siems, McKenzie Kilpatrick, Taylor Stoeger, Taylor Hanson, and Zoe Transtrum congratulations on four NCAA tournaments (the most ever for Griz players).

At the same time, the Griz celebrated the official signings of six new recruits joining the back to back best of the Big Sky. They come from all over including a pair from Billings, two from Washington State, one from California and one from the Vancouver Whitecaps professional program.

Um Ya Ya

Another college with a little more success than the Griz are the St. Olaf Oles (aka the college that your mom, and I, and your grandparents, and your great grandparents all attended) DID win their first TWO tournament games in Division III soccer championships. They are four games from the title, which would be a big shocker for your mom and I since we mostly spent our days reading in the library rather than playing the sportsball.

Whip Around the World

I am admittedly a sucker for the World Cup, it’s how I got to be a soccer fan in the first place, and I’m ridiculously excited to watch it with you boys next winter. This weekend marked some big matches for several of the countries that we follow closely and more of the players that we keep tabs on. Here’s a quick glimpse at how things went.

Ghana pulled a shocking turn about to snatch advancement out from underneath South Africa courtesy of an Andre Ayew penalty kick. Legon Cities Fatua Duda, the former top keeper, probably looked on with a smile. Serbia is dominated by players from around Europe’s top leagues (rather than among the mid-table Vozdovac’s of the local league), still your motherland is officially into the biggest stage of it all. Scotland still has some work to do to keep themselves alive for the next round, fingers crossed for former Staggie Ross Stewart who has an outside shot of making the team (and all the guys of Ross County, cheering from their homes). Minnesota United’s Finland connection (Robin Lod and Jukka Raitalta) got themselves agonizingly close to the next round thanks in large part to Lod’s thundering shot, before the champions from France eliminated them. Norway was similarly out of luck running up against Holland in their final match (Andre Hansen of Rosenborg could only watch). Emelec’s contingent in Ecuador‘s line up started on the bench but still provided some critical supports to stay in good position for qualification out of South America (even with four more matches to go). And the United States and Canada both stayed in good shape in North American qualifying much to the delight of possible call ups Hasani Dotson, Dayne St. Clair and Harry Paton.

Player of the Week

Sometimes it’s nice to spread the love around and sometimes you have to acknowledge that some players are simply better more often than others you follow. So I’ll continue repping Julie Blakstad until the cows come home. She deserves it.

Standings Update

We have a correction to make: back in August the ladies of Rosenborg played in the Norwegian women’s cup. We didn’t find the scores or include them in any tabulations, so we’ve been unintentionally shorting the Trolls a number of points. It ultimately won’t change the outcome as, even if the men win the rest of their games. The Griz have a big enough advantage to keep the title in hand.

What’s Next

Wednesday, November 17th

Thursday, November 18th

Friday, November 19th

Saturday, November 20th

Proleter v. Vozdovac

SC Sand v. Freiburg [F]

WAFA v. Legon Cities

Valenciennes v. Grenoble [M]

Independiente del Valle v. Emelec [M]

Sunday, November 21st

Freiburg v Frankfurt [M]

Molde v. Rosenborg [M]

Vendenheim v Grenoble Foot [F–Cup]

Portland Timbers v. Minnesota United [Playoffs]

Monday, November 22nd

Tuesday, November 23rd