Santa Fe Corner

It's hard to do that when one of your main players records 15 turnovers and frequently blames his teammates for his poor decisions. It's also difficult to accomplish when the defense fails to clear the ball and gives too much space to the offense.

gargs as a high school player i think u should leave comments like that to high school players..... no offense but ur way too old to be badmouthing players specially the ones that play for your sons high school.

( and i belive sham had his own bundle of turn overs)

I'm not badmouthing anyone. I appreciate all the players on Santa Fe and high school soccer in general. There's a distinct difference between bad mouthing and telling something honestly how I saw it. I kept the stats on the game and if I was to critique as to why we lost the game I would have to be frank. If any player truly wants to improve they have to be able to take constructive criticism. Otherwise, they are bound to keep making the same mistake over and over. That leads to nothing but losses against stronger teams. If you notice, I did not mention the names of anyone I attempted to constructively criticized. I also think they would stand to learn something from my observations. If they don't agree with me, then that's fine too. Shyam had five turnovers in the game though he had many touches. Me being his father doesn't change the fact that I thought that he played decent. As his father, I should not give him unnecessary praise, nor should I turn a blind eye when he plays well. I feel I can be objective in this respect because I have a detached enough attitude. After all, this is only a soccer game. It may simulate real life in different ways, but it is not real life. If he had fifteen turnovers, I would have mentioned it. I thought, for the most part, he played within himself.

The trouble with our team in this game (besides the obvious of being without three starters), was trying to rush and force our offense too much (thereby giving the ball away to the other team), and not getting back on defense. Columbia is a good counter-attacking team and they took advantage.

The same player I criticized indirectly, I have praised directly many times this season. I don't think he should take offense because I was dis creet enough and because I care enough to speak my mind for his benefit. I thought the idea was the players want to become the best players they can be. At least that's the sincere attitude that someone would have if he truly wanted to get better. They would welcome such "criticism" with open arms, I would think.

This other notion that I should say nothing because I am not a high school player is fallacious logic. Says who? First of all I am not bad mouthing, I am attempting to help. Second of all, it is older and more experienced people who are more qualified to give constructive criticism based on their experience and observation. Perhaps you are too young to be talking to me in such a conceited and know it all fashion. You should be humble and understand there are many things in this lifetime that you have yet to learn. If someone's feathers get ruffled because I point out a contributing factor toward losing a game, then they should work on making their feathers more humble. If a team or player truly wants to get better and win then they would leave their false egos off the soccer field and welcome and consider my point of view for their own good. The choice is clearly between false ego and selfishness or considering a well wisher's frank observations for one's betterment. I guess it all depends what matters most to a person.

From a Bill Shankly interview - "football is more important than life and death to you" and I said "Listen, it's more important than that."

[gargs]

It's hard to do that when one of your main players records 15 turnovers and frequently blames his teammates for his poor decisions. It's also difficult to accomplish when the defense fails to clear the ball and gives too much space to the offense.

gargs as a high school player i think u should leave comments like that to high school players..... no offense but ur way too old to be badmouthing players specially the ones that play for your sons high school.

( and i belive sham had his own bundle of turn overs)

I'm not badmouthing anyone. I appreciate all the players on Santa Fe and high school soccer in general. There's a distinct difference between bad mouthing and telling something honestly how I saw it. I kept the stats on the game and if I was to critique as to why we lost the game I would have to be frank. If any player truly wants to improve they have to be able to take constructive criticism. Otherwise, they are bound to keep making the same mistake over and over. That leads to nothing but losses against stronger teams. If you notice, I did not mention the names of anyone I attempted to constructively criticized. I also think they would stand to learn something from my observations. If they don't agree with me, then that's fine too. Shyam had five turnovers in the game though he had many touches. Me being his father doesn't change the fact that I thought that he played decent. As his father, I should not give him unnecessary praise, nor should I turn a blind eye when he plays well. I feel I can be objective in this respect because I have a detached enough attitude. After all, this is only a soccer game. It may simulate real life in different ways, but it is not real life. If he had fifteen turnovers, I would have mentioned it. I thought, for the most part, he played within himself.

The trouble with our team in this game (besides the obvious of being without three starters), was trying to rush and force our offense too much (thereby giving the ball away to the other team), and not getting back on defense. Columbia is a good counter-attacking team and they took advantage.

The same player I criticized indirectly, I have praised directly many times this season. I don't think he should take offense because I was dis creet enough and because I care enough to speak my mind for his benefit. I thought the idea was the players want to become the best players they can be. At least that's the sincere attitude that someone would have if he truly wanted to get better. They would welcome such "criticism" with open arms, I would think.

This other notion that I should say nothing because I am not a high school player is fallacious logic. Says who? First of all I am not bad mouthing, I am attempting to help. Second of all, it is older and more experienced people who are more qualified to give constructive criticism based on their experience and observation. Perhaps you are too young to be talking to me in such a conceited and know it all fashion. You should be humble and understand there are many things in this lifetime that you have yet to learn. If someone's feathers get ruffled because I point out a contributing factor toward losing a game, then they should work on making their feathers more humble. If a team or player truly wants to get better and win then they would leave their false egos off the soccer field and welcome and consider my point of view for their own good. The choice is clearly between false ego and selfishness or considering a well wisher's frank observations for one's betterment. I guess it all depends what matters most to a person.

From a Bill Shankly interview - "football is more important than life and death to you" and I said "Listen, it's more important than that."

That's funny.

[gargs]

Recently a person wrote in here criticizing me for sharing player's intimate injuries with the world. I gave my retort, and we went back and forth. You can browse this thread to get the details. After talking with a few individuals I have changed my position and would like to apologize to both Syami, his father and the person I blasted for their remarks. It was pointed out to my ignorant self that sharing such information could damage a kid's future playing college soccer. Duh!!!!!! Of course, foolish me did not pick that up. In light of that I would like to reiterate that Syami Erving's knee if fine. He just had a light bruise and the doctor visit was purely precautionary. He is at 100 percent and ready to help Santa Fe who needs his soccer prowess badly. He is a great and special player whose mere presence on the field puts even his teammates in awe of his skills and ability. I've seen him do amazing things on the soccer field that some of the best players around can only dream about doing.

[gargs]

Santa Fe, back with their full compliment of players, plays at Fort White tonight and at home versus P.K. Yonge at 11 am tomorrow morning. I will fill you in with details as these games transpire.

[gargs]

Santa Fe 4
Fort White 0

The Raiders cruised to an easy 4-0 victory tonight over the Fort White Indians behind a 2 goal and 1 assist performance by Syami Erving. Coach Nick Miller laid off an overmatched Fort White team by removing most of his starters for the majority of the game. It was a nice luxury to indulge in as Santa Fe has a game against a stronger P.K. Yonge team tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 11 am.

Quentin Polly added a goal after Thakura Borrero's shot hit the crossbar. Joey O'Brien scored his team leading 6th goal of the season and added one assist before being tossed on a red card.

The Raiders improve to 5-1-0 with the win.

[gargs]

Santa Fe 4
PKY 1

The Raiders won easily against PKY at home today, despite committing almost 50 turnovers and allowing twice as many shots. Only about 10 of PKY's shots were on frame, though, and Justin White played a good game in goal in place of injured starter Chay Jansen.

PKY also committed many turnovers.

Santa Fe scored first in the 8th minute on a shot by Quentin Polly after Mathura Rico's throw-in assist. They struck again in the 22nd minute on a goal by Josh DeGrove, nicely set up by Syami Erving. Erving struck again in the 43rd minute after taking a pass from Quentin Polly. A minute later, the Raiders closed out their scoring on a second half goal by Thakura Borrero, after a nice set-up by Nitai Diniz.

Syami Erving, who earned player of the game honors in Fort White the night before, had another good game, helping to keep the Blue Wave's aggresive defense at hand in the middle of the field with Shyam Allard. Shyam has recorded at least seven steals for the seventh consecutive game, and leads the team in that category. Mathura Rico recorded 11 steals and played very inspired defense, earning player of the game honors. His physical play makes Santa Fe a much more effective team when he is out there. Josh DeGrove got six steals for himself, along with his 4th goal of the season. Both Nitai Diniz and Quentin Polly played very hard on the left side of the field. Austin Bishop made some nice clears for Santa Fe. Alex Wigglesworth has looked more and more confident out there with each game. Thakura Borrerro had another fine game with his aggressive-styled offensive maneuvers, which has made him one of the leading goal scorers and assist men on this team. A listing of player statistics will be made available soon.

Matt Clark and Jonathan T. played well for the Blue Wave, putting lots of pressure on Santa Fe's men. Clark scored the Blue Wave's only goal by heading in a corner kick, which he set up in the 45th minute.

The win brings the Raider's record to 6-1-0 and helps to take the sting away from the Columbia embarrassment. What a difference in the team with Erving, Rico and Polly playing.

hey gargs can you post all of the payer stats thus far plz...including turnovers. thank you ahead of time

[gargs]

hey gargs can you post all of the payer stats thus far plz...including turnovers. thank you ahead of time

Yes, I will soon. I had handed in some of the stat sheets to Coach Miller, and then asked him to give them to me after practice on Monday so I can calculate them with the others I have with me. Statistics have to be looked at from many angles of vision in order to draw accurate conclusions. For example, "turnovers per game," is more important than total turnovers, because, obviously, if someone misses a game they will commit less turnovers than they would have. I have recorded that but I have not calculated each player's total minutes. "Turnovers per minute" would obviously be more accurate. I have also not recorded total touches either, "turnovers per touches" may be even more accurate. Still, that might not be the whole story. For example, one player may commit a few more turnovers because they are taking more calculated risks or "good risks" to create scoring opportunities. This may be desired, as long as the player is not putting his own team in jeopardy. As you can imagine, things like dribbling the ball (when there are more simpler and safer options) on one's own side of the field, or close to one's goal, is the type of turnover that is much more damaging than a player, for example, who has little other options and/or tries to create some offense on the opponents side of the field. Therefore, these statistics have to be taken with a grain of salt. When players have options they should try to pass the ball at the feet of the more skillful players, who are more capable of making good decisions and less likely of having the ball taken away from them. Imagine a team that worked the ball around until it got a good opportunity and then struck with a more high percentage opportunity. We could be that team. This would create more easy goals and tire our opponents out much quicker. We have the skill to do this. I think our players are quite capable of this. We just have to exercise the proper patience and intelligence. This is what separates the decent teams from the great teams. I believe we have the talent to be a very good high school team this year. We just have to learn to operate as a team first. If we get all our best players on the field at once and then work together we can go far this year, I really believe it. If however, we use statistics to try to defend ourselves or point our fingers at other players, then the inner-bickering will erode our team-dynamics. Egos should be left at the door. There's no place for petty jealousies on a winning team.

One the other hand, and I know you are coming from a good place, statistics can be fun. They can start a healthy competition among players to do better. Statistics don't cover intangibles, however, which cover the most important aspects of a wining team. Stuff like being positive with each other and the "all-for-one, one-for-all attitude." Not getting angry at another player when they make a mistake but encouraging them to do better, is vitally important. Overall, a general appreciation for a teammate's good efforts is also important. If a player, for example, makes 10 turnovers in a game, like one player did last game, but plays very hard and makes up for some of the turnovers by hustling back and stealing the ball when they have the opportunity, and creating scoring opportunities with their hard play when they get the ball(like this player did), it is easier to overlook the bad stuff; as opposed to someone who plays selfishly or outside of their game to prove they are as good as or better than some of their teammates. More often players make mental mistakes because they are not focusing or have not mentally prepared to play smart.

Of course, players who play more defensive positions don't benefit from keeping statistics as much. They get little opportunity to score goals and make assists and have ample opportunity to create turnovers. Statistics don't tell the whole story! Steals and limiting opponents to shots on frame are some statistics that more defensive-position players can take pride in. We have to remember that the offensive, defense and mid-field are inter-dependent on each other. A goal for an offensive player is a goal for the whole team. It doesn't matter who scores or who prevents a goal. When each player does his individual job the whole team wins.

We have to appreciate every little thing each player does well and build upon those things to create a winning atmosphere and do something special this year. I really believe you guys can do it.

[gargs]

Santa Fe went down in the 4a rankings from 24th to 34th, after going 3-1 in the last two weeks. Their overall record is now 6-1-0. One of the reasons for their drop is they only beat low-ranked opponents during this time. In addition to this, the only decently ranked team they played, Columbia, beat them 5-0. Of course, those more familiar with Santa Fe should be aware the Raiders were missing three of their best players during that game. They also played very flat that night for some reason. Still, a weak schedule will not help you in the rankings.

In my estimation, Santa Fe will prove to be better in the rankings if they take care of business over time. The Downsouth Rankings calculate a team's power based on a mathematical formula that takes strength of schedule and opponents performance against strong and weak teams into account. It is not foolproof, however. First of all, some teams do not report all their scores. Secondly, it does not take into account whether a team tries to run up a score or not, and what key players may have been missing from a team's lineup on a particular night. Still, it is a good system that generally proves to be more accurate as the season goes on.

Currently the teams in the Raiders' District 3, Class 4a are ranked as follows:

34. Santa Fe
53. Ridgeview
82. Middleburg
86. Suwannee

Pretty weak district, you might say. Well, don't be so sure about Ridgeview. They just tied Menendez, who is now 8-0-1, and ranked #8 in 4a. Santa Fe may not clinch #1 seeding in the district playoffs until they beat them again. Also, Santa Fe may end up surprising some people once they have their full team playing. Another thing that keeps them down in the rankings is that fact that they don't run the score up against weaker teams. There have been a few teams they have played that they could have beat 8-0 if Coach Miller had let them and played all their starters together.

Anyway, time will tell if my good feelings about this team will prove correct.

[gargs]

According to the best of my ability, these are Santa Fe's non-goalie stats through 7 team games:

Name Games Shots Goals Assists T.O. Steals Saves
Wiggie 7 - 3 - 1 - 0 - 14 - 4 - 1
Naveen 4 - 6 - 1 - 3 - 8 - 5 - 0
Josh 7 - 10 - 4 - 0 - 13 - 9 - 0
D.D 7 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 8 - 3 - 3
Shyam 7 - 16 - 2 - 4 - 26 - 55 - 2
Mathura 5 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 17 - 19 - 0
Nitai 6 - 3 - 0 - 1 - 20 - 14 - 0
Syami 5 - 14 - 5 - 3 - 24 - 8 - 0
Joey 5 - 14 - 6 - 2 - 7 - 2 - 0
Thakura 6 - 25 - 4 - 4 - 35 - 9 - 0
John 7 - 3 - 1 - 1 - 4 - 1 - 0
Quentin 6 - 7 - 3 - 4 - 19 - 6 - 0
Jay 3 - 3 - 0 - 1 - 3 - 1 - 0
Adam 3 - 5 - 0 - 1 - 8 - 2 - 0
Austin 7 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 16 - 3 - 1
Dakota 7 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 9 - 2 - 0
Balarama 6 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 6 - 6 - 0
Krishna 7 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 3 - 2 - 0
Collin 4 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 2 - 1 - 0

[gargs]

Middleburg beat Ridgeview 5-3 last night. That leaves district records as follows:

Santa Fe 3-0-0
Ridgeview 2-2-0
Middleburg 1-2-0
Suwannee 0-2-0

A Santa Fe win tonight vs. Suwannee clinches at least a tie for the number one seed in the district playoffs. If that occurs, then one more Santa Fe win would clinch sole possession of first place. Also, any loss by Middleburg or Ridgeview would eliminate each respective team from #1 seed as well.

At this point do you see any advantage of being#1 seed in tourny?
Looks like Middleburg is improving as season moves on.

[gargs]

At this point do you see any advantage of being#1 seed in tourny?
Looks like Middleburg is improving as season moves on.

Yeah, it looks like Middleburg is getting better. Every team has to be taken seriously.

Being #1 means you play #4. Just winning that game puts you into the playoffs. Then you are fresher for the District final (#2 vs #3 is the later game and they beat each other up).

Hey Gargs: Do you know what the FHSAA tiebreakers are if 2 teams tie in district record?

[gargs]

The Santa Fe Raiders cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Suwannee Bulldogs tonight in Live Oak. Quentin polly led the Raiders in scoring today with 2 goals and 1 assist. Both Shyam Allard and Thakura Borrero had a goal and an assist each. Josh DeGrove scored the Raiders' other goal. Alex Wigglesworth and Mathura Rico added an assist apiece.

The victory improves Santa Fe's district record to 4-0-0 on the season. They are 7-1-0 overall.

The scoring started in the game's 5th minute when Shyam Allard hit Quentin Polly on the right wing, who stepped into the box and chipped one over the head of the goalie for the opening score. Only 13 minutes later Polly returned the favor by knocking the ball out to Allard, who fired a shot with his left foot through the goalie's legs from about 25 yards out. DeGrove, Polly and Borrerro closed out the scoring. All five goals came in the first half.

Justin White, making only his second start in his life as a goal tender, played well, recording the first shut out of his short career. The kid looks like a natural out there, I'm telling you.

Didi Knighten won "player of the game" honors from Coach Nick Miller due to his stellar defensive play.