National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II

Heartland Conference

Thursday 29th September 2016

Kick off 19.00 Actual 19.02

Midwestern State University Mustangs 2 Texas A&M International University Dustdevils 0,  attendance 729

38′ 1-0

55′ 2-0

@ MSU Soccer Field

Louis J. Rodriguez Drive

Wichita Falls, TX 76308

$6 Admission

Team Sheet, free.

After visiting S.M.U. Mustangs on Tuesday, it was a trip to M.S.U. Mustangs tonight. For me it was a mere 136 mile drive northwest, but for the visitors, based in Laredo, on the Mexican border, it was 537 miles. This just shows how vast the state of Texas is.

M.S.U. won it more comfortably than the score line suggests. Having already missed a penalty after 16 minutes, they then missed a second after 75 minutes following a red card for the visitors, the result of this one being awarded.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I

Tuesday 27th September 2016

Kick off 19.00 Actual 19.02

Southern Methodist University Mustangs 3 Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles 1,  attendance 603

32′ 0-1

67′ 1-1

75′ 2-1

87′ 3-1

@ Westcott Field

6000, Ownby Drive

University Park, TX 75205

$6 Admission

Team Sheet, free, double sided.

This is the first University ‘soccer’ match I have attended where car parking wasn’t free. $7 seemed a bit steep, parked in the multi storey that backs onto one end of the stadium.

Westcott Field hosted an F.C. Dallas match in this years U.S. Open Cup and is a venue under threat as S.M.U. are looking to build a new ‘soccer’ stadium elsewhere on the campus.

As for the game, despite trailing for most of the match, S.M.U. always looked like going on to win it once they had drawn level.

National Junior College Athletic Association

Monday 26th September 2016

Kick off 16.00 Actual 16.05

Paris Junior College Dragons 1 Hill College Rebels 3,  attendance 30

11′ 0-1

50′ 0-2

71′ 1-2 (pen)

89′ 1-3

@ Noyes Stadium

1230, 24th Street Southeast

Paris, TX 75460

No admission or programme.

I was only able to confirm the venue for this one at around 1.30pm, which was cutting it fine as it is a 108 mile drive northeast. It was well worth the effort though, for a stadium that was obviously used for American Football originally and also Athletics, judging by the old track round the pitch.

Hill were always in control and even missed a penalty of their own a minute before adding their third goal.

National Association Intercollegiate Athletics

Sunday 25th September 2016

Kick off 16.00

Dallas Christian College Crusaders v Southwestern Adventist University Knights,  MATCH POSTPONED

@ 2700, Christian Parkway

Farmers Branch, TX 75234.

There was no way of checking this one on the day, so I can only assume that the very brief rain shower at 9am was the reason for it being called off. Their website just says cancelled due to weather.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II

Heartland Conference

Saturday 24th September 2016

Kick off 13.00 Actual 13.03

St. Edwards University Hilltoppers 4 University Texas-Permian Basin Falcons 1,  attendance 188

@ Lewis-Chen Family Field

3001, South Congress Avenue

Austin, TX 78704

No admission or programme.

St. Edwards were far too strong, maintaining their 100% start with their eighth win of the season.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

Friday 23rd September 2016

Kick off 15.00 Actual 15.01

University Dallas Crusaders 2 Southwestern University Pirates 3 (OT),  attendance 202

2′ 1-0

45′ 1-1

73′ 1-2

87′ 2-2

93′ 2-3

@ Crusaders Field

1845, East Northgate Drive

Irving, TX 75062

No Admission

Team Sheet, free, double sided.

Well, as they say, just like London busses…..second consecutive game going into overtime. Letting in such a late equaliser didn’t affect Pirates too much as they scored with the first attempt on goal in overtime.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III

American Southwest Conference

Thursday 22nd September 2016

Kick off 19.30 Actual 19.40

University Texas Dallas Comets 2 Concordia University Texas Tornados 1 (OT),  attendance 293

6′ 1-0

41′ 1-1

92′ 2-1

@ UTD Soccer Field

800, West Campbell Road

Richardson, TX 75080

$5 Admission

Team Sheet, free, double sided.

This was my first University match scheduled as a double header with the Women’s match, which started at 17.30. I arrived at 19.10, just as the first game finished, so no reason for our match to start 10 minutes late, other than the incompetence of the match officials. It was also the first time I have encountered the fact that America doesn’t do draws. In the college system, games that are level (I won’t say tie, as that is something worn with a shirt) then go into ‘overtime’ (surely this is something done at work to earn a little extra cash). This consists of a possible two more periods of 10 minutes, unless someone scores at any stage, which is game over, much the same as the ‘golden goal’ method. Only had to wait 90 seconds for a winner, but at least there was only about 5 minutes faffing about before we got restarted at the end of normal time.

United Soccer League

Western Conference

Wednesday 21st September 2016

Kick off 19.30 Actual 19.33

Tulsa Roughnecks F.C. 1 Swope Park Rangers 3,  attendance 2,449

5′ 0-1

9′ 0-2

19′ 1-2 (pen)

27′ 1-3

@ ONEOK Field

201, North Elgin Avenue

Tulsa, OK 74120

$10 Admission

Programme free, 20 pages.

So, I finally got to see a Tulsa Roughnecks home game. This was the rearranged date for the ridiculously postponed match that I had a wasted 500 mile trip for back on 6th August. I had already missed two more opportunities of coming here since the farce of that game, as they hosted Rio Grande Valley F.C. Toros on Thursday 18th August and then Oklahoma City Energy F.C. two days later. Both times I made a phone call to the club, but on each occasion there was a recorded message stating that a decision on whether the match was going ahead, which both did, would be made nearer kick off time. No help whatsoever to me, or even any visiting fans, if there were indeed any likely to travel. Even today I had to risk it being on. I had once again phoned the club, this time miraculously having my call answered. I was told by the girl that the game was in no doubt of going ahead as ” it’s a lovely sunny day and 90 degrees”. Somehow I just didn’t trust this as it was cooler than the day they called the game off for waterlogging, so I set off more in hope than expectation.

The current Roughnecks are not the same club that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 until the league folded in 1984. The new franchise were formed in 2014, adopting the name Roughnecks in homage to the original club. They play at ONEOK Field, a 7,833 capacity stadium, opened in 2010, which is home to theTulsa Drillers Minor League Baseball team.

Roughnecks are currently bottom of the league and on this showing it is hard to imagine how they could be anything but. They were an absolute shambles and SPR just did what they had to, gaining an easy three points in their quest to make the end of season play offs. This has to be one of the most laughable official attendances. I would have said there were less than 400 here, as photos of the stands clearly show.