Ohio State

The pilots put together a good game last night against  #25 Ohio State ( 14th in the admittedly very early RPI).

UP controlled play most of the night and relegated OSU to a few counters to no avail.

 Jackson Jella looked electric with his speed and ball handling, and Mathew Coffey and Brendan Zambrano  were particularly effective, I thought, but several other players had good games.
The defense looked much better organized than the previous efforts. Better pressure in the midfield helped.

Scores by Magana-Rivera and Edwardson, both on assists from Jella.

Jella has gotten a goal or assist on every goal so far this season. Not sure if that's good or bad for the team in the long run, but he's sure having a breakout season. In addition to the assists, he had a couple great chances of his own. ( the second assist was a rebound off the bar)

OSU played a pretty Physical game with five yellow cards and a red. Several more could have been called and one got the feeling maybe Woody Hayes was pacing the sidelines in spirit. I was expecting an announcement of a 15 yard penalty for a crack-back block outside the tackles.

To be fair, three cards - a red, then yellow to two players came in the 77th, followed by a caution to the coach. They apparently thought they got robbed when the a shot from distance hit a UP player in the arm while he was on the ground and had the play emphatically waved off by the ref.
It was a teaching moment for the fellow who got the red. You can't drop  f bombs on the fourth official when he's wearing an open mike to the ref.

Kudos to the student section. I hope they can keep it up this year, but maybe tone down their own seemingly over the top use of language. Less profanity and more humor is my preference. Make us laugh, not cringe.

Interesting about profane language from some students. Years ago, we sat over next to the student section and occasionally had to tell some students to cut it out. I expect the administration would want to communicate something, as fans using profane language violates NCAA rules. As I recall, there are instructions given about this over the PA system before every game. I know that kind of stuff goes on at professional soccer games, but there's no justification for it anywhere.

Nonetheless, it's great to have students out there, just as they were at the games Friday a week ago. Maybe they need to brush up on supremely barbed humor.