Ghostman on Third: CLUBWAKA MLS Regular Season Wrap-Up and Playoff Preview

WEEK 7 AND PLAYOFF PREVIEW

Season's over. Time to celebrate with the victors! Errrr.. wait. There's playoffs? Who said anything about playoffs? PLAYOFFS?!?!?

HOUSEKEEPING!

LOTS of housekeeping items this week so please read so you'll be the cool kid in the know.

1. Playoff PKs - what's hated and loved more than some penalty kicks to decide a game? Well, prepare thyself because winter is coming. Last season, we had two games in the playoffs end in a tie. One was the championship. I lost. Sadness ensued, but I digress. So the new PK rule is this:

Should a game remain tied at the end of regulation for playoff games, the match will be decided by penalty kicks. Of the first 5 kickers for each team, one must be female. Should kicks advance past five attempts, 2 of the first seven must be female. All eligible kickers must attempt once before a player makes a second attempt.

2. Rosters - This will be short and direct. If someone is not on your roster, he/she cannot play. No exceptions. If we do a roster/ID check because we see someone unfamiliar on the field, you will forfeit the game you're in and will be declared ineligible for the playoffs. This is part of the CLUBWAKA Policies and will be enforced strictly.

3. Forfeits - As we were reviewing the standings and putting together the playoff matchups, there was some question on points from a couple of the teams. If you review the legend under the standings, forfeits count for negative points. I understand that this can seem harsh, but by forfeiting it robs the other team of a game, affects some of the 'extras' in the league like stats, and is just a bummer, dude. Understand that circumstances arise, but I did want to clarify why the rule exists.

4. Shinguards - Shinguards are required. Saw enough players/teams trying to get away without wearing them last week that we're going to have to have the referees do checks. Yes. Really.

WEEK 7 RESULTS AND STANDINGS

So exactly what exactly do these results and standings mean exactly? I'll start with a refresher. As we grew to 14 teams, we discussed with the captains the option for having two brackets - a Top 8 for the championship and a bottom 6 for a 'B' tournament. Reasons for this were simple - a) a 14 team bracket is hard. b) last season we had some first round games that were VERY lopsided. We reserve the right to change the playoff structure or even do away with it in the future if we continue to grow. I'm rambling now. Let's get back to business. I NOW PRESENT YOU WITH THE FALL 2018 PLAYOFF BRACKETS!

PLAYOFF PREVIEW

MLS CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET

Foot Works (1) vs. Moat Monsters (8) - 1 PM Field 1

Yes, you read that right. Moat Monsters, the inaugural CLUBWAKA Mediocre League Soccer Champions, are the 8 seed (Note: This is mostly due to attendance issues). Even though they're the 8 seed, my personal opinion is that they are still the favorites. Gotta knock the king off the mountain, so to speak. The crazy thing about this game is that these two teams just played last week and Moat handed Foot Works their only defeat on the season. Foot Works have had a hell of a season. Merged from two friend groups, they gelled quickly. Joe McCalla has the team playing a physical, but technical style which is exactly what Moat Monsters tends to play. Two like teams battling it out in the first round. I like it.

Kick in a Box (4) vs. Look Ma, No Hands (5) - 1 PM Field 2

You may notice this doesn't match the schedule I posted on Facebook. We had to move things around a bit due to scheduling issues, so Hangover/Biercelona and this game flip-flopped. Please take note. So one of the superlatives we would have asked was going to be Most Improved Team from Spring, but I honestly don't think there is much of a discussion. Kick in a Box went from 1 win to the #4 seed in a 14 team league. Talk about cellar to the penthouse. Meanwhile, Look Ma put in another strong season and is tied with Hangover for the least goals against. Solid keeper, multiple strong defenders and two natural goalscorers in Calli Sherrill and Chad Martin. Earlier in the season, Kick in a Box took down Look Ma with a 5-2 score which at the time seemed like a pretty huge upset. I think Look Ma has been chomping at the bit to get back on the field for some revenge.

Matt Comerford of Kick in a Box shared his thoughts on the game: Look Ma and Kick in a Box had a good game earlier in the year. I think we played one of our best games and we didn't get their best shot, so I think Sunday will be a pretty even matchup.

Ronaldo McDonaldo (3) vs. Oozlekicks (6) - 2 PM Field 1

Imagine there will be some goals in this one with the two top scorers in the league (Michael Machie of RM and Tom Weniger of Oozle) facing off. While Jay Coble gets most of the accolades for his solid play between the pipes, Oozlekicks has a lot of firepower with Stephanie Coble, Emily Finerfrock and D'jon Trower providing a strong core week-to-week. Ronaldo should have most of their roster intact for this one and will be looking to run the table after falling in the finals last year in PKs. Look out for Frank Council, Michelle Herbst, and Steve Midlik sneaking into the attack from their recessed positions. (and look out for Bailey Riley. ALWAYS look out for Bailey).

Davin Field of Misfits with his take: To be honest, I want to see how the high powered offense of Ronaldo vs. the defensive Oozlekicks pans out.

Hangover 86 FC (2) vs. Biercelona (7) - 2 PM Field 2

Hangover turned in another solid season, finishing in the number 2 slot. Chris Garcia has absolutely stood on his head at times during the season and is a preliminary favorite for the Hands of God trophy. Blake Thompson has been a great target forward and the rest of the gang (Allison Yang, Mickey Amaro, Jordan Yingling, Kevin Rhamy, and Jerald Jorge) has been hard to break down. Meanwhile, Biercelona who is new to the league this Fall has seen solid performances from Taven McDonald and Carlos Garcia while Isaiah Reynolds has been holding down the net. Think a lot of these players know each other, so would imagine if both teams keep playing, this may turn into quite the rivalry game. Earlier in the season, Hangover came up with a 4-3 win and I would imagine this one will be just as close.

Buck Waldrop of Misfits called this game the most intriguing of the matchups as both teams have shown out big time this Fall.

MLS CONSOLATION BRACKET

NetKicks and Chill (9) and Hot and Messi (10) earned byes for this weekend with 3 wins and 2 wins, respectively. Hot and Messi showed some serious improvement from last year after David Chappell went on a signing spree like the LA Rams. David on his view of Hot and Messi's season: Hot and Messi has probably the oldest roster and you young kids have been super kind to us this season. Upsets are coming this tournament. Hot and Messi has experienced a lot of growth this season and we plan to take the lower bracket by storm.

NetKicks earned their three wins and a number 9 seed largely on the backs of Brendan Fajotina and Daryl Kuligowski who scored 71% of their goals on the season. Watch out for these guys as they are two very dangerous players with the ball at their feet.

Here for the Beer (11) vs. Catch Me Offsides (14)

Technically, Here for the Beer finished with a better record than Hot and Messi but due to a forfeit, they fell to 11th and will match up with Catch Me Offsides. Sean Ison of CMO told me before the season that they had a lot of newbies on the team and I have to say that I've been extremely impressed with them throughout the season despite not winning a game. Positive attitude, always seem to be having fun. Just a perfect fit for this league. Here for the Beer had some attendance issues early in the season, but Selena Beaver has rallied the troops in the last couple of weeks and they've really hit their stride. Matthew Kennedy leads the team in scoring and Omar Hazri has been an absolute animal in recent weeks. They'll be a tough out in the bracket.

Jay Coble of Oozlekicks with his prediction: Here for the Beer might run the table to win the lower bracket. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Jay is picking Here for the Beer as Consolation Bracket Champions!

Ibra Kadibra (12) vs. Misfits (13)

This is one that's going to be interesting to watch. A matchup of two teams that had absolutely brutal schedules. Both teams have talent scattered throughout the roster and will be fighting to prove that their position in the table has more to do with the teams they had to play than their talent level. Naeem Huque has done a great job getting Ibra to play as a team despite being a mixture of free agents and small friend groups. Meanwhile, what was left of UTTOTPHJ in the Spring formed Misfits and did a great job with recruiting and have shown they can play with anyone this season. Really intriguing matchup and will certainly be sitting on the sideline with a delicious beverage with a keen eye on this one.

So that's the end of the playoff preview. If there are typos or I misspelled someone's name...

via GIPHY

TEAM OF THE WEEK - WEEK 7

Mike Walters - A natural finisher, Mike Walters bagged a hat trick in the game against Foot Works.

Matthew Kennedy - Hat trick against Oozlekicks? Yep. That'll get you on Team of the Week.

Emily Finerfrock - Haven't gotten all the details surrounding Emily's goal but had at least two mentions of how nice it was on the FB page. Doesn't get a lot of press, but is a huge part of what Oozlekicks does.

Steve Midlik - A bunch of Ronaldo left it all on the field with only a sub or two this week, but I'd like to see Steve's fitbit. Dude played 4 kickball games on Saturday and almost all of the game on Sunday. WISH I had this dude's motor.

Jennifer Neal -Another female who doesn't get a lot of headlines, but is a consistent presence with her defense and in this case, her ability to score. Plus she talks a lot on the field, which is a skill that not a lot of people have.

Daniel Bristow - Played back most of the game and did a solid job marking yours truly, but ventured forward to smack one past the Ronaldo keeper to put the game out of reach.

Joe Connors - Rumor has it that this dude was like Buffon in the goal this week. In a 1-0 loss, had to be heartbreaking, but sounded like Joe is what kept them in it until the end.

THE RACE FOR THE GOLDEN BOOT

Quick reminder on this. Everyone gets 8 team games - so the final winner won't be announced until after the 1 PM games on 11/4 because NetKicks and Hot and Messi have to play their 8th game. That being said, most of the players in the running will finish up their Fall 2018 campaign this weekend. Looks like it's going to be a photo finish.