Soccer Fan Blog

There is no better time than the early part of the fall for most sports fans, with college football and the NFL kicking off and the baseball season hitting the home stretch. And while the attention of League fans is understandably on the college fields right now, it’s great to see the Patriot League represented in the NFL, MLB, MLL and NLL.

Last night, former Bucknell standout Matt Daley earned his first major league victory for the Colorado Rockies. Daley pitched 1.1 innings and retired four of the five batters he faced, and got the win when Seth Smith hit a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to lift Colorado past Cincinnati, 4-3. Daley is just the second Patriot League alum to play in the majors, along with former Bison Eric Junge. It is the first win for a former Patriot Leaguer since Junge won a pair of games in 2002 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Rockies also moved to a four-game lead in the wildcard race and just 2.5 behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, so Patriot League followers have a good chance to be able to support one of their own in this year’s MLB playoffs.

While the baseball season winds down, the NFL campaign kicks off tonight. And again, League followers will have a chance to root for a former PL star. Blake Costanzo, a standout linebacker at Lafayette who earned All-Patriot League honors in 2004 and 2005, enters his third season on an active roster and first with the Cleveland Browns. Costanzo played the past two seasons with the Buffalo Bills, including all 16games in 2008. He has 21 tackles in 19 career contests. The Browns open at home against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The Bills could still provide an opportunity to another Patriot League graduate, as former Colgate offensive lineman Nick Hennessey starts the year on the team’s practice squad. Hennessey received consensus All-America recognition while helping the Raiders to the 2008 Patriot League title.

No Patriot League sport produces more pro athletes than lacrosse, and that remains true this year. Kevin Colleluori and Brandon Corp, who both ended their careers at Colgate this past season, were each selected in the 2009 National Lacrosse League Entry on Wednesday. Colleluori was picked in the fourth round by the Minnesota Swarm, while Corp went in the sixth round to the Rochester Knighthawks. The NLL begins its 2010 season on January 8. Corp, Chris Eck (Colgate) and Adam Fullerton (Army) all competed in this summer’s Major Lacrosse League season, with Eck named the Most Improved Player of the Year in the league.

Follow all of the former Patriot Leaguers in the pros. And as you watch Patriot League games, remember it can be “Today’s Patriot League stars, tomorrow’s pro stars” for any of the student-athletes.

The wait is finally over Patriot League fans, as the football season kicks off in less than a half hour at Lehigh, with the Mountain Hawks hosting Central Connecticut State at 12:30 p.m. Holy Cross hosts Georgetown at 1 p.m. in the Patriot League opener, with Fordham at Rhode Island at the same time. Colgate hosts Monmouth and Bucknell is at Duquesne in 6 p.m. kickoffs.

Some very interesting storylines in the first week. The biggest of course comes in Worcester, where a “championship” game, as our head coaches like to say, will be played in the first week. The pressure is on Holy Cross in this one playing at home as the preseason favorite, as the Crusaders have come agonizingly close to the PL title in each of the last three years. Holy Cross QB Dominic Randolph enters his final season, and presents another great storyline. He is just 80yards away from the PL total offense record, and 140 from the passing yardage mark. He is also two TDs away from the TDs responsible for mark. He would add all three marks to his passing completions and touchdowns records, and has a chance to shatter all career PL passing marks by the time he is done.

There is plenty of intrigue in all of the non-League games as well, as all four Patriot League teams have winnable, yet also tough, games. The three matchups with the Northeast Conference teams are especially intriguing, as the matchups each pit teams that finished in the same position in their respective preseason conference polls. Monmouth and Colgate were both second, Lehigh and CCSU were third, and Bucknell and Duquesne were sixth. It will give a good gauge for where each team is at in the early going.

Come back here for a full update after the three afternoon games, and visit the Patriot League Twitter Page for in-game updates throughout the day and night. Also, take a look at the post below and the Patriot League Composite Schedule for audio, video and live stat links to all of the action.

Now let’s go win some games!

In less than 48 hours, the Patriot League Football season will kick off when Lehigh hosts Central Connecticut State at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. A half-hour later, the League schedule begins when Georgetown visits Holy Cross. Get all of the information you need, including League notes and game previews, in the Patriot League Football Week One Preview

There will be plenty of avenues for additional coverage of Patriot League Football in 2009, including right here at the Gameday Blog. I’ll be here off and on throughout the day on Saturday (one of the few Saturdays I won’t be attending a Patriot League game in person) to give updates and highlights on the action. Look for a post sometime late in the afternoon to recap the early games, and again during the night for the later action. To get quick, real-time updates, go to the Patriot League Twitter page. And to discuss all things Patriot League Football with both other fans and myself, visit and become a fan of the Patriot League Facebook page. Remember, all three pages are under the multimedia link at the right-hand sidebar of www.patriotleague.org, where fans can come for a full recap when all of Saturday’s games have concluded.

Of course, social media and the League website aren’ts the only ways to follow along. Any audio, video and live stat links will be available throughout the season at the 2009 Patriot League Football Composite Schedule (Note: all of the links, as well as game notes from each of the institutions, are also included in the game previews within the Patriot League Football Week One Preview). The composite schedule also indicates televised contests, and the Patriot League will have 24 games televised live this year. To view TV games in all Patriot League sports, go here.

So we’re finally ready to go! Take some of these next few days to watch videos, read news articles and view photos of Patriot League Football Preseason Media Coverage. Are you ready for some football?

Patriot League Media Relations Director Matt Dougherty

14 Sept 2009

Following Indonesian Channel RCTI Channel broadcast of two LIVE UEFA Champions League Qualifying Matches last month , soccer fans can expect to see even more UEFA Champions League Action on the Channel , as the Brand New Season kicks off this Wednesday ( Singapore Time ) and RCTI Channel will once again be bringing u another Season of UEFA Champions League LIVE Coverage Beginning with this week’s opening Group Stages Matches onwards !

Though the UEFA Champions League will be starting this week , Starhub Cable who have been the one bringing to soocer Fans here LIVE UEFA Champions League Matches on their two Sports Channels – ESPN Channel 23 & Star Sports Channel 24 for the past few Seasons , will NOT be doing so for this Season as well as for the next two years ! They have been ‘ stripped ‘ of the broadcasting rights to do so for the next three years after they lost the bid to rival bidder Singtel mio tv who have dished out a special Football Frenzy Package for soccer fans this Season that covers all UEFA Club Matches ( Champions League & Europa League ) as well as the New Season of Italian Serie A .

Though Starhub Cable ESPN Channel 23 & Star Sports Channel 24 will not be bringing u LIVE Champions League Games this Season , Starhub Cable other two Channels – Goal TV 1 ( Channel 115 ) and Goal TV 2 ( Channel 116 ) will be bringing u selected UEFA Champions League Games DELAYED On Friday & Saturday !

* Here are The UEFA Champions League Schedules On Indonesian RCTI Channel :

Wednesday , 16 Sept 2009

Chelsea vs FC Porto

* LIVE On RCTI Channel & Singtel mio tv Football Frenzy Channel 61 @ 2.45am ( Singapore Time ) . *

Thursday , 17 Sept 2009

Inter Milan vs Barcelona

* LIVE On RCTI Channel & Singtel mio tv Football Frenzy Channel 61 @ 2.45am . *

* DELAYED Telecasts On Indonesian RCTI Channel :

Liverpool vs DEBRECENT

* LIVE On Singtel mio tv Football Frenzy Channel 62 ( Thursday , 17 Sept 2009 @ 2.45am ) & DELAYED Telecast on Saturday , 19 Sept 2009 on RCTI Channel at 1am ( Singapore Time ) . *

BESIKTAS vs MANCHESTER UNITED

* LIVE On Singtel Football Frenzy Channel 62 ( Wednesday , 17 Sept 2009 at 2.45am ) & DELAYED Telecast on RCTI Channel On Monday , 21 Sept 2009 at 2am ( Singapore Time ) . *

FC ZURICH vs REAL MADRID

* DELAYED Telecast On RCTI Channel – Monday , 21 Sept 2009 at 4am ( Singapore Time ) . *

Marseille vs AC Milan

DELAYED Telecast On RCTI Channel – Tuesday , 22 Sept 2009 at 1.30am ( Singapore Time ) . *

• DELAYED Telecast Schedules On Starhub Cable :

1. Besiktas vs Manchester United

DELAYED On Goal TV 1 ( Channel 115 ) at these times :

Friday , 18 Sept 2009 at 1am , 1pm & 8pm .

Saturday & Sunday 19 and 20 Sept 2009 at 9am

Monday , 21 Sept 2009 at 2.45am

1. Liverpool vs Debreceni

DELAYED Telecast on Goal TV 2 ( Channel 116 ) at these times :

Friday , 18 Sept 2009 at 12.15am & 2.45pm

Saturday , 19 Sept 2009 at 12.15am & 8pm

Sunday , 20 Sept 2009 at 2.30pm

1. Chelsea vs FC Porto

DELAYED Telecast On Goal TV 2 ( Channel 116 ) at these times :

Friday , 18 Sept 2009 at 9am & 8pm .

Sunday , 2o Sept 2009 at 8am & 10.30pm

When will Arsenal catch a break with the press?

“Arsenal fail to convince vs. Fulham”  -Espn Soccernet

 Alot of other sport news sites have listed Arsenal as an underachieving team still producing wins.  I agree to a point with that.  Today’s match was not one of our best, but why
is it that when we win 1-0 against a team, we fail to convince or are underachieving, yet when Man United or Chelsea eek out a 1-0 win its cause they showed passion and composure?

We have set standard for our style of football.  With such free flowing action and smooth passing, setting up numbers of scoring opportunties, we have so many chances to score 4-5 goals
each game.  I think we’ve are like Michael Jordan was in basketball.  If he scored any less than 20 points a game, it was an off night, yet there were many other players considered
“stars” that didn’t even average 20 points a game for the whole season.  The press expects us to score multiple goals each game now, no matter how the oppenent decides to set their defense
against us.  

So yes, we did have an off night, but I would hesitate to say we don’t convince or are underacheiving.  Man U got so much credit for winning 1-0 ugly style games that it help them win the
title.  The press continues to demand a top class team to win ugly when necessary, but then criticizes us when we do.  

So good job with the hard earned win.  Chelsea lost to the same Wigan team that looked so awful last week.  I think we’re legit and will prove to be a contender as long was we get
those wins, whether they are done like today’s game or against Everton.

Also, good job to Mannone today, the obvious selection for man of the match.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say he should replace Almunia yet (although I’ve lost alot of patience with that
man).  He’s still way young and inexperienced.  Just last season Fabianski looked sharp in a few champions league games, but blew it, as we all remember, against Chelsea.  So,
thank you Vito for an excellent game, keep up the progress.