After challenging themselves through the first four games of the pre-season, Nashville SC will take on what is (hopefully) a breather this afternoon.
The essentials
Opponent: Lipscomb Bisons (11-8-2 NCAA Division-1 2017)
The Line: No line, this is a friendly, you degenerates
Time, Location: 4:00 p.m. CST • Lipscomb Soccer Complex, Nashville
Event: Preseason friendly
Weather: 58° F, 12% chance of rain (I promise it’s supposed to clear up around noon), 18 MPH Northeasterly winds.
Watch: Tickets.
Etc.: Lookin’ at the remainder of NSC preseason.
Elsewhere: Music City Soccer game preview.
The Bisons
Yes, it is infuriating that the plural of “Bison” is “Bison,” not “Bisons,” why do you ask?
So: these are college kids, and it’s unlikely that they’re going to stand much of a chance against Nashville SC, assuming both teams try to win the game (more on NSC’s desire to do just that below). Still, they had a decent performance within their cohort – NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference – and I’ll evaluate them on those merits alone for the sake of this discussion.
Lipscomb went 11-8-2 (2-4-0 A-Sun), and won the conference tournament, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell 2-0 to Butler in the first round. That was a bit of an improvement on the past couple years, but they’ve gone through stretches of being pretty competitive over time.
Forward Logan Paynter – who was with NSC’s U-23 team last Summer – was the leading scorer with nine goals and five assists. He was a redshirt junior in the Fall, so technically has one year of eligibility remaining and could return next season (and thus play in today’s game). Fellow Nashville U-23 player Ivan Alvarado joined Paynter on the all-region team, with the midfielder earning second-team honors to Paynter’s first-team. Alvarado was a senior in the Fall and no longer has collegiate eligibility, so he won’t play in the spring season for Lipscomb (I believe he’s been practicing with NSC on a trial basis, as well).
Another senior, Ivan Sakou, notched eight goals and two assists on the year, Eduardo Reza had three and three, Kyle Smith had two and three, starting keeper Christopher Zappia was another redshirt junior – as you can see, this was a team dominated by experience and leadership. They are likely to have a rebuilding year in 2018.
6-2 freshman Ihaia Delaney is one of the key returning threats. He had three goals in 19 appearances (three starts), and will have to shoulder a bigger load with all the seniors this team will be losing. Junior midfielder Ryan Birchfield had a productive year in his first after transferring from Feather River College, a juco in California, while defender Ben Locke started 17 games as a true freshman and sophomore Daniel Muhlbauer got 11 starts of his own on the back line.
It’s plain to see that not only is this a college side, it’s one that’s entering a transition season. Even the backups of all backups should be able to control this game pretty easily for NSC.
The Boys in Gold
That means… look for a lineup heavy on reserves for Nashville SC. Former Lipscomb goalie Micah Bledsoe is a holy lock to start between the pipes, and will probably go the full 90 minutes. Players who are expected to star in USL (Alan Winn, Ropapa Mensah, Michael Reed, Kosuke Kimura, Justin Davis, Matt Pickens, and the like) probably won’t see the field, unless Gary Smith wants to give them a bit of a stretch just so they don’t have to knock off as much rust when traveling to Cincinnati Saturday.
A similar lineup to the one that started the game against Ottawa is likely, though we’ll see some unsigned trialists on the pitch, as well (standard operating procedure during preseason friendlies, especially against the lower levels of competition a club faces). Seeing Martim Galvão take the field against college kids with a mini-sales pitch “this guy played on our U-23 team last year and is now a pro” can have some value when the U-23 team is re-established in coming years: it is a recruiting opportunity, too.
How NSC approaches the lineup in this game may also tell us a bit about the plan of attack for Cincinnati just a couple days later: if we see those who we consider non-starting XI key backups get plenty of field time, the Boys in Gold will probably head to the Queen City with the intention of playing their first team and seeing how that group competes against what Cincinnati can offer. A competitively played friendly against one of USL’s best teams can be a useful barometer for the regular season.
Predictions
This probably isn’t going to be a super-interesting game. Given the talent disparity between professionals (even those on trials) and college kids, NSC is unlikely to put everything forward to try to score. Working some specific schematic things (and giving a live-fire tryout to some trialists) seems a more valuable use of time than trying to win 7-0 or whatever. I also think NSC isn’t going to keep a clean sheet (even if purposes of engendering good will around town come into play there).
4-1 Boys in Gold take down the Bisons.
Club and Country 