Former USF striker Dom Dwyer was selected with the 16th overall pick of today's MLS SuperDraft by Sporting KC. Its been a rollercoaster week for Dom, which cultivated in Dwyer becoming the latest first round draft pick for the Half-Hoops. Dwyer accepted a Generation adidas contract just one week ago and made it down to Ft. Lauderdale for the MLS Combine over the weekend. After a slow start, Dwyer ended the combine on a strong note grabbing a goal in the final scrimmage of the week.

Justin Mayhugh at The Daily Wiz, our Sporting KC site was happy with the Dwyer selection,

Dwyer, who is part of this year's Generation Adidas class, should provide instant depth for Kansas City on the wings of their 4-3-3 attack. Winger depth was one of the bigger concerns for Sporting Kansas City heading into the draft, so the addition of Dwyer makes a lot of sense. Also, the fact that he is part of the Generation Adidas class means that he won't count against Sporting's salary cap, which is another big plus.

Here's a cool video of Dwyer after being selected
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Congrats Dom, and good luck with the Sporks!

Junior USF striker Dom Dwyer is leaving USF after one season and will head to the MLS after signing a Generation adidas contract with the league. Dwyer was offered a contract early Wednesday according to Soccer by Ives, and Dom announced on his Twitter page that he was leaving USF late last night.

Dwyer was brilliant for the Half-Hoops in his one season at USF, scoring 16 goals and dishing out 2 assists last year. Dwyer was awarded Big East Offensive Player of the Year, and was named as a 2nd Team All-American by College Soccer News and the NCAA.

Dwyer is the 2nd USF player to sign a Generation adidas contract, joining LB Anthony Wallace who signed with MLS in 2007 and now plays for the Colorado Rapids. Dwyer will join GK Chris Blais and RB Aubrey Perry at the MLS combine which will take place January 6-10 in Ft. Lauderdale.

We wish Dom the best of luck and hope he represents USF well in the next stage of his career.

I know it's late for a write-up of the men's soccer season, which ended a week ago with a 1-0 overtime loss at Creighton in the national quarterfinals. But this was a difficult piece for me to write. Why? Because it's full of things I know Bulls fans don't want to hear. But they're true, by God, and need to be said.

We're close.

This team was in 2011, and is for next season, very close to being a national title contender. It wasn't quite there against Creighton, but it was close. USF almost won that game -- twice, in fact, on two goals that were overturned by offsides calls. Yes, I know we don't do moral victories at USF. I know the football team's successes at Pittsburgh and West Virginia and Auburn and Florida State and Notre Dame have conditioned us to expect our team to pull out this kind of tough road game. But it didn't happen on this day, and USF was left short of its first ever trip to the College Cup.

But we're close. Incredibly close. 0-0 after 90 minutes close. (Then again, we're also 0-0 after 90 minutes close to losing in the Third Round to New Mexico. When you're down to the best 16 or 8 teams out of the 203 who field men's soccer, the differences get very small.)

The next thing I know Bulls fans don't want to hear about any of their teams is how well they played in a loss. But it's true. I live about two miles from Creighton's stadium and I've gone to many games there*. I've never seen Creighton get punched in the mouth like the Half Hoops did to them in the first half. USF brought a much more physical brand of play than the team, or its fans, were used to. Their crowd is usually pretty mellow, because things are usually going their way. Not on this day. They were ornery, demanding whistles for this and that, and upset that their team wasn't dictating play for the first time in a long, long time. They were not ready for the physicality of the Bulls, or the talent level of the Bulls. USF was ready for Creighton's aggressive play, and handled it superbly.

So what happened? It wasn't obvious at the time, and I don't think I even mentioned it in the game chat, but Creighton very subtlety imposed its will on the game in the second half. The things USF did well in the first half -- working the touchline, running with the ball, getting the ball to Dwyer in space, quickly breaking up Creighton's buildup, winning 50-50 balls in midfield -- they did a little less well in the second half. Creighton seemed to have the bulk of the possession, while USF's opportunities came in fits and starts. It looked like both teams had equal opportunity to blast away at the goal, but the statistics reveal that Creighton had 14 shots in the second half to USF's 3, and 9 corner kicks to 1. It's easy to overlook when they miss, but Creighton had a lot more near-misses than USF did. And they came closer and closer to finding the net as the game wore on.

As for overtime... it was, tough to admit, a logical culmination of the second half. Creighton had almost all the possession, with USF getting a couple of counterattacks in. A clearance failed to get past Creighton's Andrew Ribiero just above the arc. His long shot was deflected by Chris Blais** and right to the All-American Finlay, who needed only to tap it into the goal.

But it didn't have to end that way. USF could have scored at some point, on either cancelled goal or one of their other near-misses. Nobody would have even called it "against the run of play," as they say in games where one team dominates but loses. Creighton won, but they did not dominate. They were a little better overall, and got the decisive goal, but did not dominate when they did so often this season. And USF should be proud of that, and build on it.

After the jump, more observations from the game, and why I think the Half Hoops can be even better in 2012.

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Dom's two goals called back
Creighton scores the golden goal
Hell of a match though

Yesterday's Elite Eight NCAA Tournament match between USF and Creighton was postponed due to unplayable conditions, thanks to a blizzard that dumped three and a half inches of snow in about four hours. The match is now on for 1 PM Sunday (2 PM Eastern time). So nurse that post-Kansas hangover and join our live chat from Morrison Stadium in Omaha.

(UPDATE: More cell phone pics after the jump.)

Game postponed by NCAA competition committee due to unplayable field. Rescheduled for noon 1 PM Central time Sunday.

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Join us live for NCAA playoff soccer from Omaha today. It's the closest USF has ever been to the College World Series! Literally!

We interrupt the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments to talk about a USF team that's having a great season: the men's soccer team. The Elite Eight matches their deepest post-season run ever, and they have a chance to make their first ever College Cup with a win today. Here's how they can accomplish that:

1. Don't be defeated by the weather. The current forecast calls for the dreaded wintry mix, with game time temps near freezing. Morten Benestad and Marius Krathe should feel right at home (they're from Norway), but I hope the coaching staff is mentally preparing the rest of the squad for difficult conditions. It's going to be colder, dryer, and possibly wetter than that nasty trip to Syracuse in October. If the football team can be rattled by 62 degrees with average humidity and moderate wind, the winter weather in Omaha has to be a serious concern.

2. Mind your fundamentals. Pass, trap, and defend cleanly at all times, because Creighton makes you pay for sloppiness like no team I've ever seen. In the middle third, they press constantly, turn every errant pass into a possession, and win more than their share of headers (despite not being a tall team). Any aimless long ball will be collected and sent back upfield by their flat back four, like the flippers on a pinball machine. When New Mexico increased the midfield pressure on USF in the second half of that game, they created more chances for themselves, and made it tougher to get Dom Dwyer the ball. Creighton will bring that all day long. USF needs to be ready for it, with quick, decisive passing and decision making. And mind your spacing on defense: Creighton is adept at finding and exploiting any uncovered areas in the box.

3. Work the touchlines. The drawback of Creighton's aggressive approach to midfield defense is that it is narrow. They play what looks like a 4-3-3, with two lines of three midfielders and three forwards looking to disrupt any buildup by the opposition. But their midfielders are relatively near the center of the field, and their outside backs don't come forward much. If USF can effectively spray balls to the wings and outside fullbacks, they can draw Creighton's defenders away from the middle, and make the team's overall pressure defense less effective. Two USF players that could contribute here: Aubrey Perry, who showed a lot of versatility from right back in the New Mexico win, and Stiven Salinas, with his speed and dribbling ability down the left.

4. Don't get behind. In 13 home games this season, including the Missouri Valley Conference and NCAA playoffs, Creighton has conceded a grand total of 2 goals. Both came late in games where the Bluejays were up 2-0, and went on to win. Creighton's style is to dominate possession and aggressively disrupt opposing attacks in midfield. They do this so well that their goalkeeper Brian Holt rarely has to do much. It took Northern Illinois 38 minutes to even draw an offsides flag. And Northern Illinois is a good team. USF falling behind, even 1-0, could be fatal.

5. Draw on your experience beating ranked teams on the road. It's almost a cliche when looking for ways a dominant team can lose. But it's been so long since Creighton was challenged at home that they might not react well to things not going their way. In the Northern Illinois game, after a series of questionable calls went against them, Creighton's harassing defense started chasing balls they shouldn't have, and getting out of position. They quickly settled down (being ahead 2-0 helps), but it might be possible to frustrate this team. Combine that with the confidence USF showed at Wake Forest and the resiliency in rallying from 2-0 down in harsh conditions at Syracuse, the Half Hoops could score a great victory in Omaha.