Phoenix Academy
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So I thought Bell deserves his own thread instead of being chucked in with the other Kiwis at US College.

First some stats from his time so far at Uni:

2017: Started all 21 games as a true freshman (one of six UVA field players to start all 21 games). Played every minute of 15 of the 21 games on the season and got two goals and an assist.

2018: One of only two Cavaliers to play in every minute of the season's 17 matches, was second in the team with five assists (1 goal)

2019: Bell has since started 55-straight games since joining the University. 2019 ACC Midfielder of the Year and a First Team All-ACC honoree.

So before he left for All Whites duty, Bell help the team win their division (Coastal) of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which is their regular season. They then play an ACC tournament to decides the conference champion but instead of 1st of one division playing 1st of the other, all 12 teams play (there is six in each div) and they are ranked. Virginia entered the tournament ranked 2nd behind Clemson, who won the other division (Atlantic), with the top four teams getting a bye to the second round. Bell played the first game of the tournament against Syracuse, which they won 2-1 before leaving for the All Whites.

While he was away, the Cavaliers capture their 16th ACC Championship and first since 2009 by beating Clemson in the final of the tournament 3-1. The victory was the teams 17th of the season, their first season of 17+ wins since 2009 which as meantion was also the last time they won the ACC Tournament.

Because of this, they now enter the NCAA Division I National tournament ranked 1st place, Clemson still go to the tournament ranked 2nd. To give you an idea of how strong ACC is, they have 10 teams going to the tournament, the next best is the Big Ten and Big East with 4 teams each.

With their number 1 rank, again the Cavaliers have a bye in the first round with those games being November 21 in the States. The Cavaliers will be playing the winner at home on the 24th November, between either James Madison, who they played and won 1-0 back on the 15th October. Or they will met Campbell University, with the awesome names for their sports teams, the Campbell Fighting Camels and Lady Camels.

Should be interesting to follow, you can normally catch streams of the games online and the Cavaliers will be hoping for their eigth National title and first since 2014.

Trialist
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about 15 years

Very interesting,  Thanks for explaining it.  

Any other Kiwis had this kind of sucsess at national level?  I remember Andy Boyens getting very close one year?  

Phoenix Academy
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tonycottee wrote:

Very interesting,  Thanks for explaining it.  

Any other Kiwis had this kind of sucsess at national level?  I remember Andy Boyens getting very close one year?  

Yeah Boyens got runner up with University of Mexico Lobos in 2005. They went down hill fast after 2016 and are actually disbanding their Mens soccer team after this season. 

Phoenix Academy
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As for other players, Im not 100% sure but Cory Brown made the Round of 16 with the Xavier Musketeers in 2014 and Stuart Holthusen had quarter-final finishes in 2015 and 2017 with the Akron Zips. 

Marquee
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How long does Bell have left at College? Be interesting if he gets drafted into the MLS or chooses to play his cards elsewhere - depending on what offers come his way?

Phoenix Academy
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He is a Junior this year (It goes freshman, sophomore, junior then senior), so kind of depends on if he is doing three years or four years and if he has done extra courses/credits over the year or summer to shorten how long he needs. You don't always have to do a senior year. From what I've read, he is doing well academically too, named on the ACC Academic Team and the ACC Academic Honor Roll for both 2017 and 2018.

Minimum academic requirements for selection to the ACC Academic Team are a 3.0 grade point average for the previous semester and a 3.0 cumulative average during one’s academic career. Athletic achievements during the most recent season are also considered in selecting the ACC Academic Team.

The ACC Honor Roll recognizes all conference student-athletes with a grade point average of 3.0 for the current academic year

From a really good video below, he mentions that he is doing Psychology. 

Marquee
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Psychology makes sense and reflects some of his comments on meditation and reflection. Clearly a deep thinker.

Would love for him to go pro sooner than later, but he's already turned down the opportunity once so would not be surprised to see him do it again.

Phoenix Academy
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Bells opponents for the second round of the NCAA tournament has just been confirmed, They will come up against the Campbell Fighting Camels after they beat James Madison 3-1.

Campbell are the only team in the tournament from the Big South Conference which they won with a record of 16-2-2 (W-L-T) including a run to the finals of 14 wins in a row. The Camels are third nationally in goals scored per game (2.8) and 12th in goals-against average (0.679), so could be a good match up against the Cavaliers. Game will be on Monday morning our time at 7am

Starting XI
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How long does Bell have left at College? Be interesting if he gets drafted into the MLS or chooses to play his cards elsewhere - depending on what offers come his way?

Relatively sure he's taking up the offer he recieved from Viking FK at the end of the college season, right?

Phoenix Academy
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Yeah it was believe to be Borussia Dortmund but not sure if even got a formal offer as a result of that interest which I guess is how he ended up trailing at the Vikings. 
Not sure I see him going back to the Viking's over the off season either if he does plan on returning to Uni. Can't go play pro then return to play for your Uni under NCAA rules. 

Phoenix Academy
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Voerman has done a write up on Bell as well 

"Joe Bell impressed on his All Whites debut – now he's eyeing national success in the US, then a pro contract."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/117373486/joe-bell-a-professional-in-waiting-as-he-eyes-a-national-title-with-the-virginia-cavaliers

Marquee
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mrsmiis wrote:

How long does Bell have left at College? Be interesting if he gets drafted into the MLS or chooses to play his cards elsewhere - depending on what offers come his way?

Relatively sure he's taking up the offer he recieved from Viking FK at the end of the college season, right?

Hope not he can do better than them.
Phoenix Academy
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So some people are starting to talk about Bell being drafted for MLS.

Draft Utopia: Our first 2020 MLS Draft Film cut is up @UVAMenSoccer Joe Bell is our pick to be drafted first overall in January. Great player and even better person. The most unselfish player I’ve watched at midfielder in all of my years of scouting.

Here is a super cut they made  

Starting XI
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LSA2SB wrote:

As for other players, Im not 100% sure but Cory Brown made the Round of 16 with the Xavier Musketeers in 2014 and Stuart Holthusen had quarter-final finishes in 2015 and 2017 with the Akron Zips. 

Believe Alex Ridsdale was in that same Xavier side that Cory Brown was too.
Phoenix Academy
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Bell and the Cavaliers are through to the next round, Virginia produced its 14th shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over Campbell!

Starting XI
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ballane wrote:

mrsmiis wrote:

How long does Bell have left at College? Be interesting if he gets drafted into the MLS or chooses to play his cards elsewhere - depending on what offers come his way?

Relatively sure he's taking up the offer he recieved from Viking FK at the end of the college season, right?

Hope not he can do better than them.

They're one of the more successful sides in Norwegian football so feel it could be a really good stepping stone, but if clubs like Dortmund think you're good enough then I can see him aiming higher, true. He'd be a starter at Viking I think considering how hard they pursued him

Phoenix Academy
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Opponent has been confirmed, Cavaliers will be facing St. John's University (New York) in the third round. Last played them in 2013, they are currently ranked 16th in the country.

Also, highlights of the two goals from their win today, in the second one, it was a good ball down the line from Bell that released Gunnarsson to put it across the box.

Starting XI
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Decent ball from Bell down the line to release his teammate for that 2nd goal.

Starting XI
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mrsmiis wrote:

ballane wrote:

mrsmiis wrote:

How long does Bell have left at College? Be interesting if he gets drafted into the MLS or chooses to play his cards elsewhere - depending on what offers come his way?

Relatively sure he's taking up the offer he recieved from Viking FK at the end of the college season, right?

Hope not he can do better than them.

They're one of the more successful sides in Norwegian football so feel it could be a really good stepping stone, but if clubs like Dortmund think you're good enough then I can see him aiming higher, true. He'd be a starter at Viking I think considering how hard they pursued him

they may have the 3rd most titles in Norway but they haven't won the top league since 1991. They were actually in the second tier last season but won promotion

I reckon Bell can do a lot better

Marquee
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Would he look at the MLS?

Apparently might go as a top pick in the first round according to an earlier post.

Marquee
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LSA2SB wrote:

Opponent has been confirmed, Cavaliers will be facing St. John's University (New York) in the third round. Last played them in 2013, they are currently ranked 16th in the country.

Also, highlights of the two goals from their win today, in the second one, it was a good ball down the line from Bell that released Gunnarsson to put it across the box.

Ole products Mohammed Awad (now at Dandenong in Victoria NPL) and Andrew Withers (Torslanda) both played for St John's Red Storm.

Lawyerish
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surely if he's good enough for a starting gig the mls would be the better bet then the Norwegian league?

Starting XI
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surely if he's good enough for a starting gig the mls would be the better bet then the Norwegian league?

personally I'd say no way if he wants to aim high in his career. Despite Davies and Tabla leaving the MLS to big clubs, it's still infinitely easier for him to make the jump from one well-scouted, familiar European league to another

First Team Squad
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mrsmiis wrote:

surely if he's good enough for a starting gig the mls would be the better bet then the Norwegian league?

personally I'd say no way if he wants to aim high in his career. Despite Davies and Tabla leaving the MLS to big clubs, it's still infinitely easier for him to make the jump from one well-scouted, familiar European league to another

MLS to EPL went okay for Nelsen/Elliott?

Starting XI
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siac wrote:

mrsmiis wrote:

surely if he's good enough for a starting gig the mls would be the better bet then the Norwegian league?

personally I'd say no way if he wants to aim high in his career. Despite Davies and Tabla leaving the MLS to big clubs, it's still infinitely easier for him to make the jump from one well-scouted, familiar European league to another

MLS to EPL went okay for Nelsen/Elliott?

and Norway to Europe has gone okay for probably a couple thousand more players than that

Phoenix Academy
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I think you under estimate how big football (Soccer) is getting in the states though, they are expanding at a good rate. Starting with 10 teams in 1996, they seem to have learnt from trying to expand in the 90/00s when they lost Tampa, Miami and Chivas and are now adding teams carefully with a good base and finances, going from Toronto in 2007, San Jose in 2008, Seattle in 2009, Philadelphia in 2010, Vancouver and Portland in 2011, Montreal in 2012, New York and Orlando in 2015, Atlanta and Minnesota in 2017, Los Angeles in 2018 and lastly Cincinnati in 2019. They also have plans to bring in Miami, Nashville, Austin, St Louis and Sacramento in the coming years.

They appear to have finally got a decent 2nd division running in the USL Championship with a lot of the teams having an MLS affiliate club or are also owned by the MLS club in their region.

Along with their regular season, they have their cup competitions and teams take part in the CONCACAF Champions league. They regularly have pre-season friendlies against European teams as well as host games when it comes to the International Champions Cup.

They have been attracting high profile players for years now. Sure for a lot of the stars, its a bit of seeing out the end of their career but going from Beckham and Thierry Henry to Rooney and Zlatan, the profile of the league is bigger than ever and I don't believe can be compared to what it used to be in terms of player pathways. There is an increasing appetite in the US for football.

Now not to say all of the above means it is necessarily the right choice for Bell but I think people still under estimate the competition because its America.

Starting XI
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LSA2SB wrote:

I think you under estimate how big football (Soccer) is getting in the states though, they are expanding at a good rate. Starting with 10 teams in 1996, they seem to have learnt from trying to expand in the 90/00s when they lost Tampa, Miami and Chivas and are now adding teams carefully with a good base and finances, going from Toronto in 2007, San Jose in 2008, Seattle in 2009, Philadelphia in 2010, Vancouver and Portland in 2011, Montreal in 2012, New York and Orlando in 2015, Atlanta and Minnesota in 2017, Los Angeles in 2018 and lastly Cincinnati in 2019. They also have plans to bring in Miami, Nashville, Austin, St Louis and Sacramento in the coming years.

They appear to have finally got a decent 2nd division running in the USL Championship with a lot of the teams having an MLS affiliate club or are also owned by the MLS club in their region.

Along with their regular season, they have their cup competitions and teams take part in the CONCACAF Champions league. They regularly have pre-season friendlies against European teams as well as host games when it comes to the International Champions Cup.

They have been attracting high profile players for years now. Sure for a lot of the stars, its a bit of seeing out the end of their career but going from Beckham and Thierry Henry to Rooney and Zlatan, the profile of the league is bigger than ever and I don't believe can be compared to what it used to be in terms of player pathways. There is an increasing appetite in the US for football.

Now not to say all of the above means it is necessarily the right choice for Bell but I think people still under estimate the competition because its America.

yeah definitely true, you can see that with Steffen and Almiron going to the EPL this year. However those guys were absolute stars in the league, and Almiron's the only senior player in the last couple years who's gone from MLS to EPL without being part of the whole CFG clusterfudge. Other notable players such as Doneil Henry and Jack Harrison who have come over from the US in the last 10 years have flopped, partly because people had actually given them too much credit for performing in the MLS, with the idea that the MLS is underrated.

It's much easier to get noticed in a league like the Eliteserien - easier for Euro clubs to send scouts over, European competition exposure, no convoluted MLS contract rules interfering with transfers, cheaper transfer fees, and many clubs will find the Norwegian style of football more comparable to the current MLS way of "play it through your star man".

Teams from Euro countries, especially Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, are picking up far, far more Scandinavian-based players than US-based. For me and hopefully for Bell, it's a no-brainer

Phoenix Academy
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Bell is playing Sat night their time (1pm Sunday) against St Johns. 
The game will be the third time St. John's and Virginia will meet in the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers have been victorious in both previous matchups in the second round.

• The Cavaliers have outscored the Red Storm, 9-0 in its last three matchups including a 2-0 victory in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
• Gelnovatch (Coach) is 11-5-3 against current members of the Big East. The Cavaliers are unbeaten in their last seven matches against current Big East opponents (4-0-3) including wins over Villanova (3-2 OT) and Marquette (2-0) in 2017.

The advancing team on Saturday will face either UCF or SMU in the quarterfinal. 

Phoenix Academy
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Currently 3-0 at half time and Cavaliers are all over them. Bell got a goal, taking the penalty after team mate was fouled. Brace to Norwegian freshman Andreas Ueland, whose layer for their U-17, U-18 and U-20s teams. 

Phoenix Academy
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And it stays that way, recording their 15th shutout of the season. Play SMU in the quarter-finals.

valeo
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Legend
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almost 17 years

mrsmiis wrote:

siac wrote:

mrsmiis wrote:

surely if he's good enough for a starting gig the mls would be the better bet then the Norwegian league?

personally I'd say no way if he wants to aim high in his career. Despite Davies and Tabla leaving the MLS to big clubs, it's still infinitely easier for him to make the jump from one well-scouted, familiar European league to another

MLS to EPL went okay for Nelsen/Elliott?

and Norway to Europe has gone okay for probably a couple thousand more players than that

Sure, but that has been a proven pathway for kiwi players so eh.

Phoenix Academy
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Bell and Cavaliers are through to the College Cup, w they call their semifinals and final, after a golden goal win 3-2. Bell scored a penalty in regular time, then had another one in overtime. Missed the penalty due to good save but scored the follow up for the win, picking up a brace. They will face either Santa Barbara or Wake Forest in the semis. 

Phoenix Academy
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Few things happening or being written about Bell while wait for the Cavaliers game against Wake Forest this weekend. 

MLS listed him as one of the Top professional prospects to watch in this weekend's 2019 College Cup. However they do think him having possible internationals to play for NZ could be an issue for clubs. They obviously don't know how little the All Whites play, even if you count in his U-23 Olympics stuff. 

He was named one of four Virginia players United Soccer Coaches All-South Region Team, first time the school has had four players in the 1st team. The first team was comprised of 11 members, all from ACC schools. Clemson and Virginia's five overall selections were the most of any team in the South Region.


Lastly Bell is a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy. By semifinalist they mean 1 of 15 but it'll be cut to 3 players before the games this weekend. This trophy is for the best player in College soccer for the season  

Phoenix Academy
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Heads up for anyone that wants to watch. ESPN2 on Sky has both games on live.

12-2pm should be the No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 7 Stanford and 2.30-4.30pm will be Bells No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 4 Wake Forest

Phoenix Academy
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Bell has been announced as one of three finalists for MAC Hermann Trophy, based on voting by NCAA Division I men's soccer coaches.https://virginiasports.com/news/2019/12/12/mens-soccer-bell-named-a-finalist-for-the-mac-hermann-trophy.aspx

Phoenix Academy
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And Cavaliers are in the final! Had a 2-1 win over ACC rivals Wake Forest. Will meet Georgetown in the final after they won 2-0 over Stanford. They are ranked number 3 in the country.


Game should be Tuesday our time I believe. 

Getting paid to be here
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LSA2SB wrote:

And Cavaliers are in the final! Had a 2-1 win over ACC rivals Wake Forest. Will meet Georgetown in the final after they won 2-0 over Stanford. They are ranked number 3 in the country.


Game should be Tuesday our time I believe. 

12pm Monday. It's on ESPN2 again.

Phoenix Academy
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LSA2SB wrote:

And Cavaliers are in the final! Had a 2-1 win over ACC rivals Wake Forest. Will meet Georgetown in the final after they won 2-0 over Stanford. They are ranked number 3 in the country.


Game should be Tuesday our time I believe. 

12pm Monday. It's on ESPN2 again.

Cheers, getting my days wrong coveting time difference. Pleased my Cavaliers are on NZ tv again too. 

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