Leading into Pac-10 play the Oregon State University men's soccer team was a respectable 5-2-1. A winning Pac-10 record would probably have ensured a post season tournament birth. The Beavers went on to loose their fifth straight match on Sunday against a mediocre Stanford squad at home. During the five game slide the Beavers have been outscored a fourteen goals to just three including a demoralizing 0-5 loss to California at home. The NCAA tournament is looking pretty distant at this point.

Coach Dana Taylor must be feeling pretty happy about the five year contract extension he was given last fall despite an overall loosing record at OSU. "We want to be more organized than any other program," he says in his coach's bio. "We want athletic players who are technically gifted and like to put their creative stamp on the game. We have a blue-collar work ethic and we have a never-say-die attitude for the entire 90 minutes."

The organization seems good. I have never heard of the team missing a game and the socks always match. It seems trivial, but I will give it an 'A' grade anyways. Oregon State certainly is athletic. But if they are either technically gifted or capable of putting their creative stamp on the game the current system does not allow for it. Rather it appears like the Beavers are playing with more anxiety than 'Monk'. Most of the touches by the midfielders end up going in the negative direction. The defenders play the ball forward only because they have no other options.

Attacking runs out of the back line are all but completely absent. You would find more overlapping runs from the wingbacks at Westland Middle School on a Saturday morning. Its not that the Beavers players are incapable of playing creative soccer. Sophomore Ryan Callahan is great example of a player that has shown he has the skill to face forward and make himself dangerous. But most of the time he dutifully plays the ball safely to his wing backs like someone is holding his family hostage. I don't think it is his fault. He has been tightly leashed by the system and plays with the same creativity and flare of Ramen noodle soup. Former OSU midfielders Carlos "Boku" Cornejo and Nathan Quan left the OSU program in 2004 for UC Riverside and Simon Frasier. I believe that both players were unsatisfied with the playing style at OSU.

So what is the OSU playing style? Blue collar is an adequate description. Defend hard, don't take any risks and hope that the opponent makes more mistakes during the 90 minutes of play. It should be no surprise given the background of the coaching staff. Coach Taylor's background is goalkeeping, a task generally preoccupied with defending. Aside from Jesse Cormier I cannot think of a legitimate attacking minded coach ever being on staff at OSU under Taylor.

At this point what do we have to loose? Why not give a little attacking "Total Football" a try. Even the Germans were able to adopt a new attacking brand of soccer after years of strict grinding soccer. It's just more fun for everyone. More fun to play, more fun to watch. Safety is for car seats and swimming. Let's play some unpredictable, dangerous soccer.