Impressive compared to the one-man-and-his-dog that attends the average football match at the University of Leicester, but underwhelming versus the filling of huge arenas at American football games in the South (a la Friday Night Lights).
As a fan of non-league football, I am all-too-aware of the perils of attempting to entertain a half-filled stadium. The half-time dancers looked a little lonely as they performed to a main stand that was more interested in their mid-match snacks.
The cheerleaders were a little more painful to watch, not least because their 'show' lasted the entire ninety minutes. Perhaps I'm just too British to ever really understand their purpose, but it seemed as though no-one was inspired by their well-rehearsed routines.
In fact, the most entertaining thing about them was the fact that, whilst supporting a very Catholic institution, they were chanting, "Let's go, Johnnies, let's go!", blissfully unaware of the word's meaning in British slang.
Sadly, the cheerleaders weren't the only aspect of college soccer I didn't understand. As the game kicked off, I was surprised to hear the sound system continue to be utilised beyond your usual pre-match announcements as play-by-play commentary was forced upon the crowd. Though its intention was to be informative, sound systems are never particularly clear and the incessant, garbled attempts at description merely resulted in a headache.
The fact the announcer used terms such as 'goalbox' (making Twitter's US Soccer Guy sound worryingly less satirical) didn't exactly help proceedings.
Furthermore, the game itself was plagued by 'time-outs' which involved roll-on roll-off substitutions that began after twenty minutes. I'm sure Sven Goran Eriksson would have loved it, but I'm not sure how beneficial it was to the players who were - in theory, at least - on the final rung of the ladder to playing the professional game.
This strange circus sadly detracted from what was, at times, high-quality football. There may have been a distinct lack of quality in the final third and there was a clear emphasis upon individual talent over team cohesion, but the pace at which the game was played was impressive.
St. John's even boasted one or two players that wouldn't have looked out of place in the upper echelons of England's non-league game, but it wasn't enough to stop their team falling to a 1-0 defeat.
The referee blew his whistle bang on ninety minutes - they have apparently done away with injury time this side of the Atlantic - to draw to an end a pretty peculiar evening.
Although Saturday night was just a first taste of college soccer, it was hard to shake the feeling that America has tried to fix a game that isn't broken, trying far too hard to force its own character onto a game that already has plenty.
As a fan of non-league football, I am all-too-aware of the perils of attempting to entertain a half-filled stadium. The half-time dancers looked a little lonely as they performed to a main stand that was more interested in their mid-match snacks.
The cheerleaders were a little more painful to watch, not least because their 'show' lasted the entire ninety minutes. Perhaps I'm just too British to ever really understand their purpose, but it seemed as though no-one was inspired by their well-rehearsed routines.
In fact, the most entertaining thing about them was the fact that, whilst supporting a very Catholic institution, they were chanting, "Let's go, Johnnies, let's go!", blissfully unaware of the word's meaning in British slang.
Sadly, the cheerleaders weren't the only aspect of college soccer I didn't understand. As the game kicked off, I was surprised to hear the sound system continue to be utilised beyond your usual pre-match announcements as play-by-play commentary was forced upon the crowd. Though its intention was to be informative, sound systems are never particularly clear and the incessant, garbled attempts at description merely resulted in a headache.
The fact the announcer used terms such as 'goalbox' (making Twitter's US Soccer Guy sound worryingly less satirical) didn't exactly help proceedings.
Furthermore, the game itself was plagued by 'time-outs' which involved roll-on roll-off substitutions that began after twenty minutes. I'm sure Sven Goran Eriksson would have loved it, but I'm not sure how beneficial it was to the players who were - in theory, at least - on the final rung of the ladder to playing the professional game.
This strange circus sadly detracted from what was, at times, high-quality football. There may have been a distinct lack of quality in the final third and there was a clear emphasis upon individual talent over team cohesion, but the pace at which the game was played was impressive.St. John's even boasted one or two players that wouldn't have looked out of place in the upper echelons of England's non-league game, but it wasn't enough to stop their team falling to a 1-0 defeat.
The referee blew his whistle bang on ninety minutes - they have apparently done away with injury time this side of the Atlantic - to draw to an end a pretty peculiar evening.
Although Saturday night was just a first taste of college soccer, it was hard to shake the feeling that America has tried to fix a game that isn't broken, trying far too hard to force its own character onto a game that already has plenty.
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