90' 3-1 Seattle longball sends Kawasumi into the right corner alone. She crosses toward Goebel 1-v-4 (again), LCB Barnes heads it out. 90+1' (of +?') 3-1 Fishlock chases a ball through box top mid-right, Washington shanks it with backspin, over endline. 90+2' (of +?') 3-1 Seattle right corner, cleared. #7 Nairn is down at her 8m mid-left, ref summons trainers out.
The Spirit defense was awful last year, it's same starters this season. Come on. Three goals and they have allowed 7 goals, KC probably should of scored a few more.
Replay shows that Nairn opened hips and dragged her left instep to clear the short corner, immediately came up hopping on her right. Trainer helps Nairn hobble around the perimeter toward the bench -- at least she's up and almost-walking. 90+3?' (of +?') 3-1 Seattle subs in (2 of 3) DF #25 Kiersten Dallstream for #9 Nahomi Kawasumi. Dallstream was a lone forward at WSU. Must be fun for her to end up on this roster. 90+4?' 3-1 Seattle send ball into 6-top right. 2-v-2 pile, all fall down, ball sits loose with Harris down! The prone defender pokes ball away, cleared and ... FT 3-1.
Three points, I'll take it. Match was a bit boring some parts of the first half as Washington was content to stay back and Seattle had no clue how to break the defense down. They started playing the aimless long ball which was not a bad strategy if they actually had anyone in the box but that was not the case. Second half picked up a bit but not by much. Interestingly, Leroux was playing deeper in the mid. I'm not sure what Harvey was trying to do there. However, from the two games, it is clear that the offense needs work in scoring goals in the run of play. On the plus side, Naho is deadly accurate with her crosses and that should help this team going forward.
I don't think Robin Gayle is a NWSL-quality starter. She looked very slow and awkward out there. All the Spirit defenders made errant passes tonight. Even Krieger, whose mistake almost led to a goal. But Gayle stood out as the worst offender. Spirit don't seem very mentally resilient. They need to score first to keep themselves together. I do like Jodie Taylor's play up front. No goals yet but she's full of running and had decent touches. Unfortunately she was isolated. Too bad Matheson gets shuttled out wide. I realize Parsons has a plethora of small, finesse center midfielders, but I think she'd be more effective in the middle. But so are Averbuch, Nairn, Lindsey, etc., and Matheson is the most versatile, so she gets the job. Washington has played their best soccer when Lori Lindsey gets on the field and touches the ball. She keeps the ball moving...to her teammates. It's a simple concept, but a surprising number of players can't execute it consistently. Lindsey does. I agree with Gallimore that the early Fletcher goal made Seattle complacent. They took their feet off the peddle the rest of the first half. When they want to turn it on offensively, they're very tough to stop. Winters was great. Certainly better than (allocated) Yael Averbuch. Tom Sermanni didn't like pure holding midfielders. But with Winters and Edwards off to a good start, Brooks in the picture, Julie Johnston making an impressive debut, maybe the new USWNT coach will reconsider. And get Morgan Brian further up field where she belongs. I love how smallish, technical players are shining in NWSL so far this year. Matheson, Lindsey, Nairn, Little, Kawasumi, Noyola have all been great. Soccer really is a great equalizer like few other sports.
One more thing. There were questions preseason about how Sydney Leroux would affect the Reign's strategy. Continue with patient possession, which they doggedly stuck with last season despite poor results? Or would they try to optimize Leroux's speed with long balls for her to feast on? After two games it's clear Harvey has gone with the former. Leroux has mostly been a cog in the overall system rather than the sole focal point. It's an adjustment for her. She might not reach last year's goal tally of 11 this time. But long-term it's healthy for her game to mature. With players like Little, Goebel, Naho around her, she has to keep her head up and be ready for quick passing exchanges.
I think how quickly and easily Seattle scored kinda sent Washington into the early bunker which really slowed the pace of the game down. I think Seattle wins either way but I think if Washington starts Lindsey its a much better game. When Lindsey isnt on the field they have a real hard time providing any service to their attacking players.
Last season I would have disagreed with this, especially as the season was winding down. Lindsey was doing the exact opposite, constantly turning the ball over and being unable to get it back. I think playing the the W-League in the offseason was the best thing she could have done, because she looks much sharper. I think she's putting less pressure on herself to play well because she's out of the NT picture and doesn't have that to distract from her play. My only concern is how much does Lindsey have left in the tank. If Washington is still in the playoff picture come the end of June, Parsons may need to manage her minutes or she'll have nothing left when they need her.
Maybe I need to watch the game more carefully, but I actually thought that the Spirit's two centerbacks, Pressley and Huster, did a pretty good job keeping Seattle at a distance from the goal. Lindsey was good; Averbuch was not. Mathewson, as always, good. Perez maybe deserves more time. On Seattle's side, Kawasumi is impressive on corners and crosses. Leroux seems to be playing pretty well, but not as the dominant forward that everybody expected her to be. Winters good. Seattle wasn't as agressive as I thought it would be. The absence of Rapinoe may account for part of that -- and they probably didn't take Washington too seriously.
Looking at these last two games, I think Harvey is leaning towards having Leroux on the wing and Goebel up top as the target forward. Can't say I disagree with this strategy as it'll mean less adjustment for the rest of the team when the NT players are away in that they don't have to adjust to a new forward. For what it's worth, Leroux had an OK game by her own standards but I'll attribute some of that to Krieger.
Heres your answer on Rapinoe's absense Nothing on injury report, but Harvey says Rapinoe dealt with foot injury since opener, didn't feel right in warmups: https://t.co/tGVOAPh2nZ— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) April 24, 2014
RE: Beverly Goebel I have found her blog on Pitchside Report to be fun to read. http://www.pitchsidereport.com/category/player-blogs/bev-goebel-blog/ Gallimore and Glasgow may be the best NWSL announcers. They mentioned that a Reign staff member speaks Japanese to help out Naho, but they forgot to mention that Goebel speaks some Japanese, and especially football related Japanese. (I understand that Rebecca Moros is more fluent than Beverly). I don't think enough of a big deal is made that Goebel led her team INAC Kobe (and led the League) in scoring this past year. INAC Kobe has 7 or 8 of Japan's WNT players. For an American to lead them in scoring is pretty impressive to me - including the fact that the team actually gave her that scoring role. She had the shortest shorts and shortest socks on the Flash in 2011. I see she wears her kit more conventionally now. She is a "player to watch" in 2014.
I remember in 2011 thinking Goebel was a serviceable midfield utility player, but nothing special. She has really grown in sophistication since then. I enjoy how the Reign, with their 4-3-3, always have multiple options in the attacking third. One of the curses of the 4-2-3-1 era is that the "1" is too often isolated up top, rarely involved. When they do get the ball, usually the outcome is to hold it up and pass back to one of the trailing midfielders. They adapt their game to get used to being alone up there, and lose the concept of interchanging with a second (or third) striker. Too many attacks stall and sputter out because teams are too concerned with controlling the middle third to get numbers forward.
Gayle was superb in the Spirit's opener, but since then she's played as if she's wearing 10-pound boots. I don't know if she's nursing an injury or what.
You can take this for what it is or isn't. And I guess I am pointing out something I noticed about Leroux. To be blunt, Leroux has wide hips. Yes women have wider hips then men, that is a given but with leroux for her body type, she is wider at the bottom. And that does cause some problems for her when she tries to take the ball side to side or even diagonal. Her foot work just isn't there, she looks clumsy when she tries to play the ball from one foot to the other. I don't think any form of drills will help her overcome this. Its not to say that leroux can't be a better possession hold up player. But as to being a versatile player with a complete tool box. I have my doubts. I actually had my doubts about Alex Morgan when she first burst onto the USWNT scene. She was a straight line north south player with lots of speed to burn. But she added layers to her game and now she can play hold up, she can distribute now. When you watch her play, Morgan is keeping her head up and looking up the field instead at the ball or at her defender. And with Morgan, she can spin, turn and move side to side without much effort. With Leroux, she has to take that extra touch to stop the ball and then another when she wants to rotate her body to the direction she wants to go in. Watching her, I just don't see how she can over come the way she plays with just technical improvements to her game. As a straight line player, Leroux is one of the best in the world. As a side to side player, she just looks uncomfortable out there. I think Laura Harvey should keep Leroux at her strengths and use her on the wing and let Beverly Goebel handle the center forward roll. Goebel can do the hold up, provide distribution onto the wings and let Leroux run onto the ball which she is best at. Her one best chance in the Washington match was the ball that she was allowed to run onto and then she put herself off side. I even think that pass to Leroux was from Goebel. Play Leroux out wide and have her switch from wing to wing to force match up problems for the defense. I think that is her best role.
Taking a quick look through the schedule, it doesn't look like Boston has any home games on Saturday. They are all midweek or Sunday. Maybe it was cheaper to rent the stadium on Weekdays and Sundays than on Saturdays?
Could also be that most Saturdays are already booked? I mean, we can assume most of July is booked as well, it wouldn't surprise me if Harvard stadium is a popular venue.
Yeah but why at night? Sunday ud think theyd want to get an afternoon start. Nights r still chilly up here and people have work/school the next day. Is Harvard so busy they coulddnt get afternoons?