Well UNC still got the best NC player in the 2012 class. They also have commits from two best in the 2013 class. I'm sure Duke and Wake wanted Joanna, Vicky, Cameron, Caroline.
UNC is recruiting fine. They have to find right mix of role players / stars. The 2012 and 2013 classes are very good. I'm sure most were highly recruited by many programs. Caroline Lindquist NC player Summer Green Joanna Boyles NC player Bryane Heaberline Cameron Castleberry NC player Jenny Chiu Nickolette Driesse Amanda Rooney Vicky Bruce NC player Lindsey Horan Indi Cowie If the coaching staff can't win with that kind of talent than something is wrong. hehe
Actually, my comment about the wealth of NC talent was headed along a slightly different tack. In years past, UNC-CH's dynastic teams have had pretty modest in-State representation. A very large percentage of our players have come from out-of-State. It is my understanding that out-of-State players have experienced a Very Substantial tuition increase, in the form of the elimination of NC in-State tuition status for out-of-State D1 players. (Not only are the academic admissions requirements for out-of-Stater's tougher-- the tuition bill is too!) As this has not been offset by corresponding scholarship fund increases, it will cost a lot more for out-of-State families to send their kids to play for Carolina. So, factor One: As private institutions, Duke and Wake face different constraints in financing their players. I don't actually understand what those constraints may be, I only know they are different from those imposed by the NC State Legislature, and I would speculate (perhaps wrongly) that this puts Duke and Wake in a better position than before to attract top talent with financial incentives. To make up numbers out of thin air, if the best 10 (out-of-State) players in the country all want to play for UNC, but UNC can only afford four of them, then the other six will end up playing against us! I think that Duke and Wake are in a better position for recruiting than ever before. In terms of out-of-Staters, my guess is that they can better afford them. In terms of in-State players, my guess is that it is a bit more complicated. One: in-State kids now must win slots from out-of-State, National U20 level players who before might have been 'purchased' by the Heels, so that may make things more competitive for NC players to start at Duke and Wake; two: UNC still has Huge reputation-- if it is now more likely that a NC player can make the squad, that will be the first choice for many NC resident players, perhaps making it harder for Duke and Wake to attract them; three: Duke and Wake are exceptional schools (as is UNC) offering excellent educational experiences, they are ascending in soccer reputation (while UNC's armour of invincibility may be cracking?), and they are all in the ACC, which (IMO) is the place to be for a young female player for the next several years. Hard to know how all those factors would be balanced for any particular player? My guess is that UNC will roster and start more NC players than we have in the past, and that we will have the inside track in recruiting the best the State has to offer, at least for the next several years until it becomes clear whether other ACC schools have the staying power to rival UNC year after year (and whether UNC has the staying power to once again dominate at the National level). These are just my guesses, for whatever they may be worth?
Firstly it is not and never has been the coaching staff that wins games. It has always been the players who up until recent years UNC has had its disproportionate share of superstars. And for us fans happily so. And yes, something is terribly wrong, because as will come to light soon, the coaching staff has lost it's way on a forlorn quest to win by recruiting accolades over unity. Players are being cut loose with no regards to services rendered and if you don't think that this is weighing heavily on who is left, I have news for you. What I am saying is, it won't matter who AD brings in at this point unless the heart and soul of the team is revived to where it was a few years ago.
Does anyone see a tactical change in AD's future? I know he talked about learning from the French system in the WWC...can we expect a permanent change from the 1-3-4-3 UNC is famous for...?
IMO, tough call. What is brilliant about the 3-4-3, is that it is lean, simple, direct, effective, and easy for players to understand (though shockingly difficult for players to execute-- something UNC detractors have never understood), and well suited to the college game. Many posters think the women's game has outgrown this strategy. Perhaps. It is my opinion that US college women generally still don't play very good soccer (which is why I so enjoy watching the best teams who are the exception to the rule). Most womens teams are not that hard to beat. If UNC (or anyone else) can recruit really good players who understand the importance of fitness and speed of play, I am pretty sure that a well coached team can crush almost any opponent by playing a 3-4-3 in the women's game for years to come. I base my opinion on a couple facts. One: this is College soccer! The kids come to play for their team and get on the field for friends, family and program. Teams will play better when their players get to play! Other posters have argued the benefits of more limited substitution, but college soccer is not WNT training camp-- relaxed substitution lets more kids play for their teams. If it also encourages a fast-paced, opportunistic style of coaching, well, there it is. It gets players who love the game onto the field to represent their team and school. (If it is not the best system to prepare a few young women to rise to the WNT/WPS where they can risk their health in a professional/international system that will pay them about as well as janitors and where the professional league may disappear at any moment, leaving them with memories and/or potential permanent injury, well, gee, I guess I am ok with that). Two: Direct attack out of a 3-4-3 is easy to coach, easy for the players to understand, and totally effective, if done correctly. If UNC, the school that best understands the 3-4-3, can continue to find the players to execute it, they would, IMO, be crazy to back away from it. In the men's game 3-4-3 went away because opposing players were too good. By contrast, in the women's game, more teams don't play 3-4-3 because the players are not good enough to execute it. Coaches seek more complicated systems to compensate for lack of athletic talent, which is why we hear so much whinging about the UNC direct style of play in the women's game. The 3-4-3 will become unworkable when defending teams become so skilled that high pressure does not score goals. That is several years away (at best) for most contests in the women's college game. Until then, any team that can run high-pressure, speed-of-play based attacks with high percentage finishing will win national championships. For UNC, in particular, at the moment we are in disarray, playing people in the wrong positions, losing team chemistry, undergoing a surprising failure of decisive and effective coaching vision. I don't think that will last too long. Whether we return to a 3-4-3 at the end of the day will depend on the quality of our future recruits. If they are good enough to run it, then we will almost certainly use a 3-4-3 system to win National Championships. If we have weaker recruits against better competition, we will need to find more complicated solutions.
I'm sure Duke and Wake didn't have much money left for 2012 considering they aren't losing anybody from their Final Four teams (but they are still picking up solid additions to the team for 2012). They had two of the best performing Freshman classes in the ACC this past year and have good 2013 classes coming in.
I am unconvinced that after so many years of coaching a 3-4-3 that AD is comfortable coaching any other style. In any case very few teams, can play a 3-4-3 effectively simply because you are asking way too much of your outside mids and defenders. As women attackers become better and better a 3 back will leave you vulnerable to a crafty and quick forward midfield combination that have plenty of space to slice open defenses. Ala Stanford this season.
I think this is about right. But I think the last several years show the other ACC schools already have the staying power to rival UNC year after year. The other top teams (particularly FSU) are competing for the top spot year in and year out. UNC will always be a good to great team, but I think the days of winning back to back to back to back championships (conference or national) are gone. The reason: Some girls might think that being on a team as deep as UNC traditionally is might not be to their advantage. Be a sometimes starter at UNC or be a star on another team in the conference that can win a national championship too? UNC will always field top talent, but they won't be drawing in the insanely dominant recruiting classes of years past.
Rumor has it that a player from UNC is transferring out. Stanford, Portland, and one other that was not heard, along with the name of the player.
Yes, it is common for a player or two to transfer out of top flight programs, UNC included. It would be amazing if transfers didn't occur from highly recruited programs since it is illogical to think that every player will find a really good fit in such competitive environments. For example, last year 2 players transferred out of Florida State, and 3 players the year before. 2 players transferred out of Penn State in 2011 and one the year previous. UCLA lost 3 this past year and one the previous year. UNC had no players leave last year, but did have Merritt Mathias leave the year previous. That the Tarheels would have a player (or two or three) transfer out this year is not surprising in the least, given the struggles these past two seasons to win consistently.
Dunn, Ohai, Heaberlin, and Horan called into U-20 camp in San Diego Jan. 5-19 http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-20-WNT/2012/01/U20-WNT-Returns-to-Action-in-San-Diego.aspx
That's pretty awesome. Am surprised Brooks didn't get the additional callup...is she outside the age group?
First of all let me say congratulations to all the player invited. You all deserve to be called in! Good Luck! Now comes my displeasure with US Soccer: 1. January 5-19! Really these girls are all just starting back to school and now will be out for the first 2 weeks. US Soccer continually reeks of arrogance and disrespect to it's players. Do you really think soccer is more important than education.....sure you do! 2. These girls are just coming off Christmas break. Couldn't you schedule the camp then. Sure you couldn't because you wanted to spend time with your families and hey were US Soccer and we can do whatever we want! 3. The inconsistency over the past years shows the direction of US Soccer. Utterly irresponsible! And the results will show it! I apologize highjacking the Tarheels thread but you would think common sense would take precedence but then again it all starts at the top. No wonder Pia leaving after the olympics!
Qualifying for the U20 cup is in March so get ready to be unhappy a couple more times. Sure, they could have tried to have a camp in the winter break but there were other teams using the HDC facility.
After the fun exercise of musing what the line-ups may be, other interesting variations pop up. Lindsey Horan has been playing (and scoring alot) at forward for her entire career, both club and Youth National Team. I find it interesting to note that on the U-17 YNT pool she is listed as a midfielder, and when she trained and played in a tournament in France this past summer she played attacking midfielder. Hey UNC4EVER, how does a 5'10" athletic and goal scoring attacking mid sound to you? Also, I note that Reilly Parker who has been a speedy winger for years, is listed as a midfielder on the most recent U-18 YNT camp roster. So how about a 2012 midfield of Amber at holding mid, Dunn on the left, Parker on the right, and Horan at attacking mid? To me that sounds really sweet! Then that would leave Ohai, Cowie, and Rich up front which ain't too shabby either. (and Cowie may surprise many.) Cheers!
I can not wait for next season. The entire look of this team is sure to change and the options AD has are mind boggling. If the College Cup does not come home I will be very surprised. I too think that Cowie will pleasantly surprise everyone. She has the correct mindset and lives, breathes the game.
Word is that Bryane Haeberlin and Indi Cowie have officially enrolled at Carolina. I'll be very interested to see them this spring.
Another addition to our 2013 class... Danae O'Halloran from Tom's River, NJ. She had initially picked Tennessee over UNC, but with Angela Kelly off to Texas, Danae has apparently decided to go back to the Tarheels after all. She looks to me as though she may be in the mold of Brooke Elby (only taller.) That is to say she has no particular accolades, but has performed quite well on her high school team with good speed and aggressiveness and passable footwork. She plays on the right side working to the corner for a good service to the middle. She may develop nicely with the Tarheels. (Right now she's recovering from a left ACL tear.)
(Emphasis added.) This is an interesting item related to recruiting. Back in the "old days," she might have been dismissed due to the ACL tear. With improvements in the repair of ACLs, at least some teams are taking chances on potentially great players with injuries. Portland's Jessica Tsao missed, I believe, her last 1 1/2 years of high school soccer with an ACL injury but went on to start for four years at right defender for the Pilots and might have been playing in the WPS except that she opted to go do graduate study in Oxford or Cambridge, I can't remember which. My take is that some of the top teams have figured out that there are some very good risks to be taken.