I dont buy the stacked theory because I have a hard time believing Havana Solaun is rated higher than Ohai.
How did the spring game against Elon go? With three players away and seniors gone, it must have been a chance for some other players to step up? Any first had reports?
Yea I thought it was absurd as well but I have heard nothing about the team since the end of the year. They aren't even having practices that I can ask questions at, and the few times I've run into Summer at pick ups before she shipped off to U-20s she just kind of shrugged at me. I almost get the sense they are trying to keep everything under wraps and informal as possible. I've not been able to get any interviews what so ever.
Maybe she wanted a break after a very hectic year. I did notice Ohai was named to ACC all-academic team last week so it's not like she has to bring up her grade in basket weaving.
Tar Heels in southern Europe.... Well, even it the US U23s didn't take any Tarheels at their camp or on playing roster, I did notice an ex-Tarheel played a full game anyway in the LaManga finals which the US team won 2-1. She might not have been on the winning team but Lucy Bronze went the distance for England last week. (For those of you who may not remember, Lucy won a starting role for the tournaments of the 2009 season and was one of two freshman starters, along with Amber Brooks, to take home that national championship at Texas A&M.) For the 6 NCAA games she had two goals and 3 assists. Moving to the U-20s, who are presently in LaManga, incoming frosh Amber Munerlyn has distinguished herself by going the distance in the first two games. She scored the only US goal in the 1-1 draw with Norway. Summer Green joined her as a starter in the Germany game (unfortunately, a rather lopsided 3-0 defeat) while Hannah Gardener came in at the 12-minute mark and went the rest of the way. Over at the senior team Algarve tournament in nearby Portugal, 5 Tarheels participated in today's tough draw against Sweden. That would be Ashlyn Harris, Heather O'Reilly, Tobin Heath, Whitney Engen, and Yael Averbuch. For Ash, it was her first cap on the senior team. Congrats to her! On to the finals!
Report is out that ND is joing the ACC July 1st. Will be interesting to see what the ACC will do in terms of the women's soccer conference games. Will each team play every other team during the ACC season and keep the ACC tournament or will there just be a regular season winner and no ACC tournament. With Pitt, Syracuse and ND that's now 14 schools I think.
Briana Alston - first 2016 verbal is a Defender from FC Virginia, whose team defense rated tops in their ECNL age bracket back in January according to TopDrawer.
As I've written previously, if the ACC plays a full conference schedule, it will have consequences. I'm guessing the ACC's teams will lose, on average, between 5 and 10 RPI ranking positions, with the biggest losses probably coming to teams contending to get into the bubble or outside the bubble. Thus from a seeding perspective, this might hurt some but not too much. But, it could have significant consequences in terms of teams that might be deserving of at large spots not even getting consideration.
On the U20 tournament in LaManga, FWIW for Tarheel fans... Incoming frosh Amber Munerlyn started and played every minute of the three games and scored the only goal of the tournament for the USA. Summer Green sat out two games but went 60 minutes before being subbed out in the embarrassing loss to Germany. Hanna Gardner watched the Norway game from the bench, got into the Germany game at the 12 minute mark, and played the entire final game against Sweden. I'm not sure what to read into this as I can't draw a bead on what the (very) new coach, Michelle French is up to.
Actually there is a previous 2016 verbal (back in November) - CASL's Taylor Otto. So now there are two verbals each for 2015 and 2016.
I just noticed this evening that we have another verbal for 2014. Jessie Scarpa from Lakeland, Florida has committed. Jessie is the middle (and tallest) of three soccer-playing sisters and has been off and on the Region III ODP team for a few years. She just has a spectacular junior year season in high school scoring 47 goals. It's funny... I have been wondering when Lauren Green (who plays on both the same high school and ECNL teams alongside Jessie as another forward) was going to verbal as she is the only player in TOP Drawer's 2014 top 50 (at #27) who hasn't committed yet. So it might just look like Cris Ducar or Anson went down to take a look at Green, but came away with Jessie instead. Wanna bet that Jessie, who isn't even ranked in the Top Drawer top 150, turns out to be the stronger player? Anyhow, that makes a class of 4 for 2014 and AD may just well stop there as the Tarheels will need a year or two to drop down to a reasonable roster size. Nobody is transferring out as far as I know and with the morale so high and the girls getting along so well, the only way to back off on the roster numbers to get to a traditional level (30+/-) will be to recruit some small classes.
I'm curious, has AD done this in the past? Meaning, having small recruiting classes to balance out other years' larger ones? Four in a class is a really small number, even for teams that go with much smaller rosters. But, I don't know UNC's red-shirt status. Although it may be four 2014s, with red-shirts that class could end up as a larger class when they graduate.
No, he hasn't had to do this in the past because the active roster has always been in the 27 to 31 range where he seems to like it. We are in new territory here with the gargantuan classes (by UNC standards) in 2012 and 2013. Long-term he'd average recruiting classes of 8-9 players per year and there was always some attrition in the order of two players or so (injury, transfers out, or the walk-ons deciding to retire from play) resulting in the traditional 28-30 roster size. The situation at this time is that he will now have two classes in a row of 12 (and likely 13 for this fall) at a time when, for what ever reason, we just haven't seen significant transfers out or kids dropping off. This pushes the roster up into the high 30s. Yes, you and I think alike. I also have been thinking that significant red-shirting just may occur this year. We already have heard that Indi Cowie (who looked very promising a year ago before her ACL) has decided to pursue her free styling career for the time being (smart move IMO) and if AD can find 5 players to redshirt this year, things will start to smooth out. And there are some good redshirt candidates -kids who could use another year of development and then come on to the roster when starters Dunn, Ohai, Brigman, and Morris plus regular subs McFarlane and Seiloff all have graduated.
Scarpa has a couple youtube vids, seems like a nice kid. Her highlights are reminiscent of Horan...big, attacking personality, agile...let's hope she doesn't end up at PSG! Looks like a great addition.
Good to see Kling called back up to the nats. I assume her shoulder surgery recovery is going well. Will we get the recruiting announcement before may this year? I know staff doesn't make a big deal of it but id like see the official list of who's joining this fall. No biggie though.
Yes, I'd like to see the final class too, but I suspect it will be late April or May again. For the past few years there has always been an unexpected surprise player when the final announcement comes. I've kinda gotten used to this MO, so am eager to see who he comes up with. Another foreign player?
The last I had heard was that Green gave up soccer last year. She does not live near Scarpa and does not go to the same school. If something has changed it would be huge for UNC
I'm not sure what you mean by something being huge for UNC??? I guess that I got the wrong Lauren Greens in central Florida. George Jenkins High School in Lakeland lists Lauren Green and Jessie Scarpa on their roster for their state champion team. Also, on the U17 ECNL roster for the VSI West Florida Flames these same two names are listed. I got the wrong Lauren Green because, now that you point it out, I see that the other Lauren Green goes to Apopka High School. I apologize. Sorry.
Her final three schools were UNC, Stanford and Florida State. Nice pickup for Anson and his staff. Her sister is on the Florida State team.
Heels: 2, Florida: 0 A report. This morning's scrimmage with Florida was my first look at the 2013 Heels. I'm impressed! 3 30-minute periods with the first two a serious game with the coaching staff obviously looking closely at the prime prospects for next year. The last period was time to clear the bench and look to see who else shows well. A stout breeze accompanied rain and 40-degrees. It was cold! The starting 11 were: Seiloff, with Brigman, Gardener, and Murray as the three backs and Caitlin Ball as holding mid. (An interesting choice which worked pretty well IMO.) The midfield was McFarlane, Dunn, and Bowen and upfront was Parker, Ohai, and Neilsen. This basic team (along with Elby and Gray who subbed in at the wings) had the run of the play against FL for the whole 30 minutes, although no goals were scored. Katie Bowen was outstanding -playing with great intelligence, creativity, a super first touch, and always under control. Crystal did not disappoint; what a fabulous player! (The only trouble is that some of her teammates will have to learn to better anticipate her speed of play.) The back line did very well. Brigman looks fully recovered and on her game. She, Gardener, and Murry had little trouble with the Florida offense with Anna only tested once (on a free kick.) Second period started with the same personell except that Kat Nigro was in at attacking mid and Lindsey Harris was in goal. (Page Neilsen sat down.) AD had them in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and two goals resulted within 15 minutes. In front of Harris were Brigman, Gardener, Bowen, and Murray. Ball and McFarlane played as 2 holding mids, and Parker, Nigro, and Dunn lined up as midfielders, with Ohai as a lone target or decoy. Florida had only one dangerous moment late in the period. The scores came from a fine ball from McFarlane to Dunn on the right who bolted down to the corner before the defense could react and then placed a nice pass to a charging Parker who cleanly one-touched it to the back of the net. The next goal came a few minutes later when Satara took one of her several runs deep to the red zone on the right side, but this time surprised us by dribbling through everyone at the goal and made nice work of the keeper with a strong shot from about 12 yards on the right. (Nobody seemed to want to get in front of that freight train comin' through...which is Satara with a head of steam!) Third period saw a line-up that included midfielders Linquist, Bruce, and Thompson, with Clemente, Gray, and Elby up top. Bryanne Haeberlin was in goal behind the four back defense. We had the run of play and some dangerous moments, but only one ball off the bar. (Bowen on a 20-yard free kick around a wall.) So what do I conclude? (1) The defense is in good hands. What was a real worry for most of last year looks like a brick wall. If they stay healthy, we'll be a challenge to score on. (2) We got keepers! Three strong ones! Pick any one and smile. Anna and Bryane weren't really tested, while Harris made a short-range reaction save look routine. (Two shots on frame for 90 minutes (one a free kick to Anna) is not bad for a defense against a quality opponent!) (3) The holding midfield job should also be in good hands next fall. Ball, her usual no-drama calm self, looks perfectly capable as the holding mid and she will likely be challenged by incoming Joanna Boyles. No problem there. (4) With Dunn as attacking mid or on the wing, the midfield will present some real challenges for the opposing defense. If AD goes with a three-back, Bowen at midfield is a no-brainer. We'll haver other choices too. McFarlane has subbed in nicely for three years and could start. But so could Meg Morris or Brooke Elby plus a look at incoming frosh Amanda Rooney or Boyles (if she doesn't end up at holding mid.) Caroline Lindquist looked much improved today and Vicky Bruce always shows real good soccer intelligence. (5) Kealia did just fine today, although she was marked heavily. She got off several shots: some high, some blocked, but her hustle and persistence presents a serious problem for defenders. Reilly Parker was quite impressive today -fast and purposeful. Page Neilsen is solid every time I see her. Not flashy, speedy, or tricky, just nicely competently solid. I assume that Summer Green will have to be in the mix next fall, and then we'll have two outstanding frosh coming in! Notably absent today were Taylor Ramirez, Summer Green, and Meg Morris. (Thompson was wearing Meg's #32 uniform instead of #16.) While we already heard that Indi Cowie would be pursuing her free style career, I trust that Morris, Green, and Ramirez will be back? Cheers to all UNC fans!
Great match report, SH! Thanks from all of us who live further off and couldn't be there! This is going to be a very strong and deep team this Fall, if everyone stays healthy! Glad to hear of Ball's development up above the back line, and to hear the players like Parker, Lindquist, Bruce, Nielsen, Clemente, Harris and Thompson are getting some key minutes. That's what spring games are for. So do you know why Green, Ramirez and Morris weren't playing?