Looking at potential bubble teams from your two conferences, with the data as it stands right now, I'm having Louisville and South Florida being "out" and Auburn and Rutgers being "in." Of course, if Auburn wins the SEC Tournament, they're definitely in.
Not sure if it is taken into account or makes a difference, but Auburn is 12-9-1, not 13-9 because the pk win is credited as a tie
Ahh whoops, yeah mistakes like that are bound to happen I guess. I do proof read my stuff, but slip ups happen
Congratualtions to Marquette and Florida for winning their respected conferences and the automatic bid that comes with it. With conference final matches complete, the NCAA selection show this Monday 4:30pm est www.NCAA.com will determine which 64 teams will make the 2012 NCAA women's soccer tournament. To understand what goes into selecting teams for the 64 team field, we need to understand some of the parameters of how they determine which teams are eligable and which won't make the cut. 1) The main determining factor is RPI. The higher it is, the better. But it isn't the only destermining factor to how a team is placed or seeded. 2) Strength of Schedule (SoS) is also important and becomes even more so when determining seeding and for especially bubble teams. Having key markee wins over ranked teams will push a team into the NCAA tournament. 3) Which is related to RPI. How a team does over the course of the season. How badly they beat on opponents thereby illustrating a weak schedule. How badly they get beat on by opponents. How strong their conferences are. And overall winning record. If you keep winning, your RPI will be higher. 64 teams will make it into the NCAA tournament, what maybe some people may not realize is that there are a total of 29 other conferences that get automatic bids to the tournament as well. Win their tournament and they are in. So with that factored we have in reality only 35 at large bids for teams if they want to be included in the tournament. These at large bids become smaller as we include teams that would normally not qualify by RPI alone but win the automatic bid of their conferences. Weaker conferences like America East, Missouri Valley and Sun Belt are some examples. These bids will shrink the at large pool for teams. To understand why this is we need to look at the overall field. If a team is in the top 40 RPI of the nation, then they are in the tournament. Its rare that a team in the top 40 doesn't make it in but if it happens it will probably be due to a weak strength of schedule (SoS). Any team under 40 would be considered on the bubble. And what I would define a bubble is a team that is in the lower end of the RPI that either doesn't have any markee wins that would help them stand out or has had an up and down season which has impacted their overall RPI. Teams in the bubble are 41-64, but there is actually two classes to the bubble teams. Those that sit about 50 are on the good side of the bubble, those that sit on the bottom side are on the bad side. What this means is if a team is on the bottom half of the bubble, the auto bids from the weaker conference are more then likely going to knock teams down as they push a team down the rankings with of course teams being on the good side of the bubble having better shots at making it in. RPIBubble status 1-40lock 41-50good side 51-64bad side Even if a team sits on the good side of the bubble doesn't guarentee them a spot in the tournament. As auto bids from conferences gets locked in, RPI for those teams becomes very important. Normally a conference champion will have the RPI to normally get in on their own merits to the NCAA tournament. But an upset can change all this and this is expecially important in weaker conferences where the eventual champion has upset the front runner and taken the auto bid. A normal one bid conference would then become a two bid conference because the front running team has the RPI to get into the field on their own, but the team that won the auto bid didn't. So the at large bid pool shrinks and importantly teams on the bubble lose a bid. This has already happenned with WAC conference with Utah State upsetting Denver. Conference champions that needed the auto bid to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Hofsra(Colonial-94 rpi), Stony Brook (America East-139 rpi), Idaho State (Big Sky-196 rpi), Radford (Big South-85 rpi), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Horizon-119 rpi), Loyola (MAAC-114 rpi), Illinois State (Missouri Valley-107 rpi), Long Island (Northeast-157 rpi), Tennessee-Martin (Ohio Valley-130 rpi), Colgate (Patriot-85 rpi), Georgia Southern (Southern-174 rpi), Mississpi Valley State (SWAC-285 rpi), Oakland (Summit-122 rpi), North Texas (Sun Belt-54 rpi), Utah State (WAC-57 rpi). Cal State Northridge (Big West-51 rpi), Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun-53 rpi), North Texas (Sun Belt-54 rpi) Right away we see that 18 conference champions needed the auto bid to make it into the NCAA tournament. Considering that any team below the top 40 are bubble teams and add in 18 conference champions that would shrink the bubble further. We have really in essence 6 slots open for teams on the bubble. A very small number that will make quite a few teams sweat on selection day. How does it effect teams in the Big East and SEC? The SEC are locked in at 6 teams. Its highly unlikely this will change. The only team really on the bubble for the SEC is Auburn (48 rpi) But their strong SoS will more then likely get them in the tournament. SEC teams going to the NCAA tournament: Florida, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Auburn. For the Big East its a different story they have 3 teams locked in, 3 that are on the bubble. For Marquette, Georgetown and Notre Dame, they are in. Louisville (45 rpi) Rutgers (47 rpi) and South Florida (52 rpi), they will need to wait in pins and needles for the selection commitee verdict. I do believe because of Rutgers SoS, they will be in the tournament. For Louisville despite their good RPI, their SoS is very medicore and won't compare well with the other teams vying for an at large bid. And South Florida last game draw with Georgetown sadly for them won't be as helpful to them as Georgetown's RPI plummeted when they lost to Villanova in their last conference game. Big East teams going to the NCAA tournament: Marquette, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Rutgers. Teams with strong claims to an at large bid: 7 teams Washington State (Pac12-42 rpi), Wisconsin (Big10-43 rpi), Illinois (Big10-44 rpi), Rutgers (BigEast-47 rpi), Auburn (SEC-48 rpi), Miami (ACC-50 rpi), Oregon State (Pac12-56 rpi) Projected bubble teams going to the NCAA tournament: 7 Washington State, Wisconisn, Illinois, Rutgers, Auburn, Miami (Fla), Oregon State Top 40 team dropping out of the tournament: 1 Arizona State (Due to weak SoS)
I just noticed that Princeton's RPI is at 41 as they won their conference auto bid so they would be added in, but I did add in North Texas twice. Several errors I missed. Still the final bubble bid numbers should be correct.
So NCAA tournament field is now set. As suspected from the Big East Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame and Rutgers make the field. From the SEC, Florida, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky and Auburn. Link to the brackets. http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-women/d1 Marquette picks up a deserving national seed (4) and SEC schools Florida picks up the (2) national seed. Tennessee takes a shaft in getting a national seed since two ACC schools picked up national seeds which were very debatable. Maryland (25 rpi) and Wake Forest (16 rpi). Both of these clubs picked up seeds over Tennessee (15 rpi) The best gifted national seed has to goto North Carolina who picked up a very generous (2) seed. They sit opposite of BYU in their bracket and have a fairly easy road to get to the sweet 16. The team that got hosed on national seed implications was UCLA who should of picked up the (2) seed but got screwed over and got the (3) seed but their saving grace is their side of the bracket is fairly easy and will face the over valued (2) seed in San Diego State which even though their RPI was second in the nation, their strength of schedule (SoS) was by far the weakest of the top 10 teams of the nation. The BYU bracket looks the easiest bracket to come out off and luckily for Marquette, Georgetown, Missouri and Auburn, they are in this bracket. Its a toss up who could potential come out of this bracket with West Virginia as the only team in the nation to beat Stanford this year, on the BYU side having a very good chance of knocking off BYU. North Carolina hasn't been in top form this year so anything can happen on their side of the bracket. The Stanford bracket looks to be the toughest with Maryland being slotted into that bracket making Stanfords path to the college cup that much more difficult. The Penn State bracket comes in a close second with 3 top ACC schools and Portland in that bracket as well. The only reason why they wouldn't be the defacto group of death is the ACC schools having to face off in the bottom portion of the bracket. Boston College is a much better alternative for Penn State then either Duke or Virginia. How I determine which bracket is the toughest is by how tough of a road it is for the top seed in each bracket to get to the College Cup. For Stanford, their road is very tough with games against Santa Clara, Maryland and then UCLA. For Penn State they would have to deal with BC, Portland and either Duke or Virginia. A much easier road to the College Cup for Penn State. Big East NCAA matches. Georgetown-BigEast (15-3-3) visits Virginia Tech-ACC (13-5-1) Illinois State-Missouri Valley (13-4-2) visits (4)Marquette-BigEast (16-2-2) Wisconsin-Milwaukee-Horizon (8-8-1) visits Notre Dame-BigEast (13-5-2) Rutgers-BigEast (12-7-1) visits Colgate-Patriot (11-5-4) SEC NCAA matches. Florida Gulf Coast-Atlantic Sun (13-3-3) visits (2)Florida-SEC (17-4-1) Stephen F. Austin-Soutland (17-3) visits Texas A&M-SEC (17-4-1) Illinois-Big10 (10-8-3) visits Missouri-SEC (14-7) Auburn-SEC (12-10-1) visits Washington-Pac12 (10-7-3) Tennesse Martin-Ohio Valley (13-5-3) visits Kentucky-SEC (13-6-1) Miami (OH)-Mid-American (19-2-1) visits Tennessee-SEC (14-4-3) Overall no Big East or SEC team has to face a seeded team in their first round which is good but after that its a tough slog for some of the teams. Tennessee looks to be in the worst position being stuck in the Penn State bracket with no national seed, they will have to face (2)Duke in the second round early. (2)Florida looks to have a fairly easy road to the sweet 16 with Notre Dame and (3)Wake Forest on their side of the bracket. But with both teams having to face off before they take on Florida. Florida should coast to the sweet 16 without much trouble. Notre Dame on the other hand will have to deal with Wake Forest in the second round which should be a toss up match then face Florida after. Georgetown, Marquette, Missouri and Auburn are in the BYU bracket. Georgetown shouldn't have problems dealing with Virginia Tech, but then they have to face (3)Baylor which will be a tough test, but a doable win for them. After that they face off the winners of the North Carolina and Missouri match with UNC being favored. (4)Marquette's road is a bit more complicated, they should easily beat illinois State but they will then face West Virginia in the second round and this WVU is probably favored here. Auburn on the other hand has a rough first match with Washington and it could go either way between the two sides. Who ever wins this match will then have to face off against BYU which should be a tough match for either club. Kentucky's road is pretty tough with them having to face UCLA in the second round with UCLA being favored heavily here. Rutgers road is equally tough with Virginia as their second round opponent. Out of all the teams discussed, with the exception of Florida who have a easy path as discussed. Georgetown has a decent opportunity to make it to the sweet 16. Baylor is winnable and UNC has been off an on this year. They have a good opportunity to make something happen.
Congrats to Rutgers making it in as a 47 RPI. I had them written off when they 1-5 at one point in the Big East. But somehow they found a way to get back to .500 before being eliminated by UConn in the play-in game. Beating Ohio State (RPI: 12) and tying Notre Dame (21) gave them a lot of mileage. Looking at the RPIs, I would have to think the first 4 teams that were out were Dartmouth (37), Louisville (45), Dayton (48), and South Florida (52). Miami at 50 was the lowest RPI at-large team. Too bad for Big East teams USF and Louisville. Louisville probably feels like it may have a gripe. Miami, Colorado College (46), Auburn (48), and Rutgers got in ahead of them despite lower RPIs. But their best result was a tie against Georgetown with no real big wins and they went 0-4-1 against other tournament teams, so I can see why the committee made the choices they did. In the end I feel the selection committee did a pretty good job overall.
Yeah Rutgers really did get into the tournament because of that Ohio State win. Its intresting that the NCAA selection commitee really factored in Strength of Schedule (SoS) because Dartmouth with an RPI 37 did not make the field. That is very rare to see a team that high in the RPI not make the field, but Dartmouth didn't have any quality results over a top 50 team. They were an anomaly in the top 40, even Arizone State who I thought had a weak SoS was better then Dartmouth's. But I figured that ASU would be the one out, not Dartmouth. Miami deserved their spot in the NCAA tournament. They beat a slew of top 25 teams. Its just they lost to teams they shouldn't have which of course their RPI dived because of it. I think South Florida had a decent chance if Georgetown didn't lose to Villanova. That loss really hurt Georgetown's RPI and USF's draw with them didn't account for alot. If USF's RPI could of been in the 40's, I think they would of been in. Miami, Georgetown and Louisville x2 would of been enough. Colorado College was an intresting choice. They had two key results over ranked teams. Denver and UCF. Their problem is they are in the C-USA and quite frankly the teams there are not really going to help your RPI much, which is why Colorado College's RPI was where it was at. They were a possible bubble team for me, but I though Oregon State just had a better resume with their win over Portland and Washington. And they do play in a much tougher conference then Colorado does. Still their RPI was much lower then Colorado's so that did have to be taken into consideration. I do agree with you that this year the Selection commitee made the right choices in picking which teams made it in, having Dayton make it in instead of teams like Rutgers would of been a farce. So overall a job well done, we can question the seedings of course, but the teams that are in are well qualified.
Rutgers had the second best Non-Conference ARPI of all the bubble teams, which was a plus for it. In addition, it had three head-to-head games with bubble teams and won all three. It had common opponents (where the two bubble teams had different results) with eight bubble teams and performed better against the common opponents in relation to four of those bubble teams and poorer in relation to four. In terms of record against teams already selected for the bracket, I had it in 5th place. So, how it performed against teams already selected certainly was a very important factor, but Rutgers had other things going for it too. South Florida, on the other hand, probably needed more than a Georgetown win over Villanova. It was third from the bottom with its Non-Conference ARPI. It split its head-to-head games 2-2. It split as to bubble teams with common opponents 3-3. I had it ranked in an 11th-12th place tie in terms of record against teams already selected for the bracket. It's probably a good example of why teams that want to get into the Tournament need to take their chances and set up a difficult non-conference schedule. Here are the non-conference teams they played: UCF MiamiFL IndianaU GeorgiaU Dartmouth CollegeofCharleston KennesawState While UCF and Miami are formidable, this just isn't a good enough non-conference schedule. Of course, maybe they had some bad luck with Indiana and Georgia (thinking they would be stronger than they turned out to be), that's part of the challenge for coaching staffs hoping for at large selections into the Tournament. Plus, the Big East was weaker this year, which did not help it.
Yeah Rutgers did pretty good in their non conference play with their only loss coming to Texas A&M which wouldn't of impacted thier RPI that much. And Louisville doing so poorly in winning key matches does point out that strength of schedules are important for breakdowns between bubble teams and even teams that want to go into the tournament, like Dartmouth found out. Even though USF didn't get an at large bid, they did surprise with how well they played this year. They had a good year, Louisville if they only played up to their potential, they would of been another team that could of helped USF out.
Friday Nov.9 2012 (2)Florida (18-4-1) 2-0 win vs Florida Gulf Coast (13-4-3) Florida: 9th Erika Tymrak, 6th Annie Speese If we want to be honest, the Gators simply dominated the Eagles. 19-0 shots should give you a good idea how bad the game was for the Eagles. The Gators had without joking, 90% of the possession and if not for the heroics of freshman Britanny Brown, the score would of been 5 or 6-0. She reflexed a point blank shot, made two diving saves off Adriana Leon's shots, and Annie Speese hit the goal post as well. Britanny Brown made a career high 9 saves, brilliant performance on her part. Florida plays a style that I like to call ball control football. Something like what Chelsea or Barca play, one touch short passing. Very few clubs play this, the ones I follow are Portland and Notre Dame, but Florida take it to a new level. Having a playmaking midfielder is key to this, Florida is blessed to have two of them in Erika Tymrak who had a goal and an assist this game and Havana Solaun. Both of these midfielders boss the midfield and control the tempo of the game. Its easy to say that a team is a possession oriented team, but are they really? If they control 70% of the ball, is that really possession? Or is that simply dominating a weaker side with more physically gifted players? What Florida plays is a style of football that is very pleasing. They avoid wasting shots on long balls, they keep possession at all costs and try to move the ball up the middle and create ball movement between players. And more importantly players play ball support to the player that has the ball. What this means is players supporting the ball carrier by moving up to provide passing lanes so the player can pass to create lanes of opportunity for players. Even with the Eagles playing with 9 players behind the ball, the Gators were still able to move the ball freely inside the 18 yard box, its very pretty to watch such ball movement even in crowded spaces. Florida if they keep this form, will be a dangerous force and is not only my pick to make the final four, but to win the who championship. I think they can do it this year especially with Erika Tymrak on form. Kentucky (14-6-1) 1-0 ot win vs Tennessee-Martin (13-6-3) Kentucky: 6th Kelli Hubly (Golden Goal) I was kinda disappointed at watching this game. I expected more technical football play, but what we saw was a ton of long balling from both sides. I didn't expect this from the Kentucky side, didn't know what to expect from the Skyhawks. Add to that the Kentucky Wildcats decided to wear their road jerseys which were a grey kit with blue numbers. I don't know who decided to put blue numbers on that grey kit, but I couldn't figure out which player was on the pitch and the announcer had the same problem. The only two players I could immedietely pick out was Kelli Hubly who was the tallest player on the pitch and Courtney Raetzman who was the smallest. Other then that I had a tough time figuring things out. One player that stood out for me in this match was Arin Gilliland who had 2 open shots on goal and lead her side for shots on goal, she was dangerous all night. But it was Kelli Hubly that ended the game in overtime scoring a goal that passed the keeper to give the Kentucky Wildcats their first NCAA tournament win in their history. I think every single player on the Wildcats side jumped into her arms after that goal. A memorable moment for Kentucky that is for sure. Texas A&M (18-4-1) 1-0 win vs Stephen F. Austin (17-4) Texas A&M: 12th Annie Kunz A very, very competitive game between two solid sides. If people expected SFA would roll over, then they would be so wrong. The Ladyjacks for the first 20 minutes dominated the Aggies and took it to Texas A&M. Like a prize fighter punch drunk from a suprise flurry of shots, the Aggies were reeling for the first quarter of the game with the Ladyjacks having 4 corners and 7 shots to 1 from the Aggies. SFA had several very good looks on goal, but just missed on their attempts. Annie Kunz would then deflate the SFA side with a goal in the 28th minute on a counter and the Aggies would then dominate the second part of the first half. In the second half, both the Aggies and Ladyjacks had many good opportunites to score on eachother. With the Aggies finally coming out the winner. Even with this loss the SFA Ladyjacks should be proud of the effort they put in. They had a serious attempt at upsetting a vaunted powerhouse in the Aggies. Notre Dame (14-5-2) 3-1 win vs Wisconsin-Milwaukee (8-9-1) Notre Dame: 3rd Katie Naughton, 6th Lauren Bohaboy, 9th Crystal Thomas Wisconisin-Milwaukee: 5th Helen Steinhauser The one game that I wasn't able to watch. Which annoyed me alot. There was suppossed to be a live feed for this, but couldn't find it on the Notre Dame site. C'est la vie. On first blush it does look like Notre Dame handled the Panthers and will move on.
Forgedias, Appreciate your write up on the Gators. We were missing Draggota, who like King, is a defensive force in the MF. She should be back next weekend making the Gators finally at full strength. I am a UF fan, but also a fan of the game. I have seen most every team this year. Virginia comes closest but I think Florida plays the most beautiful style. I sure hope they live up to your prediction. I think they have the talent and leadership to get to San Diego. When they are on, their game is so fluid and beautiful, even the opposing fans can marvel in the beauty. This is the most most talented and fun to watch team uf has had since 98. Even that team was less technical, they just dominated with speed and size. And I am biased, but I think Tymrak is the most exciting player in the country.
I can agree that Virginia is a pretty damn good team, Morgan Brian is a good reason why they are where they are. She doesn't have the stats, but she does the same thing that Erika Tymrak does and she controls the midfield. But are Virginia better then Florida. I don't think so. There is no team in the NCAA that plays like Florida does. Florida should easily make the sweet 16 and then meet up against Florida State. Even against that high powered attack, The Gators are very good at defending and very good at neutralizing big threats. They've done that all season long and the Gators are leathal at decontructing defenses with their quick one touch passes. The game today, Adriana Leon carried the ball forward and pulled 4 defenders to her and she entered the box and then she back heeled the ball to Erika Tymrak as she made a run into the box allowing her to score on an open look. This is how the Gators defeat 7-8 players defending a box. And no matter who they are facing, they can break any defense with this attack. Alot of people think this year is Virginia's year, so we'll have too see. They are in a nasty bracket, should be intresting to see if they make it out. Duke, Penn State will all be tough.
Watching the exiting game unfold at Merlo Field with the Portland Pilots and Washington Cougars playing. I skipped the game with Auburn and Washington. Glad I did because I witnessed an amazing game between the Pilots and Cougars with it going to PKs with both goalies making multiple stops and Erin Dees the Portland keeper making 3 saves in a row to keep her team in the PK's. Games like this is what I love watching. No idea about Tatiana Colemen, I didn't hear of any injuries. But Auburn's win over Washington even though I figured it would be a toss up game with either side having an equal chance to win. I was still a bit surprised at Auburn winning against a Pac12 team. Impressive on their part. So all 5 Big East and SEC teams won today. We'll see how tommorrow will bring if they can stay like this.
Ahh I know someone is going to call me on this, Marquette also won today against Illinois State 3-0. So 6 teams now have won. A good showing today.
Baylor and Auburn the only road teams to win today. Baylor was the lone seeded team on the road. Kudos to Auburn, big win for them without their top player and on the road.
I was at the WSU/Portland game, and you're right it was a great game. WSU is good and played really well, having the run of play in the first half. In the second and overtimes, I thought Portland was the better team. But, throughout it was a close game with great ball movement by both teams. The shootout was amazing. I watched the SEC tournament final and really liked the way Florida plays. I don't know as they're the best at it in the NCAA, but they are very good and fun to watch. Tymrak (spelling?) is very, very good. For some reason, having watched Auburn play a couple of SEC Tournament games, I wasn't surprised they won at UW, not to dis UW which is a good team. Auburn came on strong at the end of the season, so they probably were better than their RPI rating which (rightly) treats all games equally.
Rutgers (13-7-1) 1-0 win vs Colgate (11-6-4) Rutgers: 2nd Amy Pietrangelo A pretty chippy game between the two sides with alot of errant passes between both teams. Not exactly a showcase for technical football with alot of rough tackles and defensive play. Rutgers picks up 3 yellows and Colgate one, so lets just say the referee was trying to do his best to control the play of the game. Jonelle Filigno had her moments even with the heavy marking. She made several good attempts to score forcing the Colgate keeper Ashley Walsh to make several good saves. I still have problems with how Rutgers builds their attack up. Way too many errant passes to no where or turnovers in the midfield. They need to work harder on being more smarter with their passes or they won`t be around for long. Illinois (11-8-3) 1-1 (3-0 PK) win vs Missouri (14-8) Missouri: 1st Danielle Nottingham Illinois: 3rd Allie Osoba Illinois is known more for their defenses, then scoring tons of goals, so its not too much of a surprise that we have a closely fought match. Missouri`s end of season slide culminates in a PK loss which has to be very disappointing for a Missouri side that started on fire and continued until the last few games on their conference season. And probably the last thing Missouri needed was to have their head coach Bryan Blitz sit out this game because he picked up a red card in his last game in the SEC playoffs. Add to all this is the way this game ended. Illinois made all their PK attempts, 3 shots and Missouri missed all their attempts, all 3 shots which hit posts. Hard to fantom what was going on with the Missouri players taking the shots, but nerves must of played a part because you rarely see 3 missed PK attempts in a shootout let alone 3 straight misses. Tough way to lose for the Tigers. So we have 7 teams making it into the second round so far with Marquette, Notre Dame and Rutgers on the Big East side and Florida, Auburn, Kentucky and Texas A&M. Tennessee and Georgetown play on Sunday. With only Missouri failing to make it to the second round, its been a good first week for both conferences.
Miami (OH) (20-2-1) 3-2 OT win vs Tennessee (14-5-3) Tennessee: 2nd Alexis Owens, 5th Caroline Brown Miami: 9th Katy Dolesh, 11th Kelsey Dinges, 9th Kayla Zakrzewski A pretty good game between both sides, good crisp passing from both teams with Tennessee having the edge in quality possession. The Lady Vols looked threatening for most of the game with their passing control the run of play. Sadly for Tennesse two goals from Miami came off counters which is painful for a team that prides themselves on controling the ball. I'm very surprised that Alexis Owens only has 2 goals this year. She looked very threatening all game long, her speed was tearing up the backline of the Miami defense and she was able to make two key runs that broke through the backline of Miami and had good 1v1 looks on the Miami keeper. But on both attempts her poor finishing failed her. Her first shot was a miss and her second she shot directly at the keeper. Disappointing since she really should of converted those attempts, because as the end score indicated, Tennessee would go down to Miami in a spectacular way. Miami played not a stellar defensive effort, they allowed Tennesse many dangerous looking plays, but their attempts to counter, they made them count with the first goal coming off a set play, the other two off counters. The second goal really broke the spirit of Tennessee as it came on the last 9 seconds of the match. The lady Vols allowed Miami to keep the ball in play and Kelsey Dinges going down the left side of the field, her rainbow shot fooled the Lady Vols keeper Julie Eckel who was playing off her line and it sailed over her head tying the game. A crushing blow for the Lady Vols. A tough loss for Tennessee to take since they did have the run 0f play. Georgetown (16-3-3) 3-2 OT win vs Virginia Tech (13-6-1) Georgetown: 8th Colleen Dinn, 10th Kaitlen Brenn, 2nd Sarah Adams Virginia Tech: 8th Ashley Meier, 4th Jazmine Reeves A game where we saw possession switch from one side to the other repeatedly with good opportunities abound for goals. I expected more of a defensive match with two good keepers guarding the nets. Both Emma Newins of Georgetown and Dayle Colpitts of Virginia Tech played well despite the 5 goals scored. All the goals were well taken shots. Colleen Dinn's goal was pretty with Daphne Corboz taking the lions share of the credit for freeing Colleen for an open look goal that she took and passed it by Dayle Colpitts. Corboz is an amazing midfielder, she plays as an attacking midfielder, but in reality she is a hybrid holding/attacking middy. Whenever she has the ball at her feet, you can see her constantly thinking where to move the ball, whether she is carrying it to create a scoring opportunity or creating a scoring opportunity for another player, and this is what she did for Dinn, when she dragged several defenders to her as she entered the 18 yard box, she passed to Dinn who then had a 1v1 on the keeper and scored. Credit Virginia Tech for playing a very aggressive game plan where they put a ton of pressure on the Georgetown backline and because of it had several good opportunities to score with two late goals in the first half being the result of it. VT also changed how they were defending Corboz and started in the second half with a shadow marking Corboz all game long which marked Corboz out of the game for long stretches after that. Its hard to blame the VT defense for the two goals that finally won it for Georgetown, the goal that tied it came off a header and Colpitts couldn't defend it and the overtime goal was an amazing passing shot which came outside the 18 yard box that Sarah Adams lept over her marker to make an impressive jump kick toward goal that passed over the Colpitts hands. For Georgetown, this is a very solid win over an ACC opponent. Any team coming out of the Atlantic Coast Conference is a big accomplishment especially considering how tough the ACC is.
Huge win by my Hoyas. We got a terrible draw having to play at VT. Hoping that being a little closer to home than Baylor allows us to make it to the sweet 16.
Thursday Nov.15 2012 matches Marquette (18-2-2) 3-1 win vs Princeton (14-4-1) Marquette: 4th Mady Vicker, 7th Taylor Madigan, 7th Ally Miller Princeton: 11th Lauren Lazo Not a huge fan of having these neutral site games in the tournament. Sure having it a Provo, Utah would save travel costs for the teams when they face BYU, but what about the fans? Marquette should be allowed to host this game and get some fans out for their game, the boxscore stated 100 fans, that is pretty pathetic. For Marquette they did what they needed to do and won against a dangerous team that upset West Virginia. Marquette dominated the shot and corner kick department. 10-3 shots and 5-3 corner kicks. So it should show that Marquette had control of the match. The Golden Eagles have reached the third round and should be proud of this effort, but next match is against BYU and that should be the test that everyone wants to see, after being blown out by Duke and North Carolina earlier this year, has those lessons been learnt or will Marquette have problems facing a top tier team in the Cougars. (1)BYU (20-1-1) 1-0 win vs Auburn (13-11-1) BYU: 7th Carlee Holmoe What a tough way to lose for Auburn. The Tigers played their usual bend but don't break rope a dope game where they defend on mass and try to use counters to spring players forward to get goals. And in each match until now, this strategy worked brilliantly mainly because they had a superb keeper in Amy Howard. A great shot stopper, she was under siege all night with 17 coming her way with 10 on frame. Auburn on the other hand only had 5 shots, so its easy to see who had the run of play all game long. Right until the end of the game, Auburn had BYU contained and were looking at overtime when a BYU player was fouled in the box and Carlee Holmoe in the last 44 seconds in the match ended the game with a penalty kick goal. A crushing disappointment for the Tigers who played a game plan and stuck with it all tournament long. You can like it or not, the Tigers know they don't have the stacked talent that some of the top teams have, but they play good fundemental football and defend their side of the pitch well with quick counterattacks catching many teams off guard. Credit Auburn for matching up well against a very good side in BYU. Friday Nov.16 2012 matches (3)Baylor (19-1-4) 2-1 OT win vs Georgetown (16-4-3) Baylor: 3rd Bri Campos, 11th Dana Larsen Georgetown: 18th Daphne Corboz I don't think there were any video feeds for this, looked around for it but couldn't find one, but looking at the box score, Georgetown should be very disappointed what happenned. They picked up a late goal with Corboz scoring in the 82nd minute and you would think the Hoyas could close this out 8 minutes left, but then Baylor scores late in the 88 minute, a deflating goal then add more insult to injury with Baylor finishing Georgetown off with the winner in overtime. Give credit to Baylor, they were dominating Georgetown, they play a very direct style of football so its no surprise to see Baylor with 21 shots on goal to Georgetown's 5. For Georgetown they had a very successful year, for a young team where everyone expected a rebuilding year, they surpassed everyones expectations. Notre Dame (15-5-2) 2-1 win vs (3)Wake Forest (14-6-3) Notre Dame: 6th Cari Roccaro, 10th Crystal Thomas Wake Forest: 5th Kristen Meier Glad I decided to watch this game. A compelling story with a college cup finalist and a young Notre Dame side. Out of all the matches out there, this match had a good chance for an upset and we got treated to one. Wake Forest came out being more physical, more athletic and more direct then the Irish side, The Deacons played a tough in your face defense and were challenging every ball in the possession of the Irish. You could see the pressure effecting them because of this when pressure was put to them, they were long balling it out of their defensive zone without trying to do their normal link ups and passing attack. But by 30 minute of the match, the Irish started to become more composed and they started to play more to their style, passing and moving the ball quickly, but they would be undone when a 50/50 ball longballed forward by Katie Stengel caught the Notre Dame defense offguard and Kristen Meier beat Elyse Hight to the ball and chipped it over her as she charged out of her box. Other then that, the game was played very defensively with for the most part each side containing eachother's forwards. Notre Dame would do their damage in the second half, with Cari Roccaro scoring off a header on a set piece and then Crystal Thomas beating Aubrey Bledsoe for a another 50/50 ball and scoring. A good win for Notre Dame, who now have to face Florida who like them play a ball control football game that goes one step further. Florida's attacking with their ball control is going to be a terrifying combination that Notre Dame will have to break down. Texas A&M (19-4-1) 3-0 win vs Oakland (11-6-4) Texas A&M: 13th Annie Kunz, 2nd Katie Perry, 10th Kelley Monogue Not a game that I was able to watch, but the Aggies look like they dominated Oakland pretty thoroughly in the shot department 10-3, although I expected this total to be even more lopsided. Texas A&M now face off against the number 1 seed in Florida State who had a very tough match against Texas Tech who took it to them in overtime in a high scoring affair in Florida State's case. They normally don't allow any team 2 goals. Does this bode well for the Aggies and their high powered attack? This match should be a very intresting game to watch with two powerhouses facing off. Virginia (18-4-1) 6-1 win vs Rutgers (13-8-1) Virginia: 10th Makenzy Doniak, 5th Danielle Colaprico, 18th, 19th Carolina Miller, 5th Kalli Torres, 6th Kate Norbo Rutgers: 15th Jonelle Filigno After scoring the first goal early in the match by Jonelle Filigno and avalanche of goals proceeded to fall on the Scarlet Knights as a shell shocked side would proceed to concede 6 straight goals to the Cavaliers. An ugly result for Rutgers and probably a needed wake up call for the university. All season long they showed very little punch outside of Filigno and the blame scarely has to be put on Glen Crooks. Rutgers has had top 10 classes come to their program, but each time they can't do much with them, especially witnessing how poorly the Rutgers midfield distribute, this has to be very surprising with all the talent they brought in. An ugly ugly way to end their season and should leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the players. Florida (19-4-1) 1-0 win vs UCF (17-5-2) Florida: 1st Taylor Travis I have one thing to say... BARCA!!! Ok sorry I couldn't help myself. If there is any college program out that that can resemble Barcelona ball control attacking style of football, I think Florida can come damn close to it. Yes Florida only scored one goal and if we want to be honest, one goal doesn't really tell the whole story, Florida could of scored a few more if they stopped shooting the ball at the keeper when they had open looks at the net. But considering that the UCF knights played with 10 players behind the ball with Florida still able to create many scoring chances even with the box heavily contested should illustrate how good a side Florida is. When UCF a team ranked 17 in the RPI defends with 10 players, it really shows how dangerous ball control football is forcing the oppossing team to play very defensively. Its really bad when UCF only gets one shot against Florida in the whole match which wasn't even on frame and Florida putting out 14 and 8 on frame with all of them being short range shots. The lone goal scored was a beauty with Taylor Travis making a bombing run from her outside back side and getting a feed from Erika Tyrmrak and going in on goal 1v1 and scoring. When Florida forces a team to put 10 players in the box and still create scoring chances like this, this is beautiful to watch. I truly hope Florida makes it all the way, more people should watch the Gators play and become fans of the beautiful way they play football. I am happily so.
Very good season by Marquette. On a separate note Rutgers is looking to join the Big 10 now (as well as Maryland from the ACC). The conference shifting circus continues.