Livestream for Washington Spirit-UNC match: http://www.livestream.com/washingtonspirit Gametime 3pm EST.
Spirit 2 UNC 0 Nice game by Tiff McCarty 1 goal 1 Assist, Caroline Miller-Killer 1 goal, Candice Chapman and Tori Huster! Thanks for the Stream!
Watched the replay of the game of the Washington and UNC game. They played with college substitution rules with the Spirit in a 4-3-3 formation, the UNC came out in a 4-5-1 with Ohai the lone forward. Overall the Spirit played a good game, it was very direct for the first half of the game but in the second half the Spirit played a more build up from the midfield possession football that we hoped to see. Ohai must of gotten 6 solid looks on goal in the first half, but the Spirit turned it around in the second half and controlled the midfield by possessing the ball for long stretches. Players that stood out for me. All the forwards for the Spirit. Caroline Miller was strong on the ball and picked up a goal. Tiffany McCarty had a goal and an assist on Miller's goal. Tiffany showed alot of pace up top and played centrally for the Spirit, so she was the lone forward that would mark the backline of UNC while the Spirit fought to regain possession. The best forward though has to goto Stephanie Ochs. She was everywhere on the pitch. She would frequently drop back deep onto her side to pick up balls to help facilitate ball movement for her side. She also frequently marked oppossing forwards as they came into the Spirit 18yard box. And even more impressive, she added a new dimension to her game that I didn't expect to see. She sprung Tiffany McCarty twice with dangerous through balls that almost lead to two more goals. Stephanie was holding onto the ball and dictating play as she moved up the pitch when she came back down her side to pick up balls. A very good sign to see that she has the striker and playmaker mentality about her. Stephanie also had a goal called off because she was offside. Lastly, Domenica Hodak who played rightback played a stellar game. Was all over the right side making overlapping runs and helping create scoring opportunities with her passing. She was also very good on her side defensively. With Ali Krieger, Robyn Gayle, Candace Chapman, Ashlyn Harris and Diana Matheson out for international duty, this effort was very good against the NCAA champions. 3 defenders and their starting goalkeeper gone and you would think they would have had quite a few problems in the backline which would of lead to some goals.
With another sold out crowd of 200 indoors. Next one is outside at Sahlen's Stadium on April 7 vs. UNC.
Portland beat UP 2-1 with Foxhoven and Long getting the goals. The big kicker? A sellout of 4892 at Merlo field. FCKC beat the University of Kansas 4-0. Goals from Cuellar, Courtney Jones, Casey Loyd, and an OG. It was a closed door match. Chicago beat the WPSL Elite Houston Aces 2-1 with both goals from Chalupny.
Amanda Frisbie torched Kat Williamson on a counter and chipped the Thorns Roxanne Barker. Williamson got beat twice more leaving 1v1 chances with the keeper. Micaela Capelle beat the Thorns defense and rounded the keeper who was coming out in the 88th minute , but side netted the empty net from a tough angle. Great night for both programs. People cheering for plays from both sides. The Thorns have some work to do. The back line was not well organized.
Unfortunately it seems I can't link to the highlights but they are up for on the Thorns website if anyone would like to see them. Long's goal was very nice. How did the two keepers look?
Updates: 1 game announcement 5 scores 4 official game reports (below) 4 attendences http://www.wnyflash.com/?template=template&form_id=5500&page=news.cfm http://washingtonspirit.com/pro/miller-mccarty-goals-send-carolina-home-blue-with-2-0-loss/ http://chicagoredstars.net/2013/03/30/red-stars-end-austin-trip-with-win-over-houston-aces/ http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news...at-university-portland-2-1-preseason-friendly - - - - - MARCH 3/15 - Western New York Flash 3-0 Canisius (<200) 3/17 - Seattle Reign 0-2 INAC Kobe Leonessa (3,563) 3/17 - Washington Spirit 1-0 Penn State (671) 3/19 - FC Kansas City 6-2 Mizzou (?) 3/20 - Seattle Reign 3-1 Fukuoka J Anclas (?) 3/23 - Western New York Flash 7-0 Penn State (~200) 3/23 - Sky Blue FC 5-0 St. John's (?) 3/24 - Seattle Reign 4-0 Nojima Stell Kanagama (?) 3/24 - Washington Spirit 0-0 Duke (544) 3/24 - Chicago Red Stars 2-0 Marquette (?) 3/27 - Boston Breakers 2-3 Sky Blue FC (?) 3/27 - Chicago Red Stars 8-0 St. Edward's (?) 3/30 - Western New York Flash 4-0 Ohio State (200) 3/30 - Washington Spirit 2-0 UNC (1,725) 3/30 - Chicago Red Stars 2-1 Houston Aces (?) 3/30 - FC Kansas City 4-0 Kansas (0, closed) 3/30 - Portland Thorns 2-1 Portland Pilots (4,892) APRIL 4/3 - Washington Spirit @ UMD (NCAA) 7:00PM 4/3 - Chicago Red Stars @ Notre Dame (NCAA) 7:00PM 4/6 - FC Kansas City VS Nebraska (NCAA) 2:30PM 4/6 - Washington Spirit VS UVA (NCAA) 7:30PM 4/7 - Western New York Flash VS UNC (NCAA) 12:00PM 4/7 - Chicago Red Stars VS Illinois State (NCAA) 4/25 - Boston Breakers @ Boston U (NCAA) 5:00PM MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST To Be Determined Sky Blue FC @ UMD (NCAA) - preseason? Seattle Reign FC - 12th home game
Here are team records through March: Code: BOS - 0W 0D 1L - 2GF 3GA - NWSL CHI - 2W 0D 0L - 10GF 0GA - NCAA CHI - 1W 0D 0L - 2GF 1GA - WPSLE KC - 2W 0D 0L - 10GF 2GA - NCAA POR - 1W 0D 0L - 2GF 1GA - NCAA SEA - 2W 0D 1L - 7GF 3GA - JPN NJ - 1W 0D 0L - 5GF 0GA - NCAA NJ - 1W 0D 0L - 3GF 2GA - NWSL DC - 2W 1D 0L - 3GF 0GA - NCAA WNY - 3W 0D 0L - 14GF 0GA - NCAA
Timbers highlight here. Unfortunately, only scores. http://www.portlandtimbers.com/video/2013/03/30/thorns-preseason-highlights-pilots-2-thorns-2
Long's goal was terrific. I'd say that both U of P keepers looked better than both Thorns keepers. Of course, the U of P keepers had more to do.
I dunno...Foxhoven was a Pilot, so I guess her score counts both ways. Whoever is putting them up isn't putting the right scores in. All the scores are ties. The highlights are on portlandTimbers.com The thorns just have visitation rights now. Their own site is promised.
Oh my God, I'm just now watching this. Was the quality that horrible on the live stream? Or is the archived version not the same as the live version? If this was the live version, what a disappointment. If all web steams are going to be this crappy, then no wonder why only three-digits (999 or less) people will be watching these. And the retention % of those will decline if they don't increase the quality of broadcast. Single camera live stream (especially in this crappy quality) = Fail Need multi-camera, and zoom action, with replays. No TV deal = Doomed
Or not looking good for the other teams in the ACC...Or B1G ...whatever. This will take time to get used to. Anybody know what the Spirit lineup was?
From our very own StarCityFan: (McCarty tweaked something in warmups though and was replaced by Caroline Miller in the starting lineup.)
DC is the odds on favorite to finish 8th place (last place) in this league. Their forwards are too young to be consistent scorers. There will be moments in which they show their talent and overall brilliance. But they will go through many slumps as well (even Press did at times with MagicJill as a rookie). Amy Rodriguez was a hot-shot rookie, and didn't have a great rookie season in Boston. Alex Morgan didn't exactly light it up every time out with WNY as a rookie. Washington doesn't have enough veteran quality players (especially on the attack), and they have question marks pretty much everywhere. How healthy is Candace Chapman? When (if ever) will Garciamendez join the team in 2013? Will untested rookies (Hodak, Roberts, King, etc) have to play too prominent of a role that they're not quite ready for just yet? When (if ever) will Angeli be playing with the Spirit in 2013? Stephanie Ochs will have to be consistent. I think the Spirit finish no higher than 6th, and are the odds on favorite to finish in the cellar at this point. Seattle and Boston have a lot of question marks as well. I think those are the bottom three. Boston losing Heather Mitts and Casey Short on defense is huge. And they have a teenage goalkeeper, and not much defensive depth. Lots of unproven youth has to be counted on (Jo Dragotta, Maddy Evans, etc). They will go through some growing pains. They have offense, but defense and goalkeeping will not be playoff worthy in the first year. Santiago is very talented, but she's not quite ready to be a star keeper in this type of league just yet. Boston should have beaten WNY to the punch for Val Henderson. Chicago elevated themselves by adding Grings, Fuss, and others (including defensive depth). Their midfield and starting goalkeeping is strong. They have a strong counter attack. They have exciting and proven goal scorers. And they have an underrated defense. They are indeed a serious playoff contender now.
Chicago Red Stars beat Notre Dame in South Bend 4-1. http://chicagoredstars.net/2013/04/03/red-stars-defeat-notre-dame-4-1-in-south-bend/