Dunn is going to play where Kling played. Ive never been a fan of Ranee. Ive stated that before. I have no idea who will play on the backline next season. Obviously they will need to make a few changes. Where was Burchenal tonight? Where was Klimcak? What happen to Maria Lubrano this season? They could of used Bartok. All these parts had a outcome in tonights lost. They were delt with some bad injuries this season.. How much longer can they play a three back is what im wondering?
She is too slow for the back line, IMO. I suppose AD could move Rich back to midfield or move Morris up, but she will need replacing on the back line. Whatever the case, AD needs to address the midfield and back line before next season.
One of the forwards to midfield would be the best idea, and many programs have done just that, even all the way to the back line.
If we had a FIFA ranked system, that ranked college teams, Stanford would advance to the FIFA women's college ranked #1 team in America (women's college soccer) if they win the National Championship. They would have made more College Cups in the past 3 years combined than UNC (2008, 2009, 2010), and would be the defending national champion. Fifa would then bump Stanford above UNC for being #1 (not based on just as being National Champion, but more recent consistent success, for getting to college cups - 3 in a row).
FWIW, I like Dunn up top. She was their best forward in the latter part of the season. Morris would be good in the midfield, I think, but that creates another hole in the back line. Dunn, Ohai and Jones up top. Brooks, Rich, Morris and McFarlane in the midfield. Brigman, Wood(?) and the incoming freshman Murray(?) on the backline? It all comes down to the back line.
You keep moving the goalposts. Even if you include this season as part of 'the last 3', and go ahead and give Stanford the NC, UNC still has more NC's during that period.
Stanford has certainly come on strong in the last few years, but even with a NC this season, they aren't the best program in soccer. As I was saying earlier, ND(and even Portland) has just as much of a claim as Stanford. UVA looks poised to make a big run in the next couple of seasons. They have a monster class coming in next season to add to what they already have. Can someone explain UNC's 2011 recruiting class to me? Was it by design? Did AD miss on several players? Is he saving scholarships for the 2012 class?
You guys are going to love Murray. Fast, Physical and a mean streak. In my opinion better than Nigro. Personally I think AD did an amazing job this year. They got a no.1 seed with a young team and all these injuries. I think they need to figure out why they had them, but next year will be super again.
Do you think Murray can start as a freshman? I read an article where Murray said she loves shutting down her mark. She certainly sounded feisty.
The first time UNC has lost by more than 1 goal since 1985(607 matches). The 4 goals were the most UNC allowed since 1980. The 3 goal margin of defeat was the most since 1980.
The benching of Daly for Anna.. Has me shaking my head. Very werid decision. We got beat on some counter attacks tonight trying to even up the score. I thought the 2nd half was good soccer by us. Despite giving up the goals. We missed our chances. ND defense was great tonight. Their senior GK came up huge for them and our GK was not sharp. I will most definitely miss Hawkins, Givan, Klingenburg. Those girls were major parts of winning NCAA titles. I know people expected us just to flip the switch this season and go after a championship. They lost way to much experence and talent to do it this season. I'm excited for the future. There is some talent that will be apart in building another championship caliber team. Everyone knew Anson included that this squad wasnt a title contender. I'm not about excuses but the injuries didnt help. ND was the better team tonight because they finished goals. Which is the hardest part in soccer. They scored four of them. Notre Dame has always been great on set peices. It resulted in three goals tonight. If thats a 4 seed then soccer must of been damn good this year. Onward to next season!
RE: Daly's benching: I said it was rash at the time, but looking back, this is the 3rd match in a row that she let a soft goal through. AD was probably fed up. Having said that, Anna not being in goal for months should have given AD pause.
I am very proud of this team. Think of the youth in that starting lineup. Yes, Kling will be missed as she was an impact for every game. But for the year that is all that is going to really change as Hawk and Givan didn't play much this year. As for positions I think AD has tough choices to make. Move Morris out of the back but the defense suffers unless the newcomer is as good but a 2nd year Morris will likely be even better than she was this year I think the real difficulty is what do you do with Dunn. She has to be the most complete player I have seen. Killed on defense and killed as a forward. She leads the NCAA tournament in goals. How do you take from the top in light of the offensive impact she had but how do you not make her a midfielder because she is good at defending.
Good. That should give AD a bit more leeway in the back. I would love to see Morris move up to midfield. A lineup of Jones, Dunn, Ohai up front and Brooks, Rich, Morris and MacFarlane in the midfield would be nasty. The key is going to be finding 3 other players to form a competent back line.
Can I just say that Amber Brooks was a real highlight of the evening? I've always found her solid and competent, but she showed real flair and purpose in the second half as we were desperately trying to close the deficit. I don't know what she did to earn the ref's ire so badly, but the foul leading to ND's 3rd goal seemed entirely undeserved. The rest of the match was pretty much your typical NCAA referee outing: inconsistent, if not markedly unfair, but that call really puzzled me.
...!!!! Well, I was after a kind of "creative visualization" sort of thing, where you see yourself on the far side of the problem.... But in the future if I ever predict a positive outcome for the Heels, even in the privacy of my own head, I'll be burning incense and lighting candles till the smoke alarms go off! Kool-Aide clearly has a closer relationship with the soccer gods than I. Live and learn. ND defense had an excellent game tonight, and their offense took maximum advantage of every opportunity. With ND up 3-1, the UNC/Dunn goal was the only quality finish on the boards. But they don't have to be pretty to count. On the other hand, after Dunn's goal, the Heels didn't have much of a night. Win or lose, you always want to see your favorite team finish with a quality outing, and that didn't happen for us tonight. As a team, we did not rise to the occasion, and we took a whuppin', Big Time. A very disjointed outing for the Heels, given the stakes, but some nights are like that, and ND is an exceptional team that is not going to show any mercy in the face of weakness. Well done to them! Daly made a significant error on the first (very emotional) goal. Afterwards she just looked blasted. I don't think the decision to take her out was in any way a commentary on her skill or in the coach's confidence in her. Rather, it looked to me more an accurate assessment of Daly's confidence in herself at that moment. She looked unstrung and very upset. Somethimes that happens and good players get inside their own heads. I think it was compassionate and correct to take her out. She'll be back next year and will do a great job for us on other nights. Neither Daly nor Sieloff were perfect in goal, but it was hardly a night to bash the keepers. Our problems were all over the field. Megan Klingenberg had (IMO) the most effective game of any of our field players and we were Horrible about involving her. We just ignored her and plowed up the middle...? Anyway, its over now. It was a better season than most of us expected in this "rebuilding year" . A special tip of the hat to Megan Klingenberg, who was able to avoid serious injury and launched her game this year to an exceptional level!!! It was a delight to watch her and I'm going to miss her very much. I am sure she will be one of the few college draft players to find a starting spot in the shrunken WPS in 2011, and I look forward to watching her there. One can only speculate what the year might have been like if Givan and Hawkins had enjoyed similar health and if some of our underclassmen had also stayed injury free, but those were not the cards we got dealt... I always hate to see senior years go poorly for our gals, and the injuries to Washington last year and to Givan and Hawkins and Lutz this season are really tough to watch. It is so much more fun to watch our seniors enjoy playing the game they love, but there it is... I'm enjoying these comments about the dawning of the Age of Stanford. Good luck to them in Cary! UNC had a great run this season! We have a very young team beset by a shocking number of injuries. I hope our returning players take the next few months to get healthy and regroup. With our returning talent and a healthy squad, I'm sure... no wait, thanks Kool-Aide, let me go light some candles!!! Good luck Seniors!!! Thanks to all for a great season! It was so much more than anybody predicted for you! You should be very proud of what you achieved. Next year, back even better! Go Heels!
I suspect the early yellow card on the ND coach was calculated. He has whined a couple of times about the officiating after losses to UNC in the tournament, and was probably trying to set the tone for the remainder of the match.
That free kick goal (3rd goal) was the back breaker. ND seemed like a pissed off team tonight. I think getting a 4 seed and losing to Uconn fueled this. They were great at scoring on set peices. There bread and butter. Waldrum teams have always been none for that. I cannot believe how poorly our GK play was. That 1st goal summed up the whole night a blunder Daly drops the ball with our girls around the goal and the ball falls right to Rose and she scores. Terrible defending that continued throught the game. Courtney was not the same player we saw pre-injury it showed tonight. Ohai seemed to disapear tonight. Crystal was great every game in the NCAA's. Wonder how many games ND had that great of finishing? probably not a lot. They made em count tonight. We def didnt want a team like ND in the 3rd round. Very veteran laided and they took it to us in portions of the match. Offense seemed off all night do to ND great defense.
Cool, it's Lorrie Fair. Are you coaching anywhere? I remember seeing you play for the Philadelphia Charge.
Ohai seemed to wear down in the last month or so. The length and physicality of the season was probably a bit much for her.
Ohai was injured the last part of the season, hamstring, knee and calf. She played through it, but was even kept out of practices this past week.