UCLA were doing a lot of long balls to break the press coverage by Penn State. At half time Amanda Cromwell said she was disappointed about all the long balls and the fact they were not getting Jessie Fleming involved in the build up. Fleming was constantly coming back to the back line to provide an outlet pass but they were for the most part ignoring her and going over the top direct to Darian Jenkins. In the second half that started to change, you saw UCLA start to keep the ball on the turf more and UCLA got their first shot on goal on the 81st minute. The best build up by UCLA was when Fleming took the ball at the 88th minute and attacked the middle of the field. As soon as a Penn State player tried to tackle her, she would pass to another UCLA player, then she would make a run get the ball back and dribble past Penn State players and this happened 3 times in that play. They were dragging Penn State players to them and then giving the ball back to Fleming to continue forward. Loved that build up. Hopefully Fleming style starts to be the way UCLA plays from now on.
After the BYU scrimmage with a tied-score, maybe the Bruins overestimated themselves as their scoring equals, which they aren't.
The Nov. 4 conference finale at USC has been moved from McAlister Field on Hoover Street to the StubHub Center in Carson, 7 PM. Is this huge or what?
....its not the colliseum that they played in 2 years ago, but a heck of a lot better than the dump that Drake is
Oh, I bet you love those classy and fragrant USC McAlister Field Port-a-Potties. Nothing can beat Trojan Stench.
At least next year both UCLA and USC will have new on-campus soccer stadiums to call their home field. Oh wait...
Okay, enough of the harsh words and bitterness! I have a question: why would the Trojans move this big Bruin game to essentially a neutral site, when they already had a real home-field advantage, playing and practicing on a McAlister pitch with such limited dimensions. Anyway, this should be a great contest. My money is on USC.
USC would much rather have played this game in the Colliseum, but with the Trojan Football Team sharing with the Rams this year it would seem impossible. 2 years ago they set an NCAA all time attendance record and I am sure they will look to add to this at Stub Hub. I think its more about the community and reaching out to the local clubs.
PSU has 3 defenders from last year's NC team taking the year off due to the U-20 tourney. PSU also has one of their star MF's out this year due to the U-20 tourney. It's early in the season yet and there are lots of new players trying to figure things out. Also, Hatch is a prolific goal scorer. I remember reading about her last year when she suffered a significant knee injury. http://universe.byu.edu/2015/10/23/byu-womens-soccer-team-steps-up-in-lieu-of-injured-teammate/
If not for Jessie Fleming, Amanda Cromwell would likely be looking at a season surpassing last year's worst ever in Bruin history.
Well, based on your post I knew something went wrong, but I had to dig to find it. No. 9 UCLA Falls to No. 8 UNC, 2-1 (Sept. 09, '16) - a respectable loss.
UCLA 3 - 2 Washington (OT) Bruins score twice in first 7 minutes, then went on cruise-control with the inevitable disastrous results. But, once again, Jessie has to come to the rescue for the win. If they lose focus like they did tonight, UCLA will lose to WSU Sunday. And how many times have we seen Julia Hernandez blow headers inside the box or hear someone on the bench yell, "Work, Julia!"
I love her demeanor and composure after the gatorade bath. Shows a lot of maturity and looks to be a well-grounded young woman. $C chased the almighty $$$ by surrendering their home-field advantage by playing at a neutral site. With that wide pitch, I knew it was not to their advantage. UCLA win cost $C a 1-seed. Good luck at the Tournament.
Actually what cost USC the #1 seed was the debaucle in Utah last week when an AR called the game winning goal Offside. A call that was so bad that the PAC12 director of officiating apologized. Chasing "the almighty dollar?" The cost to get the Stub Hub Center, man it with staff, and clean it after most likely cost USC money, not home field advantage. Its called community outreach. Of the 8500 attending, 95% were female youth players and their families. Its about growing the game.
It sounds like a great venue. Certainly it can help to increase the fan base of soccer. IMO USC had some great Ws but also some weaker performances. Not sure about #1 seed.
If you look at the quality of USC's good results, they are really great. My system for valuing good results against Top 60 teams has USC ranked #1 in that area. They've essentially proved by those results that they are one of the most likely teams to be able to win a national championship. The didn't get a #1, rather a #2 seed -- but they are in the same quarter of the bracket with Florida, who got the last #1 seed. So, if both get to the Elite Eight, they'll play each other. It will be at Florida, but it might have been there anyway even if the seeding were reversed due to USC's substandard field. (Although USC may be contemplating using StubHub for hosting Tournament games. Maybe that's why they chose to play UCLA there -- to qualify it with the NCAA as a home field.)
The pitch at McAlister is actually exceptional. The ability to get more than 500 fans not so much. The USC staff has commited to having the UCLA game at the larger venue for outreach. Two years ago at the coliseum they drew more than 10000 coliseum was not avail due to Trojan and Rams football
The pitch may be excellent, but as I recall the dimensions do not meet minimum NCAA standards. That's why they traveled so much the year they won the NCAA Championship. Have they increased the field size?
Don't know about not meeting requirements, but why would their application to host be accepted for the early rounds but not later. I can tell you they max out both length and width to the footprint of the plot