2017 UCLA

Just went to my second home game last Sun. UCSB had a lot of visitor fans at the stadium that were cheering them on. I think they only managed maybe 2 shots on goal though so being new at the college level woso, I'm assuming they aren't a top NCAA team. I noticed they can do unlimited subs in the college games, that's interesting. It weirded me out when they brought back players they previous subbed out at first but I got used to it. The next three games are away games so I wont be attending those. Does anybody know if they are available to watch for free? PS I'm really liking this Ashley Sanchez player and it seems like Mace has a nice UCLA fan following.

 

Well damn, I expected Florida to take the top spot. They were a top 10 team and they beat the number one team in the nation. You would think they would get that honor.

Haven't even looked at the coach's poll yet but I am betting Florida and Virginia are right behind UCLA. I guess UCLA beating several NCAA tournament teams from last season matters more to the coaches then the shock upsets that Florida and Virginia got.

Well I guess the girls will need to grow up a little faster now. They got a big target on their heads. BYU is up next. Should be a good litmus test for the Bruins.

 

On the UCLA schedule link, they have links to BYU and Weber where you can watch for free. The Virginia game has no link so I am assuming this will be on the ACC network.

http://www.uclabruins.com/schedule.aspx?path=wsoc


How subs work in college. Every player can be subbed off once in the first half but can't re-sub back in for that half. In the second half, if they start it, they can be subbed out and re-sub back in later. But if they come in as a substitute in the second half instead of starting it, and then sub out, they can't come back in.

Its complicated unlike football in general where you have max 3 substitutions. But in college its different because they play on Friday and Sunday usually for most conferences and for the Pac 12, its Thursday and Sunday. It allows coaches some more flexibility to rest players and play them for both matches on short rests.

Because of this there is some strategy to substitutions for some clubs. UNC uses subs like hockey does and subs entire lines of 3 or 4 players at once. They get fresh legs out there to out run and be more physical to win balls. Most teams do not sub their defenders out so this can tire them out if they are constantly chasing players with balls.

Other teams prefer to do tactical substitutions and create new formations with their subs. UCLA falls under this. They traditionally follow a 4-4-2 diamond midfield with a holding/defensive midfielder and 3 attacking midfielders. But as the game moves on, they will frequently move their outside backs forward and their formations can evolve into a 2-5-2 attacking formation.

Last year when Darian Jenkins went down to a broken leg. Fleming moved up to a false 9 role. She slotted right under the lead forward and supported them in the attack. So UCLA would frequently run a 4-2-3-1 formation to allow Fleming more freedom on the attack.

And good to have someone watching UCLA games from the bleachers. You can give us more about the vibe of the team and how they are interacting with each other since the cameras won't catch that.

 

Yeah this is my 2nd year at UCLA. I'm a graduate student but stress and illness kept me away from the UCLA soccer games last season. This year, I feel much better mentally and less stressed out so I've caught the last two games, missed the first few(didn't realize the season started way before the academic quarter starts) and they have been fun. I'll probably follow the team from now on even when I'm done with UCLA degree because it looks like it's going to be a long while before the NWSL has a Los Angeles team. I previously was a season ticket holder for LA Sol back in the day. I see a few people in the stands with US soccer gear on so I imagine we are all from the same soccer stock, as far as fans go. There are a lot of young girls and boys at these UCLA games "studying" the players and moms and dads telling them to WATCH THIS PLAYER! WATCH THAT PLAYER! so I refrain from cussing and mind my p's and q's

 

If it does happen, it will have to come from the new LAFC MLS expansion team when they debut in 2018. From rumors and such, they look to be interested in bringing in a NWSL team to LA since it is a HUGE market for women's soccer.

 

UCLA beat BYU 1-0 on a goal by Hailie Mace assisted by Jessie Fleming for her 5th of the season.

I wouldn't call this a great game by UCLA but I do blame this on the youth of the Bruin team. They are young and they didn't handle the high press by BYU well. How do you break down a press by an opposing team? Quick passes which force the other team to chase for the ball tiring them out. UCLA didn't do this. They were constantly holding the ball and trying to move the ball forward and the press would get to them and a lot of turn overs in the first half was the result.

BYU ended up have the better quality chances in fact the game should be 1-1 or even a 2-1 victory for BYU but some of the chances were not finished off like that chance Nadia Gomes that hit the crossbar. That should of been a goal by Gomes. Karina Rodriguez made a huge blunder by allowing Gomes to get behind her and a long ball over the top freed Gomes for a clear cut break away. Rodriguez does way too much free styling as a center back. She has her mark but doesn't mark the target because she is frequently pushing forward and not keeping a high line with Kaiya McCullough. As a freshman maybe you can give her some leeway but as a center back, you have to know your job and you have to keep yourself in sync with your center back partner and not allowing your mark to get behind you. This isn't the first time she has allowed this happen. She gave up a penalty kick in the first game because of this.

The second half UCLA would move the ball better and BYU's press would fall off as players would get tired. But there is one thing that will need to be worked on by the young players for UCLA.

UCLA last year was known for their one touch passing, linking plays and the ability to free players to make runs. This isn't happening with this squad. There is some flashes like Ashley Sanchez playing like a linking player and of course Fleming. But for most of the young players. They were brought up to go 1v1 and try to beat their player and not hold up. And this is so evident from this match, that this mentality exists for so many of these players. Coach Cromwell is going to have to break them of these habits over the season.

 

I believe that this breakaway was mainly cause by the wayward pass from Gabi Matulich. Yes, you can say that K. Rodriguez got caught a little too high up which allowed Gomes to run in behind her, but that was just due to the lack of numbers back that UCLA had as well as the speed of Gomes. It was just an uncharacteristically poor giveaway in a bad part of the pitch.
That being said, I think UCLA at a solid game at altitude with 5,700 fans cheering for BYU. It was probably the biggest pressure game that they've had this season so far given the opponent, the atmosphere, as well as their current ranking. Micah and McCullough stepped up for UCLA big time. Winter also had a very good game, playing 82 minutes and doing a solid job in that DM role in front of the backline.

 

Have you watched Rodriguez the entire game? She misses a lot of marks through out the game and she moves up to try to fight for balls. Its alright to do that if you don't have a player playing a high line but BYU wants to counter every time. You can't play like this. Gomes was her mark, she can't move up she has to mark her and play even with Kaiya McCullogh. I don't see them playing any off side traps since that requires a lot of communication between the defenders but she needed to stay even with McCullogh. In the San Diego match, she gave up 2 break aways and had to do 2 sliding tackles in the box. The first one she took the ball off the second one she knocked the player over giving over a penalty kick. This is happening too frequently for her and she has to play smarter.

 

The problem I see with K. Rodriguez sitting deeper and not stepping up at times is that the DM is then outnumbered in the centre of the pitch. Claire Winter does the majority of the defensive work in the centre of the midfield, as the majority of the other central midfielders love to attack and get higher up the pitch. Whenever, McCullogh or K. Rodriguez step up into the midfield, they cover for each other, and Winter steps back as well. Cromwell seems to be fine with her CBs roaming around as we see this season, as well as last season as well. They just need to find that balance in the central midfield position. They are all very talented technically and offensively, but sometimes they get caught too high, and/or they get pushed off the ball and a counter attack starts. I liked when Canales and Winter were briefly on the field at the same time, in more of a 4-2-3-1 rather than a 4-1-4-1 shape that they usually seem to be in.
Anyways, it is still early in the season, and a 5-0 start is pretty good, especially with such a young team and players still getting used to each others tendencies and playing styles.

 

Winter is the holding mid and yes she does a lot of work on the defensive side. But the midfielders have to support her out and Fleming always tracks back to help defend. The issue is Gomes was sitting on Rodriguez's shoulder. Regardless of what you want to do, you can't give Gomes a break away. She has to keep her marked and if Rodriguez wasn't a rookie, there might of been opportunities to set up off side traps with McCullogh but you can't have that kind of communication until they work together more.

As for having CB's move forward into the attack. When this happens, usually UCLA has the ball when this is happening and its one of the wide players that comes in and fills the defensive responsibility. What Rodriguez is doing is going forward to try to fight for a ball that the other team has which causes the other team to long ball it forward and catch Rodriguez in no man's land. As a center back you need to know your role, your responsibility and make the correct decisions. Rodriguez is just a freshman. She isn't making the correct decisions. As a center back, her first priority is to mark her forward and keep her line intact with McCullough. You can't dive in and fight for balls if your leaving your player unmarked. You just can't do that, you can make excuses that she is a freshman, but as a center back you have to know your role. You can't make those mistakes because they lead to goals against you.

If you want to be generous, maybe in time your going to see players respond to seeing Rodriguez move forward and try to cover her mark but these are split decision making and she allowed her forward to get behind her. That alone will be punished by good teams every time.

 

Here is the goal scored by UCLA against BYU. Fleming holds the ball and drags 2 defenders to her and then slots a perfectly weighted square ball to Hailie Mace.

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You know what, I saw the replay of the Gomes near goal. I'm going to take some of what I said back. That was McCullough that dived in to try to fight for the ball and got stuck in no man's land not Rodriguez. The long ball did catch Rodriguez who was on the outside of Gomes which is a mistake on her part since she didn't have inside leverage to force her forward to the outside. Gomes had a clear ride to goal when she got the long ball. So both center backs played that pretty badly especially McCullough.

 

That high pitched screaming noise you hear is that of Really?

 

Nope, it's your daughter having nightmares of UCLA scoring on her later in the season.

 

UCLA beats Weber State 2-0. Goals from Gabrielle Matulich and Julia Hernadez.

Looks like Coach Cromwell played a sub squad for much of the game. Dunphy, Canales, Athens, Hernadez and finally Kennedy Faulknor would start on the pitch.

Not sure if its the pitch or so many freshman and sophomores playing together at once but UCLA didn't create many good chances in the first half. Even in the second when more of the core players played, there weren't many good looks on goal. It could partly be blamed on the field. The ball kept bouncing when UCLA would try their passing game and turn overs happened fairly often especially in the first half. The second, they kept many of those turn overs down. The field also looked smaller then normal. Many college campus do not play on a full regulation field. Weber's field looked even smaller then normal. It allowed Weber to play a man marking defense system and everyone was marked when UCLA pushed into the midfield. With the bouncing ball and the new faces, much of the play was pretty direct with a lot of long balls from the back line which could of connected if the field was longer because the ball kept running to the by line.

UCLA for the most part kept most of the possession, Weber if they turned the ball over needed to push the ball forward since any attempts to pass to each other tended to be snuffed out by UCLA. Matulich would get a nice goal, pretty much a solo individual effort where she picked the ball up from the touch line and beat a defender and charged to the middle of the box and got a shot off right outside it. The ball would dip just under the cross bar beating the keeper.

The goal by Hernadez came right at the last minute of the match. Pretty much a garbage time goal but does add to her total which which is 5 I think. Still not a fan of how she plays but she is scoring.

I want re-watch the first half and focus on Kennedy Faulknor. The problem with the camera angle, it was right at pitch level so you couldn't see deeper into the field of play and the sun was shining on the field. I didn't even know Faulknor was starting until I saw the stats. So I need to re-watch and see her play since I want to see what she does good and how she defends.

 

UCLA win 2-1 over UVa and remain undefeated just barely! Whoop whoop!

 

Saw the game against UVA tonight. UVA came out with a lot of energy, pressed high and had UCLA on its heels for the first 10 minutes of the game. The Cavs had a couple of good scoring opportunities but couldn't convert. UCLA worked its way into the game and then Sanchez made a nifty break behind the center of the UVA defense, got a lovely pass from somebody and finished clinically to give the Bruins the lead. UVA scored on a brilliant little free kick from just outside the box to tie the game going into the half. The Bruins took charge in the 2nd half, kept possession impressively and scored the go-ahead goal on a nifty combination of Fleming to Sanchez to Serta, who finished nicely to give UCLA the go-ahead goal. UCLA dominated possession for most of the second half and made the Cavaliers chase. UCLA is very good technically and dangerous when they get a bit of space in the attacking half. One weakness, IMO, is that the Bruins aren't very tall, overall, and not so good in the air; and not an especially physical team. Fleming is all she's cracked up to be----a playmaker who was all over the field; and Mace is an excellent athlete. The UCLA keeper made a nice save very late in the contest to preserve the win--I think it was UVA's only shot (or two) in the second half. A lot of action in the first half between two young teams, pretty quiet in the second save for the sweet Bruin goal; good win for UCLA.

 

Where you see a weakness in the size of the UCLA players. I see an advantage. The majority of their field players are 5'4" and smaller. Yet, they are just as athletic as players 5'5" and taller. The advantage for being smaller is their on the ball skills, agility and quickness from 10-20 yards out. It's why they can play an effective game of possession. The team doesn't have to get into a lot of 50/50 tackles with bigger players, if they are knocking the ball. I consider UCLA as a more athletic Japanese womens national team.

Isn't this what many posters have been wanting. A smaller, quicker, technically skilled team who play creative attacking soccer.

 

Glad you watched the game. Wasn't able to catch it. Good recap thank you.

 

Here is the highlight.

 

Here is a 2 minute clip from the UVA youtube site. Has a full highlight package including the UVA goal.