Okay. So we are into the meat and potatoes (or shall I say Turkey and Gravy) of the tournament. As expected, a fair amount of the seeds have fallen by the wayside and surprise results have been a plenty. I thought it might be cool to have people toss in their insight into how the quarterfinals may play out game by game. 1. Santa Clara travels to Georgetown---Georgetown played fairly consistent rounds on their home pitch (which looked like a dirt lot in Mexico) in some challenging weather. The wind in the game v Virginia was blowing 35-40 mph straight down the pitch. Virginia had it at their backs the first half and couldn't score...Geargetown got it in the second and capitalized. Carboz will be key here along with transfer keeper Schecktmen. Santa Clara pulled off the upset of the century v Stanford then held serve vs NC State. They have dangerous speed on the flanks and are very opportunistic when they are in the attacking third. The defense and goal keeping have been outstanding. We could see this heading into OT/PKs 2 USC (the real one) vs Auburn. A rematch from an earlier tilt in which USC won 2-0 despite being outshot. The Trojans have been one of the best in the country defensively all season giving up more than 1 goal only once (vs Santa Clara in game one of the season). Goalkeeping has been excellent but the offense has had spots of difficulty. Auburn has run rampant through the first 3 rounds and will look to control the midfield to create scoring opportunities. Leaning to USC 3 UNC v South Carolina. Which UNC will show up and will the young talent step up to lead. They seem to have some nice momentum. They will no doubt bring high press and energy early along with the patented hockey subbing. South Carolina has advanced in the eyes of some by hook or by crook. They have been the benificiaries of the timely PK. That said they have given up only single digit goals on the season and have a powerful, yet controversial forward that can change the tenor of the game. Leaning to the magic of Anson on this one West Virginia v Duke...to me the most intriguing of the quarters. West Virgia advanced on PKs in inclement weather vs UCLA. Interesting that field didn't seem to be cleared of fallen snow which slowed the pace of the game considerably. That said its hard to bet against half of the Canadian national team that won bronze in the olympics especially with Buchanon anchoring the D. Duke has struggled with injuries but is no surprise they have advanced...this is a toss up to me. Opinions? Bring em. On
Interesting to me that people thought that the Santa Clara scoreline against NCS was high. Or that they barely made it. NCS wasn't a bad team but did the same thing over and over. Barreling through midfield and using size and strength to bulldoze through the defensive line to take a shot right at the keeper. They had one nicely technical player who was great at dribbling through midfield, but after the worst onslaught, about the first 20 minutes or so of the second half, they slowed down, and Santa Clara's more petite midfielders took over and started creating more chances. Only one of NCS's shots had me really worried and it went off the post and was cleared. SCU also had one go off the crossbar. Add both those in and take away the penalty kick in the first half and you still have an adjusted score of 3-1. NCS has some very athletic players who put on dynamic performances. SCU has something more. They couldn't compete with the size, mostly in the middle, but they could wait out the attack and then take over with a little more skill.
This is what I'm hoping, but I think UNC might at least make the final. I'm behind Women of Troy henceforth (I live in San Diego, and they have an SDSU tranfer )
I think Duke will be hard pressed to make it to the final. Too much pressure on them from last year's run, and they will not be able to sneak in under the radar like last year.
There's no pressure on them at this point. WVU is the #1 team in the country, playing at home. S Carolina is a #1 seed with the pressure of maintaining a that hype. I think Duke can just play freely at this point
The biggest advantage USC has in hosting is having Auburn's keeper staring into the late afternoon sun for the entire second half. Auburn has no chance in those circumstances.
Oh, I'm not even talking about fan or opponent pressure. I think Duke has their own expectations to make it back to the final. The problem is that I think that other teams will prepare for them and play them tough. Whereas last year, they were a dark horse, so to speak. I'm not saying Duke doesn't have the quality to overcome, but that it won't be as easy a road.
I tend to agree that Duke will be in tough against WVU. Duke has the skill players but WVU has some skill plus physicality that Duke probably can't match. Fouls in the WVU/UCLA game were 14-5 for WVU and I would expect that they will repeat this against Duke targeting Payne, Stevens and Dorsey. As much as I would like Duke to win, I don't think it will happen. As for the other games, I think Georgetown is for real, USC will prevail over Auburn and UNC will find a way to take down an overrated South Carolina.
I think the Georgetown v Santa Clara game is a tough one to get a handle on. Partly, I'm biased towards Santa Clara. But, I like Georgetown University a lot too, as a school. Georgetown had a quite mixed non-conference schedule -- the opponents, not the results: Towson Stanford Delaware Colorado College Rutgers Virginia George Washington West Virginia The strength of their four Power 5 opponents is impressive and their 3-0-1 record against them likewise is impressive. The strength of their five non-Power 5 opponents against whom they were 5-0-0 is unimpressive -- ARPI ranks of 178, 222, 190, 76, and 100. Overall, Santa Clara had a much stronger non-conference schedule -- again, the opponents, not the results: Southern California California Washington State Washington Marquette Wisconsin Notre Dame Minnesota Stanford UC Irvine The strength of their eight Power 5 opponents is impressive, though not as impressive on average as Georgetown's; their 2-4-2 record is not as impressive. On the other hand, add in Santa Clara's wins in the NCAA Tournament over Stanford and NC State and they have in their profile a win over a #1 seed and a win over an almost #1 seed (Southern Cal), as compared to Georgetown's win over #1 seed West Virginia (but let's give Georgetown credit, too, for its NCAA Tournament wins over Rutgers and Virginia). The strength of Santa Clara's two non-Power 5 opponents against whom they were 1-0-1 is significantly more impressive (ARPI ranks of #25 and #129). Looking at negative results: Georgetown: Losses to Stanford (1), DePaul (54) Ties with Providence (62), St. Johns (73), DePaul (54) Santa Clara: Losses to Washington State (68), Washington (111), Minnesota (19), Stanford (1), San Diego (71), Pepperdine (38) Ties with Marquette (25), Wisconsin (36), Notre Dame (9), BYU (10) Georgetown's conference opponents' average strength (including the Big East tournament) was better than Santa Clara's (no conference tournament), with comparative average ARPI ranks of 95 compared to 122. Santa Clara has a coach who has demonstrated the ability to coach his team to run deep into the NCAA Tournament, including all the way to winning the championship. Georgetown's deepest run has been to the quarterfinals. When I look at other measurements, Georgetown comes out well ahead: Non-Conference ARPI Rank: Georgetown 4; Santa Clara 36 Results Against Top 60 Teams Score/Rank (my system): Georgetown 28,008, #3; Santa Clara 18,140, #10 Head to Head Results Against Top 60 Opponents Score (my system): Georgetown 0.62; Santa Clara -0.20 Results Against Common Opponents with Top 60 Teams Score/Rank (my system): Georgetown 5.24, #5; Santa Clara -3.26 (#50) Poor Results (my system): Georgetown -2; Santa Clara -8 Georgetown will be the home team. The questions for me are (1) which Santa Clara will show up and (2) what are the intangible impacts of coaching and school NCAA Tournament history? The numbers say Georgetown should win. But, I wouldn't bet money on either team.
I'm in full agreement, although I hope that South Carolina will beat North Carolina. Because I've picked S. Carolina in the prediction contest and their loss would cost me the "rubber chicken" grand prize.
Yes, USC is up 1-0 over Auburn in the 28th minute. Free Video Streaming Link: http://pac-12.com/live/usc
Ha, ha: It was a given that McCaskill was going to take one or more dives in the box in this game, because she does it every game--and she again won a cheap penalty call from another official, IMO. But this time UNC's excellent keeper L. Harris stopped the penalty kick and the Tar Heels went on to beat South Carolina, 1-0. It amazes me that officials give penalties so cheaply in big matches (or anytime)--I think this would have been the 4th straight game that SC got a penalty kick. They shouldn't. The UNC defender gave McCaskill a little shoulder--but that's part of the game--and yet McCaskill went sprawling as if she were shot out of a cannon. Give her credit--she knows how to work officials, which is why she always has a sheepish look on her face when she gets up. South Carolina has an outstanding team, but UNC was better today--controlled possession for most of the game and never really made it hard for SC to get into their game. SC is not used to trailing in the second half, which might explain why they were in near-panic mode in the last 25 minutes of the game, sending long ball after long ball down the field, which rather played into UNC's hands. UNC had one great chance to score late---but SC's keeper came out and made an excellent save in a 1v1 situation, keeping SC in the game. SC came close to scoring a couple of times in the first half--one off a corner kick and another on a long, lofted shots that hit the crossbar--but UNC was excellent defensively in this game. They bottled up McCaskill, who despite her unfortunate penchant for sprawling when touched in the box is excellent player--and really gave SC very little room to operate all game. That was the difference.
Excellent summary. Very poor officiating. In the real soccer word the referees discount players like McCaskill, and sometimes they do not get penalties even they deserve them. She is an OK player. She does not have long range shooting skill. So when she is marked she is more less toothless. On the other hand the other strikers should have used the space what McCaskill opened up for them. That is why UNC won. They were the better team today. Other than L Harris the GK, nobody stood up. However, the whole team was good. I guess AD did his magic again.
McCaskill = Biggest Flopper ever in the history of the women's collegiate game. FACT. UNC = Dynasty hasn't slipped away just yet, and they beat South Carolina in the biggest game of Carolina vs. Carolina women's sports history = FACT UNC to the College Cup for the thousandth time = FACT Folks, Anson doesn't really lose when he gets to the College Cup. If I'm West Virginia, Duke, USC, Santa Clara, or Georgetown, I'm shaking in my boots. But if I'm Anson, I'd prefer that Santa Clara doesn't get there. 2001 and 2002 were not the best of memories for him. But maybe he wants a piece of them.
You all are losers to call out one player by name. I have not once seen such venom against someone. Show me one thread over the history of this board like this. I guess it makes you guys feel like big men to belittle a very sweet 19 year old girl. You should be very proud. Especially the jackass European dude .
No one is saying she's not a sweet girl .... off the field. That's the "Beauty" part. And she can be a "Beast" at times on the field. But if they made a soccer movie, and gave her a character, she would be the Flopper character in the movie. It's like that scene in the movie "Major League". Go out there and step into one (get hit by a pitch, and take first base). McCaskill knows how to "step into one", that's for sure. And quite frankly, it's actually smart. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm still going to call you out when that is your reputation though. That is her official "niche" on the pitch. In summary, McCaskill will end up with a great collegiate career. She will probably be drafted (I project 3rd round when it happens). That is better than over 99% of women's collegiate soccer players.
Calling people names will not make u big man either. Hard to keep her anonymous when USC won multiple games because of her act. Of course two people need to dance. You need also very bad referees to buy this. Anyway, just ask the BYU girls how they feel. I'm sure they are also very nice girls and they worked very hard , but they had to go home partly due to her flopping. When u watch the SEC commentators on ESPN they think this is all great. I do not think so. So I call her out even if u don't like it LOL.