Love this guy........ All my sentiments........ the teams, the winner, the play, the location, the weather. Glad this is over,,,,,,, can't wait till next year.....
We may be known as the wine and chesse crowd (UNC) but I know where to find the whine and stinky chesse crowd. Anywhere that has jealous and disgruntled fans. Where should the Final 4 be? Vermont? Anyone who has ever played the game can tell you that if it's above freezing and not snowing and it's December, it ain't too bad.....
Right now, the Final Four is in College Station, TX, every other year. In recent years, it's also been in Dallas and Austin, TX.
SpeedoBlobb, Great post......I always enjoy your comments....even though I picked ND in the final. Two thoughts.... 1. Maybe soccer should take the ice hockey approach and send players to the penalty box, creating short term power plays. That might create some drama. 2. Following your line of thinking, increasing the height of the bar in the goal would only invite even bigger keepers to the table, heck, the typical D1 keeper is 5-10 to 6' now, and Anson et.al would start raiding women's v-ball or b-ball. Increasing the width would be a different story, as the more athletic keepers with quick speed would dominate.. All in all, hats off to UNC for coming back big time.
Just got back from the College Cup back to Chicago. After leaving Chicago Friday morning in -10 wind chill I didn't think I could be cold in Carolina, but it was cold. As far as the tournament, you have to give it to UNC. They had nothing to lose. They played that Dorrance high pressure to the T and that's why they won. The only question was the penalty against UCLA. From where I was sitting, it looked weak. But the bigger story is UCLA, and for that matter UND not being able to break down UNC's high pressure. There were times in Sunday's game where UND couldn't put three passes together before it was taken away. This isn't the Notre Dame I've watched all year. Same with UCLA. Notre Dame beat Stanford because of their defense. They scored and held on. O'Hara is a pretty crafty player, but beating Dew isn't easy. The only ones that I thought could break down ND's defense was Nogiera and/or Heath. They like to take their man on with slick moves and juking. It doesn't work always but when it does, it's devastating. UNC scoed and tried to hold on, but not when they other side has skilled players like Heath and Nogiera. Anyway, I enjoyed it, I just wish it wasn't so cold.
Just to clarify, there was no PK, Noguiera's first goal was off a free kick -- the foul on McDonald occurred (just) outside the box. I agree it was a foul, I'd say the "tripping" one. Looking at the replay, one of the ND defenders comes up on her right, from behind, and inserts her leg between McDonald's.
We all beat this topic up in the fall v spring forum. I was the original advocate for southern venues for quarters/semis/finals and got beat up. The weather seems to be such a huge distraction to the game. Its a factor that can be easily eliminated and then we'll see who has what on the field. I am pretty sure at this point there is a big enough following for womens college soccer that they will put butts in the seats. Couple that with the college showcase tournament at the venue (Like CASL Showcase) It brings in a couple thousand kids, coaches and parents. There were 230 college coaches recruiting in Cary this weekend. They will also follow the tournament. You have MLS stadiums in San Jose, LA, Dallas, Houston. WPS in LA, SF, Atlanta and some big USL D1, D2 stadiums in the south. Go south..........go warm.
Sign me up for the southern venue. And I am NOt talking about Raleigh in December. UCLA would be nice, as would Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, or Houston. Anywhere else, and we're dealing with some potentiallu butt-numbing cold. And I say this as a winter-loving, Yankee-blooded dork who's done his time in New England and New York. Have some pity on the fans and move it somewhere other than metro Dallas and the UNC Belt. That stadium and field are nice, but Raleigh-Durham is no treat. Strip malls, traffic, big box marts, and intolerably long traffic lights.
I live in FL but I think that south FL(Miami) is just way too far away to expect a reasonable crowd; I wouldn't even go. Orlando or Tampa would ideal. Tampa has done a decent job of hosting the ACC basketball tournaments in the past. The west coast should get to host soon as well.
The final four should be hosted out West far more often. In fact, it should rotate between the four regions every year. There are enough quality facilities around the country to have it played all over. It is far too much of an advantage for East Coast teams to constantly play this event in the Eastern time zone.
There are multiple soccer-specific stadiums in the US that could host the College Cup. It would be great if there could be more of a rotation. I assume the NCAA would tend to go with known quantities. (As an aside, it was a big deal for the NCAA men's lacrosse championship to go to Foxboro, MA in 2008, rather than Baltimore or Philly, but it worked well.) I've gotta think that the Bay area or Carson, CA would be safe bets for decent attendance and good conditions. (As an ND fan, I suppose it would be too much to ask for the new Alumni Soccer Stadium at Notre Dame, but I'd settle for Blaine, Minnesota!)
Several points: after watching the replay 10 times I cannot see any contact between Hanks and Eveland. Unfortunately Hanks has been known to take a dive and but she didnt get up and complain, so a no call was accurate. 2nd, leaving the 2nd place trophy on the field as they walked off was pretty low for N.D. 3rd, Kerri Hanks had the press wait 45 minutes after the game so she could take a shower. None of the other players did so. Once a diva, always a diva. She will be remembered as a great soccer player but not one with grace and humility. 4th, I agree with everyone the referee situation was horrible at best. But to say that it only went against ND is ludicrous. Shirts were being pulled, arms wrapped around players and a whole lot of whining by the ND players, and for once in wasnt Hanks. I was very disappointed in the constant yelling at the ref by ND- they usually have more class. 5th, UNC won, get over it!
I heard during the game telecast that Hanks graduated last semester with a sociology degree and spends her spare time giving presentations regarding sportsmanship and fair play to South Bend elementary school students.
Now I must admit that I don't really follow the "power programs" of women's soccer because a handful of schools just have too much talent therefore 90% of the games dull blowouts. However, why are the UNC fans so angry after winning another National Title? Why all the hate for Kerri Hanks? She is a very animated player, but also extremely talented. Her "antics" don't bother me at all, she plays with her heart on her sleeve. Maybe I'm just immune from watching international soccer, but nothing she does bothers me at all.
Yeah, but if you have 2 great players and you're coaching, you might want to pick the one who can control their emotions....
I'm with Bob on this. I'm not a ND supporter but I actually liked the kid. She ain't the only "diva" out here. Trust. Some supporters tend to willingly overlook the flaws of their favorite players.
You should really take a page from the UNC players. They win with class. UNC won, why are you still taking shots at others?
As for Hanks, she spent a lot of time talking about how she didn't want to go to UNC. That might have something to do with it. The anger seems to run very much through the middle of the discussion as UNC's success is dismissed as due to overwhelming (and by inference, somehow undeserved or unearned) talent, the officials, or Anson somehow having an immoral system that wins for UNC but somehow damages the game in general (the subbing, 3-4-3 discussions, etc.). For anyone who understands athletics, this kind of stuff is pretty annoying and you can pretty easily see where it comes from (e.g. losing). UNC and Anson deserve every plaudit they get, and I'm sure Soccer America will be running another year's worth of "here comes parity, it's UCLA's year, etc." next season along with the garbage about how the 3-4-3 hurts the women's game (or wouldn't work in the men's game - unless you call it a 3-5-2, or a 4-3-3- with a "stopper" who jumps into midfield). I doubt any other program with similar success gets as much (unjustified) stick from people within their sport.
Give me a break. Oh what a problem to have. Have you heard of the Lakers, or those damn Yankees? The best programs are those you either love or love to hate. People in this country either love to root for a champion, or the underdog. As for discussion about UNC's style hurting the international game or not being pretty soccer, well it's a legitimate discussion for this board and an interesting one to me. I respect UNC, and admire their success, but when they are successful against teams with their style, the ball is just kicked around a lot. It doesn't deliver the prettiest game, and it's not going to win over non-soccer fans, but you can't argue with the results.
Can anyone please give me a link of the the game winning goal from Sunday? or if there is a replay of the match soon?