UNC 2019

Not pretty, but a win was well deserved this afternoon. The Heels are now 5-0 with 4 shutouts with three of our best players out for U23 duty for three games.

Statistically today's game was lopsided and one would have thought that the Heels should have won going away from looking at the numbers. But the fact of the matter is that LSU had a good game plan designed to park the bus and hope for a successful counter attack. The tigers played what looked like a 5-4-1, but even the lone forward was often in the box with the rest of the team every time (frequently) UNC was knocking at the door. The stats show the shots at 19-4 and corner kicks 7-0 favoring the Heels. But if they posted "blocked shots" the Tigers would have won that category handily. The day was saved with another wonder strike from Brianna from about 20 yards out. She took a pass from Rachel Jones, dribbled laterally to the right to shake two defenders, and blasted a shot through a bunch LSU players into the upper left corner.

The weather conditions were challenging with Hurricane Dorian making her presence known with bands of wind and rain. Continuous light rain with spells of moderate rain and one deluge for about 5 minutes where it was difficult to make out the stands on the other side of the field made everything slippery, and gusty winds out of the north made things miserable, but thank goodness, were not that strong yet (maybe 15-20 mph gusts max.)

Not related to the weather was the ankle injury to Taylor Otto. Word is that she may be out for the season, although an optimist might plan on getting her back in November. She has been a key player and leader as captain both last year and this season.

Dorrance had the Heels in a 4-2-2-2, which might also be described as a 4-4-2, but the 2 holding mids played more centrally and the wing halfs had the job of running the length of the field working with the outside backs on defense and then working all the way up the field to make crosses from the corners.

The line-up is now familiar when UNC's top players are away on U23 duty. The back four are Joel, Goff, Bell, and Dorsey, holding mids Pinto and Otto, wing halfs Jones and Andrzejewski, and forwards Cox and Gambone.

Things are starting to become known about the freshmen. With so many locals who never were on the radar for the top schools, it is always interesting to see which ones rise to the top. For me is Alexis Strickland is a wonderful surprise. And I am impressed with Isabel Cox as she has turned out to be a sophisticated and savvy soccer player who just happens to be 5'11". Unfortunately Maggie Pierce is out with an injury as she was showing great promise. And Hallie Klanke is turning out to be as I expected... fast, scrappy, and smart.

With Mubben-Moy, Russo, and Fox returning by this next weekend, we'll have to see what happens. Will Dorrance go back to the three-back defense? Who will replace Otto? (I was impressed with Jones in that position.) Will Fox end up on the left or right in the defensive line...of play wing half, especially if the 3-back is used. And where will Russo play...up top of left half? It's going to be an interesting season.

 

Huge fvcking loss.

I hate injuries. Even to Tar Heels.


This is also known as burying the lede. Sheesh. LOL

 

Coach Dorrance thought bubble standing on the sideline yesterday- “Great athletes running around , but this soccer is chite.”

 

Curious how you think Penn St is poorly coached - I don't get to see them play, just know they have a lot of top players.

 

You are right. Bad writing.

So...More on Otto... I am now hoping that her injury is not so bad as it looked. I have since listened to Anson's pod cast and he mentioned that he was hoping she could be available late in the season.

There was no foul regarding the injury. I was following the offensive play and didn't notice that she was still on the ground until the ref called for a time out to attend to her. She obviously was in great pain with her left leg and of course I immediately was worried about an ACL. Two UNC trainers and Anson went out to administer to her and after about 5 minutes was eventually was carried off toward the EMS ambulance where her parents joined her. That's the last I saw her, but I had the chance to talk to an EMS guy after the game and ascertained that it seemed to be an ankle issue. But today I now understand that she did stay for the rest of the game and was seen with trainers steadying her as she tried to put some weight on that foot. So we shall see....

Otto has been a starter from her first season of play. (She redshirted her freshman year as she was an off and on starter for the U20s that fall.) Other than some stints up top and a little time in the back line, she has played as a 6 for the Heels, typically going 90 if the game was close. Her skills are such that she is one of the players who obviously hold their own when scrimmaging pro teams like the Lyon or the Courage. She's 5'10" and is good in the air, but most of all she is a calm and cool head who makes good decisions and is an excellent leader by example. I hope that she can recover quickly.

There! Have I unburried the lead for you?? ; -)

 

Yes!

Good luck to her.

So, you were at the game?

Let me ask you a question.... Last year Courtney Petersen got hurt. Caught a cleat to her ankle. She was writhing on the ground, clearly in pain,.crying so loud you could hear her on the TV broadcast. And our physio just.strolled out to her. I mean he sauntered. I thought it was just short of negligence. I was outraged.

So,.what was your guy's response to getting out to Otto?

 

Oh yea. I was at the game and got good and soaked!

I did not note anything unusual and so I can't honestly answer your question. When the ref stopped the game he immediately motioned for the trainers and they were ready with their packs and promptly went out. I think the two trainers walked briskly out to Otto (or maybe they jogged?). I didn't notice Anson going out except that I suddenly became aware that he was standing there looking down and talking. And yes even with the wind and rain we could hear her cries from the stands.

 

Well, it was a mismatch. I'm not sure how there beginning-of-the-season little "Classics" are organized, but how is it that they don't involve teams that are more or less of the same caliber? I feel bad for UNLV who arrived with a winning record, didn't come close to scoring a goal, coughed up 11 goals against, and left with two losses. LSU experienced much the same, going scoreless but yielding only 7 goals. (I think that it actually helped the visitors that Thursday's games were played in the rain and gusty winds, as it kept UNC and Duke off balance a little.) It would seem to me that all teams would benefit if the competition was more even. Did Duke talk two lambs into the slaughter willingly and knowingly? Or is there something to be gained by signing up for a two shutout weekend?

The good news for UNC was that they got to play the entire roster with significant time for everyone. The first line subs played with the starting 4 backs for awhile, but in the second half it went all the way to an entire third team playing. Good for the Heels benchers, but I'm not sure how the weekend benefitted UNLV.

 

Conversely how much did UNC benefit from playing UNLV?

 

If they didn't pick up any more Otto-like injuries, then the game was a success from UNC's point of view.

OOC games are just to get a run out and try things the coach wants to do, whether it's tinkering with formations or giving PT to backups, or lots of touches to players who need to come out of the gates quickly. For top tier teams, like most of those that have threads here, all of them are going to the NCAAs, so worrying about Quadrant 1 wins (or whatever the women's soccer equivalent is) is irrelevant. It's all about getting some experience under your belt.

 

what a shame. hope Otto heals quickly. She is a fun one to watch!

 

Anson's report on Otto was there would be an MRI on Monday. They took an xray on Friday and still can't definitively diagnose exactly what's going on. There is a lot of swelling which apparently can obscure soft tissue damage in an xray. Anson talked about hoping that it is not a grade 3 sprain which would involve surgery and up to six months or more to heal sufficiently to start playing soccer again. A grade one or two sprain would be less problematic.

 

I get the experience part, but I still am wondering about (as Crayhorse succinctly says) what good it does for either team to have such a disparity. It would seem that training value for the first string players on the strong team would be limited with no real challenges (or false learning when sloppy passing somehow works anyway, etc.)

But in particular, I would love to know what goes through the weaker team coach's head when contemplating signing up for the weekend. What does it do for training when your players all get out run to 50/50 balls --not because they weren't trying, but the other athletes were just always a step faster, or get out jumped for headers, or force you to cough up the ball by a good tackle. So Duke calls and says that they'd like to invite your team to the little four team classic and that you'd get to play UNC and Duke. Is the coach thinking, "This would be a great opportunity! We'd get shellacked and embarrassed, but somehow it would be good for us! Sign us up!" Or maybe, "This would be a great experience for our kids to get a first hand experience of playing strong teams. It will make us stronger and more motivated to work harder." (There are no strong teams out west?) But I will tell you, after UNC was up 6 in the first half with the last goal assisted and scored by substitutes, it didn't look to me like the UNLV players were learning much and looked pretty discouraged. Their parents and bench who had started off the game cheering and encouraging were pretty quiet.

Or to put the question differently, are there no other teams who would provide more competition who would have been interested in spending the weekend in Durham? Or are all such prospects running their own "classics" and are not available? How does this all work?

 

One might think so, but this actually isn't true. Because the Women's Soccer Committee is constrained in what it can consider when making at large selections for the NCAA Tournament, the non-conference games are vitally important to teams. (Don't be thinking about basketball, where the selection committee has far fewer constraints.) Here's why non-conference games are so important:

The only ratings the Committee can consider are the RPI ratings. If all teams were to play only conference games, each conference's teams would have esentially the same ratings as other conferences' teams. In other words, you wouldn't be able to tell the ACC from the SWAC. You have to remember here that the Committee isn't allowed to "seed" teams going into the season. They are required to start out with the mind-set that all teams are equal and that the only way to distinguish them is through a review of this year's games. So, from a Committee perspective, if there only were conference games, an undefeated #1 team from the ACC and an undefeated #1 team from SWAC would be equally rated and ranked.

What distinguishes the conferences from each other, and thus their teams from other conferences' teams, are their non-conference results (and, to a much lesser extent, the teams against whom they achieved those results). Thus non-conference results are critical and are essential to the Committee's being able to select at large teams and seed the top 16 teams.

[As for why UNC would bring in a team like UNLV, that's a good question. It's not uncommon for good teams to schedule at least one quite weak opponent. I've heard this referred to as a "guarantee" game. It may be a chance to get other than regular starters some significant playing time and to get regular starters some rest and recuperation time. Also, UNLV isn't as bad as you might think -- with a likely ranking somewhere in the 125 range (and a strength of schedule contributor rank a little better than that).]

 

Despite the score, my compliments to UNLV. Though outmatched they did not pack it in like many teams do vs. UNC and other strong teams, and they forced UNC to move the ball and be creative and produce some nicely put together goals. Also of note, I did not see the UNLV players guilty of some of the hard fouling that is sometimes a result of the frustration of a blowout. So while neither team really sharpened up their game in one of those matches where every pass matters and every mistake costs you, this was as productive and fun to watch of a blowout as we can hope for. UNC appears to be going into ACC play with a talented team and great depth, so if Anson's most difficult decision is to choose who not to start, the team should be in good shape.

 

UNC's depth year in and year out is outstanding.

 

im not sure thats true. i think the system they deploy is the key.

 

FWIW, this was not UNC's tournament. This was Duke's. UNC and Duke have played in each others "Nike Classic" for the last decade or more. It makes a lot of sense in terms of travel etc. So for one weekend UNC arranges the tournament and Duke comes down and takes part, and two weeks later, UNC goes up to Duke for two games arranged by Duke. So for this weekend it was Duke's choice of competition.

Are the pickings slim for getting stronger teams to come to these little early season mini tournaments?

 

NCAA will add a P5 division. Too many sub-levels in D1 now In all sports.

 

Anson likes to help fellow coaches by scheduling games with them--he probably knows them all. One might wonder, for example, why the Heels are visiting Arkansas next week (besides them being a tournament program). To speculate, the young Arkansas coach Coby Hale was an assistant at UCF, coached now by Tiffany Roberts Sayadak -- the UNC great . Amanda Cromwell, by the way, the mega successful UCLA coach previously coached UCF and played for Anson on the national team. So anyway, Anson, the Godfather of the sport, knows everyone and generously praises and helps other coaches. I remember years ago (2011?) UNC played at Nebraska -- as a coaching favor. Sometimes these unusual matches also have to do with recruiting or where a player is from. Just speculating. I'm sure teams line up to get in these two tournaments even if they get beat badly.

 

UNC Tarheels 6-0 are ranked Number 1 this week by Top Drawer! But who's counting, right? I am... TAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

(Followed by Stanford, UVa, and USC all at 6-0. Sort of a 4-way tie. UCLA dropped to 5 after being upset 2-0 by Santa Clara. And by the by, Va. Tech and Boston College are also 6-0 and in the top 20. Florida State and Duke lurk in the top 20 dangerous as always.)

 

Certainly he may have thought that not taking on the great Cali teams, etc. might be prudent in a year where three of his best players might be playing abroad at the beginning of the season. I don't know how in advance these schedules are made, but they come out later than most sports. He certainly knew he wouldn't have to claw his way up the poll ladders this year, that UNC'd be a top team.

 

Anson has compensated by playing tough ACC teams in non conference matches. Lat year it was Duke, and this year it is Duke and Wake Forest. Duke and UNC will play each other as part of the regular ACC season, but the early Duke Game and the upcoming Wake Forest game will count as out of conference games. Cheaper than going to California and just as good for the rpi as playing perhaps UCLA and Cal. Anson seems to be pioneering this trick, but, as I understand it, if every team played repeated games with conference teams both as conference and as non conference games, then the whole rpi business would make a lot less sense than it does now.

 

So you think Anson is clobbering his friends as a “favor”....come across country to let us spend 90 minutes in your end battering you like a youth team? I am guessing good teams don’t want anything to do with them...people like to win.