You've got it, GAA. They're under 0.8 per game. That's a sine qua non for winning the championship. Offense is good, but defense is essential.
Yes, I'm obviously intrigued too. GAA and SOG% maybe, but there are better teams on those stats out there. But other guesses would be: How about balanced scoring. In the last 6 games we have scored 12 goals which have come from 8 players. I'm a big believer in peaking at the right time and if one cherry picks the last third of our season (six games) we look pretty good and improving. Undefeated with 12 goals scored and 2 allowed in that time. After that, I dunno. Maybe because.... We've had the same coach for 38 years? Have had no ACL tears this year? (from active players, that is .... one to a redshirt in practice.) Haven't changed the uniform design in I don't know how long? Play in an 80 year old stadium? I give up!
Oh I didn't hear about this. That's unfortunate. I was hoping to go the entire season without any ACL's after what happened last year.
Just a little review of Friday's game. The first 20 minutes were a little scary. It looked like one of those nightmares that one can't wake up from. Two factors played into this. First Liberty came out with defensive fire and enthusiasm putting great pressure on our backfield and midfield. They did to us what the Heels have been famous for doing to others over the decades --they forced a number of turnovers, some in scoring positions. They got a couple of great shots off one requiring a good save by Lindsey. It was like we were just going through the motions and were confused and dazed as we got dispossessed. This defensive pressure was also clearly practiced and well coached. Two players would quickly converge on a Heel with the ball and one would tackle from the front. When our player would wheel to turn away from the pressure the second defender wold have come up close behind and strip the ball. (I think I saw this maneuver three times.) The second thing that was going for the Flames was the happenstance (or maybe scouting perhaps???) of getting center ref who had a slightly different view of what a fair charge was. I believe that we lost the ball three or four times when contact was made with the lower body (as opposed to shoulder or hip) resulting in a stumble and loss of the ball with no call made. (In the second half, she called more tripping...) It took subbing in Sarah Ashley Firstenberg to get us fired up enough to start to break the spell. After the rest of the "Blue Team" got int the game about 30 minutes in, we really shed the malaise and stated clicking. The first goal was a great team effort--the nice pass from Bucky into Sash who nearly headed it across the mouth of the goal and others crashing the box really worked. We took the game from there. There still was some vision and decision making issues, but we are trying. What is glaringly obvious is when (twice, I think) the ball was in the middle of the field and Bucky would make a great run down the left side with no defense anywhere near her and the vision was not there and the ball would be forced into traffic to the right side. (Finally, a Bucky run down the left side was spotted and Hannah made an excellent pass out of the backfield, Bucky took it down and make a nice cross to Dorian who scored. If our holding midfielders would look more often for this left side option we would do well!) A good thing was that we didn't try changing fields with on-the-ground passes across the middle (which has caused some really bad turnovers earlier in this season.) Progress!
Personally I think it will be USoCal instead of Stanford, but yea... reminds me a lot of what 2012 team had to get through.
The good news and the bad news are: anything can happen. UNC can exit on Friday, or win the whole thing. Crazy. Still hope that a good thing might happen with UNC.
Three number one seeds with final 8 game away, and college cup in California. I like their chances a lot to at least make it to Columbia. Remember that South Carolina outplayed them badly in 2014 3rd round
Congrats to the Heels for the win on Friday night. We looked a little weak to start the game (a disturbing trend if you remember the Liberty game) but come on strong to dominate. Lots of good play out there, but we're going to have to keep improving if were going to go much further. My recent harangue continues... Megan Buckingham frequently stands all alone in a great position to make a run on goal and the midfield does not "see" her enough and takes the ball into traffic on the right side. (This is especially true when the Heels are attacking to the east when Bucky is near the stands away from the bench.) ...Starting on Sunday afternoon with a very tough Clemson. I hadn't seen them play this year and was impressed on Friday with their physical play. Especially compared with the Arkansas team they were bigger and heavier on a player to player basis and it showed. The Tigers absolutely controlled the head balls and and continually bounced the lighter Razorbacks off the ball. They also seemed to have a tough attitude and a real focus. This is not to imply that they are not fast, skilled, and well coached --because that are that too! Sunday will be a tough test for the Heels. Back to close with my season-long excitement regarding Lindsey Harris. Every time I see her play, I am more impressed. She has truly developed into an outstanding keeper with a lot of up side to come. Mark my words! Trusting in the scouting ability of the pro coaches, we should see a lot of her in the NWSL and maybe on the US national team as time goes by.
Now it should be: Clemson, South Carolina, West Virginia, and USC. (Or, more to my liking, Clemson, BYU, Duke, and Virginia!)
Don't know what was said at halftime but they came out in the second half with their hair on fire, swarming, absolutely taking control. It was great to see, looked much like the old days. A great pleasure of watching any team is to see players evolve, show more than you anticipated. I did not realize Maya Worth had the skill she's been showing this year, and Maggie Bill seems to get better each game. And Madison Schultz is doing so much more than earlier in the year. Speaking of players who have stepped up, Buckingham is just a force this year.
2009 Heels won NCAA with 5 shutouts in 6 games, four of which were 1-0 wins. They gave up 2 goals, both to wake Forest in a 5-2 win.
The seas kinda parted for them in this bracquet, getting out of the Southeast then upsets. Goes to show any P5 in the south has a shot in recruiting, it's only a matter of time with the proliferation of the youth soccer industry. Pitt, Syracuse, BC, etc., no chance. Unless you leave the country to recruit and get enough foreign players who don't think much about climate and geography, just play in the US. Penn State had it's 15 minutes with Rocky.
Gonna be hard to beat the other Carolina. I hope it happens, but after watching the victory over Clemson, I think SC has the upper hand.
Yes, USC is very good. Don't forget how they beat us on our home field in the third round just a couple of years ago, and still have some of those key players. I'd love to see the Heels make the college cup, but I think they have already done a lot better than most of us would have guessed after the USC (the other one) and nc state losses. Now look at nc state with a chance to make the final 8! Maybe we should be glad to play USC away as they whooped us at fetzer 2 times in a row going back to 2007. But, they have huge crowd support. Should be a nice game. Thinking of making the trip.
Have you watched USC vs Colorado and BYU? They were far from being good. IMO UNC is better of playing with USC than BYU. Anyway. They already did better than most of the people expected. As I said many times in this forum they are good and getting better with the improvement of the ACL group. Unfortunately, Zoe Redei's ankle injury healing slower than expected. Just imagine with Scarpa, Otto, Fox and a healthy Redei how far this team can go next year. In the meantime I believe that UNC has a decent chance to beat USC. Cheers!