I think you will. As we see all the time, and WSU saw twice this week, the better team does not always win, especially on the road.
2018/10/09 Tue: After 2 road losses, WSU drops to #19 (from #7) U.S.C., #12 (from #5) TopDrawer, and #15 (from #5) SoccerAmerica. Other than the results, I'm ever-curious to see how we shall connect the dots on offense. We're pretty strong in the back and we usually fight well in midfield, but offense is fickle. 2018/10/13 Sat 19:00 PDT (+10=0-2,+3=0-2) #19 Washington State - Southern California #2 (+11=1-1, +4=0-1) Stream: WSU live stream Stats: StatBroadcast 5393 Preview (USC): No. 2 Trojans Head North to Take on No. 19 Washington State (a one-line intro to a PDF link) Preview (WSU): Cougars and Trojans Collide Saturday at Lower Soccer Field Chilly night in the PNW, currently 44°F with no wind, with lows of 29°F = -2°C. We train our GKs by diving through frost USC has quietly rampaged through their schedule, losing only at Stanford. Typical USC team: athletes throughout, they outrun you everywhere and outshoot everybody. We'll show them what water does when it gets cold
02' 0-0 USC quickly dump down box left, lose it over. 03' 0-0 WSU turnover in own 1/3, prompt pass to #23 Prisock at box top center. Minniss(?) misses a lunging poke-try, Prisock facing away does a one-touch left away from pressure, turns to her right foot wide-open at 15m right post. Right instep shot beats Thompson past her right hand, but outswings away, off left post low, bounces diagonally out directly to Thompson. 04' 0-0 WSU lose it over endline right. 06' 0-0 USC does fast zigzag passes toward box top arc left, contested pressure but WSU can't steal. Backpass, DeMelo shoots just over bar. 07' 0-0 Weaver taps square left to Gomera-Stevens at arc top mid-left, she shoots through traffic, deflected off torsos and skips to GK Collins.
07' 0-0 Diagonal pass to #35 Pruitt lurking-at-speed at 25m right touch. Pruitt outruns Haro caught high, to 7m wide right, ground cross rolls through to 4m 6-left, RB McLyn clears. That's a canonical USC pattern, because they know they can just outrun you in 2-3 parallel lanes. 08' 0-0 Gomera-Stevens shoots from 17m mid-right, blocked back. Pulver(?) runs on and applies pressure, ball pops free(?), Pulver floats a shot to Collins. 10' 0-0 USC dink pass to a 1-v-1 (Prisock?) at 12m mid-left, turn-and-shoot blocked off torso. 11' 0-0 DeMelo(?) slips another short ground pass from ~arc top mid-left toward 8m center. #21 Jacobs turn-and-runs past 1, GK Thompson charges out, both slide, ball reflects off Thompson past box top center. Pruitt shoots one-touch, high wide right with net empty. Thompson took a hit on that, stays in. 11' | @rmthompson06 with the scramble to keep it even | 0-0#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/pEUstsVTmT— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarSoccer) October 14, 2018
13' 0-0 WSU fk(?), to Bennett somewhere around box right post. Jumping header goes just wide right, as Collins dives past that post. 13' | So close, the header just off the mark | 0-0#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/BStaT4YN9L— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarSoccer) October 14, 2018 14' 0-0 Pruitt makes the entry pass to box top center, Jacobs not there, Hancock blasts away. Pruitt(?) goes down right touch to 7m, cross blocked over by Minniss. (On the plus side, Minniss is back from the injury at Utah -- it wasn't weeks ) 16' 0-0 USC sustain a scramble around WSU's 10m left post area, chip lob to left post headed away by the post defender, two volley-shots toward left post blocked away. WSU finally clear. 18' 0-0 USC go down left touch (a rare plot twist ) to box top, high cross to box top center. #9 Pulver jump-heads to clear -- ball either glances off the wrong side of her head toward own 6-right foot, or she meant to do that. Thompson collects.
19' 0-0 USC doesn't miss passes, and their passing tempo is very high. WSU are patiently sitting in space and waiting to pounce and clear. 20' 0-0 DeMelo threads another fast short ground pass from ~arc top left to 10m 1/3 left -- at least the 5th she's put in like that, and USC's forwards are already in box running onto them. #_ sneaks a foot past her 1-v-1, one-touch left foot blast under Thompson into 1/3 left back low hard. No goal, offside. Still, that's the tempo, and USC is reliably constructing it against us. 20' 0-0 Thompson fk, long blast bounces to USC's 6-top, Collins collects just ahead of Weaver(?)'s header try. 23' 0-0 This WSU stream is showing ... WSU commercials in the run of play They cleverly pick sort-of-dead times, like GK retrieving ball from behind net.
24' 0-0 Pruitt squares to DeMelo, DeMelo accelerates past Pulver, curls through box top mid-right -- but leaves ball a tad too far center-ward, Pulver body-masses her off and pokes ball away. DeMelo is fast, and she thinks like a point guard. 25' 0-0 WSU dump down wide right, USC chase to own 8m and clear into far touch. 26' 0-0 WSU right throw-in, poked around. Weaver collects at 25m box right, fakes center cuts right to arc top box right, shoots right foot through traffic just wide right low, not troubling Collins. 27' 0-0 USC pass from 30m right touch toward box right foot, miss both players in that lane, over.
28' 0-0 Bennett right throw-in at box top, short to Gomera-Stevens coming toward her. Gomera-Stevens turns to arc top box right, fakes north cuts left, shoots left foot across mouth over Collins' dive -- off crossbar 1/6 left, bounces out through box top left. LB Haro is way up in support, 2-v-2 but USC clear. 28' | The fancy footwork by @kapua_makamae but the woodwork stops the would-be go-ahead goal | 0-0#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/tphsUACh4t— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarSoccer) October 14, 2018 31' 0-0 USC pass out of the back, Bennett crowds the turn and pokes ball loose to Weaver -- and continues her own run. Weaver one-touch diagonal tap into Bennett's stride, Bennett touches to box top right. Square pass bounces juuust past Weaver's toes at box top mid-right, continues to box top center, USC clears.
35' 0-0 LB Haro takes MF #13 McKeown down wide left to 5m, rattles ball past her, hops over a slide-try and gets tripped flat. Foul on McKeown, Haro stays down supine, half-over endline for several seconds. Then she ... sets up for a FK, but ref already sprayed a nice circular golf tee for the fk. 36' 0-0 Haro fk at 4m wide left, into the scrum, WSU get a couple of half-touches into legs, USC clears. 37' 0-0 USC pass to McKeown turning past 15m mid-right, momentarily open at 12m -- she slices right outstep, outswings high wide right.
37' 0-0 Pruitt starts a run down wide right, hard ground square cross to 16m mid-right (= 17.6 yards, just inside box top). DeMelo touch-and-cuts right, Minniss sticks a foot in and trips her down. Foul, penalty. 38' 0-1 Pruitt pk, right instep to left back low, under Thompson's dive. 39' 0-1 WSU fk at ~24m wide right, sailed to 2m left post. Hancock glance-heads into Collins, ball bounces out out to ~7m 2-left. Minniss shoots into torsos, blocked through box top center. Pulver runs on, shoots high.
41' 0-1 #22 Plumptre makes a long forward pass to #_ facing away at arc top right post -- and continues her own run up right touch. #_ one-touch square left pass to box top right touch, just as Plumptre arrives -- the inside-out give-and-go beats our diagonal left flank. Plumptre ground cross rebounds off Minniss into right touch. 42' 0-1 USC ground pass to box top mid-right, wrong-foots both their player and ours (Minniss), over endline right. This is one of USC's main ideas. 45' 0-1 We contest pings in the centerward 1/4 of our 1/2, and disrupt each other. HT 0-1. We don't have the speed to outrun USC and be already posting up in their box (nor the speed to recover from that position), so they can do it to us, while we look for box-top chances. So far, we've stopped it k-3 times: USC hit left post, was offside once, and drew a PK.
46' 0-1 Hocking turns through 2m box right past Minniss, floats a cross to 5m center, volleyed or punched away -- USC had somebody already at 6-center, waiting for that. 47' 0-1 Off that clearance, WSU pass long to Weaver running 1-v-3 from 27m arc left down mid-left to 9m. Weaver jump-stops to open a gap, touches away, square cross toward Bennett at 8m right post poked away. 48' 0-1 Hocking chases down box right to 5m, Minniss is reluctant to tackle. Hocking dribbles away, squares to box top right, Pruitt was running on toward arc left but #_ comes out from inside box and intercepts her ball. Pass right to Hocking at box top right, she shoots high.
51' 0-1 WSU fk at circle top, sailed to 6-top 1/4 right, bounces leftward as Bennett fights 1-v-2 through two turned backs, USC clears. WSU dump down box right, too far for Weaver to chase. 54' 0-1 Decent WSU build-up into USC's 1/3, but -- Gomera-Stevens steps on ball and sprawls down. Hocking counters through box top mid-right to ~12m, pressured shot on the run goes wide right low. 54' 0-2 WSU turnover in center circle, #15 Woodward passes from circle top to 22m arc right. Hocking dummies past ball (and boxes out a defender), ball rolls to arc top mid-right. McKeown front-cuts Haro and turns her, touches to box top right post -- cutback tap beats RCB Hancock sliding across. Thompson comes out to 8m right post, McKeown quick-dinks left(?) foottop just under Thompson's left hand, rolls it just inside right post low. Here's a look at Tara McKeown's third goal of the year!#FightOn | #TrUSt pic.twitter.com/8VK3IPmcik— USC Women's Soccer (@USC_WSoccer) October 14, 2018
55' 0-2 Weaver turns into a pile of defenders 1-v-3 at 12m left post-ish, goes down with bumping contact. Foul on Plumptre, penalty. 55' 1-2 Haro pk, left instep pull to 1/5 right back 1/4 high, as Collins dove wrong. 62' 1-2 Weaver rounds 1 to arc top 6-right, right foot shot toward right 90, Collins pushes it over. 63' 1-3 Pruitt wins a ball at box right foot, floats a header to 3m 1/4 left. Hocking nods a header past Thompson already in the air, drops it softly into center back. Typical USC goal, win two races and be already there. Hocking's 7th goal of the year is a beauty!#FightON | #TrUSt pic.twitter.com/gepAEcp64q— USC Women's Soccer (@USC_WSoccer) October 14, 2018
71' 1-3 #7 H.Smith survives a tackle, passes inside-out to Weaver past box top wide right. Play whistled dead -- Weaver looked just-offside, but the original foul is called on Petredes? 72' 2-3 Haro fk at 27m center, sailed to 5m 1/4 left. Collins dives in front of a pocket of 3 onrushing Cougars, catches ball -- slides on knees, ball skitters out to 10m center. #14 Myers trails from box top center, turns past #8 McMorrow not boxing out, arrives first. One-touch left instep between two defenders pinching in, through legs into 2/5 right back pipe. HIGHLIGHT | @mollynmyers with the goal on the rebound off the @maddyharo free kick | 3-2 USC#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/OBuiyA3eBb— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarSoccer) October 14, 2018
80' 2-3 USC pass down wide right, cleared. Cross to 6-top center, Hancock heads away and Hocking jumps into her back while aloft. Foul on Hocking. This WSU pbp guy seems to be a hockey fan -- he first calls every foul a penalty, and then corrects himself for those not in a box 81' 2-3 Haro high chip from ~30m mid-left to spot, cleared away. WSU dump ball down box left, goal kick awarded. There has been much other mayhem and shots this 2H, but my fingers fail me.
86' 2-3 USC maintain possession with short passes and runs in our 1/3. DeMelo is really quick. 87' 2-3 USC turnover in our 1/3. WSU long pass up box left, too far for Weaver, but USC lose it into far touch twice.
88' 2-3 Overland dump-and-chases to box top left, but Plumptre(?) is faster and shields her off. WSU pass to Bennett at arc top wide right, she turns past the LB but ball scythe-tackled over endline right. 89' 2-3 Haro right ck, into a scrum at 5m left post. McLyn(?) sits down at 5m 1/4 left with ball at her left hip. Weaver comes away past her, collects ball, turn-and-shoot to goalline center, Collins kick-save, USC clear. Behind the play (with single camera pointing into WSU's 1/3), McLyn stays down? (not shown) Stoppage at 89'01", for a sub. 90' 2-3 WSU attack down box right, USC clears up centerline. Thompson comes up to 30m, kicks upfield. Bennett chases down right touch to 10m, cross blocked back to her and time expires. FT 2-3. We did pretty well against USC's athlete and speed advantage. They're at the level of executing patterns in the run of play that we don't even see in practice, and we stopped most of it, but not enough.
2018/10/16 Tue: WSU drops to #22/21/12 U.S.C./SoccerAmerica/TopDrawer (from #19/15/12). Haro's assist for her free kick on Myers' goal is her 11th this year, which leads the nation and ties the WSU single-season record. 2018/10/18 Thu 11:00 PDT (noon MST (+6=1-5, +1=1-3) Arizona State - Washington State #22 (+10=0-3, +3=0-3) Stream: ASU live stream Stats: StatBroadcast #4842 Tweets: SunDevilSoccer | WSUCougarSoccer Pac-12 hub: Pac-12 ASU-WSU (has links to both team's previews) Tempe: 71°F, sunny, 42% humidity, 7 mph winds. Clear all evening, low 66°F. (Pullman: 51°F, sunny, 63%, 7 mph, clear, low 37°F. Jacket weather) A rare weekday morning game at ASU. ASU's last scheduled home match on 10/13 Sat vs. Stanford was cancelled (postponed) due to rain, which rendered the field not playable. We commiserate; we have a postponed match vs. Iowa still to squeeze in somewhere. Today's start time was set from the beginning of the year, not a change. ASU's leading scorer #9 (fr.) Nicole Douglas returns from England U19s.
20' 0-0. GK #1 Emma Dahline is starting for WSU WSU has had a few (~5) speed dribbles turning a fullback down box sides, but we barely-win 1 race at that speed, and can't make a good cross to anybody also winning their race. ASU 3-4 shots. Theirs are from long range, ours get blocked by body parts.
40' 0-0 ASU have a great deal of the ball in midfield. 45' 0-1 #14 Myers touches to box top left post into a pocket of 3 defenders, shoots left instep between 2 across mouth, it bounces past GK Panas's dive into back right low. HIGHLIGHT | The freshman (@mollynmyers) with her third goal of the year in the waning moments of the 1st half #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/WXYg5X06QV— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarSoccer) October 18, 2018 HT 0-1. ASU 6(2)-(2)9 shots(sog), 6-7 fouls, 0-3 corners.
47' 0-1 Douglas shoots from ~arc top mid-left to left post low, Dahline dives and blocks it wide and over. 47' 0-1 ASU left ck (their 1st), too far over box and into near touch.
55' 0-1 WSU engage in their customary 10' of high pressure to begin 2H, and generate 2 corners and 3 shots. 57' 0-1 #11 Purfield goes on a mazy dribble from midfield box left to arc top box left past 2 defenders, shoots left instep to 1/3 right, Dahline dives and blocks it away through box right. 57' | @m_uh_d with another diving save | 1-0 WSU#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/YAhka0lgd8— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarSoccer) October 18, 2018 58' 0-1 Purfield shoots from ~arc top box left toward right post low, Dahline dives and touches it just wide right. Offside, shot waved off. 60' 0-1 Weaver passes from ~12m 6-right to Bennett at 8m left post, Bennett pulls right foot shot off Panas's right hand, into back left edge 1/2 high. Offside, no goal.
65' 0-1 #19 Sullivan jukes past Haro at box top right, Haro interposes body and shields ball away, rides Sullivan's body-bumping to own 3m mid-right, then gets bumped off-balance onto ball, which bounces over endline. Foul on Sullivan. 66' 0-1 #12 Dehakis fouls at 24m box right to break up a run? Yellow card on Dehakiz. 66' 0-1 Haro fk at 24m box right, trick play: short ground pass toward 6-top right is just too far for an inside cut, Panas comes out and smothers it first. But -- ref never blew whistle, play brought back! 66' 0-1 Haro fk² at 24m box right, chip toward left post for a different cut, a bit too far and Panas catches.