Crystal is the only two time acc defensive player of the year. Players like Nel Fettig, Danielle Borgman, Carla Werden, Staci Wilson, Cat Reddick, Lorrie Fair, Lori Henry couldnt accomplish that. Id say UNC fans were confident in her back there. They just rather watch this talented player beat people off the dribble and setup and score goals.
Ha Ha getting flak for this, and I'll probably get more flak for saying this: I do not think Crystal Dunn is a good off the ball defender, she turns her hips and loses her shape too easily, and she has a tendency to creep up field and leave 2 stranded in the back. That being said, her defensive accolades are well earned. What makes her an excellent defender is her recovery speed, her ability to win 50/50 balls, her poise with the ball at her feet, and her ability to dribble and break pressure out of the back. This team was just above average with her stuck at the back, and she had a tendency to forget her role as anchor. With her in the mid-field, striking at the flanks, this team is pretty much unbeatable.
Premji played central striker, usually as a sub for Ohai, through the course of the tourney and much of the year. The final goal scored in the championship game was Dunn striking the flank and crossing from the baseline to Premji. I remember a similar goal around mid season when we were just getting every body back from international duties. Premji has been up top a lot this year.
I agree with much of what you are saying, Summer is an excellent passer and also has as very good power shot, I can see her coming out of the midfield passing or attacking facing the goal. I have been on the front row of games where I can hear Kealia saying feet,feet!most any time Ohai gets a through ball at her feet its lights out, its amazing how few she gets. It only took one in the Stanford game. . I believe this team could score 5 goals a game if they solved their final third problem, they now have the personel CD and company in the midfield and the experiance to remedy that next year. It takes a selfless player to come out of the midfield and make the great pass rather than the average shot!. I believe UNC's pace is so fast sometimes players lose composure in the final third. These are all just observations, not complaints, UNC was amazing this year, couldn't be more proud and happy. I felt Anson was the coach of the tournament especially where he has been brilliant over the years the final game!
You almost think they would be better off going 3 3 4 , absurd notion of course but . . . intriguing.
They were average with her in he back not because she was in the back but because because there was no attacking in the midfield and a lack of scoring when she was back there--something she solved. And with her in the back came not holding the ball as long in the midfield and allowing the opponent to pressure the back line more. Never to say she is perfect as a defender but from what I have seen her deficiencies in off the ball defense are more than made up by those other attributes you listed from what I have seen. But seeing her in defense at UNC is not likely next year unless they lose 2 more starting defenders during the season.
Hey babranski! Welcome to the thread! I thought the Heels faced problems on all three lines this season. Defense in particular, because we lost two starters to early injury. I disliked the solution of putting Dunn at CB; for while I personally think she is great anywhere on the field, she isn't tall, and she does not have great vertical leap. Then, while we might disagree about what position Premji played for much of this season (mid/striker) there will be little disagreement on this thread (I think) that she is at her best offensively when she is far advanced so that she can either slot a quick final pass or take an opportunistic shot at close range. With Ranee in (her most effective) attack mode at CM (e.g., far advanced), that puts the Heels in essentially a 3-3-1-3. Not a lot of schools play that? It also puts Amber Brooks in an essentially impossible position with a short defender behind her and a short ACM in front of her. Brooks is great in the air, but not great enough to do the work of three people. As a result, early on, we lost a lot of control in the midfield on flighted balls, and both Dunn and Brooks were essentially "trapped back" -- Dunn because of her position assignment, Brooks because we gotta have some height helping our defensive center. With Brooks trapped back, Premji can't play as far forward as would be optimal, cause it leaves too big a hole in the center, so she has to track back. But because Ranee's skills are at close quarters, she is then pulled too far back to really provide the front line with the connection and service they need in the attacking third. So those (IMO) were our midfield problems. The forwards suffered from playing at breakneck pace without a way to develop sophisticated service out of a UNC midfield that struggled to control the center, and as a result, the forwards felt hurried, pressured to finish whatever half chances they got, and they struggled to find connections and a confident attacking rhythm. IMO, what turned the season around was adding height to our central spine and moving Dunn to attack. My opinion is that could have been done in many different ways, with or without Ball's return. I note that both Givan and Engen were strikers before they became defenders, and we had some talented players in reserve this year who might have been converted to starting defenders (at least for [part of?] a season)? Getting some height earlier behind Brooks would have freed her to (more safely) come forward. Getting Brooks forward allows her to better connect with everyone in the attacking midfield, and putting Dunn anywhere in that mix, either at center or flank, gives Brooks someone world-class-awesome to connect with. Allowing Brook's height to move forward and placing Dunn in a position where she can both connect with Brooks and advance the ball takes a great load off of Premji, allowing her to slide forward into that area of the field near the top of (or in) the box where she is most effective. I think there were a lot of ways to address and solve these problems. In the final analysis, the way Anson did it seemed to work just fine! What I find most remarkable (and also consistent with our program history) about this season is that (at the end of the day) we did solve all these challenges, despite injuries and player absences, with a coaching staff that was flexible enough to identify the problems and fix them, and with a player roster that never stopped believing in the coaches, in themselves, what they were capable of, or the history they represented. That, for me is why this year's Championship is among the Most Outstanding in the program's history, and one that I think this group should be exceptionally proud of!!!
Wasn't Premji mostly a sub as the season wore on? She seemed to always spell Ohai. I am also curious of people's opinion of Indi Cowie and what role she will play on this team beyond running their twitter account?
This is a great post. I obviously don't know as much about soccer as you do, but I have attended 10-15 games per year since 20006 ...and we were in san Diego. This analysis seems right on target. I also appreciate that the analysis relative to premje is fair and not as negative as I have seen towards her on here. That kid played her heart out for the heels for 4 years. She did the best she could where she was put and she had a lot of success. I loved that she scored in the final. As you can tell from the screen name I made before the season started, I was optimistic about this season. I am even more optimistic about next year. It will be fun to see that back line have a chance to play together for the whole year, to have Bridgman back (where?) , and to see Dunn and Oahi even further perfect how they pla together. Dunn at center mid for 25 games? Can't wait. I am not sure who will fill the holes. What are the predictions for the starting 11 on opening day? Just noticed that I made my screename before last season, a d I do remember thinking they could not win last year, but would this year.
Some thoughts, having read the new posts on this thread daily through the course of the season (and during prior seasons) and as someone who has many years of coaching a different sport: Changing who starts and who doesn't and changing player roles over the course of the season presents a tremendous coaching challenge. Just because a coach would like to make a change doesn't mean the coach can just make it. The players, to a great extent, need to understand the reasons for the change and agree that it is correct. This may be more true for women than men -- I don't know because I've only coached women, but I suspect it is true. A coach may believe a change is called for, but it may not yet be obvious that the change is called for. A really good coach will wait until it is clear enough a change is called for that the players will understand and agree (and even be relieved). A great coach has enough knowledge of the players and enough intuitive skills to be able to sense the right time to make a change and enough courage and communicative skills to make it. It's much easier to sit on the sidelines and say, "Oh, if the coach would make this change things would work much better" than it is to be the coach and make the change successfully. Just because a change is successful when made doesn't mean it would have been successful if made earlier. Knowing when to make a change and being able to pull it off successfully is part of the art of coaching that separates great coaches from others.
This 2012 season has got to be in the top 2 or 3 gretest UNC Championships for so many reasons. There was a point that Anson was being questioned as to if his time had passed. There were times when UNC looked average at best, there were recruits oppting out of commitments to play for the likes of Stanford and UCLA. The 2012 season itself was in question as the Heels lost in the first round of the ACC, there were the uncharacteristic losses at home. There were loyal fans wondering if indeed the UNC era was over. This team overcame more than any UNC team ever has in an era of the greatest parity in the sport with talent spread accors the country. UNC was the underdog in almost every game they played in the NCAA tournament, something UNC has never been before.Facing a great BYU team in one of the most hostile venues in college soccer was so duanting UNC was pushed to 4 minutes left in overtime. Facing the defending National Champion Stanford team in thier home state was almost more than you could ask of this overachieveing UNC team. UNC who had lost their opening ACC game weeks before had to beat 4 teams that hadn't lost since August and then defeat a Penn State team that lead the nation in scoring. If AD never wins another championship this last one confirmed the guy can coach in any era. I can't imagine what coaches will use to out recruit UNC at this point, the old saying winning takes care of everything, this UNC Championship pretty much did just that. To the players and coaches who never stopped believing in themselves when it seemed like everyone else did, congratulations on one of the greatest NCAA runs in UNC history.
Indeed, Cowie is a source of great curiosity for may of us UNC fans. I got to watch her in spring practice a year ago and she was pretty strong playing on for front line (in the center then on the right a bit.) Going in, I somehow had the idea that she would be very technical given her position as the top female free styler in the world, but that is not what I saw. He first touch was perhaps average compared to many UNC recruits (ie quite good) and she did not seem as quick as I would have liked in getting her shot off in traffic. However, that said, I left quite impressed with her and her potential. With good coaching she could very effective as she is physically strong and determined. As you indicate, the big issue is where to effectively play her, and this will depend on her development. One of the key issues will be how she handles her transition from free styling. Can she do both? If not, Will she be able to abandon free styling to fully commit herself to playing for the Tarheels on the field? Would she really want to do this if necessary? (Most free style artists are not top soccer players on the pitch and there has been much discussion about this in years past as to what the impediments are. Most of what I have seen is that it may be an attitude issue for most of these players.) All in all, I'm a fan of Indi, and am expecting to see good things on the pitch! Is it really she that runs the player's Twitter account. (I had assumed it was Brittany Bartok.)
I'll also transpose the above post on to the 2013 UNC thread so that it can me more appropriately pursued there.
I apologize if this was already posted, but found this series of interviews with Reilly Parker (and Anson) on chapelboro.com and thought I'd post it as a chronicling of the trip to San Diego: http://chapelboro.com/topic/related...6&contentCategoryName=Reilly+Parker&tagType=4
Yes, Indeed. This is yet another one of Brittany Bartok's video efforts. She does an absolutely great job of filming, editing, and finding background music, etc. I think that this is her best yet. She will be graduating and leaving Chapel Hill in May. I do hope that they can find another volunteer on the team to continue her fine work. I've gained much insight into the team through her videos.
Yeah she's really good at it. It isnt just highlights. She does a great job capturing the human aspects of the team.
Crystral Dunn named 2012 winner of the Soccer News Net "Women's College Boot". This is her second national POY recognition this year. (Honda was announced earlier.) Hermann to be announced on Friday. Crystal is as deserving as anyone this season. http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/colle...D=3350&SPSID=667900&SITE=UNC&article_id=32610
So is a coincidence that former Mac Herman winner and distinguished wearer of #19 Mia Hamm will be the guest speaker at this year's Mac Herman Awards dinner? I dont think so.
CD is one of the best dribblers I have ever seen at UNC. She can play anywhere on the pitch. I really enjoy watching her dominate in the air at 5'1. Special player and very nice person.