It does seem that we now have a credible source confirming that Bowen has been released from Hospital after receiving a concussion. While in no way minimizing the severity of her injury, this does seem to rule out a set of scenarios that were simply too depressing to enumerate. My hope for her: a speedy recovery to full health! And I hope the same for Ball, Bruder (? I presume), Dunn, Elby, Gray and Newfield (and anyone else I might have overlooked). The women's college game is getting better, faster, and more physical-- these gals are certainly paying a physical price to bring us the exceptional contests we so enjoy-- its a contact sport, but I certainly appreciate the risks they are willing to accept to bring the game to this level and wish them all a quick recovery to full health!
AD said Dunn was limping badly on Friday, and the fact she even played was an accomplishment. I think the Heels could have survived some of the injuries. They did a good job of filling Ball's absence, for example. But losing Newfield before the match, having a hobbled Dunn, and losing Elby and Bowen during the match proved too much to overcome. We never really saw Bruder play to her potential, but being such a highly ranked recruit, I have to think she would have been a big help when healthy.
For those who may not remember, Bowen suffered an eerily similar injury last year about this time, prompting the following homage from Anson: "...What Katie came in with was this real polish and she helped us in so many different ways. The primary way is that she reads the game unbelievably well. There's a cliché that the elite players that read the game well have. They say the first five yards is in your head. That's a great statement about Katie Bowen. She is moving so much earlier than anyone else, anticipating where the ball's gonna go, what's gonna happen. She really had a serious impact on this year's team. If she had been unable to play today, I think the result would've been different, that's how good I think she is. ..." link to the extended comments: http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205819595
Bowen may have to think seriously about leaving the game. I think Ball has played her last game. Emily Oliver retired. Concussions are serious business, especially to smart kids like these with great futures off the pitch.
2014 potential starting lineup Gk -Heberlin D- Murray, Gardner, elby M-Bowen, Boyles, Buckingham, Newfield F- castleberry, green, Nielsen Green is poised for a breakout year. Adjust Nielsen's productive per minutes played and you have the potential for a great year next year. We never saw Newfield at full strength as she nursed injuries most of the year. Oh yeah, don't ever forget a key factor who returns every year- Anson Dorrance. We may be so insolent (myself included) as to critique him from time to time, but he is the best coach in the history of the women's game and remains a genius and incredible motivator. Recruiting gets tougher and tougher, but Dorrance will keep unc among the elite always. With healthy players (always involves some luck with timing of injuries that all teams face), unc still has a chance every year to win it all. he is the best big game coach around. Recall that unc was not the favorite the past four times they won the title. With a healthy Dunn (and I truly do not intend to take anything away from a phenomenal ucla team), I think unc would have grinded out another ncaa title this year.
Munerlyn will start. Bruder will too, if healthy. I've seen a couple of people here and elsewhere talk about Firstenberg's potential. It should be an interesting off season. I wouldn't be surprised to see some transfers, both in and out of Chapel Hill. That said, as things stand now, I think next season will look a lot like the '10 and '11 seasons. That could change if AD adds a late recruit and/or transfer. UCLA, FSU, Florida, Texas A&M and Stanford will likely be in the top 5. There are a handful of ACC teams(UVA, VT, BC, UNC) who lose some pieces, but should still be good.
It is going to be a real challenge for me to "let go" of this year's Seniors! Each one is such a unique personality and an incredible story! I can't thank them enough for the individual contributions they have made to the Carolina program. It is hard to say goodby to such a group of quality players. I suppose if there is a criticism and a lesson in this year's season, it might be that the sum may be less than its parts. Anson has said this team could not play with "composure". My own take is that this excellent squad never found sufficient synergy on the field to quite lift itself over the last hurdle in an increasingly brilliant and competitive field. Synergy, "composure", whatever it is-- I believe it can be coached into (or out of) players. I think we can have a great season in 2014, and perhaps the last lesson (and gift) from this year's Seniors may be that the program as a whole needs to focus more on team integration, rather than focusing so intently on individual efforts. I'm not saying the UNC "competitive cauldron" is a bad model-- only that perhaps this season may have taught us that it needs to be expanded and given greater dimensionality-- as 16+ UNC (quality) starters playing (sometimes) as though their hair was afire was not quite enough to get us to Cary. I think it is something to consider for next year, as once again next year we should expect to find a couple teams who can play with composure to pass out of UNC's intense pressure defense. I thought this was a great season for our team, and I totally enjoyed it! I thought we were going to beat UCLA going into the second overtime and I was surprised and crushed when we didn't. I think, had we survived UCLA, this team had every reasonable expectation of beating UVA and FSU and winning it all! Soccer is a cruel sport and sometimes a couple random seconds make all the difference. Thanks to everyone on the team for an exciting and outstanding season, and best of luck to the Seniors in their lives (post-Tarheel)! I was glad to see Summer Green playing some of her best soccer in this tourney; Joanna Boyles rose to the challenge and played with much greater maturity and confidence than earlier in the season; Castleberry and Neilsen were big contributors; Murray and Elby will be outstanding as talented and steadying upperclassmen next year; Newfield should be recovered in the midfield-- we have so many talented young players who have made a great contribution this year and will pick up the torch for next season! Thanks to everyone on the squad for a great season and for all your hard work! Every game was a pleasure to behold! Your efforts made it a hugely exciting season for the fans-- so, Thanks! Go Heels!
That was an outrageous omission on my part. I have been so impressed with munerlyn and agree that she is a sure starter. Assuming Bowen returns, she might be on the back line, but I think it is more likely that Anson will use someone else or convert a forward. Bruder needs to show more to be a starter.
One thing is for sure, this has been an abysmal weekend for UNC sports. I think every single team, regardless of the sport, lost this weekend.
Katie Bowen @Kati3bowen1h Thank you to everyone for your prayers and thoughts. I got a concussion and strained my neck but I am okay. Well done to UCLA. #TFLF
So glad you are ok. The game outcome seemed awfully trivial when you were down. All the best to you and by the way, you played once heckuva game.
Kealia Ohai won the 2013 Senior CLASS award. Here a article and nice video interview where Kealia discusses the award and her time at UNC: http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle....SPID=12982&DB_LANG=C&SITE=UNC&DB_OEM_ID=3350#
Crystal Dunn was named an NSCAA first team All-American. No other Tar Heels made the three teams. I thought Ohai deserved to make at least the third team.
I think in retrospect the 2013 Tarheels are looking better and better. We lost in second overtime to a transformed UCLA team without Dunn, Newfield, Elby, Bowen, Ball, Bruder and Gray, and on an unlucky bounce that, had it gone the other way, would not have been rocketed back down Sieloff's throat. That game could have so easily gone the other way! Then we are in the mix in a world where UCLA advances on PKs against UVA-- might have been us! On the other hand, maybe this is what parity feels like? From what I have seen of them this season, I would say that UVA was somewhat better organized this season than UNC, and I would give them an edge on poise and polish. With strikers like Doniak, and playmakers like Brian, one can't fault them for a shortage of individual Allstars either. UCLA played one of the finest games I have seen played in more than a decade of following the College Cup in order to advance over UVA. They have a young team, a great coach, and are gonna be a Problem to deal with, going forward. FSU has a great program and will be a force again next year. I think the 2013 UNC program deserves to be regarded (and appreciated!!) as among a select handful of the finest squads in the country this year! It was an exciting year of great soccer! Unlike what we have come to hope for (and sometimes expect) there was not a lot of separation between the top 4~5 schools this year, and that is liable to persist for the foreseeable future. This new landscape is certainly going to create some huge challenges for players and coaches if UNC hopes to once again break out as head and shoulders above the best teams in the Nation-- but in any case, it is making for some great soccer!
I agree that unc had a fine season. I think they had as much talent as anyone. Almost no team could overcome the degree of injuries that happened all around the same time.
Just looked at fsu's roster with attention to the number of seniors. Oh my. Don't look if you are already worried about how good they will be next year.
We'll see what happens in the final later today, but I think UCLA is the bigger threat to UNC going forward. As long as Cromwell, who is only 43, is at UCLA, they'll have a chance to win the College Cup every year. Nevertheless, AD needs to step it up on the recruiting trail. FSU, UCLA, Stanford, A&M, UVA and Florida are all likely to be better than the Heels next season. Although a transfer and/or late recruit could certainly change their prospects.
For a fan of UNC, you seem awfully intent on repeatedly disparaging Anson and his recruiting, in case you're wondering why some have suspected you're a troll ("poser", "phony") in disguise. Perhaps you're just someone who demands perfection from the teams you support. I'm not sure who you blame for this year's seniors "deserving better" in an earlier post. When a fan is emotionally invested in a team the way I am after watching for 25 years, it's not as easy to listen to it - but whether we agree or not, this is a fan forum and there is room for differing perspectives and honest critiques. I can also appreciate that several who post here may be more recent followers of the UNC program who are less enamoured with their successes over time and only see losses and shortcomings as signs of an aging coach's decline. I can respect those points of view also. No doubt I look at the smaller numbers of fans in the stands at Fetzer and marvel at how the student body might be as much a factor as it once was when I used to go to the games - something more akin to fan bases I've observed when watching us play opponents at schools like Portland or Texas A&M - or more recently when Liberty brought their supporters to Fetzer. Are today's fans more easily disappointed when the team lets them down with a loss? Do fans feel "entitled" to feel a part of a winning program?
My view is that UNC was absolutely a championship caliber team this year. Anyone who wins it all has to have some luck of some sort. The bad luck that UNC had this year was injuries, or at least injuries at the wrong time of the year. UNC played both national finalists within a month of the NCAA final, losing both games in OT. I won't list all the injuries UNC had, but I think we stood a tremendous chance of winning both games even if just Dunn had been able to play 40 minutes at 80% in both games. Instead, she did not play at all against FSU and played 27 minutes at about 60-70% against UCLA. This was a TREMENDOUSLY talented UNC team. They didn't win it all. They still had a great season. I personally think the winning formula is still working quite well. Competition is much stiffer, so there isn't a lot of margin for error, but UNC is still recruiting extremely talented players and doing a wonderful job of developing them.
Injuries are such an easy excuse. If you base your ability to compete on the health of one player, I would venture to say, that's a poor plan. If the talent was so great at UNC, they should have had capable backups and been able to compensate for the loss. They didn't.