From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Beat outlasts Courage By WENDY PARKER Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer From the Beat site: http://www.theatlantabeat.com/320559.html ================================= There is still a battle brewing for the 3rd and 4th spot. As a coach, do you rest some players on Wednesday or do you go full out in Torero? I say let Hooper get some rest after the busy two weeks she has had. The Spirit are officially out of the playoff race. Now they just play for pride from here on out. But how much pride will they have after their loss to the Freedom? Will this Spirit team come out with their heads hanging low or what? And who will Nonen lay the smackdown on this time?
83 my ass 1 2 F Carolina 0 0 0 Atlanta 0 1 1 Scoring Summary: ATL - Hooper 9 (Burt 4, Krzykowski 1), 68' CAROLINA COURAGE-Kristin Luckenbill, Staci Burt, Erin Baxter, Nel Fettig, Brooke O'Hanley (Meghan Anderson 58')(Staci Wilson 81'), Tiffany Roberts, Unni Lehn, Hege Riise, Venus James (Danielle Slaton 46'), Danielle Fotopoulos, Birgit Prinz. TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Prinz 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Fotopoulos 3); FOULS: 19 (Prinz 5); OFFSIDE: 3; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: Luckenbill 3; CAUTIONS: Prinz 54'; Slaton 64'; Fettig 92+'; Roberts 92+'; EJECTIONS: Roberts 92+'. ATLANTA BEAT-Briana Scurry, Lisa Krzykowski (Amanda Cromwell 71'), Julie Augustyniak, Sharolta Nonen, Nancy Augustyniak, Kylie Bivens (Marci Miller 46'), Nikki Serlenga, Sun Wen (Kelly Cagle 58'), Homare Sawa, Charmaine Hooper, Cindy Parlow (Emily Burt 46'). TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (3 tied with 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Hooper 2); FOULS: 9 (Hooper 3); OFFSIDE: 2; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: Scurry 5; CAUTIONS: Nonen 91+'; EJECTIONS: None. Referee: Terry Vaughn Referee's Assistants: Jon Wilson, Brenda Wright 4th Official: Carey E. Rockwell Attendance: 6,810 Temperature: Cloudy and 83 degrees
19 fouls to our 9. Wow. I think we need another 3 points. I think very light workout on Monday, travel with a light workout in San Diego, and start the best 11 who feel healthy. Do we know why Parlow came out after the half?
From the Winston Salem Journal: Atlanta captures 1-0 victory, gets team's first win vs. Carolina By Brian Surette SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL I think cuz of her knee and she is still not fully recovered from the Norway game.
Good Win and effort Fear did not seem to get my reference to this at the start of the PbP thread but: Does anyone else think that Tom Stone looks a LOT like Tom Paris from Start Trek Voyager? In several shots with him sitting on the bench with the sun glasses he just looked the part. I wonder if he pilots a starship in his spare time. The only complaint that I have about the game is that often the second wave of support seemed VERY late getting up the field and the defense seemed isolated too often. On TV it was never obvious but was the field really stretched for a lot of the game? That is was the distance from the last defender to the top attacker longer than 40 yards or so quite often. That would explain the second wave of attack being late. Also it wold explain why the defense seemed quite isolated after an attack. There were too many 1v1s on the last defender or 1v1s with the keeper. While the defense recovered VERY well and covered most of the danger Scurry had to come up big too often and there were several numbers up chances by Carolina that a poor first touch was the only thing that kept the attack from becoming dangerous. Aside from that the game was played the way Atlanta needed it to be played for the most part with Carolina rarely getting dangerous except on the quick counters. I was VERY impressed with the corner kick defense. It was the best it has been all year with only a couple of breakdowns and those were covered by another player. Nonen stayed focused for the entire game and only once was really beaten and then she closed the gap and made Prinz's shot more difficult. Scurry’s distribution was OK but she still kicks too high too often giving the defense time to adjust. Her saves were world class and only once did she look unsure and I think, based on the TV that a defender did something unexpected and caused the confusion. I though that subbing Parlow out was a good move at the time and it proved to be. She had played 1 1/2 games with the WNT and a good solid half for the Beat but she was clearly moving slower and waiting for the play to develop before moving in the late stages of the first half. Burt was, well, Burt. HUGE energy in compact package. Just bringing her in seemed to drain energy from the Courage. It did not seem to matter which defender was in a given play they all played solid and, as I said earlier no bad mistakes. Sawa was not as involved early and the Courage carried the play but, as soon as she took the knock her play stepped up and she was great. The remainder of the players filled their rolls well and the teamwork made the game winnable: In soccer you cannot win without the team playing as one and the Beat did that. One funny thing I commented on during the game: Fairly late in the second half there was a high ball dropping about 35 yards from the Beat goal. Prinz was looking to head it into space. Nonen moved right up against her and tried to out jump her. Now for all the control that Nonen showed in handling Prinz all game this was NOT to be. Nonen is strong, Nonen is fast, but Nonen is NOT tall and she does not have the greatest jump either. Prinz headed the ball and, I believe, Nonen headed Prinz’s ribs. There was NO doubt about who won the header but Nonen’s contact caused the direction to go off and the Beat won the ball back. I wonder if Prinz has a Nonen’s head size bruise on her ribs to go with all the other bumps and bangs. Good win and a better effort for 90 minutes in a game the Beat really needed to win for a statement if not for the standings. Of course it helped both.
Re: Good Win and effort It's cuz I'm not a friggin' Trekkie!!! I did not catch this during the telecast last night but did catch it this morning as I was rewatching the match...... It was mentioned that Unni Lehn was put into the playmaking MF role while Hege Riise was moved back a lil' bit. I did make reference several times to not hearing/seeing much from Riise throughout the match. Was this a good move or not by McDermott?
Re: Re: Good Win and effort I think is was a mistake. Hege Riise seems to play best when she gets lots of touches and, I believe, she is a better passer than Unni Lehn. The move was intended to gain midfield control but Carolina is best when playing direct and not playing for control. With Prinz and Fotop as front runners the direct game is very effective and slowing the attack down, which this move did, is generally a mistake for a team with the type of attackers Carolina has.
"It's been a long time coming," Hooper said of the Beat's win over Carolina. Amen. Good game for the Beat, and a much needed 3 points. "Ironically, Atlanta will become a big fan of the Courage – at least next week. Carolina starts a short-week two-game home stand, hosting Washington on Wednesday, then San Jose on Saturday." So I guess the best thing for the Beat would be to let Carolina run away with 6 points this week and with 2nd place so we could take 3rd from Washington and stay clear of San Jose. I say go full out, we only have a few games left in the season. I think 3rd place is a lot better than 4th because we can beat the Courage but we haven't beaten the Charge this season. The mental part of who you play in the playoffs is huge. I liked the subs Tommy put in against Carolina. Give either Parlow or Hooper some rest in the 2nd half with an energetic Burt, give a defender a break with Cromwell, give Marci some playing time for which ever midfielder needs it the most. I don't consider that "resting players" because they are all quality subs that have done well in games. Is Liping ever going to get better and get some minutes? Oh, by the way, I think the Burt/Hooper duo works pretty well considering they have combined in the last 3 games for 3 goals. Not bad at all...
I noticed during the first half that even Hooper was in the box on one of the corners and she was the one who cleared it. Krzykowski did well making runs and calling and getting open for the ball but she was going up too far and not getting back quick enough and there were times when Nonen and Augustyniak were covering her man because she was not keeping her eye on her marks but once everything calmed down she played well. For a little bit of the game it looked like Stone was playing for the tie and 1 point. I noticed the midfielders were not going up as far up and were holding back some and the outside defense was not making far runs up. Krzykowski made some but not very far and for the first half Julie did not make any runs I don't think. Stayed pretty far back as not to get beat! Awesome game though! Great atmosphere! notice how they mention that Carolina and Philidelphia could clinch playoff berths this week yet they both have not gotten 3 points in their past 2 games... I hope Atlanta keeps it up!!!
Awesome game! The crowd was incredible! The intensity in the stands made it seem as thought the stadium was full. My preference with Carolina playing SJ and Washington...is two ties! If we continue playing well, we have a chance at 2nd and home field advantage (a big deal for the Beat considering their home/away record). It's a stretch and the chance is slight but it's a chance none the less. The Courage were nasty. The cards were well deserved. Prinz is highly disrupted when faced with a physical game. According to one of the players, Germans do not hardly even touch each other when playing. The bumps and physical pressure the Beat and the league are known for, definitely disrupt her play. TR was well deserving of the yellow and ejection. The last time the Courage played here, she had some nasty hits on Parlow and others w/o cards...which should have been handed out. As far as I'm concerned, she had them coming. The Courage fell apart at the seams towards the end and the dirty play on Burt at the top of the box was ridiculous. In my opinion, this ref did a good job. Lisa is getting back her legs and is working her way back in to a starting role. I agree with Dee that some of her game needs attention, but that will come... she's contributing (great assist!!) and that's what matters. Sitting out two months then coming back can't be easy. She was looking tired around the 35th minute, but was able to catch a second wind for the half. Her ball placement is superb! She had an awesome shot on goal during the first half. Something else with Lisa is that she is left foot dominate and is now playing the right side while Julie now plays the left. This is bound to take some getting used to. She is adapting like the good sport and athlete she is!!! WAR LISA! Burtie was wonderful as usual. CP and Bivens were tired...subbing them was a good decision. The Subs were all warranted at the time and the people going in were right on target...props to Tommy! The last 15 minutes or so, he had them bunker. He was pushing everyone back. I understand the logic, but it makes me nervous. When you do that, you have the ball in your half the entire time. I think we play best when we continue the attack. But, I'm not a Coach and perhaps I don't know the strategy there. I just know it makes me nervous to not have the ball on the other end.
I dunno. I haven't seen the tape. I had to leave early today and didn't have a chance to look at it with Susan and Terry. Lisa really seemed hyped by it! She said it was the best thing anyone had ever done for her at a match. The look on her face was priceless! We'll do it again for the last regular season game on PAX! We held up her name again as she came off the field. Boy, it wasn't easy trying to spell her name out again in that short of time! It was challenging, but fun!
Re: Re: 7/27: Courage v Beat POST-MATCH [R] & Spirit pre-game What's to say that the Beat can't finish second and host a first round match. We have a game in hand on Washington. If we win Wed and the Freedom beat the Courage, we are only two points behind, and definately in position to overtake them. Not so worried about San Jose at this point so long as we do what we need to do.
Its not that Lisa's game needs work but its pretty obvious that Tom was holding her and Julie back some and so when she would go up she would not get back as quickly because she was playing like they usually do. She had a few bad touches at the begining of the game and held the ball too long but after a few minutes she settled down and did crack that awesome shot!!! Julie is also left side dominant so its probably just Lisa can use her right better then Julie. I am glad she is contributing and is back cuz we need her although I do miss Cromwell but I am glad she got minutes last night. Not sure why parlow was pulled but supposedly Kylie hurt her foot or heel or something and was sick... who knows!! All we need is some key wins for us and things to not go well for other teams and we could easily end up higher in the standings.
question? what do you all think about nonen and prinz? i thought prinz played pretty aggresive and physical taking out people before and after her yellow. the foul she committed (on miller i think) right before nonen pushed her was pretty bad (she pretty much shoved her out of the way). i also think when nonen took out prinz into the wall that it was an interesting no-call. i mean prinze had momentum running after the ball, and nonen did nudge her making her lose her balance. fettig's foul on burt was pretty bad (same thing prinze did that i described up there). if the ref did lose control (i personally think he did), his attempt to regain it at the very end was something that had to happen, but had to because he had lost it in the first place.
My take on Saturday night: 1) Lisa K - new position (right side) and cast is throwing off her balance and timing. With more time she will become comfortable with the new position and eventually that cast will have to come off. She played much better this week than the previous, and will continue to get stronger. 2) I think CP was taken out to get Burt in, and maybe rest. She may have been injured, but it didn't appear like she was. Bivens on the otherhand, it was obvious her foot was injured. 3) The heat and humidity tooks it toll on everyone (even us in the stands). Those who played the full 90 gutted it out and are truly amazing athletes. San Diego should be a nice climate change for the team. 4) Nonen & Prinz - this saga will continue. There was some pushing at the Courage's previous visit to Herndon. Knowing Sharolta, she will not back down to anyone (Akide, Millie, now Prinz), and the same can be said for Prinz (although she falls like a house of cards). 5) Great match for Atlanta - thats 3 in row and we are hitting stride just in time to make a strong run for the playoffs and of course make it back to the championship. Meanwhile, Carolina and Philadelphia seem to be cooling off.
Oh the heat. Any lesser teams in the league would have died in that stuff. It Poured buckets around 130pm that day, i had to walk in it from marta to the stadium. the streets were flooding. Than the skys were blue again and the heat came out. I was on the field for a few hours before the match frying. IT was HOT as Butt out there. like just about ten mins outside and i was sweating buckets.
CSN article FINALLY... Atlanta wins a nasty, physical battle over Carolina 1-0 The Beat beat the Courage for the first time and close in on second place by Joseph Wanandi http://www.cybersoccernews.com/wusa/atlanta/020728atlcar.shtml Burtie is awesome