I'm excited to see how much better we look with LeiLani at the 6. I also wonder with her back, will Iwai go back to Left back or will Van Zanten start there?
Did the game get moved up? Or did I misremember it starting later? Looks like they’re taking care of business even without my viewing support Dudley’s goals just getting me more excited for her. Just turned on the tv and she drove into the box and banged another off the post… sounds like she’d done that earlier too. This attacking front is going to be tough to handle.
That attacking front is dangerous! Echegini, Olsson, Brown and Dudley. Then you have Huff bringing up the rear with a cannon attached to her leg.
Just added JuJu Harris the #10 rated player per TDS for the 25 class. She's a forward. Need a little something extra for the 24 class IMO.
not if you match the first halves the two teams played this week. It would have been an entertaining game because both teams this week stunk it up in the first but then had a sensational 2nd. UNC changed formations at halftime they were playing so bad. VT actually out shot UNC 8-4 ... something that almost never happens.
Backline looking very sloppy. Syracuse up 2-1 at the half off mistakes and could have been 3-1. FSU dominating but second game where mental lapses on the back line giving up goals while FSU otherwise controls the game. FSU with 13 shots, 9 on goal. Syracuse with 2 shots, 1 on goal. The Syracuse goal called back for offside is most concerning to me. Same way Clemson scored last week. Carry the ball outside the box, send a runner in behind the space the defense vacates, score tooooo easily. Offside this time but they need to clean up tracking those runs or they'll get shredded by better offenses.
Final stats FSU - SU: Goals 3 - 2 Shots 33 - 2 SOG 19 - 1 Corners 15 - 0 Wild game and one to remember for SU keeper, but FSU got the points on a weird night.
Had the feeling of that MIami game, the last game of the regular season we lost 1-0 on their only shot of the night when we peppered the goal. That FSU team went on to win the ACCT and the natty I believe.
3-3 vs UNC at UNC is about as good a result and we can expect, especially playing w/o Jody Brown. Jordyn Dudley played her best game as a Nole. Bright future there. I don't know how UNC continues to convince 32ish players to come play there. Anson played 17 today. Whatever. This team does not have the defensive discipline we are used to under Mark, but they have way more offensive pizzaz than we did under Mark. Several things will have to go well, but this team has a chance.
Noles have an amazing group of attackers up front--and Brown didn't even play. Team is much different under Pensky than Krikorian: Not as good defensively but a lot more attacking oriented and far more entertaining to watch.
Anson and Damon have shortened their bench heavily every time they play really strong teams. Only 17 players is no where near the norm. I would think you would take it as a compliment and sign of a respect that they didn't feel comfortable going deep in their bench ... instead you use it as a chance to mock the program and the players that go there knowing they might not play a lot?
If you felt it was mocking, I apologize and sincerely tell you mocking is not what I had in mind. I'm baffled, envious and jealous. Despite a 32 players give or take every year, UNC loads up with 3 to 5 top 25 players. Most years FSU is lucky to get 1. This year, we had 3. Next class has 1 top 25 and that happens to be a former UNC commit. Jealous, envious, call it what you want. Mark used to make up the difference with internationals. BP does not have those connections. We can only hope the portal is good to us. I can see how shortening the bench is a compliment. Against decent D1 comp you have played up to 10 subs. Arkansas 9, USCe 10, Alabama 9, VT 7, UVA 7, FSU 6 It's pretty accurate to say you average 8 subs against decent D1 comp. That means that on average 15 players do not see the field. Against ACC competition he appears to tighten up the subs W/O being mocking, I just really don't understand how Anson can convince that many girls to come and not play. It doesn't take a genius to look at box scores, so I assume they know those numbers. As competitors I assume they believe they will be one of the 19 or playing.
My own apologies @Tom81 ... I am feeling somewhat bitter after todays game for ... reasons. I like to think I normally wouldn't be jumping at the shadows between the lines of comments written by opposition fans. as an add on to your comments, I'd point out that we probably would have seen that number be 8 today had everybody been healthy and available. In addition to several players out for the season like Dorsey, we have three players missing or on limited minutes all at the *same* position of center forward to the extent that we were using a winger in Sentnor as a starter there and a freshman central midfielder in Rebimbas to come in as a forward when rest was needed. I actually disagree heavily with how they've shortened their bench vs some opponents. Today also was one of those games in addition to UCLA last year where it seems like a good idea at the start but as the game develops there's no apparent benefit and the subs are actually proving to be extremely beneficial. It was the subs that made the difference for UNC today after all. Dahlien earned the PK and made the critical 1v1 challenge too on the first goal as well as on the second goal she scored. The would be game winner was created by Bella Sember in midfield who dribbled out of pressure and delivered the ball forward to Sentnor. That goal was scored by another sub in Faasse. It was hard not to see tired legs of players that had been out there long than necessary as a contributing factor for giving up a corner and goal with 16 ... er ... 2 seconds left.
Dahlien is a stud. There are many studs on that team. UNC has the luxury of bringing players off the bench with no drop off and occasionally a 'pick me up'. In all my years of watching FSU, we had that maybe one year near the end of Mark's tenure when he didn't start Yujie Zhao occasionally. My hope for staying competitive with UNC is the portal b/c UNC, Stanford and usually Duke, UVA and UCLA all recruit better in the States!
Not sure why fsu lost a first place vote after going to unc and tying them on their home field. Also not sure why unc got all the first place votes with four draws including to the number two team at home but… guess that’s why I don’t get a vote. Unc has two draws against teams ranked lower than a team fsu beat on their home field by two goals. FSU’s only blemish is a draw to UNC on their home field. Sigh. Reminds me of when multiple voters didn’t vote fsu number one after they won the title two years ago.
Where did you see these rankings. The rankings I saw were a week old. Don't get me wrong, this UNC could easily win the natty. That said, IMO their record does not currently warrant a #1 ranking. The only thing that make rankings important is seeding in the NCAA tourney.
The coaches poll is done by 8 coaches and I'm not sure how they're selected or who they are. Last week 7 coaches voted UNC #1 and 1 voted FSU #1. This week, all 8 voted UNC #1. I'm not sure I understand why FSU fans are surprised by this? UNC had the better statistical advantage across the board. Out possessed and outchanced FSU. Looked like the better team. Played like the better team. They conceded two goals on set pieces and another on a poor advantage decision by the official. Coaches saw that and voted accordingly. That's why the coaches poll exist. It's meant to be a "different flavor" to RPI and record.
You are obviously entitled to your opinion if you think UNC looked like the better team. However, I'm not sure where you get the "outchanced" stat from but the shots were basically even: UNC 20 (6) and FSU 19 (7). UNC also scored an own goal off of a lucky bounce. Also, the Heels were at home. All of that may have had something to do with the surprise.
You using statistics to define "chances" is exactly why the coaches poll exists. They're watching the game with their own eyes because statistics like that can be misleading. A lot of good chances do not end with shots or shots on goals. Another particularly misleading statistic is the foul category in this game. Advantage was given to UNC *A LOT* in this game to the extent it almost felt like they were being punished for staying on their feet. Those fouls that ended up not being called do not end up on the stat sheet. Dahlien's goal may have been a deflection but we don't know how good the finish would have been without it, do we? It could have been hit into the far post and if you look at Roque's positioning she actually would have had a better time making a save on the deflection than she would have on any well placed ball to the back post. It's fine if you want to call it my opinion but when you get to the point where a ton of people including coaches across the nation have the same opinion you might want to ask if maybe you're looking at things through tinted glasses.
I seriously doubt that the coaches who vote spend much time studying stats from matches--and I would bet that some if not many of them did not even see the game.
Very cynical of you to believe that folks responsible for watching games and voting in a poll don't actually watch games. I would have a hard time believing that coaches who didn't actually watch the game with a fair and unbiased mind would actually vote UNC #1 ... for many of the reasons stated by FSU fans. Statistically on paper the game looked somewhat even and FSU managed a draw on the road while UNC now has 4 draws. I think without actually watching the game at least one of the eight would have given FSU a #1 vote.
And / or they just forget about the three other draws UNC has. UNC hasn’t won 2/3 of their games this year and still gets the benefit of the doubt to a team they tied at home. I don’t think other teams would get that buffer. Another way of putting what babs says above is you have a team that is quite flawed at defending set pieces. Doesn’t matter in the end, just appears to be a pattern the last few years of fsu being a bit underrated compared to their record… surprising given their success on the field. The most egregious to my eye was final poll of 2021. AFTER fsu won the tournament with 1 loss on the season… NINE voters went with a different team at number 1. Including BYU (5 losses, fsu beat on penalties) and Rutgers (4 losses, fsu beat in the playoffs). Looking like the best team all year, having the fewest losses, in the best conference in the game, and winning the playoffs and still over 1/4 of voters went with someone else…. Who did mark piss off??
The coaches poll website updates more quickly than the ncaa (true for many sports). https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-women/