It's not in a vacuum, you'd know that if you actually read what I was responding to. I'm not here to drop troll bombs about games of yore ... otherwise I'd be here every other night posting highlights from UNC's 20+ championships. Yea? That being said, I'm being *charming* because I vehemetly dislike fans of other teams suggesting, against the rule book and video evidence, that a foul call was incorrect or soft as a result of a UNC player "dooping" an official. I get that nobody likes admitting their wrong and we'll leave it at that, but keep your blasphemy about Maddie Dahlien to yourselves in the future.
Yes. That is the game that you are talking about in that quote. Robbins was the player that was brought down in the box in the National Championship game against Santa Clara.
hang on, I'm seeing what happened here. Youtube didn't take me to the right time stamp, let me look again.
Ok. No problem. BTW: I'm not trying to attack you here. My point is that these are often judgment calls that can reasonably be seen in different ways by different people. Although I stand by my opinion that the Robbins non-call was egregious.
When I first went to the time stamp it showed me a challenge against Deyna Castellanos and I was confused as hell to what you were talking about, but now I've seen the play. Assuming you aren't incorrectly quoting me, I'd like for you to point out where in those quotes or subsequent posts where I said I didn't think it was a PK. I'm placing myself in the shoes of Unkel here, trying to figure why she didn't make the call. I started the quote by laughing at Unkel immideatly justifying her decision with her mule kick motion, and I ended the quote with the most likely explanation of her not calling it. I don't think Robbins tried to sell it the same way you guys seem to think Dahlien tried to sell the penalty Sunday, but Unkel clearly did think that in the moment. Here and now, I do think it's a penalty... but I have no idea where this conversation is to see if I thought the same or not back then. Do you have a post number?
Unrelated, but my comments about Unkel amuse me. I've actually come to appreciate Christina Unkel as an official. I thought she was one of the better ones in the past decade, and I've really come to appreciate her commentary on social media during NWSL games. She always responds when I have questions. I think I used to conflate her with Danielle Chesky and thus had a negative opinion of her as a result.
It's okay. It's all ancient history now. I'm just glad that we can all agree that it was a penalty. We can move on to this year's tournament.
The devil is in the details. I can agree that it was a penalty while understanding why an official didn't call it. Even if I had disagreed that it was a penalty, that's not the same thing as agreeing something was a penalty but calling it soft because of imagined unsportsmanlike conduct without any evidence to support and plenty to the contrary. Don't disparage a player for no reason ... that comes from someone who spends a lot of time knocking Dudley for how she plays. I fully understand that makes me sound like the pot calling the kettle black, but if you can't see the difference with how I reference Dudley's play... well, there's no helping that.
Don’t underestimate how much geography plays in creating the brackets. The NCAA pays for travel expenses and this is a non-revenue generating sport.
I didn't mean to impugn Dahlien's character. I like her game, enjoyed watching her with the U20s. Maybe could have said she sold it well, rather than duped the ref. Nothing I have seen changes my opinion that it was a soft penalty. Let's move on.
Well FSU's depth is being tested. Dantas and now Iwai not available. Jimenez does a reasonable job in place of Dantas. Nguyen locks down one wing. Between Suarez, Riley? and Puerta, we should be OK at the other wing. I think they do well offensively, just not sure they will be as good defensively. Time will tell.
The depth is basically freshmen. Nevertheless I think there is confidence in them to get the job done.
Absolutely. And I'm guessing that you saw the last Pensky interview, after the selection show, where he calls out the strength of his Freshmen.
The small roster has had a chance to be the Achilles heel all year. We’ll see how it holds up the next few weeks. Really can’t afford any more injuries.
4 players out for the season is pretty tough and on top of that it seems almost impossible to build good depth in college soccer these days. At least not at a top program where many players will leave to turn pro every year and others look for more playing time elsewhere. Better injury luck will soften the blow but I think you will run into this issue every year going forward. You'll bring in your 5-7 freshmen, your transfers and get 1-2 to reclassify later on if you need it but if half the team leaves every year and nobody comes to your program to sit on the bench, you have a problem.
There are already two reclassified players from the 2026 class joining the 2025s. Looking at the 2026 recruits left, my guess is a couple more want to reclassify. And of the 2025/2026s I'm looking at, probably a few want to go pro (U17WWC players, etc.) With schools like FSU and UNC, this will likely become more common. Top recruits will come early and some may not step foot on campus at all (like Bugg last year).
any news on Harris and Johnson regarding that? They haven't been announced as part of the signing class so far.
IMO we really need at least 1 of the 2 to sign. with no insider knowledge, I'm getting doubtful on Harris...which means Johnson is of the utmost importance...not the end of the world...but a 5-star forward is a 5-star forward!
to be fair, I have zero knowledge about it and it might just be later and as someone has mentioned, Evan O'Steen is supposed to arrive next year as well and has not been announced but it wouldn't shock me either. I guess FSU will be fine either way and just get another player or 2 like Puerta last year to reclassify and come to FSU but they are 2 great talents for sure.
FSU did what it was supposed to do. We dominated an over matched opponent in Samford. 8-0. We played 8 subs much of the 2nd half and continued to pepper the goal. Now who do we play between Vandy and Lipscomb?
this game was basically just a preseason game but FSU had a lot tough games in recent weeks and will have more to come, so some additional rest is not bad.
Watching some of UVA vs Princeton. Tordin from Princeton is one of the best 15 players (probably higher) in the NCAA. She was a stud for our U20 team this year. She is better than any forward on our team not name Dudley.