Yes, glad she got off the schneid. As at FSU, you can tell going a few games without a goal gets to her. She played well Saturday (first assist) and even better last night, can see her confidence growing.
I have thought for some time that she was the best passer among elite attacking players in the US game. Nothing she has shown so far disabuses me of that. All elite attacking players are good at finishing, but not all are as good at attacking.
She could have had a couple assists in that game as well if Esther finished the chances Dudley set up. Excited for her. She has made some professional fullbacks look like clowns the last couple weeks.
we could get into semantics here because every everybody’s idea of an elite attacking player is different. definition that comes to my mind is national team quality attacking player. That may be too broad for some of you guys. My point was I’ve seen the Smith’s, the Rodmans, the Shaws, etc., and I consider them to be elite attacking players in my opinion, I have not seen elite passing skills from any of them. That could be because I haven’t watched many NWSL games with them. I have always seen elite or close to elite passing skills from Jordan Dudley. That’s just my opinion. Take it for what it’s worth.
I think Shaw and Rodman are both good passers. I see Smith as a prolific scorer, but not an elite finisher. More of a high volume shooter.
Transfer portal for soccer opened today, through May 15. Will be interesting to watch because we need several more players to fill out the roster, we are around 18 now I think.
Once again just my opinion, but I see Jordan Dudley as better than just a good passer. Another thing that impressed me is that two games ago they set an NWSL record for the number of yellow cards in one game. Several of them were directed at players who simply came up behind Jordan Dudley, and blatantly pushed her down. I took that to mean that she came in with a reputation as being soft and a flopper and they were delivering a message. They thought that she would get upset and do something stupid. I was pleased to see that she kept her cool. And this most recent game they did not employ that tactic. But she made some fullbacks look absolutely silly with her footwork and speed
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYAMz99kb_m/?img_index=1 4th FSU player to transfer to a Texas school. Mya Brandon is joining Ashley Anderson at Texas.
Sam Erbach from Xavier and Olivia Page from Kansas are confirmed to FSU with potentially more on the way. Lots of rumblings from college coaches that Coach Pensky is tampering to get kids onto the portal. He better be careful....
Chris Henderson had Erbach as his top person in the portal. I think she had something like 18 goals and 16 assists Xavier.
This is TDS post season top100, or at least the first 5. Name Conference School Position 1 Jasmine Aikey Palo Alto, CA ACC Stanford Midfielder 2 Hope Leyba Phoenix, AZ Big 12 Colorado Forward 3 Izzy Engle Edina, MN ACC Notre Dame Forward 4 Jordynn Dudley Milton, GA ACC Florida State Forward 5 Samantha Erbach Waynesville, OH Big East Xavier Forward
So I watched the full game of FC Gotham vc the Boston team. JD was the most impactful and dangerous on the team that includes J. Shaw. Again the opponents tactic is to be physical with JD to throw her off her game. At least 4 YCs for Boston. She is definitely USWNT caliber. BTW, Jaelin Howell stood out as well. The announcers mentioned the two of them the most , and deservedly so.
Mimi just got her first NWSL goal (San Diego), header finish at the far post off a long cross, nice job getting on the end of it. She plays right back for them, but almost always pushed up like a wing back. Gets into the opponent penalty area a ton, and got the payoff tonight. San Diego is doing very well this year. Suarez and Sams (Madril) started for LA, Suarez with a solid game but had a good one on one chance saved in the first half. Oh and Sams scored the lone LA goal so far.
I've posted about this before only to have the FSU supporters cover their ears, deny, bury their head in the sand and chirp it's anti-FSU. No, not true. MK ran the best program in history (yes, more than UNC) and I don't think it will be surpassed. BP has broken rules and been unethical his entire career so it's not just a FSU thing. And everyone knows this (well, almost everyone). But FSU gives the resources/platform to capitalize on that approach in the NIL era and NCAA/compliance departments don't care enough about soccer to do anything about it. Winning is everything for some, no matter how it's achieved and even in a big picture-meaningless, collegiate Olympic sport. That's a choice. Just not mine.
Ah the infamous "everyone knows this" mantra. That is hearsay at best and slander at worst. Many (not all) of these same people who now proclaim in retrospect how great Mark Krikorian was used to complain about him. They complained about his international recruiting. They complained when he sat out several key players in an ACC tournament about ?15? years ago b/c of how unfair it was for non State of NC teams. They complained when he played a very defense oriented style, even with Low blocks against the superior talent of UNC and UVA as recently as 16 years ago. Mark Krikorian was not lauded during the great majority of his time here. So now they are complaining about FSU and NIL. They complain of 'alleged tampering'. Bring it to the NCAA or shut up about it. FSU is one of the few schools that they have been willing to bare their teeth too. Other than alleged back channel tampering for transfer recruits, what are we talking about? Here is what I know. He now recruits head to head with Stanford, UNC, Duke and UVA and UCLA. He wins more of those battles than he loses. Why? He is giving them the best chance to win now (nattys) and great exposure for the Pro leagues. He is very cooperative with those players going off in season to play with their Nat'l teams, which negatively impacts team cohesion. I know that the players love playing with FSU and the coaching staff. They swear it's the best and most have been exposed to various club and U17, 20 etc teams. They feel valued and many get the chance to play in the pros. Not so long ago, In Anson's own words to paraphrase, he knew that going head to head with FSU he was going to win 90% of the time, while doing the same with Stanford he was going to lose 90% of the time. FSU fans like myself will not apologize for competing and winning recruiting battles that used to almost always go against us. IF BP is doing such horrible things, then bring it to the NCAA , or come to an FSU thread and pee all over it. Better yet, go to another thread to pee on FSU! You can entitle it "Pee on FSU thread" and I'll leave you alone.
Brian Pensky recruited my child heavily when she was 14. She chose to go elsewhere. Mark Krikorian wanted to take her in the first round of the draft as GM of the Spirit. She decided to go elsewhere. I know both pretty well, like them and have no axe to grind against FSU. I have nothing but respect for the program. I left Anson Dorrance off my list because I genuinely believe the coaches I mentioned are better. Just an opinion and by no means meant to upset anyone. Have a good day!
I believe you. That is why I said (Not all) re: the naysayers re: Krikorian. I remember many complaints about FSU and the international recruits.