Stanford 2-1 Pepperdine Stanford leave it late, but score 2 late goals to escape, winning the season-opener. Pepp have already played 2 games, and it showed. They were faster and quicker to the ball, and played like they had nothing to lose. OTOH, Stanford had a difficult time controlling the ball, and seemed lost when they had the ball with time and space. Stanford played with only 3 outfield starters from the championship edition. 4 frosh started. Frosh played like frosh, not unexpected. Samantha Williams was a bright spot, hustling for balls, going endline, and just battling for the ball and not falling down like her cohort. If she keeps it up, she will probably crack the lineup, hopefully sooner rather than later. Her play reminds me of Mariah Lee, who generated 5-6 corner kicks/game because of her play. We really lost a lot from the championship team – Macario - gone, Smith - gone, and Girma’s out for the season. The loss of firepower was palpable, but what was more concerning for me was the lack of composure at the base of the spine. There was this inability to control the ball; as well as the inability to pass the ball. WVB, national champions from last year, are experiencing the same growing pains as well, having graduated their big guns and best passers. Last season, I was spoiled with Macario’s and Smith’s and Haley’s ability to hold the ball for long stretches deep in midfield, bringing the rest of the team to the attack, turn, and carry the ball to the penalty area. Haley should not be the only one to carry the ball for this edition. And with Girma gone from the base of the spine, there needs to emerge at least one porteur d’eau, as Cantona delicately puts it. This edition is very much a work in progress. This edition will lose a lot of games. This edition will not win the Pac. It may be a struggle to even make the Tournament. But that first game is now out of the way. Now the real fun starts. The next challenge will be next weekend at the Oregons.
Saw the highlights and it was pretty fortunate to get a W. First goal from 22 yards right at the keeper who completely miss time her jump. Routine save. Then the soft pk in the 87th minute. That being said they are still loaded and expect them to make it deep in the tournament
You nailed it. The team I watched tonight was a far cry from Stanford of old. Oregon was mediocre but Stanford was worse. With no offense I’m not sure how they will win games.
It will probably get worse before it gets any better. With Stanford, everything boils down to ball control, or the lack of it. If players struggle with technique and ball control at this stage of their playing career, it’s a very bad sign. Difficult to teach technique and expect them to be proficient at it intra-season. You saw it at Oregon - multiple players lose the ball inside their own half with little to no pressure. Afraid of the ball as if it had Covid. If Stanford has the ball, the next problem I noticed is the inability to shed the 1st defender. When the opponent is met within 2 steps, will pass back instead of attacking the space behind the defender. Unable to shed the 1st defender because they lack good technique and ball control. Which is the original problem to begin with. This edition has a very soft spine, which is very uncharacteristic of any Stanford edition the past 20 years. So many comical and tragic sequences against Oregon, drives me to tears. A typical sequence would be to lose the ball in midfield. . @ally_cook just misses the open net.Ducks 1, Stanford 0 | 57th minute#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/AxHM3dNDNq— Oregon Ducks Soccer (@OregonSoccer) February 27, 2021 Because of lack of quickness and no recovery speed, midfield and the rest of the spine is very easily turned. Little to no pressure is exerted on the ball-carrier. Everyone is now turned towards goal, just a disaster waiting to happen. If Stanford do get to the final third ===> Does not / can not attack space behind the defender. The nominal winger will try to dribble to goal, and to more defenders, instead of attacking the endline space. Countless selfless plays made by Macario, Smith, O'Hara, Press - to name just a few - involve dribbling endline to open up space for a teammate or two inside the PA. How about that Cami endline run-and-cross to T for the goal to win the 1st championship? Taking the ball endline will require their GK to defend 180 and make the other team's defending difficult because they are all turned facing their own goal. This, and other deficiencies, is why Stanford create little to no danger in front of goal. Lady Gaga’s dog walker would feel very comfortable as an Oregon GK since there is very little chance to be shot at. I’ve said it before, that this season and next are going to be very dark and challenging times for this program to compete in the Pac, let alone qualify for the Tournament. I don’t see a roster challenging for a College Cup berth until 2024. But as they say, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Unless ....... it’s a freight train. ===== Instead of cooking dinner tonight, I'm being treated tonight to a TikTok quesadilla. Should I be scared?
2 Thoughts (and I am a very big fan of the way Stanford plays.) 1. This can be a good chance to find out how good of a coach PR is. My gut is he is very good but we will see. When Pep went from Barca to Bayern to Man City he had to adjust based on personnel. Stanford maybe down, but they still have more talent than Oregon and 99% of the teams in college soccer. Maccario ,Smith, Davidson, Press, Andrews will make anyone look good. Can he coach 2nd tier National Team players? (1st world problems) 2. If Stanford is struggling to keep the ball with a roster of National Team kids against a very mediocre Oregon, maybe a good reminder of why so many coaches go to alternative options when building a system. USC (east coast) is known for possessing the ball but the Smith's have really built it with defense and GK'ers. And against the top tier SEC teams and ACC teams they will go pretty direct. The whole possession craze happened as a result of Barca and Spain in a once in a generation crop of players who had grown up in that system and immensely talented.
Pep Guardiola has done pretty well exporting the possession game to Man City with comparatively average players.
Wow. Stanford is better than that. Swept by the Oregon’s. We are truly in the twilight zone when a team that hasn’t lost a Pac-12 game since 2016 goes Ofer in one weekend
I do believe that the team is inside the twilight zone. Even more so now that OSU have body-snatched several Stanford players devad, while I agree that the team may alter its philosophical approach to better suit the personnel's talents [or the lack of it], it would still not adequately address the issue of losing balls to the touchline with nary a defender in sight The lack of technique is quite appalling, and there are 5-6 of them bumbling on the pitch at the same time. The goals given up against OSU were just awful, lack of positional and spatial awareness. Going down Route 1 or playing dump-and-run at one end will not save Stanford from giving up goals as a result of daydreaming and ball-watching at the other end. jmho Some more highlights/lowlights to savor GOAL!!! McKenzie Weinert scores a goal to tie the score!! #GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/4aoynbMsSS— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) March 1, 2021 GOAL!!! Abby Schwartz brings a 2-1 lead for the Beavers against Stanford! #GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/9CYX5JPQ9y— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) March 1, 2021 Lexicon of the year - new reality. The new reality is that Stanford have just lost to the historical dregs of the Pac. The new reality is that Stanford are the new dregs of the Pac, just a year removed from being national champions.
All of that seems to go along with what I am saying. I hear a lot of negatives about the Baylor's of the world. If PR is a good coach, and can't get 2nd tier national team players to pass the ball and win, what would it look like if Baylor tried to do it? The same in the top leagues in the world. Pep has "mediocre" players compared to his Barca teams but better players than most of the rest of that league. Compared to the rest of Europe, his record at Man City in the CL would say he isn't a good enough coach or his players aren't good enough players. His style seems to sputter when he doesn't have better players than his opponent. It is fair to say Stanford has much better players than Oregon and Oregon St yet lost to both. The sample size isn't enough but it does beg the question, how would PR do at a Baylor when he didn't have the best players?
This team looks terrible by all means, but I am not sure if questioning the quality of the coach he is or isn’t at this point is fair or not. He is still the only coach I know that won at St. Mary’s with mediocre players at best. I am more amazed this hasn’t happen sooner and they were able to stay where they’ve been for this long. UNC, FSU, UCLA, and USCs of the world had plenty of downs with similar caliber or better players in the past decade.
Well agree it's been disappointing, yet I wouldn't write off this team yet... They are facing a lot of adversity this year, some personal struggles, many injuries, and a very new young team that got thrown into the fire after barely being able to train together due to Santa Clara County restrictions...yes, it looks like many of them forgot how to play soccer & they got punched in the face but it may be a good thing. They will learn and get better from this and yes the coaches and the whole team will need to make adjustments, like a "re build" season and it's not going to happen overnight. Hopefully this will benefit them for the long run & next season. Will be interesting to see how they move forward and respond.
And part of it is they lost, not just marquee players, but world class players. Adjusting to those losses is going to be dramatic. And I’m assuming he’s got more of those coming. it’s just weird that the players that are there are just doing really low level stuff. Passing it out. Missing open players, getting run by in the box. Weird. maybe he knew this spring would be rough with missing players, out of shape players and is waiting for the fall to come and using this spring to get minutes and get better. It’s not the results that are the weird part. It’s how poor they look. But if I’m him I’m not abandoning style or philosophy. They’ll be back to unbeatable soon. Just get players minutes and get better. if covid forces Stanford to turn into Baylor we can acknowledge it’s taken the last shred of hope from us all.
I am not advocating Stanford change what they do. And I am not pretending to know how their season will end or what they are going through. And I am not saying whether I think PR is a good or bad coach. I am simply asking reasonable questions. If Stanford needs "World Class Players" to play how they want, then is it reasonable to ask Baylor to play that way and win with far from World Class Players? Maybe they are a bad example. They are just the one I hear the most. There are only a few teams that really play well with the ball on the ground and all of those teams have the best players. They could probably win playing any style they wanted. They have "World Class Players." Anyway, PR is allowed to have rebuilding and/or down seasons. I am simply asking if a system is built around having World Class players, isn't that system kind of irrelevant as they were most likely going to win irregardless because they have World Class Players. By the way at St. Mary's he was 55-34-7 and went to 1 NCAA in 5 years. His 5th and final year he was 9-9-2. It was a different time 19 years ago.
Let me make a couple of points. It's true that Stanford lost world class players in Smith and Macario. Just another 5 star recruit does not equal those two. That said, they regularly graduate USWNT caliber players, moreso than any other program currently. My point being, I disagree with the following statement, "UNC, FSU, UCLA, and USCs of the world had plenty of downs with similar caliber or better players in the past decade." As an avid FSU fan, I feel I can speak about them with some degree of expertise. They may have similar caliber of players, but not in the same quantity as Stanford, and certainly not better players. IMO, no other University has a better collection of high, high quality players year in and year out. Just look at the USWNT. It is littered with SU players and several more knocking on the gates. Meanwhile, FSU as an example, has 0. We have one player from 8 years ago Casey Short Krueger who keeps getting short term call-ups only to be left off at WCs. Now, we have 1, yes 1 who is likely to become a fixture on future USWNTs in Jaelin Howell, just not yet. UNC hasn't had a recent addition (full time) to the USWNT in a while. Emily Fox is getting some looks, but is not a shoo-in. Yes, PR has earned some patience, and injuries and graduations can certainly lead to a down year. Don't cry me any crocodile tears about Stanford, because they can recruit like no one else. As Anson Dorrance said prior to the 2018 CC finale between FSU and UNC, (paraphrase), when I go head to head with FSU in a home, I'll win out 75% of the time. When I go head to head with Stanford, I lose 90% of the time. Now I believe there was some hyperbole in the %s, but the point is valid IMO.
Okay, take FSU out of it then. I don’t think anyone should feel bad for Stanford, but I was just simply making some points as to why questioning PR’s ability at this point is silly. Stanford should recruit better because if UNC loses 90% of recruiting battle against Stanford then that means they don’t know about all the top recruits that’s been going to UNC. I’d take many UNC players over current Stanford players
I totally agree about having patience with Stanford and giving PR the benefit of the doubt. When you have 3 nattys, you've earned it. Stanford is arguably the top program right now! There are a handful of programs nipping at their heels (no pun intended) year in and year out. Good luck, but not too much. We would like to get our third natty before you guys add to your 3.
Your comment about Guardiola at ManCity is rather crazy. He's won the Premier League twice with the club since 2016 along with the FA Cup and I believe the club now has a 20-match win streak, which may be a record.
Perhaps you should go back and read what I wrote. He has equal or better players than the rest of the PL. And he wins it. Compared to EUROPE he has done quite average. Not past the QF. I think Pep is one of the best. He still requires the best players to win. He has chosen wisely on where he has gone. And done well in the league at those places. PR has a very impressive record. Nowhere did I say he isn't a good coach. It is a fair question to ask, can he win with less than World Class players? I do not understand why that is so offensive to some of you. It is a fair question. One that you do not know that answer to. Here is a question, How would PR do at Iowa State? Could he win there? Would he play the same style?
Winning a KO event makes you the best team on a series of days. No more and no less. At times we draw all sorts of conclusions from a one off game. Does not mean those conclusions are accurate or even logical.
Didn’t watch much of Friday’s game but they looked significantly better this weekend. They are still off in many areas but changes they’ve made in their shape and personnel on the field seems to be helping, or at least it did for this weekend. With all the restrictions and time off, it seems teams that tries to play possession game have struggled so far as other top programs I’ve seen so far don’t look all that good to me either. Teams like Colorado hasn’t had much to adjust as what they do is very simple. Not my cup of tea but sure is effective.
Stanford 5-0 Utah from the Daily Utah Chronicle: Utah Soccer Struggles on the Road, Get Buried by No. 23 Stanford Stanford 2-1 Colorado I didn't watch the game against Colorado. Does anyone know if/where games are archived? Civana loves playing against Colorado. Should wear #31 from this point onward. #14 is for Cruijff, and/or if you can do a Cruijff turn Belle has such a cute accent. The Card will next go on a grueling Fri-Su grind to Seattle and to the Palouse.
There’s no USC or Pac-12 thread here but wow USC losing to Utah was something. At this very moment, I think USC’s starting 11 is as good as anyone if not better than all. So for them to lose to likes of Arizona State and Utah to me is more surprising than Stanford losing to Oregon schools. I certainly don’t question McAlpine’s ability to coach though. We should no longer be surprised by any results this spring. It’s hard to expect anything really