Saw some of the NC State WF game. It was interesting hearing the NC State coach basically say they tried to play too wide open early in the season. They are playing good soccer in the ACC. The best attacking player last night was NC State's Jade Bordeleau - one of their 9 international players. She scored both goals for State last night. If I were to quibble, I might say the method isn't easily repeatable. WF keeper (Amaral) guessed correctly on Bordeleau's PK and was fully laid out when the ball went under her at the waist. On the second goal, after a beautiful sequence of passes in the middle culminating in a perfectly weighted through ball, she slipped the ball between Amaral's body and outstretched arm. If that's what she was trying to do, my hat's off to her. Whatever the case, her work all night was justly rewarded.
That’s about as disastrous a first 10 minutes to a game as you’ll see. Eventually Wake took the game over, but not until the later stages of the first half. And NC State still didn’t back down by any means. It seemed like a soft penalty to give up and I’m not sure most referees would have called it, but the second goal was well executed against a shellshocked Wake defense. It felt like Wake would come back in the second half, but the post was as close as they got to getting a tying goal. NC State’s keeper had to make a few big saves too. NC State is well organized with nothing to lose, they’ve played three top tier ACC teams down to the wire and are playing their best soccer to date this season. Now that the element of surprise is gone we’ll see how the rest of the league reacts to playing the Pack. Wake has to brush itself off for Louisville next week.
Only “surprise” among the contenders were those pesky NC State ladies, who appear to be improving by the game, beating WF. UVA had a scare at the end of their game as a VA Tech header sailed just wide with seconds remaining. It would have been a painful tie as they easily outplayed VA Tech and were the recipient of a “bad” offsides call that couldn’t be overturned due to the video freezing on the sideline. The schedule gets a bit more interesting this weekend. Thu: FSU at ND Lou at WF - the loser’s ACC playoff hopes will be on life support. Sun: UNC at Duke UVA at Stan
Very, very scary header there at the end. Ball had gone out and had been kicked to the corner flag, but none of Virginia's defenders knew that the Tech player had grabbed a ball on the sideline and kicked it. Great header, nicely redirected, just wide of goal because she hadn't had much time to get set either. The exposed the two concerns I have for Virginia: the lack of any production from the striker and poor speed amongst their various center backs.
Just looking at standings and the middle is bunched up. Is it possible that NC state could make the ACC tournament and not the NCAA’s? I think you need to be at least .500 to qualify. If they go 2-1-1 they could sneak in and still be NCAA ineligible. Not likely, but that would be a snub. And if they were to make the ACC tournament and lose in the first game would that affect their status?
they have to be at least .500 to get into the NCAA tournament. Yes the ACC tournament would affect their record and count towards that .500
Virginia tied Cal yesterday 2 - 2 despite being up by 2 twelve minutes in. Virginia is a donut this year, playing, for all intents and purposes, without a central striker. Meredith McDermott and Addison Halpern, who log roughly 130 - 140 minutes a game between the pair, have scored just two goals. They combined for three 1 v 1 chances last night and blew all three. Time for Swanson to try someone else centrally, you know, if he wants to make it to the college cup.
Here's what I'm currently projecting as teams' final point totals, based on the actual results of games through 10/9 and projected results of games not yet played after taking home field advantage into consideration. For future games, the points are based on each game's win/loss/tie probabilities, which is why the points are not whole numbers. NotreDame 29.0 VirginiaU 26.0 Stanford 22.4 NorthCarolinaU 20.4 FloridaState 19.3 Louisville 18.1 Duke 17.9 WakeForest 16.7 NCState 12.5 CaliforniaU 12.4 Clemson 11.9 SMU 9.1 MiamiFL 7.5 Pittsburgh 5.4 Syracuse 3.6 BostonCollege 3.5 VirginiaTech 3.1 I'm projecting all teams to have winning percentages above 0.500 except for Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, NC State, and Virginia Tech. As an aside, when calculating winning percentage for purposes of NCAA Tournament eligibility, the NCAA disregards ties, which matters since within the RPI formula it values a tie as only 1/3 of a win (and, essentially, 2/3 of a loss).
For those who have been watching ACC college soccer longer than I have, what’s the take on VTechs struggles this year? Traditionally they’ve been pretty decent and had a strong playoff run last year. Graduations? Injuries? Bad Luck?
Yes, they lost a few good players from last year, and their freshman class is pretty good. They've come close to winning a few games but they keep loosing by one goal it seems. Their schedule is tough and they play all of the top ACC teams: -- UNC, Wake Forest, Duke,& Stanford (might as well as being in the NCAA finals!) Notre Dame, and Virginia. Berkely, and Louisville have done well..... but Miami may be a win for VT! I'll root for them for the remainder of the month.
ACC is really down. This is the year of the post-5th year player and older teams. And it shows with level not as good. After top 3-4, it's anyone's day on the day. Stanford is the cream of the crop and will be surprised if multiple teams make CC this year.
Stanford does look great (except for that game versus UCLA). I think Notre Dame looks good, too. FSU looks good at times, just not consistently. I agree with the comment about UVA lacking any great scoring threats. It is interesting to see some teams with a handful of 23-24 year old, 5th and 6th year players still playing. Some are quite good! But I do wonder if we're starting to see the effect of players going pro early and its impact on the college game. UNC could have Adames, Hutton, Armstrong, Fuller, King, etc. still playing. Imagine if Stanford had the Thompson sisters or Gamero (still injured), etc. Bugg would be at FSU. Jackson at Duke, etc.
Virginia has a pair. Lia Godfrey, who's playing at Hermann-award effectiveness, and Laney Rouse. Both missed entire seasons two years ago, and played last year, but were rather pedestrian. Both have elevated their games dramatically this year and just look like they are having fun. Both are apparently really great students and have taken full advantage of six years at a university like Virginia.
Agree, the older players still around stand out. Godfrey as good as any player in league. UVa v Stanford will be interesting.
Goals against rose considerably this year. I believe they lost 3 starters from their backline last year who were very good players - Pelkowski, Skeyers, and Lewis. They had an excellent addition to the offense this season with SMU transfer, Salama. However, she hasn't played in weeks. They are struggling a bit offensively - but definitely leaking too many goals.
Yes, the top isn't as "heavy" as it was last year. Duke and WF had a ton of experience and multiple 5th years. VA Tech is obviously down. UNC lost some key players that they haven't satisfactorily replaced. FSU isn't quite what they were last year - so far. I do think ND, Stanford, Louisville, and NC St have improved. But the top of a league coming back to the pack isn't specific to the ACC. The Big 10 had an obvious top two - USC and UCLA - who have come back to the rest of the Big 10. The top 2 in the SEC already have as many non-wins as the top 2 last year. I'll take at least two ACC teams in the final 4.
Watched the last 10 minutes. The hand ball was not obvious from the feed. I assume the official had a camera angle different than the stream. I would love to see an xG on that game, but Chris Henderson hasn't posted anything. UVA had one of those, "it's soccer" games.