A high-class program (UNC) attracts knowledgeable and high-class followers (y'all) who would respect an opponent. The BYU soccer website was a bit dismissive, pointing out (correctly) that the third-place Buffs were as close to tenth in the conference as they were to second. Well yes, with UCLA and Stanford on top and a bunch of good teams in the middle beating up on each other, that could happen. They talked about how they were going to kill the Buffs (thy used the word "kill") as revenge for knocking them out of the playoffs last year. Oops. I bet we are the shortest team you've seen all year.
This opens up a whole new can of worms....many colleges seem, in large measure to recruit amazons and the smaller in stature players are often overlooked (I believe Anson mentioned the size of one of UNC's opponents...that it looked like they didn't recruit girls shorter than 5'10").....on the men's side it's good job Lionel Messi wasn't born in North Texas...he'd be flippin burgers someplace.... I know I keep flogging this particular 'dead horse' but there is a junior mid field player at ESD (Sash Firstenberg's high school) who is the best in Texas by far, (plays top level ECNL) just an extraordinary player (ask Firstenberg about her you UNC regulars)....but does not seem to get the looks she should as she is about 5'4" tall. This girl is a phenomenal talent, should be on the USA under 17 national team but is seemingly 'overlooked' because of her lack of 'size'.....
...Just an opinion....now back on topic....I was responding to the previous poster about Colorado being a 'short' team and remembered Anson's post game comments about an opponent (Virginia Tech ?) being very tall.
somehow Crystal Dunn and Megan Klingenberg (both 5'2" if my memory serves me correctly) got the looks they needed to get to UNC and then to the US WNT.
Yes, I agree totally! Small agile players like those you mention can still blow the socks off opponents if they have the speed, foot skills and are played in the correct positions. Of course, you sure would not want this little TX player at ACM in today's bigger, more athletic game! At worst, she would be eaten alive, and at best she would lack the height and power to fill that playmaker roll. No one in their right minds would consider a 5'2 player as a cornerstone ACM, right? -- not at a high D1 level. I'm sure we can all agree that would be (or was) madness.
Having trouble understanding where/if you are being facetious. Anyways, crsytal dunn had a pretty nice championship run in 2012 at ACM and continued with the position in 2013 for what might have been a second Herman Trophy if not for the late season injury.
He's being sarcastic. Anson had Crystal in the back for two years and they won national title moving her to attacking midfield. That change won it all for them.
Thank you! It is lonely when you are misunderstood... However, it is all about the player. All 5'2" players are not created equal, and Ranee Premji (who was also 5'2") struggled in the same position (2010-2012). My point (and I should have been less cute about it) is it all depends on the player, the coaching objectives, the other assets on the team, larger team strategy, etc. Clearly, in a contact, sprint sport like soccer (everything else being equal) the advantage will reside with the taller, stronger, longer-legged player (with the same agility, speed, and center of gravity-- cause everything else is equal)... but since everything else is clearly not equal, it comes down to the total package; and size is only one bit of that equation.... My personal preference is for tall, powerful gals in the middle, but clearly the 2012 UNC program showed that it is all about working with the talent available, without regard to size.
UNC4Ever, I completely got your post, loved it, and my post was a response in the same spirit. If you haven't seen Vero, we had the privilege of seeing her play for the Thorns this year. And, I really mean "privilege." My U11 granddaughter, after the first game we saw her, picked her out as her favorite player without any prompting at all from anyone (replacing Christine Sinclair).
Holiday is great. And, completely different than Vero. I don't feel a need to take one over the other. Besides which, Holiday is 5'8" so she really doesn't have anything to do with the topic under discussion. Sorry UNC 2014, I'll now get off distracting from your thread.
I understand she is an outstanding player, but isn't she kinda short? .... And now returning you to our UNC Incredible Anxiety about the upcoming NCAA weekend... before which the only "Tall" that might help would be a tall beer... Go (Please!) Heels!
Have to agree to disagree on this one...soccer is a sport, first, last and always, of SKILL, athleticism, decision making, field awareness and fitness.....as has been mentioned there are many examples of 'shorter' players in the women's game making a big difference and the best current example on the men's side is Messi, a player who would have NEVER gotten look in had he been born in the USA....
never? donovan. short players with speed and quickness are an advantage in getting to the ball before the opponent. they get looks. if they know what to do once they arrive, they stick. ...back to the heels.
Agreed. Beasley and Cherundolo would be examples as well. Sorry for contributing to the hijack. Ok, back on topic.
Congratulations to the Heels! Once again, we advance-- that's what it is all about at this stage. Strong team defense by CO that appeared to keep us scratching our attacking heads for most of the game. We did get off a few nice shots-- a couple that whizzed just wrong side of the frame, and a couple more where the CO keeper, Scheele, came up Huge for her squad. Not our best game, but we certainly dominated the run of play and won in the end over a team that had many of us fans anxious, so that's all we needed. New day on Sunday. Go Heels!
Exceptional game from the Heels tonight. They moved the ball around very well, made deliberate efforts to switch the point of attack, and when a player didn't play within that mind set, it was plain to see to everybody she was doing something wrong. The highlight of this for the night, for me, was Joanna Boyles, in the second half, controlling the pace of play, having an opportunity to make the easy pass out wide, the crowd urging her to do so, and then erupting in exasperation when she turns the ball over. I couldn't help but laugh heartily when her mother, sitting behind me, screamed at Jo to keep it simple, only to have Jo yell back at her, still playing, "I know!" Boyles was the player of the match. UNC goes as she does, and as the NCAA progresses and also as the team evolves over the next two years, she and Anson will realize how lethal it is to have someone sit in a pocket of space and pick her moments, as opposed to rushing forward and out of said time and space. That's one of the most difficult things to try and teach/condition a player to do Tonight the only thing I could possibly nitpick about was how UNC had a significant advantage in the air and failed to really try and take advantage. UNC put a lot of great crosses in to the back post, especially in the first, but never seemed to have anybody there. A lot of UNC players clustered in the middle of the box waiting for crosses, FKs, and corners to come to them, instead of putting themselves in positions to make a run to attack a cross. Maya Worth had the best example of the game, a header off a corner that she attacked from the far side of the box. It was deflected/blocked, but the resulting chaos led directly to her game winner. What a time to score your first goal. Joanna touched the ball tonight more than she did vs SCSU and UVa, combined. The difference in the flow of the game from round 1 to round 2 was noticeable. The rhythm the Heels were finding, especially about half way through the first, lead to some of the best soccer I have watched in over a year since the away game at Pitt last season. The feels for Summer Green right now. She's been one of my favorite players for three years, but watching someone of such incredible skill and potential have this kind of crisis in faith is heart breaking. On the right wing in the second half I got an up close look at it. Her foot work is magnificent, her ability unquestionable. Given how UNC was playing, she had a lot of balls come her way on the switch. She hesitated, a lot, and the time to take on her defender or try and drive to the end line had passed. She still tried, she still pushed hard, and she had a lot of physical battles on the end-line trying to turn the corner when she would have been better served checking up and finding her support, cycling the ball in the corner like the rest of her team did so well tonight. I was close enough to a lot of her actions that I wanted to be one of those fans that called out to her. Lift her spirits somehow, say that perfect phrase that would help things fall in place for her. I don't think there's another player on this team who would even come close to evoking the kind of joy I will feel when things do start going Summers way. Her kind of skill, hard work, & determination deserves to be rewarded. The cold weather really held UNC back a bit tonight, the frozen lead ball making it hard to get weight on the Heels crosses and shots. That being said, if the Heels play like this for the rest of the tournament, their going to win a national title.
I personally was delighted to see the Heels play so well tonight. I agree with babranski. They moved the ball well and had some scoring excellent chances. One could have wished for better finishing, but the stars were not smiling on that part. Colorado was playing some excellent team defense and with the Heels trying (for the most part) to patiently work the ball through with building pressure they just could connect through that swarm of gold jerseys who came to meet the ball at about the 18. In this regard I was a bit disappointed that Amber did not have a better night. She needs more space to do her magic dribbling in for a score, and with the pack of Buffs right there, she kept dribbling into traffic. On the other hand I thought that Paige had some brilliant moments at the same position with one-touching and in particular that fabulous under pressure volley on the cross from Summer near the end of regulation that just whizzed by the wrong side of the post. And speaking of Summer, she had a greatly improved night. Other than having trouble in the second half with the Buffs #17 defender who seemed to have Summer's number and kept taking her to the corner fur unproductive experiences, she had some great crossing runs and her shots were low and pretty much on target. Katie and Satara were fabulous and Scarpa had some great moments. Megan Buckingham had some good moments, but seldom got the kind of service that she likes, although at the beginning of the second half she was very effective. And Cameron was doing well tonight too. But as was said above our holding midfielders did a great job. Bottom line, if we continue to play this well, we will have another excellent tournament. I'm rooting for us to keep up this good play!
Can someone pleas explain to me why the pk was not earned by Worth in a sequence prior to her goal? It just seemed so obvious and the ref seemed in position to make the call.