To add to information some might be looking for: this is an album of HQ images from the NC Courage scrimmage. The only player I didn't recognize and had to look up was Ruby Grant, a new English international. https://www.lewisgettier.com/Sports/NWSL/2021/NC-Courage-vs-UNC-3-6-2021/
I was pleasantly surprised to see Ruby Grant on the roster this spring. She had opted out of coming last fall and I was afraid tat it might be permanent with the other three Brits leaving UNC for the pros a year early. She has great potential. And I'd be interested in others comments on the game up at Delaware yesterday. It certainly looked to me that Anson was taking a look at the whole roster with some notable exceptions. eg. still haven' seen hide nor hair of Brooke Bingham who we will really need this spring on defense of we go to the NCAA tournament.. And Sam Meza was notably absent..is she hurt? The box score shows us starting with 3 defenders, 4 mids and 4 forwards. The tournament is only 4 games away and it certainly looked like a free-for-all yesterday in the box score and play by play. I don't ever recall this kind of a line-up at UNC. Tournament success usually means a stout defense and defensive midfield. Winning tournaments usually means not being scored against. Ruby Grant has been a midfielder for years, but started as a forward. Talia DellaPeruta the same, and Rachel Jones spent the 2019 tournament at midfield too with only two forwards (Cox and Russo). All three were forwards at Delaware (plus Cox) What gives? It's really interesting that 4 players who hardly played at all in the fall. Tori Hansen who did not play in 2019 is getting a good look. Likewise sophomore Libby Moore. Frosh Avery Patterson was not seen in the spring now starts? Perhaps this is all due to injuries or fitness, but it sure is unusual from a historic view of Anson's usual methods. I sure hope that it is all worked out at least by half way through the NCAA tournament!
I'm wondering if anybody knows what's up with Sam Meza? She was listed as a starter and ran out on the team with the field just before kickoff, but ... 1375520723586981890 is not a valid tweet id
I saw the game on FloFC. The replay is there now too. Pretty sure it is a Delaware thing. Several schools (ex. JMU) using FLoFC to broadcast games
I really am looking forward to seeing the Heels play this season if it is at all possible given the COVID restrictions. Hopefully the state mandates will be relaxed to the point that at least some fans will be allowed to watch some of the NCAA tournament games even if with percentage limitations of capacity. My interest is piqued because the two games played so far this spring have been a puzzle when looking at the box scores. While the he 7-0 score against Tennessee might be taken with a grain of salt given the obvious mis-match, the mystery of what kind of a defense is being played persists again. The box score again shows only two defenders plus 4 midfielders and 4 forwards. What is really going on defensively? (The offense seems to be humming along with 11 goals in the last two games, which kinda makes sense with 4 forwards, but how do 2 defenders do it? ...obviously with help from the midfield, but I'd like to see it in action especially with Maycee Bell missing with her surgery.) The good news is that Sam Meza if back on he field and frosh Ruby Grant is playing well. Sophomore LIbby Moore started which is a real surprise for me as she saw precious little playing time last year. It's great that some players just suddenly blossom and develop into starters and LIbby would be an extreme case in my opinion given her modest soccer background. Cheers for her!! (With appreciation for all of the other players in UNC's history who really developed once they got to Chapel Hill.)
I was able to watch the Tennessee game on the SEC Network via Sling. On Twitter "Babs" @brabanski live-tweeted play by play, which should answer a lot of your questions. https://twitter.com/babranski UNC tweeted gifs of all the goals, also. Worth getting on twitter just for that stuff
Yikes 7-0 with Tennessee. I thought Tennessee was a stronger team than that but UNC is a tough wall to go up against any day of the week.
We seem to be getting stretched very thing on defense and it's starting to affect the attack. Feels like our offensive cohesion took a real hit vs Villanova as Anson starts to shuffle people around looking for solutions. Bell, Dorsey, and now apparently McCabe ... It's not my place to be critical of Dorrance, but from the perspective of experiments and whether or not one worked, I hope Anson sees what I sees in that moving Dellaperuta back to right back did not work. We started the season with Libby Moore trialed back there and I'd much rather see that again, if nothing else to get Talia back where she belongs on an offense that clicked for seven goals the previous game. We're always going to be strong defensively, this team has got to figure out how to break through early and be dangerous without relying on wearing a team out. That has been our achilles heal in the last few years when you look at championship games. If it means sacrificing defense a little bit I vote yea.
Anson has a long history of tinkering with the line up leading up to the NCAA tournament. I remember that in the 2009 championship season that various experiments continued throughout the season with incredible talent (5 future national team players) but Lucy Bronze got her minutes off the bench until she finally was started in the NCAA tournament. Or in 2012 where Maria Lubrano started off the season coming off the bench and traded time with, and Alyssa Rich and ended up the season as the starter but often had less playing time than Rich especially in the championship game. Then in 2016 the line up seemed to change every game as to whether Maya Worth, Maddy Shultz, Ru Mucherera, Abby Elinski, would start or not mixing it up until late in the season when starter Zoe Redei was injured, and Abby and Maya became the starters, and Maddy, Ru, and Zoe came off the bench in the NCAA run. Given this very short season to evaluate players, it is unsurprising that tinkering is still going on. This is especially true in that (as nocarters has pointed out) all 4 of the starting defenders from last year are not with the team this spring and we are potentially looking at an all-freshman defense with Abbey Allen, Page Tolentino, and Avery Patterson. I suspect we will not have a stable starting lineup until the third round of the NCAAs, assuming that we get that far.
Does anyone have any intelligence as to whether there will be any tickets available to the public for any of the NCAA tournament games coming up late this month and ending at Cary on May 17. So far I can find no information as to whether an tickets will be available for earlier rounds or even for the semi finals and finals on May 13 and 17. At least for the semi finals and the championship match the Wake Med stadium should be able to accommodate about 2,500 (1/4 of capacity) as the 6 foot distance rule limits attendance to about 25%. The earlier rounds will be played at the following soccer venues (permanent seating): Campbell University (300) East Carolina, University (1,000) UNC-Wilmington (3,000) UNC Greensboro ((3,540) Wake Forest University (3,000) Bryan Park (Greensboro) (3,000) Gillette Athletic Complex (Wilson) (no stadium...Imported bleachers?) Mecklinburg County Sportsplex (Matthews) (5,000) Wake Med Soccer Park (Cary) -three Olympic size fields (stadium 10,000) (secondary field 1,000) Note that any likely local tournament entrants will not have their fields used. UNC (5,025) and Duke (9,314)have excellent soccer stadiums, and NC State has a nice field (3,000). This would represent a clear change from all previous tournaments where the seeded team played at home...and it makes sense for fairness (of course) since other seeded teams will all be coming to North Carolina.
Really interesting question. The NCAA has management responsibiity for the entire tournament, even in an ordinary year, and this year they likely will be running the show much more than ever before. They will have 48 teams they will be responsible for, not just in terms of housing but also in terms of keeping them in a safe environment. The reason all the games will be in your area is that the NCAA wants to be able to keep control. With everything else they have to manage, I can see them not wanting to have to spend a whole lot of resources managing fans and fan-related safety protocols -- such as mask wearing, obeying seating distancing rules, and so on. If they decide they can handle it, good for them, but if they decide they cannot, I could understand that too. (I just have been to a Thorns game, with serious protocols, and to a Portland Pilots game, with mask and seating distance protocols, and it seemed to work well to me -- but then, I have been fully vaccinated so I am more tolerant than I would have been two months ago.) I am guessing they will go with family and a limited number of other fans -- perhaps one quarter of capacity; mask wearing required; and seating distancing. That is what the Portland Pilots did, so it should be workable for the NCAA.
Here’s the end of the NCAA statement about the men’s and women’s tournament addressing attendance: The committees intend to provide some opportunity for family and friends to attend the championships. They will follow the NCAA Medical Advisory Group guidelines, and the maximum allowable capacity will be 25 percent. Obviously, doesn’t really answer the question, but, as far as I know, this is the only statement from the NCAA on attendance
Went to the game against Columbus State on Tuesday. Probably the only game I will see this spring. Not sure what to make of the game itself. The Heels did not look as sharp as they have in previous games. Columbus State was actually pretty competitive. They were just off their conference playoff championship game (tied, lost on shootout) and had some good talent, size, and hustle. They had 3 keepers on rotation and the first one up had a "Bad Day At Work" and in 20 minutes conceded 3 goals from lack of focus. (She did much better in the second half). Which is to say that most of the 4 goals in the first half from UNC could perhaps have been scored by the local high school team having a good night. The Heels played better in the second half and Cougars fortified their defense to match and fended off 9 of the 11 shots on goal. It was fun to see some of the UNC newbies that have been carrying the load. Abby Allen smoothly anchored our defense, and went forward for set pieces as she is a good in the air. Libby Moore played with intelligence and focus in the back. At 5'3" she's not the most intimidating defender but soccer smarts goes along way. Page Tolentino as coming along on the left side. Watching the defense was confusing because I could never figure out what formation was being played. Tori Hansen looked to be a holding mid (although listed as a defender in the box score) and did well enough, but is not nearly the caliber of Taylor Otto (which is an unfair comparison with Tori only in her first real season of play with the Heels.) ...Never did get the defensive formation figured out. Could have been a diamond 4 with Tori Hansen out front ...or not. Or maybe a three back with wing mids coming back to help. It just kept changing. The Heels mid field and forward line are very solid! Gheesh... Think of Ruby Grant, Sam Meza, and Talia DellaPeruta backing up a front line of Rachel Jones, Brianna Pinto, and Isabel Cox. Ruby has a good skill set, but seemed to disappear on the field...especially in the second half. Meza and DellaPeruta are the real deal hard working, skilled, and savvy. So... we're starting 5 true freshmen, 3 sophomores, Moore and Hansen (who did not play on the field in a game last year), and Cox, and 3 juniors, Pinto, Jones, and keeper Claudia Dickey. An incredible senior class has moved on early, but this bunch has potential. Next fall we will sorely miss Pinto (and is there a rumor that Jones may also graduate this summer?), but we have two defenders coming back (Bell and Dorsey) and will be adding incoming freshmen forward Allyson Sentnor, and midfielder Emily Colton both of whom may earn a starting role. And one mystery solved.... why was UNC so persistent about getting to play the game with D-II Columbus state? Answer: Ex 4-year starting player for the Heels is now the Assistant Coach for the Cougars.. That's Joanna Boyles (now Joanna Fennema.)
I seem to remember during the game the commentator mentioned that Rachel Jones had already graduated and was now attending UNC law school, so I think she will likely be back next year!
Thanks for this intelligence. Jones is only a junior this year, but, in addition to being a great soccer player, she is also a top notch student, and it would make sense if she went to law school a year early. So here's a question: Given that the first year in a good law school has never been described as one where students have a lot of free time to, let's say, practice and travel to play for a serious soccer team. Is there a known precedent for this?
Good question! During recruiting days one school told us they don't suggest under grad degrees in Architecture or Nursing due to the time commitment for soccer.
OK Tarheel Fans.... What happened this afternoon in Chapel Hill at the UNC vs South Carolina match??? It is still listed on both the UNC and SC websites as scheduled for 1:00 this afternoon. That was 8 hours ago with perfect soccer weather and there hasn't been a peep out of either university's athletic department or website that anything happened. The game was sold out and surely some UNC fans were there! Were you there? Can you report on what you saw? I get that this was officially an exhibition match and would not count on either team's W-L record. And there are plenty of pre=season exhibition matches and scrimmages with pro teams whose results are posted publicly. What gives?
I did not attend the game but my daughter did. From her account, UNC, despite being outplayed for a good part of the game, won 2-1. Both goals coming from Rachel Jones (1 on a PK). As for how under-the-radar it was, in AD's weekly email he said this about the game: "Final game tomorrow at 1 pm …. It will not count because South Carolina saw our score with Tennessee (another fine SEC team) and they do not want to risk a poor seed. They are a very good team however and this should be an excellent test as we prepare for the NCAA Tournament. We will know our seed on Monday. We have a good resume (RPI/win/loss etc), so we should end up the # 2 seeded team in this year’s NCAA Tournament. I will let you know next Wednesday!!"
Colorado finished the season well enough to get in. The Buffaloes have recently lost three second-round games at UNC, all 1-0, I got to attend the last one (thank you Soccerhunter). Very impressed with everything I saw ... stadium, university, and all I got to see nearby. I was hoping for a rematch (glutton for punishment), but if we defeat South Alabama, we'll get Oklahoma State. UNC might get our neighbor, Denver University. We beat them 1-0 in overtime on an own goal, they only have one other loss.
Great to see your post! I am quite pleased to see your Buffs back in the NCAA tournament. I think that Colorado has a very good chance of winning more than one game in this tournament! As I have lamented, I am bummed that we fans will not be attending any games in person. I understand that the NCAA is allowing only Family and friends to attend the matches. But I get their point. COVID immunity is theoretically only up to about 25% at this point in time and bringing together large crowds is shown to lead to bad outcomes. The crazy thing is that while 50% of capacity is now the rule in NC, so is the 6-foot distancing, and so stadiums are limited to 25% or less just to meet the distancing precaution. I am really unsure as to whether to be hopeful as an UNC fan or not. We have lost 6 starters from last fall's team. One is out with surgery, one is playing lacrosse this spring (and has a good shot at the NCAA title) and four went to play professionally (and 3 of those 4 are being evaluated for national team slots.) For the NCAAs, it looks like we will be starting 5 true freshmen plus a 2 sophomores who got zero field playing time last year. We will be playing no seniors. So I will not be surprised to see the Heels get bumped out in their first or second game... or on the other hand they may make it to the finals where FSU will eat our lunch, snacks, and supper and not let us posses the ball either. So I'm back to the primary fan stance of trying to be hopeful. ...But maybe next fall? Best of luck to the Buffs!