There will certainly be a lot of changes for UNC between December 2023 and August 2024. There is so much that will be revealed as these months go by. What new names will we see on the coaching staff? For 40 plus years things have been really stable with two long term assistant coaches (30 plus years each) whose retirement or move was well telegraphed in advance. We now have openings for a Keeper coach, and for the 4th assistant. Any thoughts? And it appears that many UNC fans as well as others on the BigSoccer Women's Soccer pages are trying to make sense of the rapid changes in Women's Collegiate soccer at this time. The recent COVID years have led to many transfers and the new NCAA Transfer Portal has made transferring much easier and adding a 5th year these last 4 years have made some huge impacts. The NIL factor is now upon us, and the pro teams have solidified a bigger fan base and are able to put out serious money for players' salaries and signing bonuses and we college soccer fans are looking at a new era where players will be leaving to go pro after a season or two. ...not to mention that the college teams will now be directly competing with the pros for high school talent. Given these (above) changes, It appears that Anson's success with recruiting and keeping players for four years is coming to rather abrupt end. I do not see UNC collapsing competitively, but I do expect to see many changes not only at UNC, but all throughout college soccer It's going to be a wild ride. Buckle up!
One of the names coming in that I've been very excited about for a while is Emeri Adames. With all the departures I think she's going to be a very important player for this team in the next few years. Think she'll take the #7.
Heeldoc -- Thanks for your posting of Anson's messages. They provide a interesting insight that we have not had before both -- glorious and squeamish. Hey, a human being!
Babs. Indeed Emeri has a bunch of talent. In my mind she would have been third in the 2024 class after Kennedy Fuller and Claire Hutton.as they all were rated withing 5 points of each other by TDS (for what that's worth). But it's going to be very interesting to see who the Heels end up with come August. Given the frenzy in the NCAA Transfer Window and the Pro teams moving sigh high school age players, we just can't read too many tea leaves. But of the 2024 signees, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Heels will at least have 5 of the signees, with Kennedy possibly the 6th, but she is quite attractive to the pros. I'm not as pessimistic as some have been. I'm hopeful that the Heels will be strong next fall. I'm pretty sure that Evelyn Shores,, Maddie Dahlein, Kate Fasse, Abby Gundry, Emersn Flgin, and Olivia Thomas, will be here in the fall, and I have not heard anything about Savy King leaving and if Emeri matriculates along with the remainder of the 2024 class we could be in good shape. (I think I heard somewhere that Emeri was going to matriculate in January.) We should be OK with Bella Sember getting steadily better each year, and if two more of the 24 class steps up (and there are 4 prospects who could surprise) we have a solid 11 -- especially if in that two was Kennedy.. But this assumes that Ally and Avery are going pro. If they don't we will be in fine shape. Cheers!
I've written off Avery returning, but only because I assumed she had no eligibility left. Does she have a COVID year she can still use?
Yes Avery has a COVID year left. My understanding is that before Melina and some others hit the Portal and the outburst from a parent got us riled up with seeing who and how many were on that list, Anson had before that time made it clear that he needed to help graduating seniors move on to other teams (or non soccer callings) or pro soccer and not count on a COVID year at UNC. Clearly he was trying to open up playing time for the excellent players that he and Damon had recruited. Now that it looks like he has lost 2 non seniors that he was counting on (Melina and Mia), Emily Hutton went pro to Kansas City, and Kayleigh Herr who is a reliable center back (and who, as far as I can tell, would have been a starter for the next two seasons) given that starters Maycee Bell, Emiily Moxley are departing after their 5th year, and only one (yet unproven) defender coming in. All this is to say that if especially if Kennedy Fuller goes pro, Anson will be short 4 top players he was initially counting on. This is why I say that he might after all be interested in keeping one who will graduate this spring... such as Avery and also Ally if she is interested in playing another year with the Heels and finishing up her undergraduate degree and go pro in 2025. We'll just have to wait and see.
That hasn't really meant much the past few few years. A lot of Seniors on this team celebrated Senior day twice. Maycee Bell comes first to mind.
I wish they’d separate out Graduate transfers from their tally. It’s a little misleading. Congrats Kai Hayes !! A senior transferring to@BaylorFutbol and played 160 minutes for North Carolina last year. UNC has had the most (5) players sign with new teams from #TransferPortal so far https://t.co/YCaxP0RIxI— ECNL/GA/Recruiting/College Soccer (@ImYouthSoccer) December 20, 2023
#7 to leave UNC in Transfer Portal Our family keeps growing ‼️Sydney Cheesman is officially a Tiger! 🔗 https://t.co/JkO1ZBncZa pic.twitter.com/bawgckniOP— LSU Soccer (@LSUSoccer) December 22, 2023
CB depth has evaporated. A lot of outside back types that could move over and I guess Shores would work but you want her in midfield. Any CB freshman coming in?
I was referring to her kit number, not her position. That's still up in the air. However I'm curious as to why you don't think Anson would want to play one of the best attacking wingers/forwards with the USYNT's at ... winger and forward. With all those leaving... and *especially* if Sentnor is leaving, where exactly do you think Anson shoe horns a forward in instead?
All of this doesn’t add up for UNC. What could’ve happened such that there’s a mass exodus of players - many that would’ve played such big roles next seasons.
You may wish to refer to the Daily Tar Heel article of December 1, 2023. I would guess there was an intense amount of frustration within the program (for a myriad or reasons) and this has boiled over to the dumpster fire we see today.
Patterson wasn't on the original list of draft players on Friday so I'm assuming this means she was waiting to making a decision until recently.
You may wish to refer to the Daily Tar Heel article of December 1, 2023. I would guess there was an intense amount of frustration within the program (for a myriad or reasons) and this has boiled over to the dumpster fire we see today.
correct - she’s not on the NWSL list of entrants. Maybe going to Europe? Maybe entering the draft eventually? A transfer is technically possible but seems unlikely
and it's the biggest reason why all the boring old arguments against the UNC system doesn't work to explain it. We are literally one year removed from a national title if the official was in a better position on a corner kick. Something *new* happened in 2023 that rocked the boat.
I am just an outsider but I will offer my observations. It seems to me that UNC got caught in a perfect storm this season. They had a down year by their standards, they have too many talented and likely disgruntled (with playing time) players on the roster, all while professional salaries are exploding. So these young talented players who historically were willing to wait in the shadows until their time came to start for UNC, are no longer willing to be patient. There is real professional money to be made now so the players need to be on the pitch and in the starting lineup. Youth national team players are no longer going to be willing to play limited minutes (or not start), when that level player is less and less likely to play 4 years in college these days.