Hey Babs.... I think that your comment (above) is to the point about "momentum" But in my mind, I see the issue as "Pumped up, Confident, and Ready to Play Hard" (or not) vs "Panic" as two separate issues. At Duke it was panic, and with Wake Forest the Heels midfield was mentally simply not ready to play hard. In fact the first 26 minutes of the Wake Forest game was "Not ready to Play Hard". I saw this as the players warmed up, then as they huddled, and (really obvious) when they walked out to their positions on the field. Before the whistle blew I mentioned to my wife that the players just didn't seem motivated....like their brains were somewhere else, or they forgot the pump up speech, or didn't warm up enough.. Coaches or captains usually are responsible for this. And, sure enough, right from the kickoff they were relatively dazed and stagnant. They didn't move into open space much and many of their passes were intercepted by WF who were moving quickly and cutting off passing lanes. I was almost going to shout "wake up! You're playing a soccer game!" "Panic", in my view, is when the players stop trying to use sharp strategic passing, and end up trying to sprint down Route 1 or lobbing Hail Mary's. Cheers!
I am able to be at the game tonight and really love the turnout. Let’s go Tarheels! Nahas doesn’t sit. He must walk 5 miles during the games. Chris Ducar seems asleep.
Was able to spend a little time with my niece today before the game and she said the team is 100% in a better headspace this year. The respect and trust they have in Nehas is making a huge difference and it’s showing. I coached baseball most of my life and we have so many coaches on staff. She said Nahas is a one man show. The new gal, Tracy is loved and has taken the role of a mother hen, but she hasnt coached the team yet. Not sure nahas will get the gig as there is rumor to want a woman in the role. Apparently the players and parents have all made it known who they want hired. Sounds like most of the team will leave if that is the case. Sure hope not. Seems obvious hes auditioning for his job this season.
I think Nahas is the guy to hire as of right now, we might not be getting five-stars anymore but we’ve done well recruiting wise. We currently rank #4 in RPI, and have a record of 9-1-0 on the season. Also, UNC needs to take into count what Nahas can do with his brother coaching NC Courage, and no draft anymore. We are in a rebuilding era right now, but still are a top 10 in the country. If we were to hire a new coach, commits could be reopening their recruitment process and we will have another disaster off-season. I really hope the school makes the right decision and hires Nahas as the next full head coach. This program’s future could depend on this decision
Thanks for some info Stargell. I was talking to some parents two weeks ago and they said the exact same thing. Their daughter had told them that since the rabble rowsers left and went elsewhere, the remaining players are really enjoying their experience this fall.
The "new gal" is a former USWNT player, UNC star, and has more head coaching experience than Nahas. Geez. Show some respect.
Maddie Dahlien coming on for the final 15 minutes in a tied game vs NED in the third place game. I'm not so sure when to be able to expect Maddie to come back and be available for UNC, but the silver lining is that she should be fresh and have a bit of a chip on her shoulder. The US coach obviously rated her very low, as she was consistently subbed in only late in games. Certainly she won't be available tomorrow vs Syracuse, but maybe Friday vs UVa (who are good this year) or LOU the following Thursday.
I don't think she was rated low. She has great speed, which makes her a great late game sub for when the opposing defenders are tired. When she went into games, it showed as she created a lot of problems for the defenders. As it turned out in the Netherlands third-place game, this strategy worked, as she took the cross that ricocheted off the Dutch defender for the winning goal.
Looking forward to the UNC v Virginia game on Friday evening as needing to be postponed until Saturday afternoon. If not, Virginia will be driving down in horrific downpours coming out of the mountains, and 12 mph winds (not including gusts) the waiting for the hard rain to stop in Chapel Hill to get some practice.Warm-up on the UNC field. Normally a 4 hour drive in a bus from Charlottesville to Chapel Hill. Saturday afternoon at 3:00 would be a much better situation with a drying field.. (The UNC men play at 7:00.) ...But who am I to suggest this?
I thought they might bump the game up to Thursday, but we're way past that likelihood. Saturday is just screaming at us and I'm not sure what the hesitation is. The sooner they make the decision, the better for all.
Now I'm thinking they're going to stick to Friday and may have just adjusted the travel plans for UVA, if anything. Feels like whoever is making the decisions is rolling the dice and hoping for the best.
The contrast is something else. The first 15 minutes against UVA we saw the same UNC team that we've seen struggle in midfield while the defense balled out these last few games. Yet we went down on a correct PK call and I was *grim* ... as good as I think Maddie Dahlien played tonight (and she did have a lot of good moments that reminded us of how much we missed her) ... I didn't feel like she was game changing. Linda Ullmark certainly was tonight, but not so much Dahlien. I'm typing that and thinking how foolish that sounds but it's relative to the point I'm trying to make so bear with me here. Dahlien was excellent and I'm not trying to discredit her performance. The point I'm trying to make is that Dahlien's performance, as good as it was, wouldn't have been enough if the Heels as a whole continued to struggle in the same manner that they had been up to that point. In particular my concern was that when Dahlien came back nothing would change, because if the team was struggling to use the whole field, to play the wide areas of the field, to utilize the width ... what difference would it have made if the pieces on the flanks changed? but there was something about Maddie Dahlien being on the field that just changed everything. Maybe Nahas made some kind of coaching adjustment when she checked in. Maybe it was a psychological thing with her return where things clicked into place for UNC ... whatever it was, my heart is full after that performance. It was a glorious balance of direct play, combination, and utilization of width. The Heels I think tried to play the wide areas of the field more than they did through the middle for the first time this season, and the resulting quality of attack is plainly evident. It wasn't just to Dahlien. It wouldn't have been enough if it was just to Dahlien. The Heels found their groove with their attacking direction and mindset tonight, and I hope they can keep it up because that was so fun to watch. Trinity Armstrong was ACC Defensive Player of the Week last week, but she'll lose that after a surprisingly poor first half... it's not how we fall, but how we pick ourselves up. She had a solid second half and made no mistakes, and she made a couple of crucial interceptions back to back late in the game to help UNC smother the UVA attack. I think how Armstrong responded in that second half speaks volumes to her quality and character. A mini redemption arc for her. You have to feel really good with UNC and where they are after that win. Despite the score the defense still looks amazing, and with only 1 player out of 3 returning, the quality on offense shot up. UVA is an outstanding team, I think they had the better midfield tonight when UNC couldn't get their press coordinated. I love how this game was played and appreciate it when a team tries to break UNC down with quality and not physicality. Some late crunching tackles when the game was 3-2, but I didn't sense maliciousness in them. It's hard to believe that squad has started ACC play 0-3 and I hope they rebound. Good soccer deserves better. Consistent officiating for the most part and I appreciated how they leaned on VAR or whatever it's called at this level. I thought the AR should have let one of Kate Faasse's attacks play out because it looked onside on the replay, but he obviously learned his lesson and let the next one happen. Credit where credit is due this guy in the middle was what I wish we always got. Box score has Amin Hadzic, hope to see him again.
Dahlein has had what 4 or 5 career goals over three years? It seems like she’s one of the least productive name players out there.
Gagne's clutch catch in traffic on UVA's last corner was a championship play. An all-around excellent battle. Ullmark made her mark today! It was also great to hear Briana Pinto's intelligent analysis.
Certainly it's relative when you talk about Dahlien and the quality of players UNC has had and lost, and also when you start comparing her numbers to other "forwards". Last night was a quintessential "why Maddie Dahlien is an important player" game ... she only had an assist and maybe one or two shots, but her impact on the game was massive. She vastly improved the quality of UNC's attack in the wide areas, put forward a ton of incredible diagonals and driven balls to break down UVA's defense, and made multiple key defensive plays. That corner @Heeldoc referenced in the last post was on an unlucky deflection off of Dahlien as she tracked back and make a key block on a long cross. Dahlien to me represents, and has represented for two years now, an identifying mark for how well this team is playing on the offense. Yes, that means that I haven't been very high on how well the UNC attack has looked over the years. I've gone on ad nauseam about how narrow this team tends to look when they play poorly. It doesn't matter how much quality you have in the wide area's of the field if you're struggling to get the ball to them. Dorrance made a comment in the offseason or at the end of last season or, I can't remember... about how damn good this team looked against FSU at UNC. The Heels outplayed them, had one of the most balanced attacks they had all season long, and looked like a championship caliber team if not for the curse that hung over them with how they've been giving up late goals. Who had a big game that day? Dahlien. A goal, an assist, and she earned a PK if I'm not mistaken. if UNC starts to consistently play as well as they had vs UVA, Dahlien's numbers will skyrocket. I also seem to remember Dahlien scoring a rather important goal her Freshman year during the NCAA's, somewhere in the mountains if I'm not mistaken.
Any word on Evelyn Shores returning to the field? At the beginning of the season there was talk that she would be back on the field mid way through the season. We're now past 2/3 through the season. Will we have to wait until next year? I saw her walking on the promenade before the Seton Hall game in civilian clothing and her gate showed no indication of pain or dysfunction. That's the last time I've seen her. Any intelligence?
Feels like we've seen her walking around without pain or discomfort the entire season, since the first exhibition game.
Fun game to watch, for the first half at least. Sigh. Ullmark's first goal (well, both of them, actually) was a thing of beauty. I was surprised that Virginia was able to respond so quickly because it's been missing in our DNA for quite some time now. No surprise it was a midfielder who scored though, because we've got a donut-sized hole in the forward line right now. McCormack seems to have benefitted from her time with the U20 national team. I really liked Aria Nagai -- my first time seeing her -- but then, I do have a soft spot in my heart for 6s who are unfazed by pressure. Both teams spent time with their respective 6s on the sideline, but the Hoos were never going to come back missing Theoret. Virginia is just slow on the ball this year. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a 12 - 4 foul differential with Virginia committing that many and certainly not to you guys. The Heels are typically far more physical than the Cavaliers. But you are right, it was a well called game, even with two very lengthy VAR calls on the Virginia PK and the Bradley foul outside the box. I thought Dahlien did a great job keeping Laney Rouse pinned back. For as much control as Virginia had in the first half, she was pretty unsuccessful getting forward, surprising esp in that her game vs Notre Dame she was at her attacking best. If the outside backs aren't overlapping for Virginia, then it's just wingers taking the ball to the end line and crossing it. And we have zero aerial presence. Samar Guidry has something degenerative, maybe arthritis, and it's killed her career and she's on a pretty strict minutes count. If Rouse isn't getting forward, no one is getting forward for this UVa team. In that respect, I think Dahlien had more impact in the game than anyone not named Ullmark. I dunno if this is the beginning of the end for Swanson at Virginia. Krikorian is gone, Dorrance is gone, Church is leaving after this year. If Virginia loses to Duke there's no way we're making the ACC tournament, and this team isn't screaming at large bid to the Big Dance to me. Virginia is trending down the past four years.
I've watched only highlights this season, but in those have always been impressed by Linda Ullmark. Even when she wasn't scoring, her misses were close and she was setting other people up. In the highlights from the UVA game, she plays several two beautiful balls to Fasse, one of which led to a goal, in addition to scoring herself. She seems really sophisticated for a first-year player --- reminds me a little of Shores last season. Was she expected to be this good?
Excellent post, @Val1 ... We so rarely get that kind of insight from the other side. I had loaded so much value on Dahliens impact with how UNC changed, I didn't consider how much she forced UVA to change. It's academic at this point because this UNC team is so fluid that positions are insignificant, but Linda Ullmark is one of the best looking pure 9's UNC has had in some time. She's definitely not a midfielder, but as a forward she's been so snake bitten that's she been more and more desperate to get on the ball and play in the midfield. She's a forward very much in the mold of Alex Morgan who had an outrageously encouraging first 4 or 5 games, scored something like 4 goals in two exhibition games, then got goalied in multiple games before Thomas and Dahlien went out. She had really great chemistry with those two and was heavily involved in most attacking sequences. Felt like with them away she pushed herself really hard and has been struggling with her game in ACC play. I think it might be a stretch to say Dahlien came back and maybe took some pressure off of Ullmark's shoulders, but ... is it?
I'm not sure what expectations existed before the season started, but I hoped on that bandwagon the first time I saw her play. She didn't start in the first exhibition game, but she game in and played something like 10-15 minutes and I entered that half high as a kite on her. It took a little bit longer than I expected, but I knew she was going to be a big deal at some point in this season.
Thanks for the info. It certainly looks like they are taking her injury real slowly. I would assume that some knee issues take longer than others to heal. We've seen ACL injuries being cured in 7 or 8 months and some well over a year and I suppose that there are more serious ones and less, and their are surgeons who are really good and those who are not.