I know what a hand ball is but it looked like arm to me but I don’t have slomo. Really surprised it wasn’t reviewed. Don’t get me wrong - I wanted UNC to win.
I must say that this game was one of the most poorly reffed than in any other Division I've seen in the last several decades. On the evening there were obvious handballs ignored, and an absolute refusal to call perhaps a half dozen taking down of players (including at least 2 in the box), and then turning around and whistling lots of slight bumps. He surely got spectators of both sides riled up. (Now compare this with some of the excellent referees we have seen in recent years where both sides (players, coaches, and fans) have not complained about the refereeing.) As an aside, after the end of the game, I noted 2 UNC players not only shaking hands of the other team but also taking time to hug and consoling a few of the PSU players.
I dunno if I'm breaking some unspoken covenant of silence by mentioning this, but ... post game celebrations the team had a banner they all signed that said "remove the interim tag".
Whatever else might be said, Carolina deserved the win, was the better team though Penn State certainly knows how to take advantage of its opportunities. UNC simply dominated the first 30 minutes of the second half, as controlling a performance as I’ve seen in a good while. Lots of players to compliment — always, always Trinity Armstrong — but for some reason Nagai stood out last night, started watching her more and had not realized how good she is. Much to like about this team and this year.
Has an interim coach ever made the college cup? If they have, have they ever NOT been named permanent coach? I can’t see a RATIONAL world in which Damon doesn’t get the job.
Would prefer that the Nahas discussion be a separate thread, leave this one to talk about and celebrate this very enjoyable team . . . BUT, since the subject keeps coming up . . . What is the alum objection to Nahas? Is it just a case of wanting an alum to take over, or wanting a woman to be the head coach, or is there something in particular about Nahas to which they object? I don’t know enough about the game and am not sufficiently close to anyone to have a worthwhile opinion, but curious of course as to what is going on.
torn on that one. The official was obviously not protecting her the way he should have been. The argument could have been made that #19 should have at the very least had a review to see if *she* deserved a red card in their previous engagement. With the ball gone and even out of bounds, #19 through a very late forearm shiver that caught Elgin off guard and sent her hurtling into the brick wall near the Penn State bench. I have *never* seen anybody crash into that wall at a game before. That's what we mean when we say an official loses control. Elgin probably started to think that if the official wasn't going to tell the player to stop, she was going to have to do something herself... so when #19 both tripped her from behind and then accidentally on purpose continued in a way that would take her stepping over, Elgin reared up first in protection, and then in anger. I think if #19 hadn't taken those unnecessary steps towards Elgin, one of two things would have happened. 1) She wouldn't have been so close to Elgin that the lash out might have connected with one of her feet ... she essentially put herself *too close* for that to happen, between Elgins legs and her studs kicking out to either side. 2) Elgin wouldn't have felt like she was about to be run over after the play was over and then wouldn't have lashed out. It's grating to hear PSU fans whine about officiating, as if the game didn't get out of hand and tip in their preferred grinding style of play because of the official to begin with. That is their game plan, but also the game plan against UNC in general. We've seen it too much. Take them out of their rhythm, disrupt, antagonize, go as far as the official will let you. Ticky tack stuff off the ball, excessive challenges from behind, excessive force from all angles and on late challenges, elbows and knees into the back when they think they can get away with it, etc etc ... The yellows? They were all for paper thin tactical fouls. At this stage of the tournament, it feels like officials are out there to protect themselves and the entertainment value of the games, not fairness or the safety and well being of the players.
I thought the ref let a whole lot go, more than was appropriate, even if this had been a professional game (which it sort of was, these days). On the other hand, it was not obvious or even apparent to me that the calls favored or disfavored either team. I did not think Engen should have been red carded, the ref recognized that. I do think the winning goal was a hand ball, notwithstanding the armpit part of the rule interpretation, but that is soccer and with the ref not calling a hand ball on the field, I do not think it was a clear and obvious error and thus it did not get VAR. In terms of finding Penn State fans' complaining to be grating, I don't frequent websites where they've been complaining, but this perhaps can give you a feeling for why I have criticized here ACC fans' regular complaining about refs. Refs make calls, they miss calls, VAR can correct a very few incorrect calls. That's soccer. The coaches and players on the field are responsible for the game outcomes, notwithstanding the refs. UNC won the game.
well, UNC vs Duke on Friday, probably the late game again. I liked that they seemed to lean on Dahlien, despite PSU did a pretty good job against her. She got free and had several windows to cross in this game, and again created a lot of UNC's best chances. I think if I was to nit pick I would say she didn't look for the cut back cross at all in that game, which is strange considering how well it worked vs Minnesota for her two assists. Every time she got free she either went for it from a tough angle or whipped the ball in through the six. I expected UNC to take control in midfiled, but probably not to the extent that they did in the second half. A big part of that was Aria Nagai, some have already noted that, but I wanted to heap additional praise on her for less ... appreciated ... aspects of her game. I thought she got caught in possession a couple of times later in the game, but for the most part she was an absolute ball hog for UNC and helped them win and retain possession for huge chunks of the second half. With Duke winning, the focus of the defense is going to switch back to Aven Alvarez after Emerson Elgin was so heavily involved vs PSU. In the first two games against Duke, #3 Ella Hase gave UNC loads of problems, including Alvarez who got burned repeatedly in the second game. She responded magnificently in the ACC Tournament with her best game of the year, and the Heels are probably going to need that again from her on Friday. My player of the match vs Penn State was going to be Bella Gaetino even without her equalizer. It almost felt like PSU was targeting her trying to avoid Trinity Armstrong, and dang did she step up and play a magnificent positional game. Another one of those players that the official didn't do a great job protecting, as she must have been fouled for at least half of PSU's recorded fouls. We're healthy. We're entering a College Cup healthy. That hasn't happened in ... years... decades... I don't even think we went in 2012 fully healthy. Even some of the players that were back in time for the third game against Duke wern't seeing as many minutes in the ACC Tournament as they are now, like Shores. After getting snubbed by the committee, a lot of good karma has come our way in this tournament, and I don't see any reason for it to stop. We're even better than the team that beat Duke. UNC wins 3-0 on Friday.
With the discussion about Dahlien, I've been watching her both in her youth national team games and her UNC games. She is the kind of player other teams hate to play because she wreaks havoc getting around the corner deep. She is really impressive and fun to watch.
I mentioned being impressed with Nagai after one of our games with UNC. She is tenacious. She battled Taylor Huff on one of those high lobbed 50/50 balls and won it fairly. Not many did that on 50/50 balls with TH. She's the kind of player you want on your team. She may not make all star teams, but she is indispensable to a team!
You are absolutely correct, Tom. You watched her up close at FSU and you saw perfectly. The interesting part for me is Nagai's incredible improvement since the beginning of the season. Her first three games that I got to watch at Chapel Hill led me to wonder what the heck she was doing on the field. She made many mistakes and seemed to specialize in slow passing which were easily intercepted by the opposition. But halfway through the season I was watching an incredible transformation. She was more aggressive in intercepting passes, made good decisions where to pass and had a good snappy pace on the ball to teammates. So much soccer savvy is in the brain, and this 5'3' player really caught on.
I agree that Nagai has been crucial this year. Does anyone know why she played only 34 minutes against Santa Clara (with Shores playing 56), while against PSU she played the entire game (with Shores playing 32 minutes)?
Went over to Duke yesterday evening to freeze some more and watch the game. From the beginning Duke controlled the ball at least 70 percent of the time with excellent ball control and good passing. It was one of those games that could have been a 4 or 5 goal blowout if it weren't for VT's excellent keeper who always seemed to be it the right place to grab crosses or shots. Duke's Ella Hase did a great job out-accelerating several VT defenders down the left side with the ball getting to the corner with time to launch balls right in front of the goal. In the first half for Duke 8 shots 4 on target and one goal and VT zero shots. Second half saw a more motivated VT attitude especially near the end with 3 shots from 20 yards all easily grabbed by the Duke keeper. Mia Oliaro and Mia Minnistrella played down the right side and got a number of good balls toward the corner but had a better defense on that side to deal with. Duke has a great time this year with 6 starters as 5th years or graduates who play with confidence The other 5 are 3 sophomores and 2 juniors who are proven players. ...It's going to be a tough game on Friday.
Duke certainly has proven that they can beat Carolina this year, but the last time the two schools met in an NCAA championship semifinal it worked out pretty well for the Tar Heels. Seem to recall that the Duke coach there also had announced his retirement at the end of the season.
My daughters a D1 keeper, stopping crosses and corners isn't something that shows up in the box score. VT keeper played really well controlling all those plays.