UNC Thread 2004

Intersting Line up...missing a player somewhere? I always thought there were 11 players on the field

 

Aly and the rest of the goal keepers are going to take the spring off since it seems that teams can't score on UNC with them on the field.

 

I think you forgot about Kacey White in the midfield.

 

alignmenst for spring

One of the things I think we might see, and hope we will, is some experimenting with alignments. those who read the 777 thread may recall a recent discussion (~11/24/03) and one last winter or spring about the possibilites of a 4-4-2 allignment, especially when we are playing "parity" teams. Well, I'm not sure there were truly any parity teams this year, but it was interesting to see that Anson went to almost the exact 4-4-2 alignment we were talking about (Carmen, Cat, JMax, and Fletch in a flatback 4, with Tarp at the point of a diamond 4 midfiled) in the UCLA game. He did it with about 30 minutes left in the game. The reason he gave was to get JMax into the game. But it also gave us a much stronger defense and we still generated a number of offensive threats, including Heather's goal in the last fiv minutes.

I'd like to see him using some of the playing time this spring to develop this and perhaps other alignments, in addition to our regular 3-4-3.
That would let us see exactly how the relative advantages between offense and defense play out with both strategies. if the team were equally skilled and comfortable in both allignments, that would seem to give us a hugh overall advantage in being able to "tune" our game as needed for differnet oponents. It would also let us work more on the short passing midfield game, rather than being so dependent on the offensive pressure game.

Thoughts?

 

Look out, world!

At least one of our rookies should be accounted for here. Ashlyn Harris is going to be splitting GK duty with Aly, I predict. I wonder if Ashlyn will enter UNC in January and be practicing and scrimmaging with the team during the spring?

 

Effect of U19 World Cup

NC fans still may not see Ashlyn Harris in goal in 2004, as she is still eligible and is included in the December training for the U19 Natls. The U19 WWC will really play havoc with the 2004 Women's College Season. I am going to go out on a very thick limb and say that the US will qualify to play in Thailand in November. That would mean many good young players missing Oct for training and November for WWC. How many will choose to redshirt, rather than use a year of eligibility and miss 1/2 of the season, including the NCAAs.

Men's soccer is going through the same thing this year. I know for sure that in the SCU/Indiana semi-final, both teams have been missing two players for much of the post-season due to the U-20 WC.

With the uncertain future of the women's pro game, how many of these top players will be willing to give up that year of college eligibility (easier for the men's as MLS is waiting for them).

This will be a tough choice for those involved.

 

You bring up a good point, US. Gousa is quoted on the commitments thread saying that Lang will likely redshirt next year, whoever she decides to play for (UNC or Florida is the rumor on that thread).....

 

MoHeelfan's post on Recruiting

I wanted to move this post by MoHeelfan over here from the old 777 thread to get us going on the fascinating subject, so dear to the hearts of fans, of recruiting.

There has been speculation in this thread about Tar Heel recruits for next year to replace our fabulous seniors. Names mentioned include:

1) Ashlyn Harris (common knowledge)

2) Jaime Gilbert http://www.eagletribune.com/news/st...1116/SP_004.htm

3) Robin Gayle (rumor, no documentation)

With a little luck and a lot of internet searching practice, I came up with another name:

4) Katie Brooks, a striker from Masachusetts:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ar..._net_successes/

If anyone else can remember other names or has heard of local players coming to UNC please chime in. Reading the 52 pages of this thread was a chore. The old website www.studentsports.com used to have lists of recruits, but is inactive after being taken over by www.rivals.com

Hey, we are just 4 posts from 777!

Speaking of recruiting, here is an article from the Charlotte Observer:

http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/cha...ens/7418611.htm


Last edited by MoHeelfan on 10 Dec 2003 at 01:58 AM

 

Katie Brooks

MoHeel, couldn't link to your Bostom.com article from here, but here's another link to a Boston Herald article (not sure if it's the same):

http://sports.bostonherald.com/highSchool/highSchool.bg?articleid=129&format=

 

Katie Brooks

Here's something else I found on Katie Brooks. I'm just pulling out the pertinent part from an article on local sports from the Boston Globe. This is great!

Winchester won't have a perfect girls' soccer season, but its best player may have played a perfect game yesterday. "I've been a varsity coach for 26 seasons and this is one of the best performances I have ever seen," said coach Chris Scanlon after Katie Brooks scored four goals in a 4-0 victory over Middlesex League rival Reading. No. 1 Winchester (11-0-1) was tied by Reading (6-5-3) in the teams' first matchup this season. Brooks, who didn't score in that match, was shadowed again yesterday, at times marked by four players, but still managed to dominate. "There was fear in their eyes when she touched the ball," said Scanlon.

 

Article on Katie Brooks

Don't know why it didn't work after Klee moved it, it did work in the other thread:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/11/16/soccer_field_hockey_squads_net_successes/

I trust the 2004 refers to the year, not to the number of posts before we close this thread? At the rate we are posting today,we may hit 2004 before the end of next year.

 

Old and new

Yeah, I've been over there on that other thread too.

As still a newbie I don't know all the rules, but sense there is a certain forward-looking sense to this thread. So let me say that here is a link to a DTH article I didn' t see linked elsewhere, showing a great photo I didn't see elsewhere, with next spring's very, very temporary, possilby even honorary, central defender, holding up a very large vessel for auld lang syne and that stuff.

But what I just have to know is how you knew, when you named the 777 thread, that that was how many posts it would take. Its a little scary you know.

 

Re: Old and new

I think this must be the link bbbig_al had meant to give us.

Well, you need to get used to the fact that Heeligan2 is just a scary presence around this board. She's always pulling off things like that! .

 

The 777 legend continues to grow.

The original 777 thread was a long time ago. You have to have been around BigSoccer quite a while to remember that.

 

Jordan Walker

Jordan has been nominated for the Socrates Award, an academic athletic award.

Here is a link to it:

http://www.socratesaward.com/

The cool thing is that fan voting is at least partly responsible for getting the award.

Go to the website, read the bios and vote for the most qualified candidate--guess who I think that is.

Congradulations Jordan!

 

Quiet day on Big Soccer

No posts in over 12 hrs, wow!

Here is a post victory article from the Herald-Sun:

http://www.herald-sun.com/sports/18-423557.html

Don't forget to vote for Jordan!

 

Re: Quiet day on Big Soccer

Or Eli Manning. .

PS Thanks for linking that Herald-Sun article. It's a good one. We're not the only UNC folks who are already looking ahead to 2004, are we?

 

Now, if I can only get my hands on next year's schedule so I can plan my vacation.

 

SAS, 2004

Speaking of 2004, I was thinking of getting tickets for next year.
I had first wondered why they put the benches over there, and what looked like the home UNC section, but as the sun went down I realized it was probably for the benefit of the TV cameras.
I'm not sure that would be worth it, even if there were seats available. Was the sun as bad in the eyes as it seemd it would be?