UNC 2- 1 Sky Blue Apparently Heath , Nogueira & Nikki Washington ran riot.Heath scored on 18 mins from Nogueira assist & Washington scored in 67 mins from one of her dazzling runs she does passing 2 defenders. Sarah Walsh scored for Sky Blue on 44 mins from an O'Reilly assist. Sky Blue played a lot of gormer Tar Heels. Rampone & Asante started the game in defence.
this is bad pr for the league which promotes itself as the best in the world. last year pali blues (w-league) beat usc 6-0, last week the sol and usc tied 1-1. now unc comfortably beats full strength sky blue.
No its not that bad. The same thing happens in the mens leagues all over the world.Its a new league with new teams, mixing ineperienced players with experienced players. Give them time. If next year is the same then i would say its a problem.
I agree with geewizzz. Heath, Nogueira & Washington are as good as, or better, than many of the current SkyBlue players and have been playing together with the rest of the UNC team for a couple of years. Rampone, O'Reilly & Kai have had less than a week to work with the team. Also, the coaches are still trying to figure out who makes the team and who's playing where. I'm not sure there's many established women's teams out there that would beat UNC either.
perhaps. unc - avg age 20, 2 experienced intls, unpaid amateurs sky blue - avg age 26, 8 experienced intls, paid pros
it just proves that its about team chemistry more than the individual talent of a player. Sky Blue still needs to gel. However, from a PR standpoint, the clueless soccer parents of america won't understand. That's what worries me, not the actual skill on the field. Its all about perceived entertainment and value, not actual skill or worth! funny thing is, all of those players from pali blues are in the league....
First of all, losing to a team like UNC 2-1 that plays constant high pressure is not a shame. Also, this is still preseason for the pros who are probably putting players in and out and trying to figure out who they should keep and who they should let go in 3 days. And Nogiera and Heath can by themselves take the game over and beat a team. When these two start doing their juking and jiving with the ball there's very little the opposing team can do other than foul, college or pro. That's how much skill they have. Just ask anyone that was at the college cup. I don't see Notre Dame doing as well against the Red Stars next weekend since Dew, Hanks and Bock have graduated and are themselves in the pros. But we'll see.
Unless SkyBlue looked really bad, I do not think a preseason loss to UNC is anything to be overly worried about. MLS teams loose to USL teams in the Open Cup all the time. If they had lost to a lower tier college team, I might be a tad more concerned. And, aside from the hardcore fans, I doubt many people know the result of this game. Those of us that know where to look for such reports, likely know the skill of Noguera, Heath, Washington, etc.
The collegiate national champs, most of the players having played together for 2-3 years, and including one full national teamer and several youth national teamers beat an expansion pro side that has basically been together for a month, and has yet to play a single competitive game? I'm not shocked at all. I was at the game through about 60 minutes and the Sky Blue looked better than the Breakers and Courage did in a preseason game they played eight years ago before the WUSA started play. Expansion teams suck. The first 5-6 weeks of the WUSA in 2001 was dreck. All but unwatchable horror show. The playoffs that season were scintillating. Two weeks earlier, on the same field, Wake Forest beat the New England Revolution. Preseason games are what they are. Practice. Good for UNC, hopefully Sawyers saw some stuff to work on and found some players that will work.
UNC: Mathias - Nogueira -Jones Heath-Klingenberg -Hawkins- Washington Eveland-Engen-Givan Harris ****Subs: Bartok, Pfankuch, Currie, ? SBFC: Kai-Walsh O-Reilly- McCallum-? -White Rampone-18?- Asante-? Karen Bardsley (1st half)/ Jenni Branam (2nd half) ****Subs: Averbuch, Rosana, Sitch, ? Are Sky Blue’s numbers listed anywhere? This is from memory as I didn’t get the piece of paper with the rosters and numbers. Sky Blue’s report lists Shaner, Dowling, and Buczkowski as the other starters. Match Details: UNC looked very good. They had obviously been playing as a team with this group for a couple years. They were fitter and more relentless for the ball. Tobin Heath is awesome. I bet Sky Blue is praying to get her! UNC will have a big draft next year. Who wouldn’t want Heath, Nogueira, and Washington? And Hawkins, Harris, Engen, and Eveland would be nice as well. For Sky Blue there was an obvious lack of cohesion. Kai, O’Reilly, Rampone, and White stood out. Duh. Quality shines through. And Rosana isn’t afraid to run into people. =) Kai almost had a spectacular header in the first half on a feed from Rampone but it was over. The Tar Heel faithful (and UNC backline) felt Walsh was offsides on her goal but I didn’t get a good look. The start of the second half was better for SBFC. Averbuch came in at the start of the second half and did very well winning balls in the midfield and making nice passes. The whole injury situation with Currie and Mathias (game stopped for 15 minutes) put a weird feel to the game and it definitely seemed more like a scrimmage than an intense match. Rampone started at outside right back and switched with #18 (?) to center for the second half. I think she was more effective in the middle in the second half but we could use her speed in the outside back position. The only one who stood out in a negative way was #18 in the back. She didn’t have good speed (Washington blew by her for the 2nd goal) and made way more “what were you thinking?!” passes that anyone else IMO. The keeper situation is interesting as they definitely have different styles. I wouldn’t blame either for the goals as both Nikki and Tobin had wonderful finishes. I don’t know…Branam was more exciting to watch…bring on the danger! Injuries: Courtney Jones went down with a knee injury. She was sprinting with no contact (I believe) and just dropped to the ground after accelerating. She was carried off the field and was on crutches after the game. Merritt Mathias and Kim Currie smacked heads and both went down. They were not moved off the field for about 15 minutes until an ambulance came. Hopefully it was just precautionary. Head injuries are not to be messed around with. Casey also went down in the last minutes in pain and, I echo GoCourage, was pissed. Lol On a funny note, I guess the announcer had never read over the names on the rosters. He was perplexed at how to pronounce Nogueira!
In the pre-season game vs Washington, Shaner, #18, and Dowling, #17, started in back. Buczkowski was #4 and started in midfield.
See the UNC college thread for a few UNC biased pics. On the game, I'd not worry too much. The two halves were two different games. Kai had a weak game both halves-- had she been clicking, several solid chances finish differently. Rampone played well, but the Sky Blue defense lacked unit cohesion in the first half. O'Reilly had trouble one-on-one with Heath (No shame in that!), and also struggled to get connected. All these guys have just joined the roster-- they are great players who need a little time to find the chemistry. I'm encouraged by how much better Sky Blue played in the second half. Admittedly, the UNC attack was severely hurt by the first half injury to Jones, but Sawyers used the half-time to make adjustments and Sky Blue adapted and deprived UNC of the attacking seams for most of the second half. UNC is a great team, and they played a very fast, tight game especially in the first half. Connection between mid-four and back-three was unusually good , so UNC had a well organized back-seven when they needed it, and Nikki Washington single-handedly retrieved some balls that should have found the net, by just playing out-of-her-head defense. Scalvixen underestimates the depth of UNC's international experience. If you check their resumes, the mix of international (youth) caps and National titles is pretty formidable. Given that UNC only lost four seniors from their 2008 squad, and that (IMO) any of the starting eleven could choose to leave school and instantly "go pro" -- this loss is no problem for Sky Blue. They showed they can adapt on the fly in high pressure situations, and they are going to be an excellent squad once they get a few more games under their belts. Don't be disheartened if the Freedom has a much better result on Sunday, as the Heels lost three starters to injury in this Friday night game. Oh yeah, did I say (except for the injuries) it was a Great game to watch!? Thanks, ladies!
I agree with most of your points Andy. Except for the bolded above, of course, because the Revs won 2-1 and were undefeated in preseason. Which we all know means absolutely nothing!