UNC vs. GW [R]

Re: UNC vs. GW

Elmar certainly hasn't done a very good job building any momentum from the NCAA championship.

Each year since then, they've won fewer and fewer games and they keep going out earlier in the NCAA Tournament.

2001 - 21-4, NCAA Champions
2002 - 14-7-1, lost 2nd round (Penn State 1-0 2OT)
2003 - 12-4-4, lost 2nd round (Coastal Carolina 3-0)
2004 - 10-9-2, lost 1st round (George Washington 1-0)

It's not a matter of not getting the recruits as each year, UNC's recruiting class is highly ranked and, to Elmar's credit, he is producing plenty of pro players.

But, for all the talent and resources UNC has, they have definitely underachieved the last three years. Any thoughts as to why?

 

Re: UNC vs. GW

I came in twenty minutes in, so I missed the goal, which apparently came off a couple of headers after a throw in into the box. GW had a guy with a really long throw, and corners and set plays into the box have been brutal for the Heels defense all year long, so UNC might not have been ready for that. In the part of the game I saw, it was basically a pretty typical example of a more skilled team falling behind early and then being unable to break through against a determined and well organized defense. UNC looked out of sync, and their attackers ended up having to resort to trying to beat defenders 1 v 1 a lot - they were sucessful some of the time, but there was almost always a second defender backing up the first one. Lack of size was also a problem for UNC in this game.

Full credit to GW for the win - they did a good job of shutting down the Heels attack. GW looks to have been playing pretty well for the last half of the season (after a horrible start) so their weak record might have been a little deceptive. I'll be interested to see how they fare against VCU.

 

Re: UNC vs. GW

I have a few thoughts -

First, you have to keep in mind that the 2000 and 2001 teams were clearly exceptional (I actually think they were better in 2000 than in 2001). So, while the past few years have been a letdown from that, my sense is they've still done better than UNC typically has historically. Given the amount of competition for recruits, and the amount of parity in the college game, it's pretty hard to establish yourself as a national power and stay there - so I'm not sure how realistic it was to expect UNC to necessarily "build momentum" from 2000 and 2001.

Second, while UNC's recruiting has been pretty good overall, there have been some definite weak spots. Of the 2002 recruiting class, I think only Ford Williams and Ty Allison are still around, so that's a pretty big hole, and you could notice a bit of a gap between the seniors and sophomores for UNC this year. Also, Bolowich went a few years without bringing in any top-quality defenders, and this hurt. UNC ended up having to compensate by moving midfielders to the back, and while some of those midfielders ended up being really good, there was always an adjustment period there (plus, those moves cost the Heels a lot of experience and depth in midfield). With Sloustcher coming this year, and Jordan Graye apparently coming next year, this has improved somewhat.

Third, some of the star power in UNC's recruiting classes the past few years has been a little deceptive. All of the U-17's have performed well, but several of those guys - I think Watson, Ashe, McCarty and Sloustcher - came into college at age 17. Even if you have great skills, it's hard to step in and excel right away against players that are four and five years older than you. Also, there's been a gap between the level of the youth national recruits and the mostly local players that have made up the rest of the recruiting classes.

Thinking specifically about this year, my impression was that UNC was a very talented team with a few of major weaknesses - in particular, an inexperienced back line that took a while to come together, and a lot of trouble dealing with big, physical teams.

Anyway, that's my take. Like I said, I think that excpecting the Heels to continue playing up to the standard they set in 2000 and 2001 might not be totally reasonable; but there's still clearly some room for improvement.

 

Re: UNC vs. GW

I only have one thing to say about this game. It should be decided between the 22 guys on the field. Amazing that a linesman who was not on the end line (he was jogging back) made the call that the shot in the 2nd minute went in. He reacted to the GW players saying that it crossed the line. The center official made no signal. The game should have gone into OT tied 0-0. But, UNC can do nothing about the "no goal" which they lost on. Way to go heels, for fighting to save the season after the tough start.

 

Re: UNC vs. GW

I'd gotten to converse with Oliver Weiss a few times in `02 and was very impressed with the man. He had just taken over his first D1 head coaching position (VA Tech) after serving as UNC's assistant coach for the previous three years, the last year being their championship season.

VT's overall record over the last three years (in a tough Big East conference) is 24-12-4. Not too shabby for a school known mostly for football and Vicks brothers.

I've gotta believe Oliver's success at VT and UNC's failure to get past 2nd round in last three years is no coincidence. Look for VT to surprise in the next 2 or 3 years the way Northwestern is doing this year (so far).

 

Re: UNC vs. GW

The rest of your post seems very accurate, but I find it hard to believe that VT would be a "surprise" in the coming years.

Instead, the label I would give them for this year is severe dissapointment.

They were ranked last year and at points in the beginning of this season, and flat out flopped. I don't know what it was a result of, but if they are to bounce back and succeed in the coming years I don't think that anyone should really be surprised by it.

 

Re: UNC vs. GW

As a GW grad that makes me happy. We haven't had much post season soccer success. We hadn't won an NCAA game since I was a sophmore there in 89.