[washingtonismoney]

I thought the problem came down to a lack of width. The fullbacks stayed at home, which is a real problem against a compact defense like Notre Dame\'s. That\'s why--IMHO--Stanford found so little space despite seeing Press marked heavily. (Press also needed to drift wide more often, which she started doing more frequently later on, and found play much more readily). The other problem was that the outside wingers cut inside frequently. That\'s actually en vogue in European soccer right now, but if you\'re going to do that, you need width. You need your fullbacks bombing forward. I don\'t think I saw a single cross from a fullback today, which is an indictment of the coaching, ultimately.

(The other big problem was the passing of the centerbacks: it shouldn\'t be that hard to outwit Notre Dame\'s pressing: they were only pressing with two players. Two pressers (with one backup) versus four defenders + two holding midfielders. It should be easy to outpass them, particularly if you\'re a possession team, which Stanford is. Sadly it didn\'t happen.)

[washingtonismoney]

I thought the problem came down to a lack of width. The fullbacks stayed at home, which is a real problem against a compact defense like Notre Dame\'s. That\'s why--IMHO--Stanford found so little space despite seeing Press marked heavily. (Press also needed to drift wide more often, which she started doing more frequently later on, and found play much more readily). The other problem was that the outside wingers cut inside frequently. That\'s actually en vogue in European soccer right now, but if you\'re going to do that, you need width. You need your fullbacks bombing forward. I don\'t think I saw a single cross from a fullback today, which is an indictment of the coaching, ultimately.

(The other big problem was the passing of the centerbacks: it shouldn\'t be that hard to outwit Notre Dame\'s pressing: they were only pressing with two players. Two pressers (with one backup) versus four defenders + two holding midfielders. It should be easy to outpass them, particularly if you\'re a possession team, which Stanford is. Sadly it didn\'t happen.)