[Viking_Guy]

Just opening a thread for this match. I expect a bit of a rough match against a physical defense in the Tigers, and hoping for an early goal so they have to come out and play the game (they've only scored 25 goals and conceded 22 in 19 matches, and appear to be happy to play for a 1-0 result either way).

WSU trails Tennessee in Gainesville, late in the first half.  And I really dislike how the NCAA lets hosting teams get away with only streaming their own matches in a four-team pod; neither the WSU-Tenn or the NC State-Princeton games are bring streamed, but I bet the Florida-South Florida and UNC-Colorado games will be.  Should be part of the hosting agreement, IMO.  I also wonder if Stanford is going to stream Florida State-Arizona.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Just opening a thread for this match. I expect a bit of a rough match against a physical defense in the Tigers, and hoping for an early goal so they have to come out and play the game (they've only scored 25 goals and conceded 22 in 19 matches, and appear to be happy to play for a 1-0 result either way).

WSU trails Tennessee in Gainesville, late in the first half.  And I really dislike how the NCAA lets hosting teams get away with only streaming their own matches in a four-team pod; neither the WSU-Tenn or the NC State-Princeton games are bring streamed, but I bet the Florida-South Florida and UNC-Colorado games will be.  Should be part of the hosting agreement, IMO.  I also wonder if Stanford is going to stream Florida State-Arizona.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

WSU advances past Tennessee, 3-1 in PKs after 2-2 through double OT.  The Volunteers, shooting first, made their initial attempt, then missed three in a row, while the Cougars made three straight. Yay Pac-12!

Mick, Santa Clara leads 3-1 in the 70th minute over Vanderbilt.
http://www.espn.com/watch/player?bucketId=2&id=3224919

Oops, I apologize.  A lot of the matches are streaming on ESPN - especially those from SEC Network country.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

WSU advances past Tennessee, 3-1 in PKs after 2-2 through double OT.  The Volunteers, shooting first, made their initial attempt, then missed three in a row, while the Cougars made three straight. Yay Pac-12!

Mick, Santa Clara leads 3-1 in the 70th minute over Vanderbilt.
http://www.espn.com/watch/player?bucketId=2&id=3224919

Oops, I apologize.  A lot of the matches are streaming on ESPN - especially those from SEC Network country.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Some interesting games.  Lots going to PKs.

The game between $C and Baylor, I couldn't decide who I wanted to lose more - primal loathing for the Toejams warring against wanting the Pac-12 to do well and liking their coach McAlpine, or wanting the entire Baylor athletic department to collapse into a oleaginous mass of oozing rubble.  In this case, $c obliged.

Baylor's ursines gifted them a 1-0 lead late in the game, when a ball rolling across the field at about 35 yards out was cleared to the sideline by a defender.  A Troyenne went after it, but everyone assumed she was just going to retrieve it for a throw-in, and the defense started to reset.  Instead, she stopped it right on the sideline, turned, dribbled in about 10 yards with no defender near here, and launched a cross to the back post.  Baylor, having completely relaxed in anticipation of a throw-in, left their center back 1 v 2, and the unmarked $C player popped in about a 4 yard header with little problem.  The defense all started yelling at one another.

But it got better.  $C, with litlle time left, was trying to score a second goal driving into the penalty area.  Two hard shoves by defenders brought no whistle, and Baylor cleared the ball upfield, where an $C midfielder tried to one touch the ball back into the box and pushed it out to the left.  A Baylor player, with the tired defense not really chasing very hard, launched a 40 yard bomb and hit the crossbar.  In the ensuing scramble, the Bayers scored the tying goal - with all of about 15 seconds left on the clock.

In OT, Baylor hit the bar in the opening 10 seconds, but most of the period was dominated by $C, who hit the crossbar late in OT2.  It went to PKs - and $C missed their first three spot kicks; Baylor converted 3 of their 4, and won out.

So I guess Baylor is the lesser of two weevils.

Colorado fought gamely, but UNC was just too strong. 1-0 Tarheels.

Other matches pretty much straight chalk.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Some interesting games.  Lots going to PKs.

The game between $C and Baylor, I couldn't decide who I wanted to lose more - primal loathing for the Toejams warring against wanting the Pac-12 to do well and liking their coach McAlpine, or wanting the entire Baylor athletic department to collapse into a oleaginous mass of oozing rubble.  In this case, $c obliged.

Baylor's ursines gifted them a 1-0 lead late in the game, when a ball rolling across the field at about 35 yards out was cleared to the sideline by a defender.  A Troyenne went after it, but everyone assumed she was just going to retrieve it for a throw-in, and the defense started to reset.  Instead, she stopped it right on the sideline, turned, dribbled in about 10 yards with no defender near here, and launched a cross to the back post.  Baylor, having completely relaxed in anticipation of a throw-in, left their center back 1 v 2, and the unmarked $C player popped in about a 4 yard header with little problem.  The defense all started yelling at one another.

But it got better.  $C, with litlle time left, was trying to score a second goal driving into the penalty area.  Two hard shoves by defenders brought no whistle, and Baylor cleared the ball upfield, where an $C midfielder tried to one touch the ball back into the box and pushed it out to the left.  A Baylor player, with the tired defense not really chasing very hard, launched a 40 yard bomb and hit the crossbar.  In the ensuing scramble, the Bayers scored the tying goal - with all of about 15 seconds left on the clock.

In OT, Baylor hit the bar in the opening 10 seconds, but most of the period was dominated by $C, who hit the crossbar late in OT2.  It went to PKs - and $C missed their first three spot kicks; Baylor converted 3 of their 4, and won out.

So I guess Baylor is the lesser of two weevils.

Colorado fought gamely, but UNC was just too strong. 1-0 Tarheels.

Other matches pretty much straight chalk.

VG

[BostonCard]

Nice piece on our academic senior froshmore (it'll make sense when you read the piece):

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/16/no...froshmore/

I like it... "Unleash the froshmore!"

BC

[BostonCard]

Nice piece on our academic senior froshmore (it'll make sense when you read the piece):

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/16/no...froshmore/

I like it... "Unleash the froshmore!"

BC

[Viking_Guy]

While it would've been good for Stanford if West Virginia had lost to Rutgers, I wouldn't have liked it.

Rutgers took 1, count it, 1 shot on goal over the course of 110 minutes of open play, playing defense defense defense and counter-attacking only with 2 or 3 players at the most.

They took the second-seeded Mountaineers to PKs, but lost 4-3.

Florida State beat Arizona 2-0, and will face the winner of Stanford-Auburn.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

While it would've been good for Stanford if West Virginia had lost to Rutgers, I wouldn't have liked it.

Rutgers took 1, count it, 1 shot on goal over the course of 110 minutes of open play, playing defense defense defense and counter-attacking only with 2 or 3 players at the most.

They took the second-seeded Mountaineers to PKs, but lost 4-3.

Florida State beat Arizona 2-0, and will face the winner of Stanford-Auburn.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Stanford is streaming the match on Facebook, with a single camera and two people, one of whom is obviously also working the camera. Not a whole lot of investment in production values.  Oh, and the "color" guy knows very little about the team - he actually called Stanford's keeper "Yahanaswaz", instead of Jahan-zeus (Jahansouz).

And that amateurish stream, while appreciated, is mirrored in the game.  It feels like a lot of our other soft games - letting the other team sit back, not physically challenging, trying to beat a packed-in defense by threading passes through 5 defenders in about 15 yards of space, or taking 30 yard shots off-balance.  And that scares me.

Meanwhile, Auburn, running a 4-2-3-1 which has been the nemesis of Ratcliffe's 4-3-3 forever (taking away all the space in the offensive midfield, 6 people behind the ball all the time), has had a couple, but only a couple, forays forward.  The problem for Stanford is those forays are releases where the Tiger forward ends up running 1v1 with Cook or Davidson - 1 slip or one bad back pass, and she's in alone on the keeper.

Other than that, I would say the ball has spent about 70% of the first half in the Auburn end, but they have six people and a keeper in a compact formation - there is no room to get through, and little room to shoot.  Stanford's trying to go through the air on set pieces, and they had one good header by Cook on a corner kick, but in general, they're not very strong off the ground.

PLEASE, score early, because I'm not feeling really confident right now.

Key indicator: we outshot Auburn 17-2.  Of our 17 shots, 5 were on goal.  Of Auburn's 2, both were on goal.  That's an indicator that they're getting pretty good looks in their limited chances.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Stanford is streaming the match on Facebook, with a single camera and two people, one of whom is obviously also working the camera. Not a whole lot of investment in production values.  Oh, and the "color" guy knows very little about the team - he actually called Stanford's keeper "Yahanaswaz", instead of Jahan-zeus (Jahansouz).

And that amateurish stream, while appreciated, is mirrored in the game.  It feels like a lot of our other soft games - letting the other team sit back, not physically challenging, trying to beat a packed-in defense by threading passes through 5 defenders in about 15 yards of space, or taking 30 yard shots off-balance.  And that scares me.

Meanwhile, Auburn, running a 4-2-3-1 which has been the nemesis of Ratcliffe's 4-3-3 forever (taking away all the space in the offensive midfield, 6 people behind the ball all the time), has had a couple, but only a couple, forays forward.  The problem for Stanford is those forays are releases where the Tiger forward ends up running 1v1 with Cook or Davidson - 1 slip or one bad back pass, and she's in alone on the keeper.

Other than that, I would say the ball has spent about 70% of the first half in the Auburn end, but they have six people and a keeper in a compact formation - there is no room to get through, and little room to shoot.  Stanford's trying to go through the air on set pieces, and they had one good header by Cook on a corner kick, but in general, they're not very strong off the ground.

PLEASE, score early, because I'm not feeling really confident right now.

Key indicator: we outshot Auburn 17-2.  Of our 17 shots, 5 were on goal.  Of Auburn's 2, both were on goal.  That's an indicator that they're getting pretty good looks in their limited chances.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

1-0 Stanford in the 70th minute.

Lots of medium chances, and they convert a high lofted ball with a cheeky volleyed chip by Carusa from about 10 yards out on the left post.  Difficult conversion - the ball was coming in from the center and Carusa reached out a toe to loft it.

And just like that, Macario makes it 2-0.

75th minute.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

1-0 Stanford in the 70th minute.

Lots of medium chances, and they convert a high lofted ball with a cheeky volleyed chip by Carusa from about 10 yards out on the left post.  Difficult conversion - the ball was coming in from the center and Carusa reached out a toe to loft it.

And just like that, Macario makes it 2-0.

75th minute.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Okay, hopefully that gets that game out of their system.  Because the competition gets geometrically tougher next round against Florida State.

Good games from Sullivan, Macario, Cook, Davidson, Xiao.  In spots from Pickett and Carusa.  Not a lot from Kuhlmann, DiBiasi, and Boissiere (at least, not offensively).

Jahansouz got Jane Campbell's happy feet at some point, coming way out of goal to contest balls that were fairly well-covered, and turning at least one of them into one of Auburn's best chances.  Trust you defense, Alison.

More in a bit.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Okay, hopefully that gets that game out of their system.  Because the competition gets geometrically tougher next round against Florida State.

Good games from Sullivan, Macario, Cook, Davidson, Xiao.  In spots from Pickett and Carusa.  Not a lot from Kuhlmann, DiBiasi, and Boissiere (at least, not offensively).

Jahansouz got Jane Campbell's happy feet at some point, coming way out of goal to contest balls that were fairly well-covered, and turning at least one of them into one of Auburn's best chances.  Trust you defense, Alison.

More in a bit.

VG

[Mick]

WSU advances past Tennessee, 3-1 in PKs after 2-2 through double OT.  The Volunteers, shooting first, made their initial attempt, then missed three in a row, while the Cougars made three straight. Yay Pac-12!

Mick, Santa Clara leads 3-1 in the 70th minute over Vanderbilt.
http://www.espn.com/watch/player?bucketId=2&id=3224919

Oops, I apologize.  A lot of the matches are streaming on ESPN - especially those from SEC Network country.

VG

Thanks, VG.  Maddy was nails.  Two goals.  Broncos took it home 3-1 to reach the Sweet 16 against South Carolina.

http://www.santaclarabroncos.com/sports/...1117ok5g1r

[Mick]

WSU advances past Tennessee, 3-1 in PKs after 2-2 through double OT.  The Volunteers, shooting first, made their initial attempt, then missed three in a row, while the Cougars made three straight. Yay Pac-12!

Mick, Santa Clara leads 3-1 in the 70th minute over Vanderbilt.
http://www.espn.com/watch/player?bucketId=2&id=3224919

Oops, I apologize.  A lot of the matches are streaming on ESPN - especially those from SEC Network country.

VG

Thanks, VG.  Maddy was nails.  Two goals.  Broncos took it home 3-1 to reach the Sweet 16 against South Carolina.

http://www.santaclarabroncos.com/sports/...1117ok5g1r

[oldalum]

Trust your defense, Alison.

exactly. I saw one where she chased a ball to the corner of the box at the end line and didn't get there first. Had she stayed in goal, a defender would have been on the Auburn player quickly, and it would not have been a dangerous situation way out along the end line. No need to risk going far out of goal for that ball. Instead, we were lucky the ball didn't bounce to an Auburn player for an easy goal.

[oldalum]

Trust your defense, Alison.

exactly. I saw one where she chased a ball to the corner of the box at the end line and didn't get there first. Had she stayed in goal, a defender would have been on the Auburn player quickly, and it would not have been a dangerous situation way out along the end line. No need to risk going far out of goal for that ball. Instead, we were lucky the ball didn't bounce to an Auburn player for an easy goal.

[TheFarm07]

VG, what are you expecting out of the Florida State matchup tomorrow? What are the keys there?

[TheFarm07]

VG, what are you expecting out of the Florida State matchup tomorrow? What are the keys there?

[Viking_Guy]

I expect that they'll actually try to score, which Utah Valley did and Auburn almost refused to do - I don't think a single member of their backline crossed the midfield striped until there were less than 10 minutes left in the game.  FSU will not play to that strategy, given their strength is their attack.

All of their scoring is up front - Castellanos and Dallas Dorosy between them have 27 of their 43 goals. They looked to get the ball to the endline and cut it back to Castellanos yesterday, but she also took their freekicks that were in shooting range.

I think it will be a slug match in the midfield - betting, like UCLA and other matches, we'll spend a lot of time going up the outside, especially with Xiao.  We'll see how the Seminoles defend it.

Most interesting to me - will FSU play high stakes ball, and try to press Stanford's backline?  Auburn played a 4-2-3-1 yesterday, which is the formation that has given us fits over the years, because it clogs up all of the center channels while still having some width to pressure up front. But Auburn never actively tried to press; at points, they weren't even picking up the ball until 5 yards over the midfield stripe.

Our slip-ups tend to come in the midfield spaces, or more precisely the space between Cook/Davidson and the midfielders in front of them.  If FSU commits their 3 or 4 forward, they could generate consistent pressure, which we've had issues with in the past.  Our at times over-reliance on maintaining possession (some of the passes through the back yesterday were downright scary) sometimes leads to continually playing backwards if a team presses up effectively.

And of course, set pieces.  FSU's size isn't that worrisome, but Castellanos' ball-striking ability is.

I guess the biggest question is tactical - how hard does FSU come at Stanford when the Cardinal has the ball? And how directly do they play when they're on offense?

It'll be an interesting match-up, for sure.  A lot will turn on the first goal.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

I expect that they'll actually try to score, which Utah Valley did and Auburn almost refused to do - I don't think a single member of their backline crossed the midfield striped until there were less than 10 minutes left in the game.  FSU will not play to that strategy, given their strength is their attack.

All of their scoring is up front - Castellanos and Dallas Dorosy between them have 27 of their 43 goals. They looked to get the ball to the endline and cut it back to Castellanos yesterday, but she also took their freekicks that were in shooting range.

I think it will be a slug match in the midfield - betting, like UCLA and other matches, we'll spend a lot of time going up the outside, especially with Xiao.  We'll see how the Seminoles defend it.

Most interesting to me - will FSU play high stakes ball, and try to press Stanford's backline?  Auburn played a 4-2-3-1 yesterday, which is the formation that has given us fits over the years, because it clogs up all of the center channels while still having some width to pressure up front. But Auburn never actively tried to press; at points, they weren't even picking up the ball until 5 yards over the midfield stripe.

Our slip-ups tend to come in the midfield spaces, or more precisely the space between Cook/Davidson and the midfielders in front of them.  If FSU commits their 3 or 4 forward, they could generate consistent pressure, which we've had issues with in the past.  Our at times over-reliance on maintaining possession (some of the passes through the back yesterday were downright scary) sometimes leads to continually playing backwards if a team presses up effectively.

And of course, set pieces.  FSU's size isn't that worrisome, but Castellanos' ball-striking ability is.

I guess the biggest question is tactical - how hard does FSU come at Stanford when the Cardinal has the ball? And how directly do they play when they're on offense?

It'll be an interesting match-up, for sure.  A lot will turn on the first goal.

VG

[TheFarm07]

Thanks VG. I don't know a lot (or really much at all) about soccer, so great to get your insights.

You may have covered it in a previous thread, so apologies for asking it again, but what is our general strategy against a generic opponent? Auburn's strategy was defensive, while Florida State is predicated on the attack, from what I gather from your analyses.

How about us? Are we looking to attack most of the time? I saw that our goals last night set a new season record for us as a team, so it sounds like we are pretty offensive in nature. Ideally, what would our gameplan look like?

[TheFarm07]

Thanks VG. I don't know a lot (or really much at all) about soccer, so great to get your insights.

You may have covered it in a previous thread, so apologies for asking it again, but what is our general strategy against a generic opponent? Auburn's strategy was defensive, while Florida State is predicated on the attack, from what I gather from your analyses.

How about us? Are we looking to attack most of the time? I saw that our goals last night set a new season record for us as a team, so it sounds like we are pretty offensive in nature. Ideally, what would our gameplan look like?

[Viking_Guy]

Farm--

Sorry for the delay.

Stanford looks to possess, sometimes too much, preferring a certain backwards pass to even a slightly risky attacking ball at points.  Definitely offensive minded once the ball moves over the midfield line, much of the action will come up either flank with overlapping runs from our outside fullbacks Xiao and Pickett.  Our three midfielders generally leave two in a more defensive posture, and one in attack, but that shifts with the flow of the game.  Good off-ball movement and passing, and Macario is something special with the ball at her feet.

I'm not sure how FSU will approach us - they are definitely an attacking team, but it will be interesting to see whether they play more directly in an effort to catch Stanford on the counter-attack, or to try to possess themselves to deny us the ball and make Stanford work more on defense.  The most interesting tactical choice will be where they choose to start pressuring the ball - at what point on the field.  Teams have had success pressing Stanford deep in the Cardinal's end, because we often count on that space to safely move the ball around in possession, and get discombobulated when denied it - UCLA and for stretches $C did that.

One key indicator - how often is Andi Sullivan able to pick the ball up and move forward looking up.  If she can pick the ball up, turn, survey the field, and pick out her options, Stanford should have a good day.  But I'm sure FSU knows that, and the Seminoles will probably try to take away the middle of the field and force the ball outside.  If Sullivan is consistently quickly pushing the ball wide under pressure, that bodes well for them.

Just some thoughts.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Farm--

Sorry for the delay.

Stanford looks to possess, sometimes too much, preferring a certain backwards pass to even a slightly risky attacking ball at points.  Definitely offensive minded once the ball moves over the midfield line, much of the action will come up either flank with overlapping runs from our outside fullbacks Xiao and Pickett.  Our three midfielders generally leave two in a more defensive posture, and one in attack, but that shifts with the flow of the game.  Good off-ball movement and passing, and Macario is something special with the ball at her feet.

I'm not sure how FSU will approach us - they are definitely an attacking team, but it will be interesting to see whether they play more directly in an effort to catch Stanford on the counter-attack, or to try to possess themselves to deny us the ball and make Stanford work more on defense.  The most interesting tactical choice will be where they choose to start pressuring the ball - at what point on the field.  Teams have had success pressing Stanford deep in the Cardinal's end, because we often count on that space to safely move the ball around in possession, and get discombobulated when denied it - UCLA and for stretches $C did that.

One key indicator - how often is Andi Sullivan able to pick the ball up and move forward looking up.  If she can pick the ball up, turn, survey the field, and pick out her options, Stanford should have a good day.  But I'm sure FSU knows that, and the Seminoles will probably try to take away the middle of the field and force the ball outside.  If Sullivan is consistently quickly pushing the ball wide under pressure, that bodes well for them.

Just some thoughts.

VG