Volleyball played well, just had some bad luck/nice plays by Louisville end of sets. Definitley better than we did earlier against Uk and Vandy. have to sweep at home next weekend
UNC Women's Soccer 2026-2027
- Thread starter 3397char
- Start date
Stratton should have been in the game. What is Damon doing? Trayer should have been in the game sooner as well. I had a feeling that WF was going to beat us today at their place. Apparently, Damon and staff did not utilize the players on their bench unless Trayer and Straton were both on restrictive minutes today.
We do have a good goal keeper. What are you talking about. She has been hurt the last three games. She could have been on restrictive minutes for today's game along with Stratton.
Damon should have had Stratton in the game. She does all of the little things like getting back to help the goalie, etc.
I agree totally with you.
Just wanted to come over here and say that per what was discussed by the announcers during Pitt and FSU game, it looks like our game vs. y’all won’t be made up
Gaetino started the very first game at the 6 last year against Tennessee. Mara, Alvarez, and Munson were the starting back 3. Kennedy also started at the 6 (Pennie came in off the bench later). It didn’t go well. We lost 2-0. Munson got hurt at some point in the second half and at that point Gaetino moved into the back for the next game and was never put back in midfield because it was clear that Pennie/Kennedy were much more suited for that role.
And I just disagree that she has the best touch of those in the back, and I trust her the least. She drifts into the middle when the ball is on the other side of the field and completely lost her mark on the back side on Wake’s second goal today, go back and watch. She drifted in and was standing just a couple of yards behind Alvarez and was marking no one and the entire right side she was responsible for was exposed which led to the 1v1 with Johann that led to the open goal.
Wake’s 3rd goal started when Gaetino had an unforced giveaway…they immediately played the ball in behind her into the corner, she took a bad angle recovering and got beaten to the end line…the resulting cross was badly misplayed by O’Neill (so she certainly had a part in it too). Trayer made a great point blank save on the first shot but the rebound was an easy tap in.
I’ll never get on here and bash players outright. These are still basically kids trying their best…but right now if I’m coaching, Stratton is starting and Gaetino is sitting. I called this loss out 2 days ago. This is the scenario that worried me…we dominate a game but get disorganized in the back once or twice and that’s the end of the season if this is a tournament game.
Johann also spilled a corner that hit her in the hands that had to be cleared out for another corner which led to Wake’s first goal. The announcer with the English (or maybe Irish?) accent called that out that she needed to be stronger in the air. That’s been my worry with her, go back and read my past posts, this isn’t a new concern.
Stratton finally got on the field and played well. Actually got forward a little bit and got her head on a corner that had to be saved off of the line. I just think she brings some size and stability to our back line that we are lacking right now.
I still don’t get some of Damon’s lineups. Starting Straun (true frosh) over Denigan makes no sense to me. And I love Scottie Antonucci but she looks a step slower and not as impactful since returning from the knee injury and I kind of wonder if she still doesn’t completely trust it. She’s not beating people off of the dribble nearly as easily as she was pre-injury. Maybe it’s just that we’re playing better teams.
They need to do technical foot skill work with Munson nonstop. She is so freaking fast but her touch fails her a lot. She’s likely a player whose been able to dominate her competition because of her physical gifts her whole career, but to get to the next level she needs to tighten that touch up…too many turnovers from her. This time last year she was playing left back, so it’s not a massive surprise that she’s got some developing to do to transition into an elite attacking player. Again, we’re really missing Manning out on the wing…she was so productive in getting by her defender and getting crosses in, need that more from Munson in her absence.
Sucks to lose but I said it before…in the long run this may be the best thing for this team. They need to learn from it….Not to take anything for granted even when it feels like we’re the better team…for example how to avoid complete breakdowns in the back when it seems like they have complete control of the game, and figure out how to be more dangerous in the attack. We’ve struggled to score the last two games despite generating a lot of chances and having a ton of possession. Really hope he goes back to Stratton now that we know she’s healthy enough to play. She immediately makes us more dangerous on set pieces (especially corners). The attacking chemistry seems a bit off since Manning left…hopefully we can find it again soon because next up is Stanford (who at one point were ranked #1 in the nation this season).
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Heartbroken about Dahlien. Hope this is a one-off and she comes back stronger.
For our season, I think we have to hope that the players coming back from injury deliver more than they are able to at the moment. I think Antonucci will prove to be as good as any playmaker in the contemporary era. But since she's come back from injury, she has been a shadow of her former self — same with Denigan.
On our current showing, we have Manning and Blum reliably able to break opposition's defensive lines, Devey is reliably able to finish, and Denigan is reliably able to put away a pen. The rest of the team can chip in now and then, but that looks like the source of our goals. If that's the reality we have to accept, then let's push both Manning and Blum out wide into wingbacks. Sure, maybe Munson's athleticism offers more defensively, but she's not a reliable source of goals out there.
Personally, I agree with Stratton over Gaetino, and Trayer over Johann but I don't think that either choice moves the needle.
For our season, I think we have to hope that the players coming back from injury deliver more than they are able to at the moment. I think Antonucci will prove to be as good as any playmaker in the contemporary era. But since she's come back from injury, she has been a shadow of her former self — same with Denigan.
On our current showing, we have Manning and Blum reliably able to break opposition's defensive lines, Devey is reliably able to finish, and Denigan is reliably able to put away a pen. The rest of the team can chip in now and then, but that looks like the source of our goals. If that's the reality we have to accept, then let's push both Manning and Blum out wide into wingbacks. Sure, maybe Munson's athleticism offers more defensively, but she's not a reliable source of goals out there.
Personally, I agree with Stratton over Gaetino, and Trayer over Johann but I don't think that either choice moves the needle.
We could have taken better shots. Dominated number of shots (23 to 5), but lost easily.
Gaetino is a CDM not a back. If Stratton is healthy enough to play, she has to start. She is the best defender on the team.
Dennigan is the best striker on the team, if healthy she needs to start.
As for GK, I'm fine with the 1st goal. The second one, Stratton being in the game would have helped and Johann came out too far. Stay in the box. As for the third, Thayer needs to keep her feet. Her getting down on the ground without grabbing the ball, kicking it away or kicking it out of bounds is a recipe for disaster.
This team has flaws, but playing the correct people, using substitutions, and focusing on accuracy and positioning can go a long way.
Gaetino is a CDM not a back. If Stratton is healthy enough to play, she has to start. She is the best defender on the team.
Dennigan is the best striker on the team, if healthy she needs to start.
As for GK, I'm fine with the 1st goal. The second one, Stratton being in the game would have helped and Johann came out too far. Stay in the box. As for the third, Thayer needs to keep her feet. Her getting down on the ground without grabbing the ball, kicking it away or kicking it out of bounds is a recipe for disaster.
This team has flaws, but playing the correct people, using substitutions, and focusing on accuracy and positioning can go a long way.
Agree with you on all of these points…very much so on the point about our offense being somewhat limited as to who we can count on to score goals consistently right now. It’s basically Devey, that’s it. Denigan seemed to be the second option, but most of her goals are PKs and not from the run of play, and as you said, she seems off or struggling for confidence since that injury and being subsequently relegated to a role off of the bench. Also 100% with you on Antonicci, I think she could be great, but probably needs another year to develop physically within a college training program, and then I think she’s really going to soar. Maybe not as a high volume goal scorer, but as a big time playmaking center mid (as you said). But right now she’s not a scoring threat, neither are Pennie or Kennedy, so it’s going to have to be Devey with the rest chipping in by committee. It really makes Devey the one player on the entire roster we can’t lose down the stretch.
I can’t blame Trayer at all on that third goal. We gave up a point blank, wide open shot and she stopped it best she could, just keeping that first shot out of the net was impressive, unfortunately it went right back to the wide open Wake player for an easy rebound. Gaetino (who turned the ball over with no pressure on her at all and then got beaten 1v1 to allow the cross) and O’Neill (who was exactly where she needed to be but whiffed on the clearance completely) own the responsibility for that one 1000%.
Not sure Stratton would have mattered on the second goal, Alvarez (as the CB) was positioned well, giving cover to O’Neill as the ball was on O’Neill’s side of the field, but for some reason Gaetino just dropped all the way into the middle of the field and was I guess thinking she was giving cover to Alvarez…you don’t give cover to the person already giving cover, as the third back, you have to give balance at that point and keep an eye on the weak side…she did not and left that whole side completely exposed. Maybe she was thinking our right midfielder would drop back and handle that oncoming player, but if so it was a really bad assumption. Props to Wake for a great switch of field to an absolutely wide open player. Johann’s attempt to come out wasn’t a great choice either, but it’s hard to ever blame GK’s when we leave wide open players in our own box basically 1v1 with the keeper. We did that twice yesterday and it was the difference in the game. Dominated possession and shots taken, but two major breakdowns by our back line were everything.
I think Stratton may not be quite as fast as any of the other 3 backs, but I think she’d keep us better organized back there if on the field with Alvarez and O’Neill. Gaetino’s positioning and turnover issues have been discussed to death at this point. In her defense I think part of it there is that she played CB for so long (and was amazing at it her freshman year), and old habits die hard and she dropped father into the middle than she should have just out of reflex. Still learning how to be an outside back and exactly what your responsibility is there when the other team is running at your back line with numbers. I heard a perfect analogy to it while watching college football over the weekend though….great defensive execution happens when everyone is doing their job, you have a hat on a hat and everyone is in the gap they are supposed to be in. If you have even one player trying to do a little too much and get more focused on where the ball is instead of being in the place they should have been in, then the whole scheme breaks down. That’s what I saw on the second goal yesterday.
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Here's their second goal. I think the fundamental problem is that our back three became a back two, who then have to cover three attacking players. Alvarez covers their player who would be free on the right while Gaetino covers their striker in the middle and stays with her. I don't really think either is at fault: whatever they do leaves a player open.
The context is that we had built an attack that culminates with Antonucci trying a through ball that doesn't come off and they clear: fairly vanilla so far. But the first problem concerns Strawn at right wing back (in her defense, presumably not a role she's played much). She had not been involved in the attack — just hanging around the halfway line with the Wake player. But when Wake gain possession, Strawn is ball watching and fails to stay on the Wake player who ends up scoring. The second problem is that, on our left, O'Neill pushed up aggressively to challenge their player who receives the clearance from defense— you can see O'Neill is actually in their half at the beginning of the clip above. Perhaps, O'Neill thought this was necessary because if that player turns, then she has space to run at our defense and can pass to another player on the right (the one that Alvarez ends up covering). Whatever the thinking, this decision turns our back three into a back two.
I completely agree that Gaetino and O'Neill are responsible for their third. The Gaetino turnover was of course another attempt at a long pass that wasn't on when she had easy options for short passes.
The context is that we had built an attack that culminates with Antonucci trying a through ball that doesn't come off and they clear: fairly vanilla so far. But the first problem concerns Strawn at right wing back (in her defense, presumably not a role she's played much). She had not been involved in the attack — just hanging around the halfway line with the Wake player. But when Wake gain possession, Strawn is ball watching and fails to stay on the Wake player who ends up scoring. The second problem is that, on our left, O'Neill pushed up aggressively to challenge their player who receives the clearance from defense— you can see O'Neill is actually in their half at the beginning of the clip above. Perhaps, O'Neill thought this was necessary because if that player turns, then she has space to run at our defense and can pass to another player on the right (the one that Alvarez ends up covering). Whatever the thinking, this decision turns our back three into a back two.
I completely agree that Gaetino and O'Neill are responsible for their third. The Gaetino turnover was of course another attempt at a long pass that wasn't on when she had easy options for short passes.
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Any word on how the ACC will handle the missed game for standings. If UNC takes care of business (Stanford, SMU, and Louisville) it won't matter even playing 1 less game. However if they drop one of those it becomes a big talking point. Also FSU needs the opportunity to win more points to get into ACC tournament. I would think logical thing would be to do average points but didn't know if that's every been done or a possibility.
I don’t think Straun is considered a wing back. She’s more of an outside attacking midfielder. We play a 3-2-4-1. Either way, it’s a technicality and semantics. What I see is that Straun was a good 15-20 yards farther upfield when we lost that ball…the chances of her to get back goalside of that girl who scored were slim to none. There was clearly a breakdown on who was responsible for the weak side. I would coach my outside mids to let the first player go and that player would be the responsibility of the outside back, but then they (our o/s mid) had to track the next person (usually the other team’s outside mids. I didn’t want my whole team in the box defending or we’d never be able to get out of there. But that also wasn’t absolute from game to game and largely depended on how good the team was we were playing and their formation. And I usually played 4 in the back, didn’t have to talent to just trust a 3 back lineup.
Damon needs to put this one up on film and they need to sort out who is responsible for who for next time.
I still think Gaetino was pinched WAY too far into the middle there. She was maybe 25-30 yards from the left sideline at the start of that clip (clearly on the left half of the field)…she is the right back and our entire right side was just completely wide open…her and Alvarez don’t need to be marking the exact same player or space on the field. It’s also on Johann to see that and scream at them that there is an unmarked player on the back post. We had completely lost our shape in the back and that is just so dangerous when you are only playing 3 players back there.
Probably seems like we are beating this up to death, but in a soccer game you can completely dominate and one small breakdown like this can end your season.
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Nope, you are just screwed.
If FSU and UNC fail to make up the game, both will just sit with one less opportunity to log 3 points (or 1 for a tie)
As I understand it, it does not even give us an advantage in a tie-break. As in, if we tie with another team with the same number of points, we do not just win the tie-break outright because we played one less game. They will continue to use the standerd tie-break criteria.
Teams are supposed to use every effort to make-up cancelled games. I am not sure why this one has not been as of yet. The obvious answer would have been to play on the Sunday right after the Friday it was cancelled.
Thanks for this. I really appreciate your input from a coach's perspective — very interesting stuff. I agree our formation is 3-2-4-1 and I'm not attached to calling our wide players wingbacks. I went for that since I had been assuming that they must have defensive responsibilities to track wide players? If that responsibility falls to our outside backs, then our three would get stretched very wide, leaving Alvarez isolated in the middle. (Obviously less of an issue in a back four with two central defenders.) This is just me reasoning from first principles — genuinely curious to learn from more informed/experienced people, as I've been wondering how our 3 back affects our ability to defend the wings. This is the sort of detail I nerd out about and would like to understand better.
I think you might be misremembering Strawn's positioning though. I can't find an online clip that shows this but the "on demand" replay on ESPN goes like this: at the moment when Antonucci plays the pass, Strawn is in our half, goal-side of their player—i.e. uninvolved in the attack that is just breaking down as we lose possession. The camera moves up the pitch as Wake clears it, so Strawn pops out of sight. The camera is back on her when their midfielder receives the clearance, and now a 10 yard gap has opened up between her (in line with the center circle) and their player (just inside our half). She's carried on running while we are losing possession, leaving one of their players unmarked. I think that this has to be considered a mistake on her part.
Happy to defer to you about Gaetino's positioning being off as well and her needing to do more to split the difference between their central and outside player. And I agree about the importance of perfecting these details: I think our main vulnerabilities are quick counters and headed goals from set pieces, and I hope we focus a lot on these on the training field.
I am in total agreement with you. Stratton needs to start and Trayer needs to start if they are 100% healthy. Stratton does a lot for us, on corners, help defense to aid the goalie, etc. Either the freshman or Gaettino needs to come off the bench. I would say the freshman.
This is where Stratton comes in. She is a senior with plenty of playing experience. If you go back and look at film when she did play a ton. She instinctively knew not to get to far ahead and she would have slid back to help the goalie.
This is where Stratton leadership and experience comes into play. If you go back and look at the games she played, she instinctively would have slid back and she would have been back to help Johann. Plus, Straton is taller too. Damon must play her more moving forward. I am sorry but Gaetino and the freshman will need to come off of the bench.
I finally watched the game knowing the outcome, so I just did analysis.
Offense:
WF generally pushed their line way forward early and dared Devey et al to beat them on runs. They also crowded our 6's and pressed their forwards a bit. Munson missed a bunny after Devey beat the goalie once. Once they built a lead, they sat back more as you would expect. but we created an equal amount of danger in both scenarios.
Random thoughts:
Goal 1: Long ball to the left and Alvarez rightly clears it out of bounds pretty deep on our side. The Deacs work it around for 55 seconds to the right side and earn a corner when O'Neill blocks the cross attempt. Johann spilled the 1st corner by WF, leading to the 2nd corner they scored on. That could have been avoided with a sure catch. O'Neill was on the back post, Alvarez had the back post runner. Neither one came close to marking either back post runner. WF ran a short pass before the entry and we lost our mind in terms of maintaining shape and marking the WF players. A ton of ball watching and WF loaded the rear post and we did not compensate in any way.
Goal 2: this was a pure counter-attack. Antonucci took a steal to midfield and attempted to place one out for Blum. It was a good play, but off target. Importantly, the ball was all the way into the attacking 3rd. The WF center defender put a foot out to clear the entry (23:33) and it went (un)luckily directly to the WF right midfielder's chest (23:31) where she settled, passed back for an immediate one touch pass (23:29) across the field to the WF left wing on a run. That ball went from a UNC attempt to a game winning goal we had no chance to defend at the other end of the field in 4 seconds. You are not going to see that often. None the less, we were way out of position. But i want to stress that Everyone was out of position.
Note taht at 23:28 above, this play is already over. she is receiving the ball with no one who can recover. I took the screen shot one second later to get all the Tar Heels in frame. The WF right wing is the shadow at bottom, whom Alvarez had marked with O'Neill out of position. Considering that O'Neill is not at all in a defensive position (no idea why; she did not affect the preceding play) Gaetino and Alvarez are actually correct to shift over in a 2-back and mark the two rear defenders on the same side of the field as the ball. Gaetino's instinct is to draw the center striker off sides by pushing the line. It would have worked if she was the target. Pennie also turns and tracks the center defender. I don't think she ever saw the left wing and neither did Gaetino. But as you can see above, she may have had the angle to meet the left wing if she had headed there immediately. Straun pushed forward to support the UNC attack seconds before. She did not turn and run immediately, but I don't think she had any chance to affect the play. Kennedy is excused for challenging the pass at midfield that led to this. Johann just missed getting to the ball first and really had no other play. It was a bit unfortunate she was deep in her box or she may have gotten there, but I would not suggest she should have been out roaming. Point being, this is a team breakdown; not something where you can pick out a clear failure. But If I did, it would be O'Neil way far forward and Pennie missing the open player who made the goal. But again it all happened in 4 seconds.
Goal 3: Gaetino with a bad pass, but again it is well on the WF side of the field. She then marks the left wing well but gets beat in the corner, allowing a cross. The biggest mistake was O'Neill: she just swings and misses on clearing the ball that is at her feet. It goes through her legs and right to the WF right wing. she shoots, Trayer makes a solid foot save. Neither Kennedy nor Munson crash so the rebound shot is wide open. No photos needed; this is not positional, just a series of individual mistakes. No build at all. this is a counter-attack again.
Summary: Our defense failed in 3 different ways, and it was a team effort.
All that analysis aside: we can continue to play exactly this well and perhaps win a title. We played significantly better than Wake in this game on the road, and they are a great team. They scored on 3 of their first 4 shots (3 of 5 shots in total). That is an anomaly in soccer. We had 26 shots, that is not even close.
Offense:
- 23 shots, but only 7 on frame. It is exceedingly rare to take 20+ shots and only score 1 goal.
- Open shots from well inside the box missed wide/high: 6 (plus Munson attempting a pass when she should have shot from 18 ft)
- 6 saves by their All-American keeper, most were high quality.
- Additional quality crosses: maybe a dozen?
- Corners: Scored on 1 of 13 - Antonucci repeatedly put in dangerous corners, she is great on set pieces. Roosien did well also.
- Turnovers that lead to WF runs: O'Neil 2, Gaetino 1, Kennedy 1
- O'Neill also was beat on another long pass to the right wing but Johann cleaned it up at the edge of the box.
- WF never built to a shot only once in this game. A header off of a corner last 1st half. On the corner they scored on was earned on a long ball, as well as both other goals.
WF generally pushed their line way forward early and dared Devey et al to beat them on runs. They also crowded our 6's and pressed their forwards a bit. Munson missed a bunny after Devey beat the goalie once. Once they built a lead, they sat back more as you would expect. but we created an equal amount of danger in both scenarios.
Random thoughts:
- Gaetino long balls that created real danger: 2 of 4 attempts. Not bad. She mostly attempted direct passes up the side as you would expect. Ironically one failed simple pass lead a counter-attack goal.
- Straun is physical. Not tall, but strong. She is not afraid to use her body to win balls. something you have not seen much from UNC in recent years. WF responded with some pretty hard fouls on her as the game wore on.
- Kennedy needs more passes forward and to take shots when open. There were a few counter-attack opportunities stalled in the midfield. It is the issue Pennie had last year: excellent at possession but too little threat. The one shot she took was fantastic, but was stopped with the save of the day.
- Stratton needs to be careful playing physical inside our own box. Left one potential PC decision in the ref's hands, when playing with her feet would have sufficed. She played center back and Alvarez moved to the right when Gaetino subbed out.
- Three pro-level entries from near midfield in this game: O'Neill made a fanatic long pass in to Devey's head. Dennigan had another to Devey, that the defender barely toed. Alvarez missed Devey feet by a foot with 1 minute left. All three were sure goals if connected.
- I have been watching Pennie for quite a while now and I almost never know which way she is going to turn at any given second. It is almost always the right decision. She actually nutmegged a defender on purpose for a great pass.
- Devey was absolutely everywhere. Yes, we found her a lot but she is a ball magnet at a level that is hard to explain. She probably touched the ball in the attacking 3rd 30+ times. Unfortunately at times, especially late, way too many other attackers and mids were watching instead of crashing.
- I'm not sure how Wake avoided any fouls in their defending 3rd, but they did. they were overly physical in the midfield but precisely physical on defense. It was pretty impressive actually.
Goal 1: Long ball to the left and Alvarez rightly clears it out of bounds pretty deep on our side. The Deacs work it around for 55 seconds to the right side and earn a corner when O'Neill blocks the cross attempt. Johann spilled the 1st corner by WF, leading to the 2nd corner they scored on. That could have been avoided with a sure catch. O'Neill was on the back post, Alvarez had the back post runner. Neither one came close to marking either back post runner. WF ran a short pass before the entry and we lost our mind in terms of maintaining shape and marking the WF players. A ton of ball watching and WF loaded the rear post and we did not compensate in any way.
Goal 2: this was a pure counter-attack. Antonucci took a steal to midfield and attempted to place one out for Blum. It was a good play, but off target. Importantly, the ball was all the way into the attacking 3rd. The WF center defender put a foot out to clear the entry (23:33) and it went (un)luckily directly to the WF right midfielder's chest (23:31) where she settled, passed back for an immediate one touch pass (23:29) across the field to the WF left wing on a run. That ball went from a UNC attempt to a game winning goal we had no chance to defend at the other end of the field in 4 seconds. You are not going to see that often. None the less, we were way out of position. But i want to stress that Everyone was out of position.
Note taht at 23:28 above, this play is already over. she is receiving the ball with no one who can recover. I took the screen shot one second later to get all the Tar Heels in frame. The WF right wing is the shadow at bottom, whom Alvarez had marked with O'Neill out of position. Considering that O'Neill is not at all in a defensive position (no idea why; she did not affect the preceding play) Gaetino and Alvarez are actually correct to shift over in a 2-back and mark the two rear defenders on the same side of the field as the ball. Gaetino's instinct is to draw the center striker off sides by pushing the line. It would have worked if she was the target. Pennie also turns and tracks the center defender. I don't think she ever saw the left wing and neither did Gaetino. But as you can see above, she may have had the angle to meet the left wing if she had headed there immediately. Straun pushed forward to support the UNC attack seconds before. She did not turn and run immediately, but I don't think she had any chance to affect the play. Kennedy is excused for challenging the pass at midfield that led to this. Johann just missed getting to the ball first and really had no other play. It was a bit unfortunate she was deep in her box or she may have gotten there, but I would not suggest she should have been out roaming. Point being, this is a team breakdown; not something where you can pick out a clear failure. But If I did, it would be O'Neil way far forward and Pennie missing the open player who made the goal. But again it all happened in 4 seconds.
Goal 3: Gaetino with a bad pass, but again it is well on the WF side of the field. She then marks the left wing well but gets beat in the corner, allowing a cross. The biggest mistake was O'Neill: she just swings and misses on clearing the ball that is at her feet. It goes through her legs and right to the WF right wing. she shoots, Trayer makes a solid foot save. Neither Kennedy nor Munson crash so the rebound shot is wide open. No photos needed; this is not positional, just a series of individual mistakes. No build at all. this is a counter-attack again.
Summary: Our defense failed in 3 different ways, and it was a team effort.
All that analysis aside: we can continue to play exactly this well and perhaps win a title. We played significantly better than Wake in this game on the road, and they are a great team. They scored on 3 of their first 4 shots (3 of 5 shots in total). That is an anomaly in soccer. We had 26 shots, that is not even close.
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US U17 pummels Samoa 17-0. DiMaria sets records with 6 goals, Reyna with a brace, Stanislaus and Manning with 1 each.
Damon must find a way to tell Plum and Summer to go and try to score goals too. As 3397Char stated, everyone else is watching and waiting for Bella to score and instead of moving they are just standing there watching which is causing Bella to have score with 1 vs 3, etc. These two young women need to run and give Bella an outlet to pass them the ball to score. When DiMaria comes next year, I am sure she is not going to be watching. She is going to be running to score which is going to take pressure off of Bella. Beside DiMaria is taller too. At the beginning of this season Plum, Summer, and Bella were all scoring. That was a formula that was working. It was keeping other teams from focusing on one player. Why have this team stop doing this. Damon and staff must go back to this and he must utilize his bench more like he was doing at the beginning.
That’s ridiculous. Not even something to be proud of honestly. Games like that don’t help our team get better in any way.
It is what it is and I’m sure it was fun for some of those girls to say they scored a World Cup goal, but coaching youth soccer for years and seeing so many ridiculously lopsided games like this makes me want to puke. No benefit for either side….completely demoralizing and embarrassing to one side, and doesn’t present any challenge or opportunity to improve to the other. I’ve been on both sides of those….it happens more than you think. Maybe not 17-0 but 10-0 kind of games happen a lot, especially in youth club soccer where clubs put all of the best players on one team and then go beat up on less teams in their area. Shame on US coaching staff for not calling off the dogs at some point when it got to double digits.
I was extremely lucky to play for a coach in high school (only at that school for one year due to cost), that ended up in the NC Soccer Hall of Fame. At that time, his program was nationally ranked and had won 4 consecutive state titles. If we got into a game where it was like this (which would happen 2-3 times a year), he would make us have to connect 10 consecutive passes before being allowed to take a shot. Or you could only score off of a header…anything to challenge us and not disrespect the opponent by running up the score even more. If you broke that rule and took a shot, you’d immediately get taken out of the game and you’d run your *** off at practice the next day. Saw one person do this and no one ever did again lol.
Anyways…hope the team does well (better than the U20s did, which was a huge disappointment), but goodness, 17-0 should never happen.
Also, DiMaria is amazing and I’ve love to see her in Carolina Blue next year, but I will be shocked if she’s not offered big money to go play in Europe and never makes it to Chapel Hill. If we get her, it will be against the odds.
Goal differential matters in World Cup. Unfortunately you have to pour it on in group stage if you can.
if you don’t pull your starters for rest and go to the end of the bench then that’s a problem. But I assume we did.
3397char....that is an awesome post, thanks for taking the time to do that.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Good points about that second goal where O'Neill was pushed forward and Alvarez and Gaetino had shifted over to compensate. I still think Gaetino is poorly positioned, as even that central forward is a step behind her as the last defender. In a perfect scenario, I would have wanted her about 10 yards farther back and a bit closer to the middle of the field, that would have allowed her to give cover on that central forward but also give her a little more of a chance to recover if a ball is hit to the weak side (which it was and we know what happened). She was 100% right to shift over there, I just think she went a bit too far when she did it. Small details and nitpicky for sure, but small details are the difference between close wins and close losses in a game where so few goals are typically scored. If she could have gotten over to that weak side player just a few steps earlier, then Johann wouldn't have needed to leave the goal like she did. I think the Wake player was going to get a shot off no matter what, but maybe an onrushing Gaetino could have at least forced a rushed shot from distance that Johann (still in the goal mouth) could have saved (or the Wake player missed the target completely).
O'Neill pushing that far forward is certainly causing problems there....usually it wouldn't but a quick turnover and counterattack before we can get re-organized is absolutely our biggest weakness considering how many players we push forward and the formation we employ (stacking the midfield but only having 3 in the back). I think O'Neill would be a terrific wingback in a 4 back set....she has a good touch dribbling and is quick. But when you play 3 in the back, those 3 generally have to be committed to staying back. They can't be venturing forward, or you are left with only 2 to defend on a counter, and that is what happened here. Sure, you can get away with it more often than not (especially when your team usually bosses possession like this one does) but all it takes is one or two breakdowns to cost you a game.
I hope Damon has the girls in the film room and is looking at the exact things you pointed out. I told you all that I felt like we were ripe for a loss before the Wake game, and really do think it could end up being a really valuable learning experience for the team before we get into a win or go home kind of scenario, which is only a few weeks away. We were burned on our two biggest weaknesses defensively (quick counterattacks, and on a high ball served in from a set piece). Dealing with the counters is complicated as discussed..as for the set piece thing, that's still my biggest argument for putting Stratton on the field. We are so much better in the air with her out there on corners/set pieces both defensively and offensively. If you all remember, Mara was forced into the starting lineup last year when Alvarez got hurt, and had a big positive impact because of her size which led to multiple goals she scored off of corners (while still doing a very good job defending). It wouldn't be quite as big of a deal if maybe we had some bigger players in midfield (like when we had Evelyn Shores playing the 6), but we really do have a small team in terms of height this year.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Good points about that second goal where O'Neill was pushed forward and Alvarez and Gaetino had shifted over to compensate. I still think Gaetino is poorly positioned, as even that central forward is a step behind her as the last defender. In a perfect scenario, I would have wanted her about 10 yards farther back and a bit closer to the middle of the field, that would have allowed her to give cover on that central forward but also give her a little more of a chance to recover if a ball is hit to the weak side (which it was and we know what happened). She was 100% right to shift over there, I just think she went a bit too far when she did it. Small details and nitpicky for sure, but small details are the difference between close wins and close losses in a game where so few goals are typically scored. If she could have gotten over to that weak side player just a few steps earlier, then Johann wouldn't have needed to leave the goal like she did. I think the Wake player was going to get a shot off no matter what, but maybe an onrushing Gaetino could have at least forced a rushed shot from distance that Johann (still in the goal mouth) could have saved (or the Wake player missed the target completely).
O'Neill pushing that far forward is certainly causing problems there....usually it wouldn't but a quick turnover and counterattack before we can get re-organized is absolutely our biggest weakness considering how many players we push forward and the formation we employ (stacking the midfield but only having 3 in the back). I think O'Neill would be a terrific wingback in a 4 back set....she has a good touch dribbling and is quick. But when you play 3 in the back, those 3 generally have to be committed to staying back. They can't be venturing forward, or you are left with only 2 to defend on a counter, and that is what happened here. Sure, you can get away with it more often than not (especially when your team usually bosses possession like this one does) but all it takes is one or two breakdowns to cost you a game.
I hope Damon has the girls in the film room and is looking at the exact things you pointed out. I told you all that I felt like we were ripe for a loss before the Wake game, and really do think it could end up being a really valuable learning experience for the team before we get into a win or go home kind of scenario, which is only a few weeks away. We were burned on our two biggest weaknesses defensively (quick counterattacks, and on a high ball served in from a set piece). Dealing with the counters is complicated as discussed..as for the set piece thing, that's still my biggest argument for putting Stratton on the field. We are so much better in the air with her out there on corners/set pieces both defensively and offensively. If you all remember, Mara was forced into the starting lineup last year when Alvarez got hurt, and had a big positive impact because of her size which led to multiple goals she scored off of corners (while still doing a very good job defending). It wouldn't be quite as big of a deal if maybe we had some bigger players in midfield (like when we had Evelyn Shores playing the 6), but we really do have a small team in terms of height this year.
I get goal differential as a tiebreaker, but seriously, after 10 goals you are good. 17 is too much, you can't convince me otherwise on that one. Or maybe they need to rethink how qualifying works...surely there are more competitive teams in the world than one that can lose this badly. It's nice for some small nation to get a chance to play, but the World Cup should really be the best of the best.
Yes great post 3397char.
Regarding height, going by our website roster (which probably is a bit out of date) our tallest outfield starter in recent games has been 5 foot 8. Remember FSU's Wrianna Hudson from last season? 6 foot 2. I don't know much about her heading technique but a 5 foot 8 marker gives up 6 inches in height to her. Trayer is listed as 5 foot 11 (2 inches taller than Johann) and Stratton as 6 foot. There's more to it than height — athleticism in jumping, reading crosses, and good heading technique are key too. But height undoubtedly helps.
Regarding height, going by our website roster (which probably is a bit out of date) our tallest outfield starter in recent games has been 5 foot 8. Remember FSU's Wrianna Hudson from last season? 6 foot 2. I don't know much about her heading technique but a 5 foot 8 marker gives up 6 inches in height to her. Trayer is listed as 5 foot 11 (2 inches taller than Johann) and Stratton as 6 foot. There's more to it than height — athleticism in jumping, reading crosses, and good heading technique are key too. But height undoubtedly helps.
Really hope we can get these top girls on campus for a year or more. Maybe with NIL, that can happen (if we have the resources), one can hope
I'm with you....I hate the new era of college sports where players come and go every year. One of my favorite things is watching players develop over several years.Really hope we can get these top girls on campus for a year or more. Maybe with NIL, that can happen (if we have the resources), one can hope
DiMaria is something special though. I don't think we have any chance of coming up with the money that she's going to be offered to go overseas and play pro right out of the gate. If we get her, it will be because her family doesn't need to worry about money and she just wants to be a Tar Heel really bad. Again, I think we're going up against heavy odds....no knock on us, she's just that special and is on the radar of the biggest clubs in the world, I can promise you.
On the positive side, even if she does forego college soccer, Damon and the staff have done a brilliant job of recruiting so far...we'll be just fine. Next year could be REALLY exciting if we can hold on to our key players from this team combined with what we have coming in. Malsom will be back from her injury, which immediately adds another star caliber player on the field. But players like Devey and Munson will have significant interest from the NWSL too considering their talent. Who knows. Again though, we'll be fine, but it's fun to think about what could be....let's go win another one this year first.
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After the WF loss, UNC drops to #2 in the Coaches poll but remains #1 in RPI.
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