by pressing us with 5 players in our final third, UCLA was essentially signaling that there is not a player on our team which scares them. that was a tough one to watch.
Tiernan being out definitely hurt...but not sure it changes anything.
hats off to UCLA...every girl on that team is a soccer player. in contrast, we have 3-4 girls who seem to have high soccer IQ.
Mike needs to continue recruiting outside of the PDA sphere...too many of those girls made their hay being on teams which are waaaaay better than the comp, and are just good athletes (big and/or fast). we need more complete soccer players. Find more players like Tsokos and Baran please. And of course Bradley
I actually feel like he is making the pivot, so I am completely good with him continuing to chop away for a few more years. the future is bright. But to take the next step to be elite, we need more players at the UCLA / USC level.
he's going to need to hit 2 home runs with 2 impact CBs.
oh...one more thing...fitness, fitness, fitness. this needs to be a focus for this team in the offseason. too many of our women are simply not in great shape (not trying to be offensive...I genuinely mean this respectfully). and I am not just talking about top-end speed (that's an issue as well). But we're not fit in some very key positions...at this level, that is simply unacceptable.
hopefully this blowout doesnt impact our seeding.
