Starting XI: Women's Soccer at Iowa - Rutgers University Athletics
The 11 things to know before the Scarlet Knights visit the Hawkeyes on Sun., Oct. 1 at 1 p.m.
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Rutgers Women's Soccer at Iowa - Sunday
- Thread starter Tango Two
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Once again too many weaknesses. Really miss Misal & Fluchel. Very weak in the middle. Post & Daigle are clearly not the answer. Post gave up the ball on the winning goal. In the 2nd half we were moving the ball when Daigle got the ball on her foot & once again played for herself & took a weak shot from outside of the box--Iowa possession.
Rosamano is a turn over machine. Insists on dribbling through defenders & subsequently losing the ball--this is not high school. Nalia Schofenberger another turnover machine--over her head at this point.
Finally put Riley back on the wing where she at least got to touch the ball.
Once again we came out with more purpose & energy in the 2nd half. What's up with that is still a mystery. On both the coaches & the players for not coming out hard in the 1st half of games.
In the 2nd half, while not perfect, we connected on passes & possessed the ball quite a bit. Got away from the long passes where we just gave the ball up & it boomeranged back that was our signature in the 1st half. Hello!!!
Rosamano is a turn over machine. Insists on dribbling through defenders & subsequently losing the ball--this is not high school. Nalia Schofenberger another turnover machine--over her head at this point.
Finally put Riley back on the wing where she at least got to touch the ball.
Once again we came out with more purpose & energy in the 2nd half. What's up with that is still a mystery. On both the coaches & the players for not coming out hard in the 1st half of games.
In the 2nd half, while not perfect, we connected on passes & possessed the ball quite a bit. Got away from the long passes where we just gave the ball up & it boomeranged back that was our signature in the 1st half. Hello!!!
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Can’t argue. Was just busting balls because your criticisms now mirror those that many of us have mentioned in the past (yes you felt the need to berate myself and others when we did). Again…no argument here on your analysis.
Everyone saw this coming but Hobbs apparently. I’m not sure where this is going to go but I can you for certain it won’t be like field hockey. Last year they were young but very talented and light on experience. A year later they are playing at a high level. This isn’t that. This is a bad team as you stated, Dad, they lack talent at most positions. They have no advantages in any part of the field. Quite frankly they look lost on the pitch. Mike needed to go years ago, but now we’re stuck with them.
Agree with your take on the team trooper. Not so much that Mike needed to go years ago. Can't overlook that his teams made the NCAA tourney something like 10 yrs in a row including 2 final fours, one only a couple of years ago. He may have shortcomings as you have stated but you couldn't can a guy with that record.
Hobbs will not make a change in coaches for a while he has had too much past success and even though we all saw this coming it’s going to take a couple of more mediocre years like this but the cause of this besides what we all think is bad coaching is the 2 very poor recruiting years in a row and as you can see this senior recruiting class is mediocre at best
Very much similar to CVS in basketball and Reasso in MSOC back in the mid 90s. They did well, but when the game changed on them they could not adopt. O'Neill seems to be going down the same river.
Someone had posted that he had a very good 24' recruiting class coming in but if he doesn't shake up his coaching staff or change his style as you said it won't matter and he has to get with the new game and like basketball people(recruits) want offense and we play such a defensive style that it is impossible to score a lot of goals or at the pace we are on score at all
This is the 2024 class from what I can find. No forwards but maybe some of the midfielders can play up top. And at least half are not PDA. His daughter is one of the recruits. My daughter played high school ball with her when she was a freshman. Very nice kid but they had her playing forward so she was definitely out of her element up top. Top Drawer has Shaela as a 4 star and the rest 3 stars. Not sure how good their rating system is but seems like an average class overall.
| Shaela Bradley | 2024 | MF | La Center | Washington | Portland Thorns Academy |
| Gianna Delgado | 2024 | MF | New Jersey | PDA | |
| Claire Hammill | 2024 | MF | Plymouth | Michigan | Michigan Hawks |
| Mikayla Mandleur | 2024 | MF | New Jersey | PDA | |
| Charlotte Mills | 2024 | D | Michigan | Michigan Hawks | |
| Madelyn O'Neill | 2024 | D | New Jersey | PDA |
And this is 2025 so far. Where the heck is the offense coming from lol. But again starting to recruit non PDA kids.
| NAME | GENDER | STATE | POS | GRAD | COMMITMENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Morgan FarnhamBeach FC (CA) | Female | CA | GK | 2025 | Rutgers |
Lindsey HaileyNC Courage | Female | NC | D | 2025 | Rutgers |
Julia JosephPortland Thorns Academy/Lake Oswego | Female | OR | D | 2025 | Rutgers |
Sarah MartinezNC Courage/Apex Friendship HS | Female | NC | MF | 2025 | Rutgers |
Sophia StilesPortland Thorns Academy/Portland Jesuit | Female | OR | D | 2025 | Rutgers |
Lauren SwaffordPDA | Female | NJ | GK | 2025 | Rutgers |
So nothing spectacular we are now not even getting the top players from New Jersey and of course ifgures his daughter plays defense!! lol
I think we miss Meg Ryan on the recruiting trail & also as a coach.
How so Maryland is terrible; I know it takes a while to turn things around but they have shown nothing at all and our team was playing the same style when she was here
The thing is I love Madison Tiernan but he needs to bring coaches in that have not played or coached for him so we can have new ideas new styles of play because this style is not working
I didn't say she was a great head coach, though she may prove to be one. It takes time to build a team & program from the bottom. By the same token, I believe Meg was a very, very good assistant coach & D coach. She knew her stuff & had the pepper. And I think she was a very good recruiter.
You have mentioned how we used to bang that ball up to Amirah. That happened in her first 3 years, but in her last year when we had a great team & went to the final 4 it was not our MO. Frankie T made that team go playing at attacking center mid. She helped make that Amirah's best year by feeding her & building a chemistry where they would give & go & find each other. She also helped to give Riley & Allie L on the wings their best years. Riley hasn't done much since & Allie not much more.
Frankie had that great sense & feel that only the really good ones have. She could see the play. And she could also find that space for herself. As a result, she was a great facilitator & could also find the back of the net as well.
Frankie made that team go on O & we haven't anyone near her since. And Gabby P. was a force on the back end.
As for Mike O not keeping up up with a changing game as Reasso & Stringer didn't, the game hasn't changed over Mike's tenure, he simply hasn't had the same overall quality of players this year. Nor do I think our assistant coaches bring as much, although I do like Lubos & believe he knows his stuff & can coach.
Seems like I am seeing more U.S. teams focus on possession with quick strike attack. The possession part is where I see the game evolve for the better in the U.S. versus just relying on athleticism to drive offense. Maybe we don't have the talent for that yet.
It's been possession for a long time. Back in my day, 1961 Cortland State, it was much more boot it & run. And we had two 1st team All Americans & were one of the teams in the NCAA Tourney in 1960--no divisions in college soccer then. Rutgers was another team in it.
I think RU tries to play the possession game (except Mason who loves to play the long ball) but they just don't have the midfielders or defenders to actually accomplish it. And a few folks have stated this as well - we don't space out well enough to possess the ball. Really comes down to the fact other teams have better players than us right now. He has relied on PDA to bring in the studs but they are all going elsewhere now. At least the top tier PDA girls. And not trying to bash the current players - it is just the truth. Gabby, Frankie and Amirah were all top tier PDA kids. Don't have anyone like those 3 on the team now. And none coming in from what I can tell.
Dell, agree with your take. And yes, as I have commented before, Mason loves to boot it, with very little success I might add. On second thought it seems as though the girls are playing far more long balls this year than in years past. Probably, as you note because we don't have the middies or defenders to play possession soccer.
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Your right about the players a prime example is look at Riley since her freshman year its not that she has regressed she just hasn't had anyone like you say with the talent of Amirah and Frankie up front and she is now the main girl with basically no support but again that all comes down to recruiting and as you have stated many times this team besides talent lacks overall speed but to me there is still a coaching issue as some of the guys and I have said many times we don't space the field properly and that results in no options for passing no reversal of the field and inability to possess the ball and I am not sure why this is so poor but one of the reasons is the insistence to play a 4-4-2 where when we push the ball forward we don't have the girls up there to keep possession.
There are many other issues but have to get to work now
