Losing 1-0 at halftime I will defer comments til RU Dad02 gives his always excellent reviews. Let’s hope we can come back in the second half
Women’s Soccer vs CCSU
- Thread starter richthedentist
- Start date
I do have to make 1 comment and that is corner kicks. I saw this all last year for some reason we always kick the ball right to the goalie and not out beyond the 6 yard line that is soccer 101 don’t understand this
Victory !!!! Sudden death OT goal in the 95th minute. Boy do they like to make it entertaining but man a win is a win, 1-0 PHEW
Can’t wait I will add my 2 cents afterwards as I went to the game
Nice that they won but relying on Ali to score 2 to beat CCSU does not suggest that our offensive depth has improved. Realize its only one game but seems to be a continuation of a pattern that needs to change for us to challenge for a conference championship and a tourney run.
Season has even started so what pattern could there be? First two games there was liberal substitution and combinations you are not going to see during the season.
I thought this was the first regular season game. They don’t play OT in exhibitions do they? The pattern is a carryover from prior years.
Still one data point. Also, different year, different team. Prior years mean nothing.
It's not a style of play thing. Our style is more offensive oriented this year.
Tough game to encapsulate for me for some reason. First off, CCSU was not a cream puff. Were 16-2-2 last year & won their conference. That being said, I don't believe that we played particularly well. As others have noted, we dominated in shots & shots on goal & in corners--7-0. And we had periods of sustained pressure. IMO we lacked sharp execution, especially in our offensive 1/3--Not seeing open mates, not finishing [LaPlant got behind the D & rang a point blank shot off the cross bar, Berg got behind the D came in alone & her first touch was too strong & the keeper beat her to it], as dentist pointed out our crosses were again abysmal [in too tight letting the keeper grab the ball]. Thought our free kicks were off as well.
So far IMO our only real consistent threats are Ali & LaPlant. Harrigan has not shown so far that she is strong on the ball or in general. Monome still lacks overall skill level & field awareness. Berg has speed & strength but appears to lack top end skill level at this point. Ali started at attacking center mid but didn't get near enough touches & Mike then returned her to center forward & she got plenty of touches. Ali tends to try to beat 3 defenders at times missing open mates, but generally she is such a strong positive force. Her penalty shot was beautifully struck beating the keeper, who had not guessed wrong, to the top right corner. On her game winner she sprinted hard quite a distance in a driving rain to best both a defender & the keeper for a loose ball & was able to take a few touches & deposit it in the net.
CCSU's goal was the result of an RU breakdown. Believe Katona at outside back may have been caught in tight or too far forward. They were able to come down that side unimpeded & send a cross for the goal. Nothing McClelland could do on it. It was the only real chance they had. Mike subbed for Katona shortly thereafter bringing in Abbie Roberts one of our Brit frosh & Alyson Lynch another frosh. Believe one or both played that outside D for the rest of the game.
As far as injuries, didn't see much except for LaPlant coming out late in the game with a leg. Didn't seem to be a shin, more like a hammie. Not sure, but it didn't look debilitating. Hope not. We'll see. CSSU had several, one necessitated a stretcher. Helped make the game a bit choppy IMO. Thought the young ref was very poor, equally for both sides. Very inconsistent. Side official called LaPlant off sides when she would have been in alone. Didn't see the off side. On the positive side, the girls never gave up & fought hard. Sure I've left stuff out but that's all I've got for now. Very interested to get the dentist's take on the game.
So far IMO our only real consistent threats are Ali & LaPlant. Harrigan has not shown so far that she is strong on the ball or in general. Monome still lacks overall skill level & field awareness. Berg has speed & strength but appears to lack top end skill level at this point. Ali started at attacking center mid but didn't get near enough touches & Mike then returned her to center forward & she got plenty of touches. Ali tends to try to beat 3 defenders at times missing open mates, but generally she is such a strong positive force. Her penalty shot was beautifully struck beating the keeper, who had not guessed wrong, to the top right corner. On her game winner she sprinted hard quite a distance in a driving rain to best both a defender & the keeper for a loose ball & was able to take a few touches & deposit it in the net.
CCSU's goal was the result of an RU breakdown. Believe Katona at outside back may have been caught in tight or too far forward. They were able to come down that side unimpeded & send a cross for the goal. Nothing McClelland could do on it. It was the only real chance they had. Mike subbed for Katona shortly thereafter bringing in Abbie Roberts one of our Brit frosh & Alyson Lynch another frosh. Believe one or both played that outside D for the rest of the game.
As far as injuries, didn't see much except for LaPlant coming out late in the game with a leg. Didn't seem to be a shin, more like a hammie. Not sure, but it didn't look debilitating. Hope not. We'll see. CSSU had several, one necessitated a stretcher. Helped make the game a bit choppy IMO. Thought the young ref was very poor, equally for both sides. Very inconsistent. Side official called LaPlant off sides when she would have been in alone. Didn't see the off side. On the positive side, the girls never gave up & fought hard. Sure I've left stuff out but that's all I've got for now. Very interested to get the dentist's take on the game.
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So, this is a game where RU didn't play offense very well BUT still ended up winning! Certainly not what you want to do but it is what top teams are able to do with more frequency than less talented ones.
Great review as always and let me preface my review by saying I did not see the scrimmages as RU Dad has but again agree with him and will add a couple of things.
As I said last night during the game our corners are terrible and they were the same last year for some reason we constantly kick the ball in too tight and I think on the only two we spaced out away from the goalie we created a couple of pretty good chances. Also one we passed out quickly. Our free kicks we had 3 or 4 just outside the 18 and did absolutely nothing with them; a couple of times the player just shot it wide like she was trying to set up a play and just shot wide and then when we did go for the goal the shots were not even close.
Agree with you about Monome big and fast but no foot skills; I saw that last year and to me nothing has change; I will slightly disagree with Dad on Berg I think her foot skills are pretty good and I think she should be playing over Monome
When he switched out the attack towards the end of the first half including putting in Berg and Brianna Starr who I didn't remember and with good reason she didn't play last year(not sure if she was hurt) but they really played much better in that stretch than the first unit. I like Starr and would have to see her more but think she may warrant more playing time.
Agree about Ali trying to dribble through three girls but it was not only her but many of the other girls there were so many times when we either tried to dribble through girls or held on to the ball for too many touches and missed open girls.
Two more things with the offense; Number 1 is I don't think we spread the field enough which leads to so few crosses nor do we reverse the ball and second so many times when we were attacking last night we all of a sudden slow down and send the ball back to the midfield which stops the attack
As he said the defense was good except for the 1 goal; The only thing I will add to that is Swaby and Wiltshire looked gassed at the end of the game
Saw that with Swaby. Starr played off the bench last year. Agree that she played well last night. Shea Holland did not play again. She is very good, very versatile. Has dealt with a back in the past. She would really be a big help. I would also start Berg over Monome & see how she does.
Yeah I meant to put that in about Shea I noticed that today whenI was looking over the roster what do you think about attack and to me not spreading the field enough to me makes it easier to defend especially Ali when we are so bunched up
Hadn't really thought about it but I think you're right about being bunched up too much. Spreading the field more would not only help Ali but LaPLant as well. She has good speed & sees the field well.
My quick thoughts, while CCSU does well in their conference we played down to their level, defensive break down led to an early CCSU goal. LaPlant did not hit the cross bar, Harrigan did, that was a gimme goal, also Aylmer missed an easy walk in goal attempt, bad set up touch. LaPlant taken down early in the box should have been awarded a PK, also drew numerous corners and free kicks while leading the team in shots, the leg at the end I believe was a cramp. The soccer gods love Ali........but 2 goals are 2 goals and gets R the win, she held the ball too long many times and missed wide open teammates that would have led to additional chances. Too much playing back, and sloppy no intent passes, panic, it is early though!. Team worked hard, will help conditioning, good minutes early on and tested, builds character. Need more short combination play and off the ball movement in the final 3rd. Probably 3 chances RU didn't finish on and should have. Like LaPlant, Harrigan, Ali up top, work horses, they will get it, if Ali is not at mid field, but they need to work off each other, mid field was missing and defense was unorganized at times leading to panic playback at times. Far too early to make any assumptions, we'll know more by Sunday next week. The positives, LaPlant able to play good minutes and made a lot of things happen, Tierny filling in well at D, the team is versatile and players can be mived around, Ali is always in the right place at the right time, keeper is solid, a win is a win....
Bees--always like your analysis. Didn't realize it was Harrigan off the cross bar not Laplant, and that it was Alymer with the walk in not Berg. And yes like that the team is versatile. Please keep it up.
First game of the season. Against a very solid opponent. We won. Some of you seriously need to chill out.
