Burdette and Fusco every now and then are the only ones who challenge at midfield. The other thing our default mode is to allow corners when other teams fight tooth and nail to prevent them. We are very contend to kick it out for a corner. Tall teams will eat us alive on that. At least we don’t play Arkansas in season.
⚽️Lady Vols Soccer Thread
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Aladywhovolunteer
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Very difficult loss to get your head around. As a coach, why would you ever agree to not having replay. Up 2-0 with approximately 20 minutes to play why would you continue to play the same defense. We went to the football equivalent (see what I did there) of prevent defense.
One of Duke's three goals was an-own-goal. The other two came when Romng made bad decisions and other defensive players were caught ball watching. Duke's first goal came off a free kick caused from an unnecessary foul by Chatterton. This is the same kid that committed a foul against SMU that resulted in their only goal (This is not correct. As Turbovol pointed out the foul in the SMU game was committed by Washington. After checking the specific events of the match, Turbovol was correct).
Ok...Flush it... and move on. Don't want to hear this team may not be as good as last years team. That's nonsense! Last years team opened the season against:
Florida Gulf Coast
Miami (Ohio)
Tennessee Tech
Louisiana ( a former directional school not LSU)
University of South Florida
Hight Point
Chattanooga
After going undefeated with this schedule we played Arkansas and got our lunch taken away. This year we have played five top 25 teams counting our two exhibitions. We looked better and played better in at least 70 of the 90 minutes tonight. Unfortunately, our second line players have not played as well as our starters and we are clearly a different team after changing key players. However, give Coach Kirk credit for playing this schedule.
Finally, is Coach Kirt intentionally holding out key players to see how we respond? If not, we seriously need to look at our S & C program.
One of Duke's three goals was an-own-goal. The other two came when Romng made bad decisions and other defensive players were caught ball watching. Duke's first goal came off a free kick caused from an unnecessary foul by Chatterton. This is the same kid that committed a foul against SMU that resulted in their only goal (This is not correct. As Turbovol pointed out the foul in the SMU game was committed by Washington. After checking the specific events of the match, Turbovol was correct).
Ok...Flush it... and move on. Don't want to hear this team may not be as good as last years team. That's nonsense! Last years team opened the season against:
Florida Gulf Coast
Miami (Ohio)
Tennessee Tech
Louisiana ( a former directional school not LSU)
University of South Florida
Hight Point
Chattanooga
After going undefeated with this schedule we played Arkansas and got our lunch taken away. This year we have played five top 25 teams counting our two exhibitions. We looked better and played better in at least 70 of the 90 minutes tonight. Unfortunately, our second line players have not played as well as our starters and we are clearly a different team after changing key players. However, give Coach Kirk credit for playing this schedule.
Finally, is Coach Kirt intentionally holding out key players to see how we respond? If not, we seriously need to look at our S & C program.
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It was not Chatterton who committed the foul in the SMU game that led to the SMU goal. It was Washington.
Goal-line balls like the one in the first half---which WAS a goal--cannot be called properly by any official. The on-field ref is too far away, obviously, and while the linesmen (asst refs) would be closer as they watch for offside, they wouldn't be close to the goal line to make an accurate call, either. There is an obvious solution, when a game is televised, as tonight's game was, and that is to have a monitor on the sideline--and have the referee go to the monitor, watch the replay in slow-mo, and make the call. The NCAA should institute such a rule--a no-brainer.
MAD
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FSU lost about six starters when Krikorian resigned, so Pensky doesn't have the team he should have inherited.
As for our match: We played a very solid game until we gave up two stupid goals at roughly the 70' mark and basically threw away a victory. We've just squandered what should have been two good RPI wins--the first with terrible finishing and then tonight with just some dumb plays when were in a good position to see the win out. On the first Duke goal, Romig just seemed slow to react to the ball when it barely glanced off of the second Duke player--and then Dipasupil seemed to get in our keeper's way. They should not have scored on that play.
The second Duke goal was the fault of Renie, IMO--and up until that point I thought Renie had played an excellent game. But we've got a 1 goal lead, she's a last-line defender--and she is caught playing WAY TOO far up the field. Way too high. A Duke player in the midfield area kicks the ball long and into our defensive half and Renie can't get back to defend the ball properly, it looks like Cooper is going to chase down the ball and get in on goal--and Romig makes the decision to come way out of goal to get the ball--but fails. I'd have to watch the play one more time to see if Renie or any of our defenders might have recovered sufficiently to have thwarted Cooper, had Romig not chosen to come way out of goal--but the main problem is that no centerback should be playing that high with 18' to go and you're protecting a 1-goal lead. Duke basically went from being 0-2 down and in desperation to equalizing the score without doing much of anything except getting the corner kick. We essentially gave the game away with some dumb, sloppy play.
We worked very hard defensively against a Duke team that is a polished in possession but IMO is not going to score a lot of goals this year. Our defense was good--until it wasn't. We chased Duke around a lot in the first half--did not have the ball enough ourselves--but did score the one goal and really had two. Other than the very nice goal she scored--off the great cross by Rain--I don't think Huff had another shot tonight, did she? That's a problem. We did not possess the ball enough in our attacking third to get Huff open for some shots.
What I see as this team's biggest weakness right now is our wide midfielder on the right. She had a nice assist on our first goal, and nearly had a second assist. She can get good crosses in when she has the ball and has some time and space in our attacking third. But she is a black hole when it comes to possession. The ball comes to her in the midfield and she can do little to help us keep and advance the ball. She stays too close to the touchline, for starters, and so is easy to trap on the sideline when she has the ball. And she simply does not have the ability to pass and move quickly enough--or to beat her mark with the dribble. In her position, you've got to be able to dribble away from pressure and into space to find open teammates or switch the field of attack. She can back-pass, and that's about it. It's a problem.
Kameron Simmonds is good. She's good now. She the total package at forward We could have started her tonight and played Eskin, who has qualities, in the midfield. If Kirt were bold, if could even do the same with George--put her in the wide midfield and bring Eskin in to sub for Simmonds. We need to strength our wide midfield play.
Burdette, Fusco and Huff all played their butts off in this game in the midfield--did a TON of defensive work. All deserved better.
I'm sure Hennessey got some good minutes in the first half--but she is not listed on the box score as having played. Somebody missed her.
Somebody above made two wrong comments about Chatterton. Claimed her foul led to the first Duke goal---wrong. Also claimed her foul led to the SMU goal in that game. Also not true, just for the record.
A brutal loss following a brutal tie.
As for our match: We played a very solid game until we gave up two stupid goals at roughly the 70' mark and basically threw away a victory. We've just squandered what should have been two good RPI wins--the first with terrible finishing and then tonight with just some dumb plays when were in a good position to see the win out. On the first Duke goal, Romig just seemed slow to react to the ball when it barely glanced off of the second Duke player--and then Dipasupil seemed to get in our keeper's way. They should not have scored on that play.
The second Duke goal was the fault of Renie, IMO--and up until that point I thought Renie had played an excellent game. But we've got a 1 goal lead, she's a last-line defender--and she is caught playing WAY TOO far up the field. Way too high. A Duke player in the midfield area kicks the ball long and into our defensive half and Renie can't get back to defend the ball properly, it looks like Cooper is going to chase down the ball and get in on goal--and Romig makes the decision to come way out of goal to get the ball--but fails. I'd have to watch the play one more time to see if Renie or any of our defenders might have recovered sufficiently to have thwarted Cooper, had Romig not chosen to come way out of goal--but the main problem is that no centerback should be playing that high with 18' to go and you're protecting a 1-goal lead. Duke basically went from being 0-2 down and in desperation to equalizing the score without doing much of anything except getting the corner kick. We essentially gave the game away with some dumb, sloppy play.
We worked very hard defensively against a Duke team that is a polished in possession but IMO is not going to score a lot of goals this year. Our defense was good--until it wasn't. We chased Duke around a lot in the first half--did not have the ball enough ourselves--but did score the one goal and really had two. Other than the very nice goal she scored--off the great cross by Rain--I don't think Huff had another shot tonight, did she? That's a problem. We did not possess the ball enough in our attacking third to get Huff open for some shots.
What I see as this team's biggest weakness right now is our wide midfielder on the right. She had a nice assist on our first goal, and nearly had a second assist. She can get good crosses in when she has the ball and has some time and space in our attacking third. But she is a black hole when it comes to possession. The ball comes to her in the midfield and she can do little to help us keep and advance the ball. She stays too close to the touchline, for starters, and so is easy to trap on the sideline when she has the ball. And she simply does not have the ability to pass and move quickly enough--or to beat her mark with the dribble. In her position, you've got to be able to dribble away from pressure and into space to find open teammates or switch the field of attack. She can back-pass, and that's about it. It's a problem.
Kameron Simmonds is good. She's good now. She the total package at forward We could have started her tonight and played Eskin, who has qualities, in the midfield. If Kirt were bold, if could even do the same with George--put her in the wide midfield and bring Eskin in to sub for Simmonds. We need to strength our wide midfield play.
Burdette, Fusco and Huff all played their butts off in this game in the midfield--did a TON of defensive work. All deserved better.
I'm sure Hennessey got some good minutes in the first half--but she is not listed on the box score as having played. Somebody missed her.
Somebody above made two wrong comments about Chatterton. Claimed her foul led to the first Duke goal---wrong. Also claimed her foul led to the SMU goal in that game. Also not true, just for the record.
A brutal loss following a brutal tie.
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MAD
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No. 22 Tennessee Drops Thriller To No. 5 Duke, 3-2
Box Score KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 22 Tennessee dropped a hard-fought contest on Thursday, falling 3-2 to No. 5 Duke in front of a crowd of 1,622 at Regal Soccer Stadium.
Redshirt-junior Jaida Thomas and sophomore Taylor Huff found the back of the net for the Lady Vols (0-1-2). In goal, senior Lindsey Romig made three saves.
The Blue Devils (3-0-0) got goals from Sophie Jones, Michelle Cooper and Kat Rader.
"We just played a great game against the No. 5 team in the country and feel disappointed in the result, but the performance shows that we can play with the best teams in the country. There's no doubt about that," said Tennessee head coach Joe Kirt.
"I think going forward, it's just continuing to build our confidence and hold ourselves to a standard. We've got to play for 90 minutes, and we haven't done that yet. So, it's about us and our ability to get better."
Huff put the first shot on frame for the Big Orange, driving one low from just inside the 18-yard box seven minutes into play.
The Lady Vols took the lead in the 27th minute when Thomas found the end of a cross by redshirt-junior Maria Nelson, one-touching a shot past the Duke keeper from six yards out.
Freshman Kameron Simmonds nearly logged her first goal in the 37th minute, knocking a ball into the mouth of the goal, but the Duke defense came up with a team save.
Romig recorded a save at close range three minutes later, denying a blast from Kat Rader and sending the game into halftime with Tennessee leading 1-0.
Huff scored her first goal of the season in the 52nd minute, heading a ball far-post off a serve from fellow sophomore Claire Rain.
The Blue Devils found the back of the net in the 70th minute when Sophie Jones converted on a corner kick into the box.
Duke tied it up two minutes later when Michelle Cooper capitalized on a miscommunication by the Tennessee defense, and Kat Radar made it 3-2 with a hit from close range in the 81st minute.
Thomas nearly equalized it in the 83rd minute, drilling one from 18 yards out but missing just high off the cross bar.
The Lady Vols got the ball into the box a couple more times in the closing minutes, but couldn't find the net, and time ran out with the final score set at 3-2.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols continue their home stand, hosting Bowling Green in a 7 p.m. ET contest on Wednesday, Aug. 31. The match will be streamed on SECN+.
JAIDA ON THE MOVE: With her second goal of the season, redshirt-junior Jaida Thomas moves into a tie for sixth in all-time career goals at Tennessee with 27. She ties Bunny Shaw and Allison Campbell, and currently sits 16 goals behind No. 1 Kylee Rossi and just six behind No. 2 Hannah Wilkinson.
DANGER HUFF: Sophomore Taylor Huff managed two shots on goal against Duke, finding the net on one. She has now taken six shots over the two games in which she's been in action, all of which have been on frame.
Box Score KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 22 Tennessee dropped a hard-fought contest on Thursday, falling 3-2 to No. 5 Duke in front of a crowd of 1,622 at Regal Soccer Stadium.
Redshirt-junior Jaida Thomas and sophomore Taylor Huff found the back of the net for the Lady Vols (0-1-2). In goal, senior Lindsey Romig made three saves.
The Blue Devils (3-0-0) got goals from Sophie Jones, Michelle Cooper and Kat Rader.
"We just played a great game against the No. 5 team in the country and feel disappointed in the result, but the performance shows that we can play with the best teams in the country. There's no doubt about that," said Tennessee head coach Joe Kirt.
"I think going forward, it's just continuing to build our confidence and hold ourselves to a standard. We've got to play for 90 minutes, and we haven't done that yet. So, it's about us and our ability to get better."
Huff put the first shot on frame for the Big Orange, driving one low from just inside the 18-yard box seven minutes into play.
The Lady Vols took the lead in the 27th minute when Thomas found the end of a cross by redshirt-junior Maria Nelson, one-touching a shot past the Duke keeper from six yards out.
Freshman Kameron Simmonds nearly logged her first goal in the 37th minute, knocking a ball into the mouth of the goal, but the Duke defense came up with a team save.
Romig recorded a save at close range three minutes later, denying a blast from Kat Rader and sending the game into halftime with Tennessee leading 1-0.
Huff scored her first goal of the season in the 52nd minute, heading a ball far-post off a serve from fellow sophomore Claire Rain.
The Blue Devils found the back of the net in the 70th minute when Sophie Jones converted on a corner kick into the box.
Duke tied it up two minutes later when Michelle Cooper capitalized on a miscommunication by the Tennessee defense, and Kat Radar made it 3-2 with a hit from close range in the 81st minute.
Thomas nearly equalized it in the 83rd minute, drilling one from 18 yards out but missing just high off the cross bar.
The Lady Vols got the ball into the box a couple more times in the closing minutes, but couldn't find the net, and time ran out with the final score set at 3-2.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols continue their home stand, hosting Bowling Green in a 7 p.m. ET contest on Wednesday, Aug. 31. The match will be streamed on SECN+.
JAIDA ON THE MOVE: With her second goal of the season, redshirt-junior Jaida Thomas moves into a tie for sixth in all-time career goals at Tennessee with 27. She ties Bunny Shaw and Allison Campbell, and currently sits 16 goals behind No. 1 Kylee Rossi and just six behind No. 2 Hannah Wilkinson.
DANGER HUFF: Sophomore Taylor Huff managed two shots on goal against Duke, finding the net on one. She has now taken six shots over the two games in which she's been in action, all of which have been on frame.
Kirt is known as a recruiter and the kids love him which are a good basis, but the in game adjustments besides subs is a work in progress. As someone else noted with us up 2 well into the second half there is no reason that there should be multiple jailbreaks coming at our keeper. There should be a wall there at that point. If that is a formation change or the coach constantly reminding the players not to overextend it needs to be done. Hopefully he learns and grows as the team does. I really think we will make the tournament but I fear we will be playing somewhere cold and wet again (of course last year we had the record and they still gave us the shaft).
MAD
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It bugs me that Kirt sounds like he's coaching the Bad New Bears after these games against UNC and Duke, with his "We were really competitive with one of the best teams in the country!!" We're one of the best teams in the country--or certainly should be. We won 20 games last year and should have been a two seed in the NCAA tourney. He can't be the rah-rah assistant anymore; it may be that he needs to be more demanding. Hell, I'd argue that, overall, we are more talented, than Duke, though Duke is extremely well coached, an intelligent team--and like the programs that are consistently Top 5/10 Nationally, they don't make the bonehead mistakes that cost us the victory last night. You would almost NEVER see FSU, UNC, Duke, Stanford, UVA give up 2 goals late in a game, much less 3 in a 10-minute period.
And, yes, he could have changed to a more defensive formation. Some teams go to 5 in the back in the latter stages of a big match that they are winning: The U.S. Women's National Team did it TWICE in the knockout round in the last World Cup! Five in the back. Staying with the 3-back was...not smart.
I also think Kirt should be using more of his bench. He did give a few starters some rest in the first half--but it was 80 degree humidity--and Burdette played the entire game, and Huff and Fusco each played all but 4/5 minutes. That's too much. Nelson played almost 80 minutes and that was way too much.
And, yes, he could have changed to a more defensive formation. Some teams go to 5 in the back in the latter stages of a big match that they are winning: The U.S. Women's National Team did it TWICE in the knockout round in the last World Cup! Five in the back. Staying with the 3-back was...not smart.
I also think Kirt should be using more of his bench. He did give a few starters some rest in the first half--but it was 80 degree humidity--and Burdette played the entire game, and Huff and Fusco each played all but 4/5 minutes. That's too much. Nelson played almost 80 minutes and that was way too much.
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Respectfully, no, not hind sight. Turbo is talking basic soccer. That’s why the lack of timely and simple adjustments was so surprising.
This roster is among the best at UT for many years. The ladies were more than capable of beating Duke and they lost the match predominantly due to a failure to make timely substitutions and a formation change. The girls gave it all they had but imo the coaches got caught watching the game rather than managing it.
Hopefully, the staff will step up their game to match the team’s outstanding effort against a high level adversary.
Certainly Duke was ratcheting up the offensive pressure in the last 30 minutes of the game. What exactly they did, I can't say as it's hard to see a lot when watching a stream on one's PC.
There are various things coaches do to when trying to protect a lead late in a game. We fell apart with about 20' minutes left. That's arguably not that "late"; there is still a lot of time left in the game-- nearly half of the 2nd half--and you certainly don't want to start playing too defensively, too soon. The first thing teams will do is to sink back a little--meaning everybody is less aggressive about going forward (whereas the team that's behind will start sending more people forward). You will still want to challenge the ball fairly aggressively, but maybe move the so-called "line of confrontation" back closer to your own end.
But you've got to keep playing assertively, keep trying to possess the ball and work it down into the opponent's defensive half. Sometimes teams starting playing too soft, too defensively--too much on the "back foot." They will start dropping too deep into their defensive half, which gives the attacking team room to get into your defensive half and get close to your box before encountering resistance. Instead of trying to possess the ball, you just clear the ball out of your own end--meaning just kick the ball away from your box--but in doing that you're usually just kicking it straight back to your opponent. It's like playing "prevent defense" in football: we see teams play too soft, trying to protect a lead, and suddenly they are giving the opponent too much room to make plays of 10, 20 yards a pop--and before you know it he's on your 10 yard line.
As for playing a more defensive formation, a lot depends on your personnel and what you've practiced. We could have switched to a double pivot--meaning moved one of our midfielders to a position alongside Burdette, thus having two centrally-positioned defensive mids in front of our back three instead of just one. You'd still have 5 mids--but it's more 2 behind 3 rather than 1 behind 4, if that makes sense.
We could have switched to 4 in the back instead of 3---meaning 2 centerbacks, 2 outside backs--and gone to one forward instead of two--packing the midfield. So then you'd have 4 in the back, 5 in the middle, and 1 forward: That's about as defensive as it gets.
More generally, you, the coach, would not want to have any weak defensive players on the field.
As I say, a lot depends on the players, what sort of confidence the coaches have in certain players in certain positions, what's been practiced to bolster the late-match defense. etc. I don't think we did much of anything--and our centerback, Renie, got caught too far forward and that resulted in the 2nd Duke goal. I haven't even seen the 3rd Duke goal yet--I got disgusted after watching the 2nd.
We certainly need to find another good centerback on the roster. That would give us more options and make us a better team. Hennessey loks like she has the skill set for it.
This is a talented team, and it might be our deepest team ever--if our freshman class is close to has good as has been claimed. But that's not to say that we don't have weaknesses. We do. We've got 3 center-mids in Huff, Fusco and Burdette who'd I'd argue are Final Four good, as a group. We have 3 good forwards. Simmonds looks like the total package. She could be starting for us now, IMO. We've got an excellent defender in Rain, a good one in Renie who will probably get better. Katz is a good player--very versatile. She's not in her best position, however. Our wide mids in our current formation have some qualities but are not the strongest part of our team. Zaluski is game and does all the right things--almost scored two goals against SMU--but she, Dipasupil and, on the other side, Nelson, are limited athletically. Nelson is not a natural midfielder, and that's an issue.
I think if we have the depth to rejigger our personnel a bit, and if the coaches are bold, this team could potentially reach another level. If for example, we had another good 1v1 defender we could potentially move Katz, or even Rain, back to more of a midfield position--or move back to a 4-back instead of a 3-back. We could potentially start Simmonds, use Eskin as her backup--and try to play George as a midfielder. Physically, she could be a good midfielder--low center of gravity, athletic, strong, physical, good dribbling skills. She would have to speed up her decision-making. My bet is that George wants to play pro soccer--and any pro club would likely see her more as a midfielder than a forward, IMO. Like I say, be bold. We need another midfielder who has the physical qualities that George has. We'd be STOUT with her, Burdette, Fusco and Huff.
I think we've got some players in Hennessey, Chatterton, Eskin and others who have potential to help us more than they are at the moment. Simmonds and Midgely are the only freshmen to play in a regular-season games. We signed some defensive players but haven't seen them play. Obviously, this is all just my opinion.
I think if we have the depth to rejigger our personnel a bit, and if the coaches are bold, this team could potentially reach another level. If for example, we had another good 1v1 defender we could potentially move Katz, or even Rain, back to more of a midfield position--or move back to a 4-back instead of a 3-back. We could potentially start Simmonds, use Eskin as her backup--and try to play George as a midfielder. Physically, she could be a good midfielder--low center of gravity, athletic, strong, physical, good dribbling skills. She would have to speed up her decision-making. My bet is that George wants to play pro soccer--and any pro club would likely see her more as a midfielder than a forward, IMO. Like I say, be bold. We need another midfielder who has the physical qualities that George has. We'd be STOUT with her, Burdette, Fusco and Huff.
I think we've got some players in Hennessey, Chatterton, Eskin and others who have potential to help us more than they are at the moment. Simmonds and Midgely are the only freshmen to play in a regular-season games. We signed some defensive players but haven't seen them play. Obviously, this is all just my opinion.
MAD
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Aladywhovolunteer
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I never played the game. I guess that makes me a newby. @turbovol 's analysis is so thorough and thoughtful, he puts my simple input to shame. However, a few points.
The American Football analogy by turbovol is right on target. I had tried to make that argument earlier but without the clarity of Turbovol's analysis. For the Tennessee Football fan, google "Third and Chavis." Coach Chavis played at Tennessee, worked his way to be Coach Fulmer's Defensive Coordinator and unfortunately was unceremonially fired by Lane Kiffen. Coach Chavis is a VFL who has a brilliant defensive mind but his aggressive style of play seemed to lead too giving up huge chunks of yards on third down. Our soccer loss to Duke should go down as a, "Third and Chavis" moment.
I realized something was not right (unfortunately) about the same time our coaches did. For 70 minutes, we had been able to possess the ball after clearing it. But suddenly with 20 minutes left our clearing seemed to result in a long kick out of bounds and a loss of possession. A good team (and Duke is) will smell blood in the water and "put on more steam." We seemed too kowtow to their ramped up aggression.
As a newby, why wouldn't a center back move to protect the goal when the goal keeper comes off her line? Seems like a reasonable approach. I understand they are leaving their player to assist and may allow their player to receive a pass and score. However, applying my basketball knowledge when the center gets pulled away from the basket a forward has to become the rim protector
As a newby, one area that bothers me about the game is why not have at least one time out during a match for each team. Coach Kirk could have corrected our team's mistakes committed during Duke's first goal. Instead Duke scored again two minutes later (approximately) with our coaching staff frozen in their chairs. Coach Kirk deserved this promotion. He had been a loyal soldier for 15 years. However, it is time for him to make the transition to tough, truth telling love. During the last 20 minutes against Duke, our team sucked and Duke's players were giddy over our collapse. Unacceptable!
The American Football analogy by turbovol is right on target. I had tried to make that argument earlier but without the clarity of Turbovol's analysis. For the Tennessee Football fan, google "Third and Chavis." Coach Chavis played at Tennessee, worked his way to be Coach Fulmer's Defensive Coordinator and unfortunately was unceremonially fired by Lane Kiffen. Coach Chavis is a VFL who has a brilliant defensive mind but his aggressive style of play seemed to lead too giving up huge chunks of yards on third down. Our soccer loss to Duke should go down as a, "Third and Chavis" moment.
I realized something was not right (unfortunately) about the same time our coaches did. For 70 minutes, we had been able to possess the ball after clearing it. But suddenly with 20 minutes left our clearing seemed to result in a long kick out of bounds and a loss of possession. A good team (and Duke is) will smell blood in the water and "put on more steam." We seemed too kowtow to their ramped up aggression.
As a newby, why wouldn't a center back move to protect the goal when the goal keeper comes off her line? Seems like a reasonable approach. I understand they are leaving their player to assist and may allow their player to receive a pass and score. However, applying my basketball knowledge when the center gets pulled away from the basket a forward has to become the rim protector
As a newby, one area that bothers me about the game is why not have at least one time out during a match for each team. Coach Kirk could have corrected our team's mistakes committed during Duke's first goal. Instead Duke scored again two minutes later (approximately) with our coaching staff frozen in their chairs. Coach Kirk deserved this promotion. He had been a loyal soldier for 15 years. However, it is time for him to make the transition to tough, truth telling love. During the last 20 minutes against Duke, our team sucked and Duke's players were giddy over our collapse. Unacceptable!
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