⚽️Lady Vols Soccer Thread
- Thread starter MAD
- Start date
I noticed last night Jaida was a lot more active in the midfield. Maybe she was told to get more active. The problem was her inaccurate often lazy passes. She is a killer in front of the goal but we need more. Huff, Fuscoe (please learn to get shot down), George, and Simmonds all work their tails off all over the field. Hats off to the back D they have really come on the last few weeks. Claire had the one what was that moment but she has been stellar. Lets keep it rolling!
RE your World Cup question, Mad:
There were ties in three WC qualifying groups, apparently, and so teams in each group must play each other to decide which gains the WC
spot.
In Group D, Senegal, Haiti and Chile will compete for the last WC spot in that group.
In Group E, Portugal, Thailand and Cameroon will apparently play each other for the last WC spot in that group.
In Group F, there is four-team playoff between Taiwan, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea and Panama for the last WC spot in that group.
I don't understand how teams from completely different regions are competing for a group spot--Portugal, Thailand and Cameroon? It doesn't seem to make much sense. In the last women's WC, the strong Netherlands squad, which finished as runnerup in the tournament (losing to the U.S. in the final), actually had to compete in a playoff with Denmark and Norway just to get into the World Cup. That made sense geographically. I lot of FIFA qualifying rules are somewhat complicated.
There were ties in three WC qualifying groups, apparently, and so teams in each group must play each other to decide which gains the WC
spot.
In Group D, Senegal, Haiti and Chile will compete for the last WC spot in that group.
In Group E, Portugal, Thailand and Cameroon will apparently play each other for the last WC spot in that group.
In Group F, there is four-team playoff between Taiwan, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea and Panama for the last WC spot in that group.
I don't understand how teams from completely different regions are competing for a group spot--Portugal, Thailand and Cameroon? It doesn't seem to make much sense. In the last women's WC, the strong Netherlands squad, which finished as runnerup in the tournament (losing to the U.S. in the final), actually had to compete in a playoff with Denmark and Norway just to get into the World Cup. That made sense geographically. I lot of FIFA qualifying rules are somewhat complicated.
MAD
Arsenal FC, Detroit Lions
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2006
- Messages
- 48,284
- Likes
- 117,926
MATCH CENTRAL: #18 UT vs. #21 South Carolina
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- No. 18 Tennessee returns home for a Top-25 matchup against No. 21 South Carolina on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET and the game will be streamed on SECN+.
The Lady Vols (10-3-2, 6-1-1 SEC) enter the matchup having posted five straight clean sheets and riding a shutout streak of 460:35 dating back to the 79:25 mark of their 4-1 win at Kentucky on Sept. 25. In its most recent outing, Tennessee defeated Auburn on the road, 1-0. Rookie Kameron Simmonds scored the only goal of the match in the 74th minute, receiving a pass from redshirt-freshman Jenna Stayart 25 yards out and beating a Tiger defender one-on-one at the top of the box to drill the ball near post. In goal, senior Lindsey Romig played all 90 minutes, logging four saves to earn the clean sheet.
South Carolina (9-3-4, 4-3-1 SEC) comes into the game on the heels of a 1-1 draw against Texas A&M on Thursday.
The Lady Vols own a 14-10-3 record all-time against the Gamecocks and are 8-5-0 when facing USC in Regal Stadium. The teams last met in Columbia on Oct. 10, 2021, when Taylor Huff blasted a shot from 25 yards out in the 89th minute to give UT the 1-0 victory.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols close out the regular season at home against Vanderbilt at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday for Senior Night. The match will be televised on SEC Network.
SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA: The Gamecocks went 15-7-1 last season with a 6-3-1 mark in conference play en route to a postseason run to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals. The Gamecocks returned 22 members of the 2021 squad and welcomed 12 newcomers. USC was picked to finish third in the SEC as voted on by the league's coaches.
FIVE AND COUNTING: The five straight shutouts against Ole Miss, Missouri, Georgia, LSU and Auburn mark the first time in program history UT recorded five shutouts in a row against SEC opponents. The previous record was in 2005 when the Lady Vols logged consecutive clean sheets over Georgia (1-0), LSU (2-0), and Auburn (1-0) as well as a 0-0 draw against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament from which UT advanced on PKs, 4-3, before winning the SEC Championship the next match with the 1-0 win over Auburn.
ROAD WARRIORS: With the win over Auburn, Tennessee completed its SEC away schedule with a perfect 5-0 record while only giving up two goals. Tennessee has gone undefeated on the road in SEC play twice previously in 2003 and 2018, but this marks the first time a UT team has won all away games in conference play.
SECOND HALF TEAM: Over the last six games, Tennessee has outscored opponents 10-1. Of those 10 goals, eight have come in the second half with seven of those in the final 20 minutes.
TOP-20 NUMBERS: UT has scored 38 goals on the year to rank 11th in the country in scoring offense at 2.60. The Lady Vols rank 11th in points per game (7.53), 13th in corner kicks per game (7.20) and 18th in assists per game (2.33).
EVERYONE IS DANGEROUS: With the sixth-ranked scoring offense in the country, it's no surprise that Tennessee has multiple offensive threats. Twelve Lady Vols have carded a goal so far this season, and 15 have tallied an assist.
CLAUDIA IN CONFERENCE: Claudia Dipasupil's goal against Georgia marks her third of the season, all of which have come in SEC play. She has scored those three goals on just five shots, all of which were on frame, for a shot percentage of .600 and a shot-on-goal percentage of 1.00 in conference games. She ties with Jaida Thomas to lead UT in total points in SEC play with nine (3 goals/3 assists).
EFFICIENCY ON THE WING: Dipasupil ranks fourth on the team in points (10) despite ranking 11th on the squad in minutes played (645). Among the four Lady Vols with double-digit points on the season, she is the only one who has attempted fewer than 30 shots, having taken just six on the year.
TRACKING THOMAS: Jaida Thomas has scored goals in four of the last six games, moving her season total to an SEC-leading 12 goals and her career total to 37 to pull within six goals of tying Kylee Rossi at No. 1 all time in career goals scored at UT. She has tallied three game-winning goals this season and 11 during her career to tie Hannah Wilkinson and Kayla Lockaby for fourth-most in program history. Caroline Brown holds the program record of 15.
TENNESSEE ON TOP: The Lady Vols were picked to finish first in the SEC as voted on by the conference's 14 head coaches. UT is coming off a 2021 campaign in which it won a program-best 20 games, clinching an SEC Tournament Championship and going 20-3 en route to the NCAA Round of 16.
Frankly, it worries me a bit that the coaches are suddenly offering so many Tennessee players. I wouldn't rank Tennessee as one of the
top states for club soccer in the country--and until the last year or two we didn't recruit many Tennessee-based players at all. Now, we've
got commitments from, I think, at least 7 Tennessee players, including several from the Tennessee Soccer Club. I'll assume the Tennessee Soccer
Club has gotten stronger over the last few years--but I don't think either it or FC Alliance as ever been in the ECNL end-of-year playoffs, for example. That certainly doesn't mean that they each don't have some good/very good players, but generally the bigger the metro area, the more players there are, the more competition there is for starting spots on the clubs, the better the clubs, the better the players. This is why teams from Southern Cal, Texas burbs, Chicago burbs, Colorado burbs, northern/central Va, New Jersey are good. Huff and Fusco played for the Internationals Soccer Club, based in Medina, Ohio--just outside of Cleveland. A very strong ECNL club.
There is very little on Blue on the web--no Top Drawer info or rating. But wish her well.
top states for club soccer in the country--and until the last year or two we didn't recruit many Tennessee-based players at all. Now, we've
got commitments from, I think, at least 7 Tennessee players, including several from the Tennessee Soccer Club. I'll assume the Tennessee Soccer
Club has gotten stronger over the last few years--but I don't think either it or FC Alliance as ever been in the ECNL end-of-year playoffs, for example. That certainly doesn't mean that they each don't have some good/very good players, but generally the bigger the metro area, the more players there are, the more competition there is for starting spots on the clubs, the better the clubs, the better the players. This is why teams from Southern Cal, Texas burbs, Chicago burbs, Colorado burbs, northern/central Va, New Jersey are good. Huff and Fusco played for the Internationals Soccer Club, based in Medina, Ohio--just outside of Cleveland. A very strong ECNL club.
There is very little on Blue on the web--no Top Drawer info or rating. But wish her well.
orange beard
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2022
- Messages
- 2,130
- Likes
- 3,094
MAD
Arsenal FC, Detroit Lions
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2006
- Messages
- 48,284
- Likes
- 117,926
Volstylexx
Carla's Brother
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2006
- Messages
- 24,497
- Likes
- 46,741
Volstylexx
Carla's Brother
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2006
- Messages
- 24,497
- Likes
- 46,741
MAD
Arsenal FC, Detroit Lions
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2006
- Messages
- 48,284
- Likes
- 117,926
Lurker
"Never go against a Sicilian...."
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2008
- Messages
- 987
- Likes
- 2,115
Lurker
"Never go against a Sicilian...."
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2008
- Messages
- 987
- Likes
- 2,115
What the hell happened today. Haven't seen the game and not sure I want to.
When you change coaches, one of two things happens--you either get better or you get worse. We've gone backwards. I have no idea how we could give up 6 goals to a team that has struggled to score goals most of the year. We had a nice stretch of wins in the conference--but we've played mostly bottom or middle of the table teams (Kentucky and Florida have not won a conference game, Ole Miss has lost every game its played since we beat them, Auburn is not good, Missouri and LSU are mediocre) and despite having superior talent than all of these teams, have struggled to score goals. Today was a disaster. Last year we won 20 games. We'll have to play amazingy well to even reach 15 this season. We should go back to the 4-4-2. The 3-back-system simply hasn't worked.
When you change coaches, one of two things happens--you either get better or you get worse. We've gone backwards. I have no idea how we could give up 6 goals to a team that has struggled to score goals most of the year. We had a nice stretch of wins in the conference--but we've played mostly bottom or middle of the table teams (Kentucky and Florida have not won a conference game, Ole Miss has lost every game its played since we beat them, Auburn is not good, Missouri and LSU are mediocre) and despite having superior talent than all of these teams, have struggled to score goals. Today was a disaster. Last year we won 20 games. We'll have to play amazingy well to even reach 15 this season. We should go back to the 4-4-2. The 3-back-system simply hasn't worked.
Kirk was supposed to be inspiring--wasn't that the idea.
I want Kirk to succeed--but this I know: You /don't/ hire a coach mainly because s/he is popular with the current group of players. That should never be the top criterion. One's qualifications and record of success should be the chief considerations. I think Kirk screwed up changing the system. Why would you mess with something that worked? It's not smart.
That is the first thing I would point to when assessing why this team has underachieved this year--and we've certainly underachieved. There are probably other factors. We're an enigmatic team. We just completed a successful stretch of games in which we played well, overall--controlled the games, for the most part--but, as mentioned above, none of those wins were against teams that are especially good--and, indeed, we have not beaten a good team all year. Not one. And in almost all our conference wins--except that first two against winless Kentucky and winless Florida--we've struggled to score goals. We had 22 shots today and 8 on goal--those are impressive numbers--and, yet, only one goal. We have some personnel issues in the 3-back system--and Kirk has done little or nothing to improve the team. He's rolled the same starting 11 out on the pitch in every game but one. He and the coaches obviously believe it's our best group--and maybe it is, but I would say otherwise.
What's also weird is that we've played significantly better on the road this season than at home. Who knows why. It goes without saying, but if we don't play a helluva lot better we will lose to Vanderbilt, too. Vandy is a very solid, well-coached team, with some good players. think with today's loss we're no longer the No. 2 team in the overall standings, and so for now we've lost the first-round bye in the SEC tournament that we could have had. That bye is important given that teams could be looking at playing 3/4 games in one week--which is stupid and very taxing on the players and why the SEC needs to reduce the number of teams in the tourney.
I want Kirk to succeed--but this I know: You /don't/ hire a coach mainly because s/he is popular with the current group of players. That should never be the top criterion. One's qualifications and record of success should be the chief considerations. I think Kirk screwed up changing the system. Why would you mess with something that worked? It's not smart.
That is the first thing I would point to when assessing why this team has underachieved this year--and we've certainly underachieved. There are probably other factors. We're an enigmatic team. We just completed a successful stretch of games in which we played well, overall--controlled the games, for the most part--but, as mentioned above, none of those wins were against teams that are especially good--and, indeed, we have not beaten a good team all year. Not one. And in almost all our conference wins--except that first two against winless Kentucky and winless Florida--we've struggled to score goals. We had 22 shots today and 8 on goal--those are impressive numbers--and, yet, only one goal. We have some personnel issues in the 3-back system--and Kirk has done little or nothing to improve the team. He's rolled the same starting 11 out on the pitch in every game but one. He and the coaches obviously believe it's our best group--and maybe it is, but I would say otherwise.
What's also weird is that we've played significantly better on the road this season than at home. Who knows why. It goes without saying, but if we don't play a helluva lot better we will lose to Vanderbilt, too. Vandy is a very solid, well-coached team, with some good players. think with today's loss we're no longer the No. 2 team in the overall standings, and so for now we've lost the first-round bye in the SEC tournament that we could have had. That bye is important given that teams could be looking at playing 3/4 games in one week--which is stupid and very taxing on the players and why the SEC needs to reduce the number of teams in the tourney.
SGMVols
Sophomoric Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2009
- Messages
- 26,332
- Likes
- 19,282
VN Store
