⚽️Lady Vols Soccer Thread

[Memvol44]

I did not see the 2nd half--but we apparently played it without two of our starting mids--Stayart and Agresti. And so G. Washington
and freshman Keaton played. That would certainly explain in part (and maybe large part) why our play went from very good to very bad in the second half.

I suppose, we looked lost out there....

 

[chuckiepoo]

I did not see the 2nd half--but we apparently played it without two of our starting mids--Stayart and Agresti. And so G. Washington
and freshman Keaton played. That would certainly explain in part (and maybe large part) why our play went from very good to very bad in the second half.

I saw the first half. Got distracted and just saw the score. Bummer. Ball in goal. We seem to have a problem with that.

 

[turbovol]

Actually, there were some crazy, incorrect numbers on the stat sheet about minutes played. Agresti and Stayart did play most of
the 2nd half. We just didn't seem to have the same energy level we had in the first half, LSU picked up their play--and we had the usual problems with just not having any cutting edge in the final third. We don't cross the ball well enough; if we do, nobody is ever where the ball is in the box. We try to make centering passes on the ground when she should be crossing the ball into the air in the box. We've got two big, strong players in Simmonds and Runyon, but we don't get the ball to them in the box where they can use their size to advantage.

We gave up a goal when first, Hoffman gets dispossessed on the right side of our box, the LSU player tries to center the ball, Michel made a very poor attempt to clear the ball--she really just popped it forward a few feet--the quick LSU winger takes the ball, wiggles past Michel, passes the ball in front of goal where there is an LSU player squeezed between Renie and Brown. Neither one of them body her enough to take her out of the play and she manages to get a foot on the ball and knock it past Zazzara. Not long after that Zazzara made a brilliant save that kept it a one-score game.

Costly loss for us. We may not even make the SEC tourney. We're not in the top 10 in points. It's what happens when you can't put the ball in the net and win games. As I mentioned above, Midgley was outstanding today, and it's a shame we couldn't take advantage of her super performance.

 

[MAD]

LSU goal

 

[kregman]

Well we really killed ourselves today. Time to put away the two goalie system no one does that for good reason. The only reason Nelson seems to play is seniority. Diaz is a much more dynamic player. Kirt was not known as an offensive coach and it shows. Practice shooting into the high corners.

 

[MAD]

Lady Vols Fall On Road To Tigers, 1-0​

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Lady Vols couldn't overcome a scrappy LSU team, suffering a 1-0 loss in LSU Soccer Stadium on Sunday.

Freshman Kate Runyon led Tennessee (6-3-4, 1-2-3 SEC) on offense with four shots on goal on the day. Redshirt-freshman Abby Reisz made the start in goal, making one save, and redshirt-sophomore Ally Zazzara took over in the second half, earning four saves on the day.

Ava Galligan found the net for LSU (8-5-1, 3-3-0 SEC), and Mollee Swift played the full game in the net, recording seven saves.

Tennessee kept the pressure up early on, rattling off four shots in the first seven minutes. Runyon got UT's best chance in the opening minutes when sophomore Macaira Midgley found her breaking into the box and Runyon put the ball on frame from 10 yards out. Swift knocked the ball wide, and Runyon got another shot off the rebound, but it was saved off the goal line by a Tiger defender.

In the 18th minute, redshirt-sophomore Jenna Stayart broke through the back line and ripped a shot from 15 yards out, but it went straight to the LSU keeper.

With eight minutes to go in the first half, Midgley beat a defender near the half line and found space, threading a pass into the box that graduate Nayeli Diaz ran onto and tapped around the keeper toward the endline, but the LSU defense recovered before the Lady Vols could capitalize.

The Tigers only managed one shot to UT's nine in the first half, but the game remained knotted at zero through the half.

LSU found the net in the 51st minute when Rammie Noel played a short ball back from the endline to Galligan who poked it over the line from inside the goal box.

The Tigers got another opportunity in the 57th minute when Galligan got around Zazzara in a one-on-one situation, but senior Lawson Renie dropped to save the would-be goal.

LSU put two strong shots on goal in the 63rd minute, but Zazzara came up with a pair of athletic saves to keep the deficit at one.

In the 81st minute Simmonds took on three defenders and broke through the Tigers' back line, but her shot sailed just over the crossbar.

The Lady Vols created one more chance with 90 seconds to go in the match when a throw in from freshman Sarah Greinerrolled past the LSU keeper after a miscommunication by the Tigers' defense, and redshirt-senior Maria Nelson chased down the 50-50 ball to get a foot on it, but Swift managed to collect the save.

UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will return home to host Georgia on Friday in a 7 p.m. ET matchup.

 

[kregman]

Our biggest problem on offense seems to be we are never ready ito do anything with the ball after we receive it. And as noted earlier we never make runs we spectate far to much.

 

[MAD]

Is it common to have two goalkeepers split halves like we do with Ally and Abby?

 

[MAD]

 

[MAD]

 

[MAD]

Joe Kirt suffered his first road conference loss as Lady Vols head coach on Sunday.

​

Lady Vols soccer loses 1-0 to LSU, continuing winless run​

Tennessee soccer suffered its second loss in conference play on Sunday, losing 1-0 to LSU in Baton Rouge.

The Lady Vols (6-3-4, 1-2-3 SEC) could not respond to Ava Galligan’s goal in the 51st minute that gave the Tigers (8-5-1, 3-3) a lead they didn’t give up. Tennessee has not won any of its past four games, with its last win coming at home against Florida.

The goal scoring opportunities began early for the Lady Vols with Kameron Simmonds having a header in front of goal just two minutes into the game, which was saved by LSU goalkeeper Mollee Swift. Kate Runyon had two opportunities to score in the sixth minute, but her first shot was saved by Swift and the second was deflected away.



After LSU’s Sage Glover was booked in the 27th minute, Tennessee earned a free kick in a dangerous area but was not able to gain a shot. Glover had a strong opportunity four minutes later, but Abby Reisz was able to make the save.

Both teams continued to put pressure on, but neither the Lady Vols nor the Tigers could find a breakthrough in the first half. However, only six minutes into the second half, LSU had its first goal.

After some chaos in front of goal, Galligan gave the Tigers the lead. She found a touch between two Tennessee defenders to get contact on the ball and direct it into the goal.



The Tigers held control of the game for most of the second half. Tennessee’s best chance of the second half came in the 82nd minute, when Simmonds’ uncontested shot would have beaten Smith had it not missed the target.

With just two minutes remaining, Simmonds was shown the yellow card after challenging for the ball and colliding with Swift. It was the last action of the game before LSU held possession for the rest of the game.

The loss was the first conference road loss in head coach Joe Kirt’s tenure after previously holding a 5-0-2 record in road SEC play. Even though Tennessee had 13 shots with eight coming on target, none found their way past Smith.

The Lady Vols will return home on Friday for a divisional game against Georgia.

 

[turbovol]

Is it common to have two goalkeepers split halves like we do with Ally and Abby?

No, it's not. It's just another dumb Kirt move. Coaches do it sometimes to start a season when the keepers seem even--Anson Dorrance did it maybe 3 years ago--but they almost always pick a starter after several games.

Frustrating game, frustrating season.

 

[Vol67]

Fire Kirt

 

[MAD]

The East is still in Tennessee’s hands.
Georgia game will be the biggest match of the season.

 

[MAD]

Happy Birthday Ally Brown

 

[turbovol]

I've been impressed by Brown this season. She's been solid--knows how to play. She's certainly not slow but ideally you'd like
an outside back to have a bit more pace. She is faster than Hofmann and Hennessey, whose lack of speed is an issue. Hofmann is a wonderful player, but she and Hennessey can get beat by pacey forwards. The staff will need to find two good centerbacks for next season, as Renie is graduating. Brown could certainly be one of them--has all the qualities to be a good centerback, I think. Kirt will probably also need to find another CB in the transfer market and the same with defensive mid.

 

[Knoxvol14]

Is it common to have two goalkeepers split halves like we do with Ally and Abby?

Bama does it too

 

[turbovol]

Bama does it too

As a couple of analysts have pointed out, it doesn't help your defenders to have two different keepers every game--as they function differently, react differently and communicate differently. You want somebody in goal who can see the field, see what's happening and help direct and organize the defense--see and call out opposition players moving into threatening positions, etc. Our former keeper, Shae Yanez, was a tremendous take-charge keeper--a strong personality who was always barking out our back four and others, keeping everybody alert. A leader in net. I don't think we got that with Romig. She was a solid shot-stopper--but a level below Yanez generally and in terms of communication/leadership in the back.

We now have two new players in goal--Zazzara with some experience prior to this year, Reisz with none. I think they've done well on the whole. Zazzara has had to make more stops than Reisz--and she's made some big ones, including at least one great save yesterday. Reisz also had a good stop in the first half amid a scrum just in front of her. It's hard to know how well they are communicating with our back four--especially Reisz, given her youth. I think they've both got good potential. We're better now, with Brown and Agresti at defensive mid, than we were early in the year--two changes that were mostly forced on Kirt, who is not good at analyzing the talent on this team and seems to show a rather alarming bias toward certain players in the way that we all saw with some high school coaches in our youth. That can only explain why he's not playing Diaz and Lawton as much as they should be. You want wingers who can run--beat a defender down the field and create a counter-attacking opportunity with a long ball. Nelson cannot do that--she doesn't have the speed, and her crosses are inconsistent. Not a bad player, to be sure, but not a difference maker. Diaz is faster and more athletic--that is indisputable. I can't say how much of a difference she'd make because she's never played more than 30 minutes in a game--but she did score our only goal against Kentucky.

Want a couple of telling stats:

If 6 SEC matches, neither Nelson nor Simmonds, our starting wingers, has single goal or a single assist. Zeroes for both

I'd be playing Lawton and Diaz more. We're also brighter in attack when Stayart is in the game--I think she's a better shooter than Fusco. But not sure how to get her more minutes unless we play four mids or you play her at defensive mid and play her more aggressively in attack than Agresti. It could mean being a bit more vulnerable to counters, but having only one mid who is taking shots is one of our offensive problems. Or we could play four mids, but that would mean playing only two forwards. Kirt needs to change things up but he doesn't like to change--we saw that, unfortunately, last year. He's very stubborn and seems quite content sticking with what's NOT working....

 

[turbovol]

In the first minute and a half of the LSU game, we do two good things but the decision-making and execution are lacking---and
it's one reason why we're not scoring.

To start the game, Runyon disposses an LSU player and drives straight at the LSU goal. Exciting--except there
are 4 LSU defenders back--spread out across the box. She gets to the top of the box there is an LSU defender or two--but neither is that close to Runyon yet. She was well within shooting range--and had Runyon taken one dribble to the right, she would have had the channel needed to shoot the ball. And who knows, she might have scored. She scored in just that way a few games back--a shot from distance. She should have taken the shot.

Instread, she wants to do what she thinks is the right thing in the moment--and should be commended for that. She decides to hold up and wait on other Vols to get forward--but this is the wrong decision because there are already 4 LSU defenders back. So waiting on another Vol or two to join her in attack isn't going to help, really. That's why she should have just belted a shot on goal as we saw the LSU player do twice in the second half--and nearly score on both.

Runyon holds up, sees Midgley and passes to Midgley. Midgley is marked and so passes to an arriving Simmonds on the left. But Simmonds is marked too. Simmonds tries to make a move, is disposseed, and the ball is lost. Decision-making.

Moments later, we have the ball again in the attacking third. Nelson has the ball on the right end line. It's time to cross the ball--and she does just that. But it's a soft, bloopy cross---well-placed--but the ball was hit with no pace, so just drops down out of the sky. It's hard to get any oomph on a header when the ball is dropping out of sky instead of on a line--and so while Simmonds is there to meet the ball, she can't get any speed on the header and it goes easily to the keeper. You've got to laser the ball into the box. When you do that, if someone gets a head on the ball, it is redirected with speed at goal and maybe past the keeper. I'm knit-picking a bit--but they're both examples where we put ourselves in position to possibly score--but the end product is just not what it needs to be. In the first instance Runyon just should have taken the shot--belted the ball. In the second, if Nelson puts her cross on a line, maybe Simmonds scores. She hit that cross like she hit that PK shot against Kentucky. Yesterday, Duke stole a tie with North Carolina at the 89th minute when a Duke player shoots a cross into the box with great pace, on a line, and a teammate barely has to touch the ball with her head and its shoots into the net for the equalizing goal. Little things make the difference.

 

[MAD]

Until last night, LSU hadn’t won a regular season match over Tennessee since 2011.

 

[gule]

Fire Kirt

 

[chuckiepoo]

Fire Kirt

Easy there boo…
Even @turbovol had a neutral take on him being here next year. If turbo can generate a mustard seed, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Knoxvol14]

As a couple of analysts have pointed out, it doesn't help your defenders to have two different keepers every game--as they function differently, react differently and communicate differently. You want somebody in goal who can see the field, see what's happening and help direct and organize the defense--see and call out opposition players moving into threatening positions, etc. Our former keeper, Shae Yanez, was a tremendous take-charge keeper--a strong personality who was always barking out our back four and others, keeping everybody alert. A leader in net. I don't think we got that with Romig. She was a solid shot-stopper--but a level below Yanez generally and in terms of communication/leadership in the back.

We now have two new players in goal--Zazzara with some experience prior to this year, Reisz with none. I think they've done well on the whole. Zazzara has had to make more stops than Reisz--and she's made some big ones, including at least one great save yesterday. Reisz also had a good stop in the first half amid a scrum just in front of her. It's hard to know how well they are communicating with our back four--especially Reisz, given her youth. I think they've both got good potential. We're better now, with Brown and Agresti at defensive mid, than we were early in the year--two changes that were mostly forced on Kirt, who is not good at analyzing the talent on this team and seems to show a rather alarming bias toward certain players in the way that we all saw with some high school coaches in our youth. That can only explain why he's not playing Diaz and Lawton as much as they should be. You want wingers who can run--beat a defender down the field and create a counter-attacking opportunity with a long ball. Nelson cannot do that--she doesn't have the speed, and her crosses are inconsistent. Not a bad player, to be sure, but not a difference maker. Diaz is faster and more athletic--that is indisputable. I can't say how much of a difference she'd make because she's never played more than 30 minutes in a game--but she did score our only goal against Kentucky.

Want a couple of telling stats:

If 6 SEC matches, neither Nelson nor Simmonds, our starting wingers, has single goal or a single assist. Zeroes for both

I'd be playing Lawton and Diaz more. We're also brighter in attack when Stayart is in the game--I think she's a better shooter than Fusco. But not sure how to get her more minutes unless we play four mids or you play her at defensive mid and play her more aggressively in attack than Agresti. It could mean being a bit more vulnerable to counters, but having only one mid who is taking shots is one of our offensive problems. Or we could play four mids, but that would mean playing only two forwards. Kirt needs to change things up but he doesn't like to change--we saw that, unfortunately, last year. He's very stubborn and seems quite content sticking with what's NOT working....

We really miss Jaida. When we had her and Simmonds, if one had an off game we'd still have some punch. I do agree on Lawton too.

 

[MAD]

 

[MAD]