Soccer: Another Doughnut in First Game

[armchair]

The Vols opened the new season much like they started last season--by failing to score a goal, which has become a yearly problem with the Pensky-led program. Alas, whereas last year the first game ended in dispiriting nil-nil draw with mighty Lipscomb, UT lost tonight to a quick, plucky SE Missouri team 0-1. Ugggh. Not the way you want to start the year.

It's hard to know what to make this game. On the one hand it was eerily reminiscent of too many games last year, when the Vols mostly controlled run of play but could not turn possession into quality scoring chances. That is a big problem. UT had the ball quite a bit more than SE Missouri for the game--and yet SE Missouri had the better scoring chances. The Vols only managed four shots on goal all night--and not one of them tested the opposing keeper. There has to be better chemistry, more creativity, better play around the box--and better finishing. One issue is that a lot of the Vol regulars tonight either didn't play at all last year or they didn't play very much. This is a young team with some talent and potential, but we lacked the polish to create good chances and to finish the two or three good scoring opportunities that we had.

H. Wilkinson, still recuperating from her Olympic duties with the New Zealand national team, did not play tonight. She'll help when she gets back in the lineup--if only to create more danger on our otherwise feeble corner kicks. M. Gouner--who has considerable potential--did not play, either, I assume because of injury but not sure.

The Vols played a 4-4-2 formation tonight, which I thought was fairly effective. RS Freshman Maya Neal did some good things at forward for a individual getting her first real taste of collegiate football. She has speed, some technical skill and potential. Her forward mate, Ariel Kupritz, played hard, as usual; she is a bull in a china shop with all of her running around, but she tries to do too much--this is a problem with her game. She tries to dribble too much, is slow to recognize when she's being double-teamed, and needs to work on combining with her teammates instead of charging around with her down all the time. She muffed a good scoring chance in the first half--set up by Neal--when she made a fundamental mistake--trying to strike the ball from the eft side of the goal with her right foot. You can't do that--and she either missed the goal altogether or the ball was deflected by a defender on her right, who could not have deflected the ball had Kupritz shot the ball with her left foot. There really is no excuse for that. Likewise, D. Marcano, who has attacking talent, muffed a couple of chances tonight too--she had an excellent opportunity late when the ball skipped past a defender to her but she could only get off a weak shot. Earlier in the 2nd half, she made a nice move with the ball to find a shot opening--but then missed the net. She was more active in the second half, and needs to keep pushing her work rate.

K. Allen had a solid game at centerback. She lacks pace but is physical and was positioned well for most of the night. Bialczak worked hard in midfield all night, and it was nice to have Christy back, but there just wasn't enough chemistry among our midfielders, outside backs and forwards in terms of creating quality chances. Bialczak is too good an athlete not to contribute more in attack. The sunny viewpoint is that with time chemistry should come (it HAS to)--Christy didn't play at all last year, Bialczak is still learning to be a midfielder, Marcano and O'Keefe are young. This team will be better than last year's team; how much better is the question. Losing to teams with fewer quality recruits is discouraging, and worrisome, and something Pensky has to get fixed.

 

[Vol Soc Fan]

The Vols opened the new season much like they started last season--by failing to score a goal, which has become a yearly problem with the Pensky-led program. Alas, whereas last year the first game ended in dispiriting nil-nil draw with mighty Lipscomb, UT lost tonight to a quick, plucky SE Missouri team 0-1. Ugggh. Not the way you want to start the year.

It's hard to know what to make this game. On the one hand it was eerily reminiscent of too many games last year, when the Vols mostly controlled run of play but could not turn possession into quality scoring chances. That is a big problem. UT had the ball quite a bit more than SE Missouri for the game--and yet SE Missouri had the better scoring chances. The Vols only managed four shots on goal all night--and not one of them tested the opposing keeper. There has to be better chemistry, more creativity, better play around the box--and better finishing. One issue is that a lot of the Vol regulars tonight either didn't play at all last year or they didn't play very much. This is a young team with some talent and potential, but we lacked the polish to create good chances and to finish the two or three good scoring opportunities that we had.

H. Wilkinson, still recuperating from her Olympic duties with the New Zealand national team, did not play tonight. She'll help when she gets back in the lineup--if only to create more danger on our otherwise feeble corner kicks. M. Gouner--who has considerable potential--did not play, either, I assume because of injury but not sure.

The Vols played a 4-4-2 formation tonight, which I thought was fairly effective. RS Freshman Maya Neal did some good things at forward for a individual getting her first real taste of collegiate football. She has speed, some technical skill and potential. Her forward mate, Ariel Kupritz, played hard, as usual; she is a bull in a china shop with all of her running around, but she tries to do too much--this is a problem with her game. She tries to dribble too much, is slow to recognize when she's being double-teamed, and needs to work on combining with her teammates instead of charging around with her down all the time. She muffed a good scoring chance in the first half--set up by Neal--when she made a fundamental mistake--trying to strike the ball from the eft side of the goal with her right foot. You can't do that--and she either missed the goal altogether or the ball was deflected by a defender on her right, who could not have deflected the ball had Kupritz shot the ball with her left foot. There really is no excuse for that. Likewise, D. Marcano, who has attacking talent, muffed a couple of chances tonight too--she had an excellent opportunity late when the ball skipped past a defender to her but she could only get off a weak shot. Earlier in the 2nd half, she made a nice move with the ball to find a shot opening--but then missed the net. She was more active in the second half, and needs to keep pushing her work rate.

K. Allen had a solid game at centerback. She lacks pace but is physical and was positioned well for most of the night. Bialczak worked hard in midfield all night, and it was nice to have Christy back, but there just wasn't enough chemistry among our midfielders, outside backs and forwards in terms of creating quality chances. Bialczak is too good an athlete not to contribute more in attack. The sunny viewpoint is that with time chemistry should come (it HAS to)--Christy didn't play at all last year, Bialczak is still learning to be a midfielder, Marcano and O'Keefe are young. This team will be better than last year's team; how much better is the question. Losing to teams with fewer quality recruits is discouraging, and worrisome, and something Pensky has to get fixed.

Agree with some of this. Disagree with some. UT's inability to score reflects the style of play. UT's attack is akin to football teams that would constantly throw a hail mary or a basketball team that would always do a 2 v 5 fast break and then launch a 3 point shot. This is because of the constant long direct balls played from the back and the resulting situation where the attack is nearly always numbers down against the defense. UT rarely, if ever, creates that 3 v2, 5 v 3 attack that shreds a defense. Additionally, the 18 shots really is a bogus number because as you said none of the shots tested their keeper. Another reason the attack is always numbers down is the team has near zero patience. Once the ball is launched from the back the UT forwards never hold the ball, they all try to go go 1 v X against the defense rather than attempt any numbers to get forward.

Another problem last night is that the midfield, when they do get the ball, constantly gives the ball away. First touches are bad, they all play into pressure rather than away from pressure, and they regularly make poor passes. There were several occasions where mids made passes way behind an outside back or outside mid trying to get into the attack that completely stalled an attacking opportunity and usually resulted in a giveaway and counter attack.

They dribble way to much rather than move the ball. Rarely do players make 1 touch or 2 touch passes, they rarely play the simple ball that creates some rhythm and flow, and the way they play doesn't generate high probability scoring opportunities. The players show little poise or composure on the ball and get frantic anytime they cross the midline. 18 shots don't matter is they're poor, low probability shots. They're simply half court shots in basketball. Once in a while they will find the net but until the style changes to get numbers up in the attack the struggle to score will continue.

 

[RollerVol]

:cray:

GO VOLS!

 

[Special Ed]

I didn't even know we had a soccer team.