Tennessee Soccer 2016 Season Thread

#51
#51
The Vols got a desperately needed win tonight over georgia, 2-0. Given all the tough games coming up in the well-balanced SEC, it was imperative that UT beat what looks to be a relatively weak Bulldog team, especially after our opening debacle against alabama.

It's amazing that we won this one comfortably because the Vols were absolutely abysmal in the first 30 minutes of the game. We were lucky not to have given up a goal or two as we had players caught out of position and our possession game, such as it is, was laughably bad. However, things changed in the last 15 mins. of the first half after the insertion of Bialczak and Vignola into the lineup. They both made a huge difference, the Vols started to control play, and we mostly dominated the second half, with plucky R. O'Keefe scoring two goals, both coming off corners, to give us the margin of victory. We were terrible on corner kicks last year, offensively and defensively, and we were terrible in the Washington game this year, when we had 13 corners and couldn't convert on any of them, and that inability to finish cost us that game. This year we've been better--thankfully.

Some of the positives I've noticed in this game and lately:
1) Vignola is a quality midfielder, she has a bit of size, ball skills and seems to know how to position herself, and she makes our midfield a lot better when she is on the field.

2 Our defense pitched another shutout, though there were more than a few shaky moments in the first half. Pensky boldly took three attacking players and put them into defensive positions, and we're a noticeably sounder team because of it. Neal, Marcano and O'Keefe are three of our more talented soccer players--and they've been able to disrupt the opposition attack. Neal (centerback) and Marcano (right outside back) are quick and tough-minded, and they, along with O'Keefe, now in the holding mid role, can play higher up the pitch and win balls from the the opposition. Before the change, we had less athleticism in the back and at holding mid, and, for that reason, I think, were sitting back too deep, not challenging the ball, giving the opposition way too much room. You hate to have to move three attacking players, but the change has made us a better team.

3) Bialczak is starting to become an attacking threat. She had a cracking good header tonight that went right at the georgia keeper, and she made a very nice place and strike early in the second half that would have been a goal but for an excellent safe. She's been playing well. And of course O'Keefe has been steady and good all year.

Negatives:

1) We are surely one of the worst possession teams in the SEC, and proved it tonight in the first 30 minutes. I can only assume that possession isn't Pensky's thing, for better or worse. We don't make enough one- and two-touch passes for a team that has players bunched together quite a bit; we don't create enough space, and we play too slowly--everyone spends too much time on the ball. Kupritz got the ball several times near midfield in the first half, and lost the ball or made a bad pass practically every time. She continues to try and dribble past or through people--oh, my. Every time. We don't dribble to possess much at all. It's ugly. We're like UT women's basketball under Summitt and Warlick--throw the ball at the basket and then go get it. We kick it forward and then go get it. That's basically UT's style.

2) Morrow got caught upfield a few times in the first half and could not get back and really put us in danger, not to mention passing it directly to a georgia forward who went straight in on our keeper but was slow getting the shot off and we escaped with giving up a goal. Were it another SEC team, we would have been trailing by a goal.

On to florida! It's hard to see how we're going to beat the gators, who surely will be breathing fire after losing their second straight game. Auburn beat them 3-0! Auburn played well--they've got a good midfield and can counter pretty effectively, and did so tonight. But florida's back four and keeper struggled. The keeper made two howlers that cost florida two goals--trying to make passes that hit auburn forwards. One hit an auburn forward and rolled into the florida net. On the other, the florida keeper came way out to clear a ball, kicked it into the same auburn forward, who moved forward to get it before the keeper or any florida defenders could recover, and rolled it a long way into the florida net. Florida is badly missing its two exceptional centerbacks from recent years--so much so that they moved their attacking mid, the georgia transfer, to centerback tonight, emulating pensky's move. To get a tie and a point against florida would be huge. Our new alignment might give us a chance, but I think our weak possession/passing game will cost us.
 
#52
#52
It's not surprising that the SEC is tough and competitive, almost from top to bottom, in soccer. It's the nature of the league. There are 14 teams in the conference, 10 get into the SEC tourney, and ideally you'd like to get in the top 6 and so get a first-round bye. Won't be easy! It is going to be a fight among four or five teams just to get into the SEC tourney--it is, again, a competitive conference.

Arkansas has been the surprise of the league--maybe of the country--so this year. I haven't seen enough of them to say how one of the worst teams in the league has managed to beat both duke and florida--and, then, yesterday, alabama. I mean, the Vols beat Arkansas in Arkansas last year. (It wasn't a pretty win, mind you, but we did manage the victory.) It's not easy to play at Arkansas (kind of a long trip to nowhere), just as missouri and texas a&m are hard away games--and the hogs beat duke and florida at home. The hogs certainly aren't great, but they are direct and they have been opportunistic and taken advantage of corner chances. The florida game was played on a sopping wet field, which helped arkansas, and they nipped a goal in OT yesterday to beat alabama.

I expect, based on results to date, a quick look at schedules and teams strengths based on what I've seen, for south carolina, arkansas, florida and auburn to make the tourney. Florida is off to a rough start but I'll be very surprised if they don't rebound sufficiently to get in comfortable by end of season. That's four teams.

On the other end, I think it's going to be very tough for georgia and miss. state to get into the tourney, as neither of them as a point yet in league play.

That, in theory, leaves 8 teams vying for the remaining 6 tournament spots--and it is impossible to predict how the standings will shake out. Among the Vols, vandy, texas a&m, kentucky, alabama, lsu, ole miss and missouri, there are a lot of closely matched teams.

I think the Vols have a fairly tough road ahead. We play at florida, on sunday, at lsu and at auburn--and it will be hard to get results in those games. I saw a little of LSU for the first time yesterday against South Carolina yesterday, and the tigers are athletic.

The vandy, miss. state, texas a&m and kentucky games will be key for UT--all home except kentucky. We need to rack up some points in those games--a minimum of 7 points (two wins and a tie), I think--to keep ourselves in a decent position in the standings. We have to beat a miss. state team that is struggling.

In the other three games, vandy might be the toughest test. They are a well-coached possession team; they knock the ball around pretty effectively. They beat texas a&m (at vandy) yesterday 2-0 and controlled play for most of the game. They make you chase. We and Vandy have different styles (direct vs. possession) and so it will be interesting to see which team can impose it's style on the other.

Conversely, texas a&m, which was ranked 14th nationally going into yesterday's play, did not look good--and they only managed one second half, set-piece goal against a not-good georgia team last week in college station. They are beatable, I think, if we stay tight defensively. Kentucky, in lexington will be tough: they are solid but not spectacular, well-coached, and will probably be hungry for a win when we play there. In kentucky, a&m and vandy, you're talking about 3 games in which are chances of getting a result could be about 50 percent.

It is going to be a grind, and we need results in the mid-season games starting next week. I'm writing off the florida game--no expectations for that one!
 
#53
#53
Good win against Georgia. Survived the first 20-30 minutes where they could have gone down a goal or two if GA finished.

The biggest difference the past few games is Neal in the back. Marcano and Morrow have also made a difference but from the minute Neal moved to center back the back line improved. Credit the coaching staff for the moves made on the back line.

I'm not going to reiterate the concerns about keeping the ball. The way this team is playing now is the only way it can win. Not enough good legitimate soccer players to play the style the best teams in the country play. I would love to see forwards connect passes rather than the constant 1 v1 or 1 v 2 mode they all get into. Kills any flow.

I also credit the coaches for getting the team to be tougher these past few games. A lot more bite.

I'm not writing off Florida game. The Vols will have to be very disciplined in the back and avoid getting stretched like they did a few times against GA. Do that, steal a goal, and maybe steal a win. It will be tough but for this weekend the Vols are playing with house money.
 
#54
#54
While disappointed in the result the Vols should be very happy with the effort the played with against Florida. The fact is Florida is a better soccer team, more patient, better passers, and better movement. But the Vols showed great heart and but for a few unfortunate mistakes could have stolen the match.

The way the Vols play is the way the Vols play. It isn't pretty, but this team can win games the rest of the way. The upcoming week is big. Must get 2 wins. Dig deep, keep playing hard and they can do it just like they got the three points they needed this weekend.
 
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#55
#55
I watched the first 15-18 minutes of the florida game and stopped watching as I could anticipate how it would play out--florida was growing into the game, controlling possession, while we became increasingly defensive. I figured that, even best case, were were going to give up 1 or 2 goals and probably lose.

I sensed trouble at the 10 minute mark. We high-pressed effectively to start the game, and had the ball SEVERAL times in the attacking third--and yet did absolutely nothing with it. Didn't come close to generating a single quality chance, and from there florida started to get it together, possess the ball out and we apparently played the rest of the game on the back foot. As soon as florida got the ball in our attacking half, in contrast to our play, they were testing our keeper. We had one shot on goal for the game against a team that looked shaky in the back against auburn three days ago. We did, I see, generate 7 corner kicks, which is pretty good given how lopsided the shot totals were. In this game, it's obvious we needed to convert on at least one of those corners.

I do not agree that we don't have the players to play better possession soccer. I think it's coaching. It's a mentality and it is practice. We may not have florida's depth--but you can't tell me that Marcano, Christy, O'Keefe, Wilkinson, Baldwin, Vignola and Bialczak and even Kupritz can't play better possession soccer than we see in midfield and the attacking half. Baldwin has size, pace and athleticism issues--but the one thing she does have are some technical skills that are key to possession football. Marcano, Vignola, Bialczak and O'Keefe were all top prospects and have definite talent in all phases of the games; Christy is no slouch--and Wilkinson is a national team player for years for New Zealand, with size and skills. The idea that we don't have talent is silly. I see a coach who seems to have a rudimentary attacking philosophy. Even Kupritz, who seems chronically locked into to taking on defenders 1v1 or 1v2 could be taught to combine--should be taught to combine. Our players spend too much time on the ball; we don't pass and play fast enough. We dither and get dispossessed, make a bad pass or--our default tactic--loft the ball forward and hope for the best.

Do you think we don't have enough talent to play possession soccer against georgia? We have more talent than georgia--there's no question about that--and yet we were terrible in the first 30 minutes of that game. No possession. That wasn't a talent issue. Pensky, weirdly, does not seem to respect possession soccer--or he doesn't know how to teach it. He said after the georgia game that the strategy was to put the ball behind them and go from there. Maybe I'm wrong, but that seems like a strategy that works against mediocre or weak teams but doesn't work against strong opponents, who are strong TYPICALLY because they know how to keep the ball. The best you can hope for is to work your tail off defensively all night, hope your keeper stands on her head and you steal a goal on a set piece or somesuch. Problem is, that scenario rarely plays out. I make this assertion based on empirical evidence: this is what we've seen from the Vols for four years! Even good counter-attacking teams move decisively with the ball when they get it and connect two or three sharp passes.

I want Pensky to succeed, and give him credit for the changes that have so improved the defense--they were smart. But good grief: It took him more than a year to realize that Marcano should be on the field more than 25/30 minutes a game? One could watch ONE game last year--early last year--and see that. And he's making the same mistake now with Vignola. Why is she playing 45 minutes and not 90? (Why is Baldwin playing 90 minutes when she should be playing 25 or 30, IMO?) If Vignola is physically not capable of playing more than 45, OK, but if her fitness is fine, then yikes.

If I'm Pensky, I might be giving minutes to McClung at forward. She doesn't have the pace of Kupritz or Gouner but she is savvy and experienced; I think she might be more productive--which wouldn't be hard since Kupritz, who certainly plays hard and can high-press effectively, hasn't been productive. She has a couple of good plays a game--gets us a corner--but there have been no assists or goals. I'm also playing Yanez all game.

The Vandy game, at home, now becomes seriously important. It won't be easy at all. Vandy is, ahem, another good possession team with some solid players--well coached, and they are playing well. They've just shut out texas a&m (2-0) and lsu (3-0). They will be brimming with confidence. Meanwhile, we seem mostly like a team that, against solid/good competition, needs to score on set pieces to pull out a result. And not one goal but two, probably. We need a strong performance against a team that is going to make us chase the ball a lot if we can't do more with the ball ourself.
 
#56
#56
The Vols could not be further away from playing a possession style. As I have said before it starts in the back. Our goalies do not distribute the ball in a possession style. They never roll the ball out to a back, they never play a goal kick to a back. The ball is distributed forward via a punt or kick as far as it can go into what is at best a 50-50 ball. Usually it results into the opponent getting the ball.

While I give the coaches huge credit for changes they made in the back that have helped get results, the UT backs are not good possession style backs. Weak to average at best first touches, incapable of playing 1 touch and 2 touch because the touches are bad. They are also poor passers in that the don't play the ball to feet. The most capable possession players on the team are the undersized midfielders including Cousins. They have the best touches and are the best passers. Unfortunately, they do not get the quantity of touches in a game to play a possession style because UT regularly bypasses the midfield. Then you have the UT forwards who also lack technical skills. Collectively this group doesn't pass well and lacks critical skills to play a possession style. How many times did UF pass a ball on target, with proper pace, and the receiver in stride? Then contrast that with UT which time and again plays balls that are difficult to receive, not at feet, and behind the receiver. Until a group has that kind of precision it is impossible to play possession against quality opponents.

Beyond the technical weaknesses and mindset to play a possession style, this group lacks sophistication in movement and has no patience to let a sequence develop. I'm not sure there was more than one time last night when UT connected 5 passes, yet the SEC network announcer spoke of UF regularly seeking to connect 10-12 passes. So to answer your question, I don't think UT has the talent to play a possession style.

One of the reasons I have given the staff huge credit the past couple of weeks is that they have made changes that are getting results, and could have gotten a result last night. The team played very hard and had some chances. If they continue with that type of effort and can eliminate a couple of mistakes, they may be able to get into the NCAA tourney with 5 more regular season wins.
 
#57
#57
I suppose this is classic disagreement about talent vs. coaching. Typically, it tends to be both.

We are doing a pretty good job on winning the ball in midfield. When we win the ball in midfield, our midfielders/outside backs have it--and it is their responsibility--along with the forwards--to connect passes or create situations that result in good chances. That is what good teams do. We /don't/ do a good job of turning midfield possession into quality chances; we give the ball away cheaply far too often, and that is why we struggle when we play better teams. It is the coaches job to fix that; there is no reason why our group can't connect passes. On the plus side, We've done a good job of creating corners this year and need to convert more of them.

Yes, if we win five our remaining 7 SEC games, we could get into the NCAA tourney--but that will be a very tall order indeed. We will have our hands full tomorrow night with Vandy--a good possession team! If we are going to crank it up, now's the time as the schedule is pretty tough. We'll talk after Vandy--positively, I hope!
 
#58
#58
When it comes to passing soccer balls I think most of the Vols are worse than Tebow passing footballs. Poor technique, poor pace, rarely to feet. But as I have said, I give credit to the staff for coming up with a strategy that gives them the best chance to get results and at the end of the day that is all that matters.

When I said 5 wins I was thinking 4 SEC wins and Indiana State. Vandy needs to be a win. Go Vols!!!
 
#59
#59
Brutal loss--yet another brutal loss. I did not see the last half of the 2nd half or the OT's. I'm not sure who to blame for the winning Vandy goal--our backs, for letting a Vandy player get behind them, or the linesman for missing what might have been an obvious offside. The only angle I saw was from behind our net, a bad angle--but the Vandy player seemed at least 10 yards past our last defender when the ball got to her, and the pass was hit with some pace, so if she was onside it was by a fraction.

Even if the call was blown, I have think our defenders blew it as well because you want to be cautious in the back in OT, not risk a call, and not risk losing the game late--at least get a freakin' point. And instead we were careless. Yea, you want to try to win the game--but you can't have EVERYBODY close to midfield. It was, sadly, a typical outcome for a Pensky team. We played hard all night, fought back to tie it late--and then our backs screwed it up. Culhane should have been more vigilant, given that Neal was way up the field. That's two back-breaking goals that she's given up in two games--and she is our most experienced defender! Oh, my. I just don't think you want to play an offside late in the game like that, even though my bet is the Vandy girl was two yards offside when the pass was made. Coupled with the Yanez mistake in the second half and we gave up two bad goals. Can't do it. Can't do it. The first Vandy goal resulted from Morrow getting beat twice--first to the ball by their forward, and then, worse getting beat by the Vandy forward to the inside after Neal came over to help her, and giving up the cross, and then Marcano got beat by a good play by the scorer for Vandy.

I thought our back four struggled in the first half, and the inexperience of Neal and Marcano at their new positions was evident. Marcano, who looked pretty confident against georgia, seemed lost tonight in the first half--very indecisive, not sure whether to go forward or hang back. She has helped but she is not an ideal outside back. Gouner, with height and speed, is more prototypical, IMO, but after showing some promise last year hasn't really had much impact this year and has been playing a little bit at forward too. Marcano is a more natural midfielder--that is pretty obvious to me. Neal, meanwhile, likes to roam the field, get forward. She's helped a lot but seems a bit too brazen at times--and you simply can't leave Morrow and Culhane exposed to talented forwards. Perhaps we'd be better off with Culhane going foward and Neal hanging back, as she is faster and more physical than Culhane and thus is better insurance. Neal, when in the back, also had two or three heavy touches on passes that were close to disastrous--the ball bouncing six feet in front of her after hitting her foot, with a Vandy forward closing in. She recovered, but still...

This is what Pensky gets from having a less than stable back four. You can't have a good team unless you are good in the back. We haven't been good enough in the back--or in the midfield, or up front--in recent years. And it ought to give Pensky pause that Vandy is even younger than we are, with a second-year coach. Poor passing is a function of poor coaching, IMO.

I did like the fact that the UT backs /tried/ to play the ball out of the back some in the first half--even if they weren't very good at it. Instead of making two passes and lumping it forward; they made, say, 5--and then lumped it, as the passes usually didn't advance the ball very far.

On the plus side, we completely controlled the second half against a good Vandy team, but they helped by dropping back and hunkering down. When the overtimes came 'round and we started to lose the high press, you immediately start to worry as we get disorganized a bit too easily at times.

Just when you think the Vols MIGHT be turning the corner, or starting to, they lose a game like this.I hate to be pessimistic, but there is no way this team is winning four SEC games out of the six remaining. Not now. We've got a hard schedule and we're just not good enough. I think two wins and a draw is best case scenario for this team--BEST CASE--and that may not be enough to get us in the SEC tourney. If I were an oddsmaker, I'd give us a more than 50 percent change of winning only one of our remaining six games--Miss. State at home, and as we've seen nothing is certain with this team. Our other two home games are Texas a&m and SC. We aren't beating SC--and texas a&m, while not great this year, is solid and more than capable of beating us. We then have away games at lsu, kentucky and auburn, which all promise to be tough. I can only hope we play well enough, with maybe some breaks with the outcomes of other conference games, and sneak into the conference tourney. But that's looking iffy--again. We have to get better--and, for starters, stop giving up stupid goals.
 
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#60
#60
I thought both teams were awful in terms of quality soccer. It was like watching a tennis match the way the ball was sent back and forth. I'm sure this isn't true but it sure feels like both teams passed more balls in the air than on the ground.

I have pounded that being good starts by being good in the back. Even with the personnel changes we aren't good in the back. We are much more athletic but in terms of playing quality soccer our backs have no idea about shape, angles, spacing and the giveaway balls like crazy. While if we played quality soccer I would love to see our backs get into the attack, when they attack the movement is so bad we get exposed. Normally, if center backs get into the attack mids drop to prevent a counter. In a normal 4-3-3 if the outside backs attack and get deep, a forward or mid drops to cover for them. We have zero of that type of movement let alone anything sophisticated in terms of runs.

Vandy was just as bad as the Vols. They made a couple of plays where the Vols got lazy defending but they were bad, which in reality is the case of most of college soccer which doesn't play the beautiful game.

For this team to get results, it needs to play conservative in the back and limit attacking from the back. Just defend and send balls forward. Prevent numbers building up from the opponents and try to prevent goals. To the extent the backs get too far forward, especially Neal, it exposes the poor shape and movement of the rest of the team. Simply defend and send. Then hope to steal a goal with brute force.

Whenever the Vols make any attempt at even trying to play a little bit they expose their poor technical skills, poor passing skills, and get drilled even by somebody as bad as Vandy and the other poor teams they have lost to. The Vols need to be who and what they are. Low risk, athletic, defend, send, get a goal and maybe a win.

I thought the team needed 5 wins before last night. Losing to Vandy makes the road tougher. Must win tomorrow against Indiana State and Thursday against LSU. This group can get some results. Need to play the only way they can get them.
 
#61
#61
Vandy is not a poor team. Before this game they'd beaten texas a&m 2-0 and lsu 3-0. Those were two pretty impressive wins. They can play an effective possession game. We completely took them out of their game in the second half with our aggressive high press and our athleticism as we were desperate to tie the game. And Vandy, in turn, started parking the bus and trying to hang on.

Was it ugly? Absolutely. When we play well, that is how we play--keeping the ball in the opponent's half of the field and trying to nick a goal. There isn't much polish, which has been obvious for a long time. The passing is poor--imprecise; the movement is poor; almost all of our players spend too much time on the ball---all a function of coaching and training, IMO, as we've got some decent talent on the field. Marcano, Vignola, O'keefe, Christy, Baldwin, Wilkinson--they have technical skills. Maybe not so much Morrow and Culhane and others. You need 10 players with technical skills, athleticism and smarts to be a good team, and we just haven't figured it out. (McClung has technical skills but is not playing, for example, because she lacks pace.) Even so, there are teams that are far less than great, who certainly do not play beautifully, but nevertheless manage to get results. You'd have a hard time convincing me that Arkansas has more talent than we do, or a few other teams--but they get results. We too seldom get results.

I think you're right: we have to go back to being conservative. I think that's how Pensky essentially played his first few years. Problem was, while were fairly effective at limiting the opponent to a goal or two, at most, we couldn't score ourselves! Recall that we started last year with two 0-0 ties with mighty Lipscomb and Liberty. We averaged /under/ 1 goal a game in SEC play. We played stupidly in the second OT. By then your goal has to be--let's at least get a point. We've worked hard to tie it--let's at least get the tie. But I think we were thinking win, because, yea, we need wins--but you risk losing if you are too aggressive, and we stupidly lost the game. You can't let Neal be too aggressive because Culhane can get beat--she's given up two key goals in the last two games, and Morrow can get beat if left exposed. We clearly should have had more people back.

I think Pensky thought we could play a little more assertively this year and score more goals, and we have been a little better in attack--if only because of having Wilkinson and Neal (before her switch) up front. We were good at creating corners but the polish needed to create quality chances, the combination play, was and is still missing and we still had problems in the back. And now we've got two attacking players in the back, trying to learn new positions, and our two veteran defenders are sort of meh--not physical enough and sometimes not fast enough. They look good for spells and then make a mistake, we give up a goal and lose. It is frustrating--and one must look at Pensky, who as best I can tell didn't really recruit any experienced club level backs for /at least/ two years.

If I'm Pensky, I consider asking the two best soccer coaches/minds I know to come watch a few practices and watch some UT game tapes and let them analyze everything. Get some fresh eyes on the program--we need the soccer equivalent of McKinsey & Co. to offer consulting advice. It might help...a little.
 
#62
#62
The reason I said Vandy wasn't good is good teams that possess the ball don't get taken out of their game. Instead they impose their will on their opponent. Vandy was playing as many bad balls as the Vols.

When I was watching game last night it was interesting hearing the criticisms Torrey Beeler Watson had. She walked a fine line given she is a UT announcer, but she spoke of how poor the movement was, the poor passes from the back line, how UT constantly plays balls over the top and gives balls away, and how easy it is to defend them, and how the midfield is never engaged. Listening to her throughout the game felt like she wanted to gouge her eyes out.

That said, the Vols can get some results if they fully embrace what they are. Be very disciplined in the back, be conservative in attack, and try to steal a goal.
 
#63
#63
The midfield makes plenty of bad passes and plays itself, and is often engaged when we are keeping the ball in the opponent's half as we did against Vandy. It's fine to blame the backs all the time, and they damn sure need to be better, for sure--but where is the play-making and influence from our mids? Our mids were terrible against BYU. O'Keefe is the only consistently good, productive, influential mid that we have. Vignola shows a lot of promise--and has scored twice in run of play. Do we even have a 10? We have more talent than we did three years ago but still plenty of weaknesses all over the field, including our forwards.

Nothing typifies our lack of precision--in all respects--like today's Indiana State game. As I write we are into OT. We have 29 shots and have only put 1 into the Ind. State net! Are you kidding? Collegiate players and you can't do better than that? O'Keefe missed a penalty kick, apparently. (How about giving Marcano or Vignola a chance on penalty kicks--they have big legs.) Meanwhile, we gave up a goal at the 85 minute mark. Oh, my. Everything is hard for us.
 
#64
#64
And we just won it on a goal by Wilkinson, thankfully. 32 shots and we manage two goals. Pensky played everybody today but Bialczak--I hope she is not hurt.
 
#65
#65
Didn't see the game today so don't have any comments other than surprised Indiana State took the VOLS to OT. I thought ISU may have been the worst team on schedule. Must win at LSU. GO VOLS!!!!
 
#67
#67
Vol Soc Fan said:
Didn't see the game today so don't have any comments other than surprised Indiana State took the VOLS to OT. I thought ISU may have been the worst team on schedule. Must win at LSU. GO VOLS!!!!
Click to expand...

Since I live here in BR, am going over there to represent, tomorrow. Go Vols! :rock:
 
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#68
#68
Big win over lsu tonight. We /desperately/ needed 3 points and got them, after squandering, stupidly, what should have been a point against Vandy. (When you do that you not only lose a point yourself but give three to a conference opponent, bolstering that team's position in the standings.) The downside is that we may have lost M. Christy, who seemed to have hurt her knee in the second half. Fingers crossed that it is not a serious knee injury, especially because she sat out last year recovering from a knee injury, but it looked rather bad.

Nice to see us scoring some goals--and two by center mids. I frankly was pleased to hear Pensky mention after the game that the team has needed more production from the center mids. That has been obvious for a long time--we got absolutely nothing out of our center mids last year and not much this year, really, until tonight. You cannot be good in attack if your center mids are not creating and scoring. Tonight midfielder C. Baldwin--who has been ineffectual, IMO, for a year and a half--finally influenced a game positively, assisting on our first goal and scoring on a wonderful header for our second, off a really nice cross by Flynn. Christy got our third goal with another excellent header off of a nice cross by Morrow, we went up 3-0, and held on for a 3-1 victory.

Anna Bialczak deserves most of the credit for the first goal. Christy got the ball in midfield, had acres of space, made a run straight into the LSU box. Bialczak was wide open on the left side of the box. Christy hesitated, then made a terrible pass that wasn't even close to Bialczak. However, Bialczak chased down the errant pass before it went over the end line, turned and sent the ball across goal. Baldwin arrived and hit a fairly tepid strike right at the lsu keeper, who deflected the ball back out in front of goal, and H. Wilkinson was on the spot for the cleanup, knocking it in the net. The play rather illustrated our lack of polish in the attacking third, but the players stuck with it and we scored.

On the second goal, M.Flynn, playing forward, made a nice low cross into the box from the left wing. She is someone who can hit crosses with pace, something we don't often do. Baldwin and Wilkinson were both in the box and waiting. Baldwin probably could have tried to slot the low ball with her left foot; instead, she lunged forward toward the ball and nodded it brilliantly into the LSU net from practically ground level. It was an almost impossible header, given how low the ball was, but Baldwin got her head on it and at a perfect angle. The much ballyhooed Baldwin is actually starting to make a few plays in her new role as attacking mid as opposed to holding mid. She has technical skills and a good IQ, and those qualities have helped our attack a bit. Good work from her.

I didn't see the last 20 minutes of the game. I thought Marcano struggled again at right back. It is apparently a new position for her--and it shows. She was out of position more than a few times, let the ball or her mark get behind her a few times; she seemed, again, at sea, and understandably so. Marcano took over right back after Gouner apparently struggled at the position, and Gouner tonight started at forward. If I were Pensky, I'd think about returning Gouner to right back and returning Marcano to midfield, which is certainly a more natural position for her. Gouner has the pace one needs at outside back, which is a very demanding position, but may lack a bit of toughness and tenacity. She is a kid with potential who just needs to keep working to improve. I also don't see her bringing anything to the right forward position that Kupritz doesn't have. With Christy perhaps out, the coach needs to decide who is going to play center mid with Vignola, unless she can go 80 minutes. If so, he probably doesn't move Marcano. We do need some defensive dependability at right back.


This win was doubly important because LSU was below us in the standings, and so we now have widened the points gap between us and them. I think we are now tied with alabama in the standings. After embarrassing the Vols in the opening SEC game, bama has won only one other game; they got beat tonight by an ole miss team that played a solid game.

Texas a&M is next, on Sunday. That, too, is a huge game as the aggies are also below us in the standings and we want to keep them there. They will be better than lsu, that is for sure. They looked to have Missouri beaten tonight, but mizzou, playing a man down, scored late to tie it, and that match ended in a tie. Missouri had at least 15 corner kicks, I believe. A win over A&M would be, as Pensky likes to say, massive!
 
#69
#69
Odds and ends from last night:

---Stanford got beat by Southern Cal last night, 0-3. That was the first time Stanford has given up more than 2 goals since 2005! That's 11 years without giving up more than 2 goals in a game. Unbelievable. That rather illustrates the importance of defense in this sport, as Stanford as been good for a long time. I almost think I have to go back and verify that fact again--seems hard to believe--but got it from the Stanford article on last night's game.

--I now have to give Arkansas its due. I don't know how a team that was bad last year can be seemingly so good this year, but they've certainly been on a hot streak. I have to watch them more closely, I guess. I saw a pretty long stretch of their game against alabama and both teams were rather meh--but of course they scored on a corner late, or in OT, to win it. I think the hogs are pretty good in the attacking third. They had a nice goal last night where one arkansas player headed a ball across the vandy goal, knowing she couldn't head it in from her position--and a teammate headed in for the goal. That's good soccer.


---Alabama is actually below the Vols in the standings, not tied.

--Vols need to get wins and points in the next three games, all against teams below UT in the conference standings--a&m, miss. state and kentucky. texas a&m will be tough--they've got talent and can play and will be hungry--and they've got an easier schedule than we do after this game, so all the more important to get a win in this game. Vols need points in next three games because we finish the season at auburn (good team--not great, but more polished than we are in attack) and then at home against south carolina, which I think is undefeated. Two very tough games in which we'd need to play extremely well to get any kind of result.
 
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#70
#70
Great result last night. I thought LSU played better but the Vols were effective in their counterattack and put the ball in the net.

Our backs were frequently exposed last night, primarily from being out of formation. Multiple times outside backs failed to tuck in and cut off seams in the defense to make LSU dangerous. Also got exposed on low soccer IQ in that after they made the score 3-0 they got worse in the back in terms of taking more risks.

The Vols still give away far too many balls with careless passes and need to shore that up against TAMU. Sure hope the injury bug didn't bite the Vols in a big way last night. Agree it didn't look good.

The Vandy and Alabama games really hurt for SEC play and the SEMO game was just awful. Had the current lineup been in place against Alabama we don't give up 5 goals and I think we beat SEMO. Vandy should have been a draw in the worst case scenario. Rather than 8-6 the Vols could easily be at least 10-4. Oh well. Move forward.

TAMU is a tough matchup. They can keep the ball and the Vols need to play their most disciplined defensive game to get points this game. I agree that the Vols need points the next 3 games with at least 2 of the games as wins. At least 7 points the next 3 games gets them into the SEC tourney and then you roll the dice against SC and Auburn. Maybe we can steal a win against one of these two.

Saw the scores you posted. That is a huge win for USC. Another big game for USA in the U17 WC against Japan. USA needs to win to advance from group play. Not advancing wouldn't look good.
 
#71
#71
After re-watching a good portion of the LSU game, I should revise a comment or two. Marcano actually had quite a solid, defensive game. She does drift inside a lot, but she often tends to make a defensive play when she does. And she gave our center backs a /lot/ of help in and around the box in this game--and blocked what might have been a goal fairly late in the game, around the 10:00 minute mark. She and the whole team really did a pretty nice job of working hard and closing down on LSU players. We really didn't give LSU much of anything in the last 15 minutes of the game. I think Marcano has offensive skills that are going un-utilized at outside back, it's not a natural position for her, but she's a pretty tough competitor and is helping us win games.

Everybody is. Bialczak, in particular, really does a lot of good things for this team. She, like O'Keefe, is all over the field--excellent athlete with a good motor. It is a shame that Christy has got hurt as she is playing the best soccer of her UT career. The Vols have gotten better, --and I hope we can take it to a solid a&m team that is going to give us their best shot. They played an extra 20 minutes against missouri (double OT), so maybe that will work to our advantage!
 
#72
#72
Vol Soc Fan said:
Great result last night. I thought LSU played better but the Vols were effective in their counterattack and put the ball in the net.

Our backs were frequently exposed last night, primarily from being out of formation. Multiple times outside backs failed to tuck in and cut off seams in the defense to make LSU dangerous. Also got exposed on low soccer IQ in that after they made the score 3-0 they got worse in the back in terms of taking more risks.

The Vols still give away far too many balls with careless passes and need to shore that up against TAMU. Sure hope the injury bug didn't bite the Vols in a big way last night. Agree it didn't look good.

The Vandy and Alabama games really hurt for SEC play and the SEMO game was just awful. Had the current lineup been in place against Alabama we don't give up 5 goals and I think we beat SEMO. Vandy should have been a draw in the worst case scenario. Rather than 8-6 the Vols could easily be at least 10-4. Oh well. Move forward.

TAMU is a tough matchup. They can keep the ball and the Vols need to play their most disciplined defensive game to get points this game. I agree that the Vols need points the next 3 games with at least 2 of the games as wins. At least 7 points the next 3 games gets them into the SEC tourney and then you roll the dice against SC and Auburn. Maybe we can steal a win against one of these two.

Saw the scores you posted. That is a huge win for USC. Another big game for USA in the U17 WC against Japan. USA needs to win to advance from group play. Not advancing wouldn't look good.
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It seemed like LSU was trying to overwhelm us by playing physical with big athletic players. But it seemed to me we had the better ball skills, and I thought our coaches subbed in and out pretty judiciously.

I enjoyed so much getting to go watch this game. :wavey:
 
#73
#73
Nice win for the Vols against a depleted TAMU. Given the injuries this is the weakest Aggie team in years, but all the credit to the Vols. TAMU really only had one shot that tested the Vol keeper.

The first goal was achieved after a pass from our right forward to attacking mid who passed to holding mid who passed to left forward who crossed to Wilkinson header. Might have been the most patient sequence in the final third this season and surprise it resulted in a goal. Need a lot more of this to compete against top teams.

Second goal after Neal smacked a ball over the top to Wilkinson who crossed and a finish for the goal.

Looking ahead, the Vols should be favored in all the remaining SEC games except South Carolina. Go 3-1 the rest of the way and probably be a top 5 team in the SEC and make the NCAAs. If the Vols had this lineup against Vandy, Washington, SEMO, Alabama they probably have at least 3 more wins. Go beat Kentucky this week.
 
#74
#74
This was a big win today. We needed points in the worst way in these last two games, and we got two wins and 6 points--and played pretty well, too. LSU seems to have fallen apart--I watched them in the first half of their game against South Carolina and they looked good, but that clearly was their best stretch of soccer all year. And, yea, this isn't a great Texas A&M team, but they've still got some players and we played another effective game---not a pretty game, on the whole, but an effective game, and we can see the Vols starting to play with some confidence.

I thought we played resolute defense for most of this game, and that was the difference. We really shut them down in the first half, gave the aggies very little room, and were solid in the second half too--and scored two goals. We gave the aggies some chances after we scored our first goal, and again late in the game, but on the whole this was a very solid Vol performance. We also actually had a few spells when we played some pretty decent attacking soccer--including the sequence you mention, SocFan--which HAD TO BE the best little bit of possession and passing in the attacking third that we've had against a decent opponent in /at least/ three years--and it resulted in a goal. We had five/six players around the box, and we moved the ball among those players in the way that good teams do. We need more of it. Marcano pushed the ball toward the box, kept the ball, passed the ball--did some things to get that sequence started.

We remain a sloppy team, we still put the ball in the air far too much--Morrow, in particular--and we can count on Morrow and Culhane (and Neal once or twice) to give the ball away badly at least twice each in just about every game, creating dangerous opportunities for the other team, but one can't complain too much.

Odds and ends:

---I think we are seeing Pensky's recruiting and our athleticism starting to pay dividends. We are not a very polished team, to be sure, we still need to get much better in possession --but we have got pretty good at pressing the opponent and winning the ball, and we are /starting/ to play a little soccer in the attacking half....Starting to....

---O'Keefe absolutely dogged A&M center mid M. Harvey in this game, and really kept her from creating much in attack all day. Wonderful hard work from her--and from Marcano, too. on the right, where she contained H. Pounds, a good player, for most of the game.

--Happy to see Bialczak score a goal and get an assist. She is the unsung hero of this team IMO--a huge asset with her athleticism and pace, and she has been making some nice deliveries to Wilkinson in recent games. She is big reason for our success of late--becoming a nice soccer player, and still with considerable upside.

--Kupritz picked a bad time to be unselfish today. She made a nice run to the left of the box, picked up a pass, broke past one or two defenders, went straight in on goal, and had what looked to be a good look at the far post--but instead of shooting the ball, as she should have, she tried to center the ball to Wilkinson and nothing came of the chance. This from a player who almost never likes to pass the ball! When you are 10 feet or fewer from goal and have an open right side of the net, shoot the dam ball. Kupritz was far more dangerous today that Gouner, who is sharing time with her at right forward. It's good that Gouner is getting some PT, it will help her, but she'll have to start doing more than simply holding the ball and then trying to outrun a defender to the corner--which the defenders all seem to know is coming. Kupritz does that about 90 percent of the time, too, which is why it was nice to see her make the run to the left and create a good scoring chance out of it. But they are both tracking back and working hard defensively--as just about all of our players are doing, and this has been a big part of our defensive effectiveness lately.

--Morrow drove me mad today. She is very good about getting up the left flank, she made a great cross to assist on a goal against LSU--but for chrissake, pls. do something other than put the ball in the air toward a well-covered Wilkinson 9 out of 10 times you have it. She does this over and over again, and 90 percent of the time the ball goes directly to the other team. Once in a while, sure--take a chance, but not every freakin' time. Morrow made let's say 25 passes today--and I swear 20 of them were lofted ball toward Wilkinson, and 19 went straight to A&M. How about getting the ball to Vignola and get our center mids occasionally, get them involved, and let's keep the ball?

--Didn't hear anything about Christy today. The announcers started the game by talking about a&m's injury woes, which is perfectly fine of course--but how do you not mention Christy and her status?

---We can certainly get results in our next two games--against kentucky and miss. state--if we maintain our intensity and work rate. We don't want to get complacent now as we continue to need points. We won't be favored against auburn or south carolina--auburn is sitting third in the conference now and playing well. We can get a result against them if we play a strong defensive game, but they'll be the second best team we will have played in conference (after florida). and then we finish with the best team in the conference. The Kentucky game is our only game next week, so we ought to go after it full bore.
 
#75
#75
armchair said:
This was a big win today. We needed points in the worst way in these last two games, and we got two wins and 6 points--and played pretty well, too. LSU seems to have fallen apart--I watched them in the first half of their game against South Carolina and they looked good, but that clearly was their best stretch of soccer all year. And, yea, this isn't a great Texas A&M team, but they've still got some players and we played another effective game---not a pretty game, on the whole, but an effective game, and we can see the Vols starting to play with some confidence.

I thought we played resolute defense for most of this game, and that was the difference. We really shut them down in the first half, gave the aggies very little room, and were solid in the second half too--and scored two goals. We gave the aggies some chances after we scored our first goal, and again late in the game, but on the whole this was a very solid Vol performance. We also actually had a few spells when we played some pretty decent attacking soccer--including the sequence you mention, SocFan--which HAD TO BE the best little bit of possession and passing in the attacking third that we've had against a decent opponent in /at least/ three years--and it resulted in a goal. We had five/six players around the box, and we moved the ball among those players in the way that good teams do. We need more of it. Marcano pushed the ball toward the box, kept the ball, passed the ball--did some things to get that sequence started.

We remain a sloppy team, we still put the ball in the air far too much--Morrow, in particular--and we can count on Morrow and Culhane (and Neal once or twice) to give the ball away badly at least twice each in just about every game, creating dangerous opportunities for the other team, but one can't complain too much.

Odds and ends:

---I think we are seeing Pensky's recruiting and our athleticism starting to pay dividends. We are not a very polished team, to be sure, we still need to get much better in possession --but we have got pretty good at pressing the opponent and winning the ball, and we are /starting/ to play a little soccer in the attacking half....Starting to....

---O'Keefe absolutely dogged A&M center mid M. Harvey in this game, and really kept her from creating much in attack all day. Wonderful hard work from her--and from Marcano, too. on the right, where she contained H. Pounds, a good player, for most of the game.

--Happy to see Bialczak score a goal and get an assist. She is the unsung hero of this team IMO--a huge asset with her athleticism and pace, and she has been making some nice deliveries to Wilkinson in recent games. She is big reason for our success of late--becoming a nice soccer player, and still with considerable upside.

--Kupritz picked a bad time to be unselfish today. She made a nice run to the left of the box, picked up a pass, broke past one or two defenders, went straight in on goal, and had what looked to be a good look at the far post--but instead of shooting the ball, as she should have, she tried to center the ball to Wilkinson and nothing came of the chance. This from a player who almost never likes to pass the ball! When you are 10 feet or fewer from goal and have an open right side of the net, shoot the dam ball. Kupritz was far more dangerous today that Gouner, who is sharing time with her at right forward. It's good that Gouner is getting some PT, it will help her, but she'll have to start doing more than simply holding the ball and then trying to outrun a defender to the corner--which the defenders all seem to know is coming. Kupritz does that about 90 percent of the time, too, which is why it was nice to see her make the run to the left and create a good scoring chance out of it. But they are both tracking back and working hard defensively--as just about all of our players are doing, and this has been a big part of our defensive effectiveness lately.

--Morrow drove me mad today. She is very good about getting up the left flank, she made a great cross to assist on a goal against LSU--but for chrissake, pls. do something other than put the ball in the air toward a well-covered Wilkinson 9 out of 10 times you have it. She does this over and over again, and 90 percent of the time the ball goes directly to the other team. Once in a while, sure--take a chance, but not every freakin' time. Morrow made let's say 25 passes today--and I swear 20 of them were lofted ball toward Wilkinson, and 19 went straight to A&M. How about getting the ball to Vignola and get our center mids occasionally, get them involved, and let's keep the ball?

--Didn't hear anything about Christy today. The announcers started the game by talking about a&m's injury woes, which is perfectly fine of course--but how do you not mention Christy and her status?

---We can certainly get results in our next two games--against kentucky and miss. state--if we maintain our intensity and work rate. We don't want to get complacent now as we continue to need points. We won't be favored against auburn or south carolina--auburn is sitting third in the conference now and playing well. We can get a result against them if we play a strong defensive game, but they'll be the second best team we will have played in conference (after florida). and then we finish with the best team in the conference. The Kentucky game is our only game next week, so we ought to go after it full bore.
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I agree with much of this, but could not disagree more than the comment about Kupritz. I rarely use players names because I don't like to speak negatively by name about college athetes. I think Kupritz is by far the most selfish Vol, struggles to pass the ball, and regularly makes poor decisions. But that isn't the worst about her game. She regularly engages in physical play that has and will again lead to serious injury. She would never play on a team I coached. Never. Her play reflects poorly on the staff and the program.

Love the point about KY being the only game this week. The Vols need to go all in to win this game. This would be a huge road win and it will be a tough battle but I think the Vols win.
 
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