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Post by bearsandbulls on Aug 25, 2019 9:43:23 GMT -5
Home opener today at Shaw Field 1:00 PM vs. #21 NCState Wolfpack. Go Hoyas. If you are on or near campus, should be a good game. With students having moved in, hopefully a good supporting crowd.
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Aug 25, 2019 9:55:57 GMT -5
Let’s go ladies.
Start off another great year on the front foot.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Aug 25, 2019 15:02:20 GMT -5
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Post by bearsandbulls on Aug 25, 2019 19:32:23 GMT -5
The Wolfpack ate the lunch of our experienced back line today. Does not bode well, but hopefully an early season wake up call. NCState also had a shutdown defender on the left side shutting down the usual Hoya entry. Better times ahead hopefully.
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Post by bearsandbulls on Aug 28, 2019 8:23:49 GMT -5
Game #3 versus Duke on the road tonight. The Hoyas need to come back strong on the road after losing to NCState, fellow ACC team, at home. The Dookies won their first game then lost to powerhouse UNC 0-2 in game 2 for them. This will pit two hungry teams against each other. Go Hoyas.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Aug 28, 2019 23:06:34 GMT -5
Final after 2OT
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Bigs"R"Us
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Aug 29, 2019 4:39:15 GMT -5
I’ll take it.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Aug 30, 2019 21:12:06 GMT -5
Identical result to last year's early-season tilt. Kind of a strange match, which probably makes sense - both teams were coming off of losses, and that is a fairly unfamiliar position for both squads. The Hoyas and Devils each started out looking like they wanted to avenge their defeat the last time out immediately, all in the first 20 minutes, as if you can win the game in that span. Very frenetic, very aggressive with the press, very "mashing too hard on the Power button" sort of feel. Things kinda sorta settled down eventually, and there were stretches of more orderly play from each side. Georgetown in particular was able to string together some nice sequences of passes, although they clearly miss having Grace Nguyen out there as both a rock of a ball-controller and a central distributor. Neither squad could really put the ball on frame despite repeated storming of the opponents' 18 - the Hoyas keeper didn't record her first save until the 94th minute! Lots of talent in evidence, and tons of energy even on a very warm evening, but ultimately not enough precision in execution. A significant dropoff in level of competition with Bucknell coming up next. Hopefully a chance to see some more of the younger faces!
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Sept 2, 2019 2:30:04 GMT -5
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Sept 2, 2019 9:21:00 GMT -5
Definitely a game where the final scoreline was flattering to Bucknell, given the vast disparity in total shots (27-3) and shots on goal (8-3). With those numbers, you'd have liked to see a couple more go in... The sense I got was that the team overcorrected to what surely must've been part of the feedback from the Duke context: get the ball off your foot and put it toward net! Well, they definitely tried to do that, but so many were long blasts from outside the 18 that were, frankly, low-percentage shots. Granted, sometimes the purpose of the shot isn't just the shot itself but also to create the possibility of a rebound and an unsettled situation at close range, but you've gotta keep those on frame.
What also might've made this seem like the right way to go was the fact that the first goal came just 4 minutes in on a blast from the top of the box:
The second goal did not come by way of shot from distance, however, but the exact opposite: a tap-in off of a cross into an empty net. I do have to laugh a little bit at the Bucknell athletic department describing what happened as:
Sorry, y'all, but we have plentiful video technology these days. Judge for yourself: did the Georgetown forward in fact 'slide hard' into the keeper, causing her to miss the ball? Or did the keeper in fact badly misjudge the cross, whiff at it even as a Georgetown player and one of her own defenders were onrushing toward her, and proceed to collide with the Hoya - and her defender! - when the ball was already past:
Yeah, there's a reason no foul was given there. Congrats to Caitlin Moon for opening her account and to Alyssa Navarette for picking up her first career clean sheet. It was good to see some more faces out on the pitch for the Hoyas, including Jenna Menta (albeit sporting a giant knee brace). I sense a real risk with this team of relying too much on Paula as the offensive creator. Gia Vicari has impressed me thus far, but the more credible threats there are for opposing defenses to have to contend with, the better.
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Post by bearsandbulls on Sept 2, 2019 11:57:59 GMT -5
We really must shoot better than 2 for 28....We are getting the numbers, we are controlling the ball in the oppositions end, but we are not finishing. So many plays where we are just a half step behind the tap in goal.
To assist Paula, I would love to see a couple of the best women on ball up front to force the defense to collapse on them causing chaos then passing for the open player. Down the side and crossing, or Paula having to work it through 3-4 players cuts you chances. I know we need Royson in the back making runs, but I would sure love to see what she could do as right forward.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Sept 2, 2019 16:35:22 GMT -5
We really must shoot better than 2 for 28....We are getting the numbers, we are controlling the ball in the oppositions end, but we are not finishing. So many plays where we are just a half step behind the tap in goal. To assist Paula, I would love to see a couple of the best women on ball up front to force the defense to collapse on them causing chaos then passing for the open player. Down the side and crossing, or Paula having to work it through 3-4 players cuts you chances. I know we need Royson in the back making runs, but I would sure love to see what she could do as right forward. The nice thing about having beaucoup talent, of course, is that there's lots of options you can try out. For example... Amanda Carolan isn't quite as big a body as Grace Damaska was, but she has a similar ability to be a target #9 - drawing defensive attention and triggering the attacking sequence from the top of the formation based on what the defense is showing, rather than relying on either Paula to create or one of the midfielders to distribute. You could run a number of totally different but also totally viable options with this set of personnel, because I firmly believe that the backline - while they had a rough showing against NC State - can effectively compensate for most failed experiments in the offensive half. In any case, UVA looms large on Thursday. The 'hoos have been absolutely blasting people left and right, so any result against them on the road would be a tremendous accomplishment at this point in time. The squad - Dave included - looked to be in good spirits at the men's game this afternoon. Let's hope that continues!
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Post by bearsandbulls on Sept 5, 2019 14:49:34 GMT -5
Twill be a tough one today at 7 PM EST on the ACC channel. #9 Ordonoz is a frosh who has had 3 out of 4 multiple goal games.
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Post by bearsandbulls on Sept 5, 2019 23:01:20 GMT -5
Not pretty tonight. Needs work. We shall see. No fire power, with too much pressure on the defense. Had we held it to 0-1 I would have considered it a victory, but not so. Completely outplayed. Large field, too much packing it in one side or the other.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Sept 6, 2019 18:33:46 GMT -5
Not pretty tonight. Needs work. We shall see. No fire power, with too much pressure on the defense. Had we held it to 0-1 I would have considered it a victory, but not so. Completely outplayed. Large field, too much packing it in one side or the other. UVA fielded a team that looked like it came out of a women's soccer player factory. Size, speed, strength, length, the works. Of course, that was also true in the last two contests, when the Hoyas emerged victorious. Georgetown did keep the 'Hoos close until near the end, and the goal they gave up was the product of a combination of mistakes + a defender getting badly beat. Had one thing been different in that sequence, it would not have been a goal. On the other end, the second goal came on a counter following a dangerous Hoyas corner that could just as easily have pinballed into the back of the net. All that by way of saying: despite a rather glaring talent disparity - probably as much, if not slightly more, than last year's College Cup tilt with UNC - this squad kept it very much competitive. 1-0 is a better result than 2-0, but even at 2-0 there were some positives in both the approach and parts of the execution. Unfortunately, the offense was rendered 1.5-dimensional at best, with Paula being the 1 and Amanda Carolan over the top being the 0.5. That's somewhat understandable, given how aggressive UVA was with a high press, and a level of athleticism that made even shorter-range passes dangerous. Still, given the size of the field, one would've hoped for something beyond either giving it to Paula in the hopes that she could make something out of nothing or trying to lob it over the top to Amanda. Identifying additional offensive threats will be the deciding factor in most if not all contests this year, I think. *Edit to add* Looks like Dave's thoughts on the matter are similar - a set plan, executed pretty well, but just not enough quality on our side to make up for theirs:
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Sept 12, 2019 23:25:36 GMT -5
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Sept 13, 2019 8:26:47 GMT -5
Didn’t see the game, but in addition to the offense falling off seems like defense has taken a dive from its lofty heights a year ago. I think we’ve probably given up more goals this season than all of last year.
Edit: Yup last year we only gave up 10 goals all year and already have let that many in in the 7 games we’ve played so far.
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hoyaduck
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Post by hoyaduck on Sept 13, 2019 13:24:19 GMT -5
Didn’t see the game, but in addition to the offense falling off seems like defense has taken a dive from its lofty heights a year ago. I think we’ve probably given up more goals this season than all of last year. Edit: Yup last year we only gave up 10 goals all year and already have let that many in in the 7 games we’ve played so far. Yikes!
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Sept 15, 2019 14:25:49 GMT -5
Hoyas defeat WVU 3-0. Best performance of the season by a country mile, even granting that WVU looks to have lost a chunk of their physical prowess from years past.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Sept 15, 2019 17:07:14 GMT -5
Good performance by the women. They could have gotten a couple more in the first half. Looks as if they were controlling the play for the most part.
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