Having a 3rd look at SU-UNC final. Will post thoughts while replay in progress.
Kira Maker poor clearance out of back straight to UNC. UNC makes 2 passes, then final ball in for score. Maker gave ball repeatedly to UNC whether pressured or not.
Noyola terrible. Can't hold ball in traffic, passes straight to other team. What few passes went to her team were so slow and lazy they were useless and led to loss of possession. PR was absolutely correct to sub her out. Hate to say it, but she was the worst player on the pitch for either team. Heath and McCann were better AM's, but were no where near good enough. This is why KO, CP, and to a LT had to do the AM's jobs for them in addition to playing as strikers.
28th minute, Noyola out, LT moved back to midfield, Verloo up top.
Stanford overall in 1st half is just terrible. They are a day late and a dollar short to every ball. Not even in the match. If UNC could shoot the score would already be 3-0. UNC is good, but Stanford is so out of it they are making UNC look like Brazil.
37th minute. Sigh. its almost like Kira Maker is TRYING to kick the ball to UNC.
McCann off in favor is Noguiera. MN an improvement.
Levin in for LT. Definite improvement.
2nd half. Stanford playing a bit better, but still cannot keep up with UNC tempo. Just no gas in the tank for the Cardinal. If they had played like this in the NCAA first round they would have been eliminated in the first round. Of that I have no doubt.
Press active, but her first touch is off. Hit a nice long range shot, but over the bar.
Overall Stanford's play in 2nd half is an upgrade for the first half's "terrible" to, I'd say, "almost average". It is now about the level of, saym a 35th-ranked college team.
Red card might have sealed SU's fate, but it is also more than probable that Stanford still would have lost. In this game this Stanford team was a shadow of the team that won 5 games to get to the final.
Maker's distribution in second half every bit as bad as in first half. EVERYTHING she kicked up the field went to UNC. Maker should have been yanked at the end of the first half. Possession was a big enough problem for Stanford, but Maker GAVE them numerous, quality, dangerous possessions.
Unfortunate 2nd yellow for KO. Stanford not in match before red, had it not happened result likely would have been same.
All over but the shouting now.
CP unfortunately clearly offside on apparent late goal. Correct call.
Bottom line, Stanford physically just did not have it in that match. They just didn't.
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4 comments:
Thanks, Ron.
They just didn´t have the gas. I´m sure the flu played a part.
A very accurate assessment of the game, Ron. I came up with the same conclusion, but you say it much more eloquently. It was heart breaking to say the least.
It was heartbreaking that Ratcliffe chose to start and leave in players who were barfing the day before. The bench plays with and against the best players in the country six days a week, and can't even be given a chance over their teammates who were living on Gatorade on Saturday? Especially with UNC seniors having won the championship 3 years, it seems that the bench players with experience and health would be the commonsense choice to play, over frosh who were sick.
Anon, its easy to second-guess the coach. Sure, Rat could have thrown 5 or 6 or more second-stringers out there, but then the problem is, even with Stanford's depth playing 50-60% bench players against a full-strength UNC side is by no means a sure path to victory.
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