The NCAA Women's College Cup finalists have been set, and as I and undoubtedly many others predicted, all four number one seeds are still standing.
One semifinal is UCLA - UNC and I have to go with UNC simply because UNC has no weaknesses, while UCLA is a little suspect in the back, and has a bit of a propensity to pass the ball to the other team in their own half. Throw in the fact that UNC is essentially playing at home means we are looking at a 2-1 result in UNC's favor.
The other semi is Stanford - Notre Dame. Notre Dame is good, as I have said. But I have a good feeling about this one in Stanford's favor. Based on what I have seen, Notre Dame is not as technically sophisticated as Stanford. I think Stanford has the edge in terms of team speed. I also wonder about the conditioning of some of the UND players, as the team seems to visibly tire 10 minutes or so before the end of each half.
Stanford needs to fly from the get-go, play fast and incisively, maintain possession, and stretch the field. All three strikers need to get the ball in or near the box and run at people. Midfielders, that means they need service and that means you. All SU's attackers need to take a page from Kelley O'Hara's book and take shots on the volley, because at this level you don't always have time to trap, set, and shoot. I say let 'er rip. All of Stanford's strikers and a-mids need to be menacing. They need to run at people, they need to shoot. Pressure the UND backline and I think they will eventually tire and break. Defensively, Stanford needs to mark the UND strikers out of the match, deny their CAM the ball, and keep things wide.
If Stanford plays to Stanford's strengths, I believe Stanford will win this match.
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3 comments:
Well, the 4 #1 seeds are in. I agree with your assessment of the matches. Looks like I won't be able to drop my trip on the 5th. Hopefully, one of my brothers friends who has ESPN2 will tape it. I think it's also on another ESPN(It's listed on the Stanford Women's Soccer website).
Wish I were there but like you said, it's been sold out. I'd have to beg and grovel. Oh well.
Go Cardinal.
Jer
Jerry, I'll be glad to tape it for you. I can do VHS -- do you still have a VHS player? You could probably get tickets from scalpers down there, but you would have to work the parking lot pretty aggressively. And then there is the unfortunate risk of being shall we say detained in so doing. There seems to be a long list to wanted to buy ads on the RDU cragslist for these tix. I fail to uderstand why they play this thing in such a small venue. The men are playing in PHP in Frisco, TX, which is too big. Oh, well.
Once I have the tape I'll drop it in your mailbox, if that is OK.
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