Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - Printable Version
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RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - oldalum - 10-23-2023
(10-23-2023, 06:13 AM)BobK Wrote: I love watching Grilione. Great ball control.She played an important role in our 2-1 win vs. ASU, scoring the first goal and assisting Aikey on the game-winner after fighting hard and stealing back the ball near the end line. I like her fight but I agree she's been more quiet lately.
Montoya has picked up right where she left off last year when she was injured. She'd have a lot more assists if we were finishing well.
RE: Hieronymus - Sakibomb25 - 10-23-2023
Hieronymus dateline='[url=tel:1698055738' Wrote: 1698055738[/url]']I doubt they’ll ever play three in the back - there are too many talented attacking players for that to ever happen, imho. If that were to happen, I would rather have Evans play center back than Wesley.
Sakibomb25 dateline='[url=tel:1698041672' Wrote: 1698041672[/url]']
Hieronymus dateline='[url=tel:1698022919' Wrote: 1698022919[/url]']Is Ryan Campbell injured? Or is Ratcliffe doing musical chairs again? I really hate the idea of switching goalkeepers. Choose one and stick with it.
Pedestrian 2-0 win against a bad Oregon team today. The team moved the ball well and really only gave up one real chance late when Pagador overcommitted. However, they didn’t generate a lot of great chances out of open play despite the shot totals. Goal 1 was a dreadful Oregon turnover that Aikey finished nicely and the second was off a corner. The team did have 4-5 good chances that they didn’t finish, so again they probably should have doubled their output.
Stanford’s starting line up claimed to be a 3-4-3 and for once I agree. Bhuta right, Aikey left, Harvey back and Doms forward. This flipped into a 4-3-3 I believe in both halves when Williams and later Pagador came on for a forward. I now suspect this 3-4-3 was the OSU line up as well and Bhuta was right mid not right back. Will quick recheck tomorrow night.
I am curious if the 3-4-3 was used for offense against inferior teams, if this is intended as the new normal to get a better midfield player on the field, or if Ratcliffe just wants options. Anybody able to tell what the UW lineup was? Again I didn’t have the game televised where I am.
Anyway other thoughts.
- it might be time to worry about finishing. 3 games in a row now where it’s been an issue. The good news is finishing can suddenly come back to form with little warning, but it would be nice if it perks back up soon.
- this team is sort of opposite from last year. They would destroy bad teams or decent teams that sat back, but struggled badly in the midfield under pressure. This year the midfield seems much more stable, but they are not blowing out bad teams. I strongly prefer the holds up better against pressure; so I am not really complaining.
- the Oregon coach is not smart. You can’t play a 4-3-3 with a bad team. Watch Stanford move through the midfield like it was Swiss cheese as to why it’s a bad idea.
- I don’t like to pick on players but I don’t get the large number of minutes for Grilione. I just don’t see enough positive things on the field so far. I obviously don’t see practice, but it’s not translating during games.
- Craig needs to work a lot with the ball at her feet. That first half sequence was ugly.
I agree with you regarding Grillione, though I am happy that Montoya is back. We will definitely need her if we have any chance of advancing far during the tournament.
My ideal line-up moving forward would be a 4-3-3 - Brandt and Bhuta on the wings, Wesley and Evans in the middle as centerbacks; Harvey, Jung, and Doms in the midfield; and Aikey, Montoya and Kitahata at forward. Or we if we want to do a 4-4-2, move Aikey into the midfield. And of course, have Campbell as the starting keeper. I think this would be our best line-up.
So I assume Craig starting is just tinkering. I think that it’s reasonable to start the backup against the worst team they will play all year. You do poke at the one potential criticism of Ratcliffe though - he maybe asks too much of a College team with his constant tweaking and tinkering. This year I think some of it is necessary for team chemistry. Leontini, Williams and Kostmayer for example have greatly reduced roles and need some playing time.
As for line ups. Despite almost every lineup over the last 2 years claiming to be a 422, I don’t think I have ever actually seen them play a 442. So assuming a 433 for me the conventional answer is:
Forwards: Kitahata, Aikey, Montoya
Mids: Doms, Harvey, Bhuta
Defense: Brandt, Wesley, Evans, Pagador
g: Campbell
I haven’t seen enough from Jung to push Bhuta to Outside back though I get the idea to replace Pagador as she is the weakest starter. If you consider in addition that you have a number of very useful attacking players on the bench, another approach is a 343 becomes at least theoretically really interesting.
Like say:
Forwards: Kitahata, Aikey, Montoya
Mids: Jung/Williams/Leontini, Doms, Harvey, Bhuta
Defense: Brandt, Wesley, Evans
g: Campbell
It will be interesting to see if a primary formation change is seriously being considered or if this is just more tinkering. I expect it’s tinkering and looking for situational options. But I am only say 70% confident of that.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - OCcardinal - 10-23-2023
(10-14-2023, 09:47 PM)81alum Wrote: We tie Washington 1-1 tonight at home. Frustrating in that we took 31 shots to their 5, had 10 corners to their 1, and still just 1-1. Montoya got our goal on an assist from Kitahata. Washington scored first and we got the equalizer after 48, so it obviously could have been worse. We are still unbeaten at 12-0-2.3 of Stanford's shots in the Washington game went off the post (including Dom's PK). That's soccer sometimes. I'm not too worried about the outcome.
And I was at the game on Saturday vs Oregon. I'm not at all worried that Stanford only won 2-0. That looked like a training game to me. Stanford could have played kick ball and scored more against that team, but they stayed disciplined. Being able to build from the back and connect in traffic is going to be a lot more important skill from here on out. There are no easy games the rest of the way (except, perhaps the first round of the NCAA's if Stanford gets a #1 seed).
Here's a few things of note for those who may not follow this team that closely:
1) Elise Evans (sophomore) - treasure every moment you get to watch her play in a Stanford uniform. She is so fast, calm and skilled. It's not a coincidence that Stanford has allowed 1 goal or fewer in the past 28 matches over the past 2 seasons. (By comparison, Stanford had 5 games where they allowed 2 or more goals in Naomi Girma's senior season.)
2) Ryan Campbell - Ryan was the goalkeeper for the best club team I've ever seen play (it featured Trinity Rodman, Reilyn Turner, and Simone Jackson). Rodman is a young star with the USWNT now, but Campbell's next 2 games will be the last college matches against her other 2 former teammates (Turner is UCLA's star forward and Jackson is USC's star forward). The Pac 12 title may come down to how those 3 former teammates play against each other. And, yes, I'm confident Campbell will be the GK playing for Stanford in those games. Campbell is the best goalkeeper Stanford has had since Jane Campbell (no relation).
3) Shae Harvey and Mia Bhuta (freshmen) - these 2 elite recruits have played so well this season I think they may have been underranked at #12 and #4 respectively. By immediately finding their way into the starting lineup, Stanford actually finds itself with the good problem of having too many elite midfielders (Aikey, Doms and the 2 frosh). Ratcliffe has experimented with a variety of solutions (playing a 3-4-3, moving Aikey to forward or moving Bhuta to outside back). I think I may like Bhuta on Defense in a traditional 4-3-3 best. Bhuta is a terrific defender and can still push up. Also Aikey's ability to hit from distance is unmatched on this roster, so I'd rather she stay at mid. A 3-4-3 may seem like a good compromise but I don't think Stanford has enough experience with it to really get an offensive benefit from the formation. We'll see what Ratcliffe chooses for these key games coming up. But he has a lot of options depending on what gets thrown at him.
4) Allie Montoya (sophomore) is back and healthy - Allie is the daughter of the new coach of the Bay FC NWSL team (Albertin Montoya). She's also a former club teammate of Jasmine Aikey's (they won the U17 ECNL national championship together). As others have mentioned Allie is back from her ACL tear and looks much like her old self. Losing Montoya last season was a big blow to our tournament hopes (as was Evans' nagging injury). I feel much more comfortable with Montoya and Andrea Kitahata both available heading into the NCAA tournament this year. That said, we are still seeing a little of the tendency that caused us to lose the BYU game last year. We had 33 shots in that game, including 10 on goal, but only scored 1 goal. I'd feel more comfortable heading in the tournament if Montoya can score 1 or 2 goals in the final 3 conference games to show her rhythm is fully back.
In any event, these next 3 games are key for our tournament prospects. While Stanford is undefeated and has some good wins, it does not have a very good overall strength of schedule. We could be punished pretty severely in seeding if these final 3 games don't go well. On the other hand, if we can pull off a sweep in LA a #1 seed would be pretty much assured. Stanford Women's Soccer's last in-conference trip to LA promises to be one of the most exciting and impactful in P12 history!
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - 81alum - 10-24-2023
Thank you so much Saki, Hiero, and OC! That is just the sort of analysis that helps a less knowledgeable but enthusiastic fan like me begin to appreciate the team more!
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - Sakibomb25 - 10-24-2023
(10-24-2023, 09:28 AM)81alum Wrote: Thank you so much Saki, Hiero, and OC! That is just the sort of analysis that helps a less knowledgeable but enthusiastic fan like me begin to appreciate the team more!
Growing up, I thought soccer was one of the worst sports imaginable. But then I started watching the US Women's Soccer team and I started to like it... didn't really understand it, but at least they were winners, so I occasionally started watching. However, it wasn't until I started playing as an adult where I realized why soccer is the most popular sport in the world. There is so much tactics, athleticism and drama in the game (minus the scoring, of course, haha) that it's a fun game to follow. And the Stanford women's team is a great team to root for - year in, year out, they are competitive and hopefully soon we'll be back in the conversation for a national championship.
For someone who asked about the offsides rule, below is a YouTube video explain it. YouTube is a great place to go if you have any questions - tons of answers to anything you want to know!
Offsides Rule Explained
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - BobK - 10-24-2023
I have three grandkids playing soccer. Thanks so much for the video.
Some recruiting updates.
Commits for 2024, with rankings:
Gisele Thompson # 4, top three are or will be pros commited to pro
Jaden Thomas # 9
Ella Emri # 13
Charlotte Kohler # 15
2025:
# 1, # 4, # 16
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - magnus - 10-26-2023
There was a game today at USC. Played to a draw. I'll let others comment as i only watched a few minutes at the end.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - BobK - 10-26-2023
I watched. Lack of offense by both teams
A 0-0 tie
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - Hieronymus - 10-26-2023
Entertaining game despite the 0:0 score, but yes not a lot of clear chances. USC blitzed us at the start of both halves; and while Stanford took control of most of the first half. the second half was more of a struggle for us. Overall, USC had better chances today especially 2 shots in the second half where Bhuta's mark slipped in front of her near post.
343 again today. I erased my OSU tape and I couldn't go back and check on the formation; so I am not sure how many games in a row that is now. The 343 though may be the new normal. Today it was Harvey at the back, Doms left (flipped with Aikey in the early 30 min range), Bhuta right and Aikey running wherever she wanted as the AM. It is clearly a Cruyff Barcelona style 343 with a diamond in the midfield, not the more common current 343 with 2 holding mids.
Certainly fodder today for the earlier talk on how much experimenting is too much. While the 343 makes sense theoretically, I don't think anybody in the front 7 played all that well in it today. Harvey really struggled, came out around 60 and didn't got back in. Aikey and Bhuta seem less influential and Doms doesn't seem to be able to slip forward effectively like she does in the 433.
Part of the issue was certainly CF and not just the formation. So far he has tried Wolf today, Grilione last game and Lumi with sub minutes; and none of them have done much. At this point I think you just have to pen in Aikey there and divide up the sub minutes. Which leaves an issue at left mid. A few posts back I threw out a few names, but none are obvious fits. Williams is a forward, Leontini a DM and I don't think Jung is physically ready against top teams yet. Hence, putting Aikey there and trying other folks at CF. But it isn't working. My view is if Ratcliffe really wants a 343, do it with 2 holding mids (Leontini with Harvey) and leave Aikey at CF. My real view though is this late in the season, stick with the 433.
Other thoughts:
- We aren't the fastest team and USC's speed caused trouble especially down the Stanford left.
- The backs don't distribute all that well which is an issue sometimes
- But they were amazing defensively today. The midfield got carved up a number of times - again Harvey really struggled - and the backs did a great fire suppression job. Wesley was absolutely amazing.
On to UCLA.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - cardfan77 - 10-26-2023
I am not a fan of this new formation 3-4-3. Quite intriguing to see a team experimenting so much towards the end of the season. USC dominated most of 2nd half. Stanford barely had the ball. Stanford is lucky to come out of this game with a draw. It will be interesting to see what happens against UCLA
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - Hieronymus - 10-29-2023
253? So maybe it’s 1910 today though it would have been a 235 or a 325 back in those days. This is going to be really interesting to see how it plays out. I assume Bhuta and either Jung or Doms has to cover back.
Or it’s really going to be a 433.
And yes 433 but this is bizarre with who is where.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - 81alum - 10-29-2023
Is there anyone prepared to comment on the 1-1 draw against UCLA? Inquiring minds want to know.... Apparently this means UCLA wins the final Pac 12 title. We are 4-0-3 against ranked opponents. That strikes me as good...but not exactly excellent.
Hieronymus - Hieronymus - 10-29-2023
81alum dateline='[url=tel:1698630653' Wrote: 1698630653[/url]']
Is there anyone prepared to comment on the 1-1 draw against UCLA? Inquiring minds want to know.... Apparently this means UCLA wins the final Pac 12 title. We are 4-0-3 against ranked opponents. That strikes me as good...but not exactly excellent.
Today wasn’t good. 1-1 but the goal was flukey off a goalie error. UCLA mostly kicked our a$$. Back to the 433, but madness as to who was where. Butha right back, Wesley left back and Aikey at CB. Lumi started at CF with Jung in midfield. Pretty much the opposite of what I have been lobbying for.
Lumi continued the do nothing at CF we have seen for several games now. In fairness the team refused to use her as a target forward today; so it wasn’t all her fault. Both Bhuta and Wesley were massively uncomfortable as outside backs, because neither is an outside back. Harvey continues to struggle, and generally the midfield got worked today. If I see one more short goal kick to the CB > outside back who promptly gets pinned, I am going to throw my remote at the TV. Bad flashbacks to how the team ended last year. Kick it long sometimes if the opponent is high pressing.
Kitihara and Montoya were pinned back much of the game effectively making it a 451 most of the night. And again, playing to the target forward or over the top sometimes is OK.
We went beyond tinkering today into full-fledged chaos. I am now officially concerned.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - oldalum - 10-30-2023
These were pretty dramatic lineup changes. Wesley played left back her freshman year on the championship team, so at least she has some good experience at it. We've been getting almost nothing offensively from our outside backs, who on prior teams used to range far downfield and be a primary component of our offense. But I feel for Aikey, who played last year in the midfield, started this year for a few games as a forward, returned to midfield, and now is a center back? Seems like we have too many holes in the dike and too few fingers to fill them, so every fix exposes a different problem. I've thought all season that we're a really good but not top-5 team: we do fine against most teams but have problems matching the scoring power of the very top teams that we'll have to play to go deep into the NCAAs. UCLA is the only team in the D1 committee's latest top 16 reveal that we've played; we tied #23 USC and receiving-votes Georgetown and beat #25 Duke in our best win of the year, which was very early. We've actually been fine defensively scoring-wise all year (9 shutouts, 9 1-goal games, never gave up 2 or more goals) but we're more challenged scoring, hence the 4 scoreless or 1-goal ties. I think the lineup shuffles reflect Ratcliffe trying to find some combination of players and positions that works best as a whole, and he hasn't found it. I think this is because we're still in a rebuilding phase with an unusually young team: against UCLA, in the field we started 8 frosh and sophomores along with 2 upperclassmen, and of the 3 subs who played appreciable minutes, 2 were frosh. I hope it all works out well this year, but I'm really looking forward to the next 2 years!
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - OCcardinal - 10-30-2023
(10-29-2023, 06:50 PM)81alum Wrote: Is there anyone prepared to comment on the 1-1 draw against UCLA? Inquiring minds want to know.... Apparently this means UCLA wins the final Pac 12 title. We are 4-0-3 against ranked opponents. That strikes me as good...but not exactly excellent.I'm not as pessimistic about the outcome as others. A few thoughts:
1) UCLA has been on fire. They had outscored opponents 23-1 in their past 7 conference games. And Stanford's defense held up quite well given the lack of experience playing together in that formation. Stanford is only the 3rd team to have held UCLA to 1 goal this season (UCLA hasn't been shut out). UCLA also had their 3rd fewest shots and shots on goal for the season and their leading scorer Reilyn Turner was held without a shot on goal. We clinched 2nd in the conference, which is where we thought we'd be.
2) Stanford's defense has been historically great this season. The season's not over, but they haven't allowed more than 1 goal in any game. You'd have to go back to Ali Riley's 2008 team to find a Stanford defense that had not allowed more than 1 goal in any game over the whole season.
3) Ryan Campbell was great in goal again and gives me a lot of confidence heading into the tournament. I'd say she won the battles against her former So Cal Blues teammates (Simone Jackson of USC and UCLA's Reilyn Turner) as neither scored on her (Campbell saved 3 of Jackson's shots on goal).
4) It's interesting that with Aikey on the back line we generated more of an offense than we did vs USC (where we failed to generate even a single shot on goal). There are some things that worked about yesterday's formation. A 1-1 tie seemed fair. Both teams seemed to have a similar number of genuine goalscoring opportunities.
5) I'm a little worried that we haven't seen Samantha Williams since the Oregon game (when she was subbed out due to some sort of injury). She's not a top goal scorer but gives us speed that no one else on the squad can replicate (except maybe Evans, but she's a defender). Hopefully she'll be back at 100% for the tournament. Allie Montoya is back but doesn't seem in top form yet.
6) The formation was indeed weird, but I don't think Ratcliffe was experimenting for future games. It just seemed like he was trying to match our top athletes up against UCLA's best. And with a 1-1 tie on the road vs the #2 team in the country I'd say it worked.
7) 4-0-3 vs ranked opponents is more than good this season. I think the UCLA tie should improve our standing with the committee. I assume we are at least #2 seed no matter what happens vs Cal this week. Massey has us as #3 in the country. See Massey D1 WSoc Rankings. And the NCAA guy still has us as #2 in his power 5: Power 5 Rankings We are kind of like the USWNT in the World Cup. We have the defense to go all the way but will need a little luck to beat the best teams.
8) North Carolina lost to Pitt in the ACC tournament so they are probably a 3 seed. Knowing our bad luck with seeding recently they'll surely end up in our bracket.
9) There are 5 teams I don't want to have to play before the College Cup:
-UCLA (championship contender)
-North Carolina (though they only have 10 wins, they had the 2nd hardest schedule in the country and did not lose any game in 90 minutes; they also have a Hall of Fame coach and are always dangerous in the tournament)
-USC (have only allowed 3 goals in their last 11 games)
-BYU (beat UCLA; had some letdowns this season but still a very dangerous team; nevertheless they have a stronger offense than defense so not the worst match up for us)
-Florida State (the best team I've seen play this season)
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - 81alum - 10-30-2023
Thank you OC, Hiero, and OldAlum, those are helpful comments to help me understand where the team is is now. Let's hope for a great game against Cal on Friday, but then are we at the mercy of the seeding gods? I see we are now 7th?
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1/ncaa-womens-soccer-rpi
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - Spiny_Norman - 11-03-2023
The women must have figured out something tonight. They closed the regular season with a 4-0 shutout of Cal. Aikey with a hat trick.
NCAA bracket will be announced Monday starting at 1 pm pacific.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - Hieronymus - 11-04-2023
Spiny_Norman dateline='[url=tel:1699072886' Wrote: 1699072886[/url]']
The women must have figured out something tonight. They closed the regular season with a 4-0 shutout of Cal. Aikey with a hat trick.
NCAA bracket will be announced Monday starting at 1 pm pacific.
They played well against a decent but not great Berkeley team. 343 for the game with the diamond midfield and the normal folks in their normal spots except Jung started at left midfield. Aikey was back to CF and Brandt started on defense. The team controlled the entire game and about the only negative would be maybe Berkeley had a couple more decent looks then might have been expected considering how in control Stanford was.
I am thinking the 343 is going to be a major part of the equation and maybe the primary formation now. I still have mixed feelings, but this was probably the team’s best 11 in their best spots. I hated Aikey at CB. I kinda get it in retrospect - she is the one true elite athlete on the team, but I think it showed too much respect to UCLA.
I am back to being more positive. This game vs Cal last year to me shows this team is much better than last year. Last year was a 1:1 struggle all game and Stanford was never in control. Granted Cal isn’t as good this year, but you still see the massive differences year on year. We might not be quite good enough to beat UCLA or FSU without some luck, but I think the odds of making it to the College Cup are much higher this year. Last year I was on record as not being very optimistic.
Edit: Cal actually is only a few spots down vs. last year per Massey; so it’s a marginal difference. Also, note that RPI is even more messed up than is typical this year. For example, Brown is RPI #8 and Massey #37. I am betting #37 is much closer to the truth.
Edit 2: I did a quick partial rewatch, and I don’t think my 343 is right. I am restating it to a 433 with Bhuta at right back and Jung actually right mid and Doms left mid. Regardless, primary width on the right was Bhuta and Montoya while the left was Brandt and Kitahata. Which for me says probably 433, though it could be an unbalanced 343 as well.
As I said last year though, it’s really hard to tell formation sometimes on TV. You can’t see enough of the field and subs don’t always get called out to be able to tell who is where. This game it is also hard to tell because we are able to come forward with total impunity which can obscure the formation.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - BACardinal - 11-06-2023
The bracket was released this afternoon. There have been no announcements from the Stanford athletic website or any social media which I find strange.
Stanford is the 2 seed in their section of the bracket with UCLA being 1.
RE: Stanford Women’s Soccer 2023 - BobK - 11-06-2023
The Pepperdine game announced on Instagram