The CardBoard
Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Printable Version

+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding (/thread-22557.html)

Pages: 1 2

Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - warren65 - 11-09-2021

Women’s soccer has bounced back nicely from last spring’s Covid-compromised season.  The team finished fourth in conference, but was superior in many conference statistical categories.  The team was first in shots on goal and in corner kicks (by a large margin).  They were second in goals and in points.  These statistics generally reflect a marked superiority in time of possession.  They lost to one weaker opponent (Oregon State) and tied another (Colorado).  They lost to quality opponents (UCLA in a late game goal and USC in an overtime goal).  In early season matches, they lost to Duke and North Carolina by one goal margins.

As this season proved, soccer is a game where statistical dominance does not bring automatic wins.  But no team in the tournament can look forward to facing Stanford.  Before the bracket was announced, I was confident that Stanford could make a deep run in the tournament. 
Only four Pac 12 schools were selected, an affront in itself.  The ACC got nine teams; the SEC got seven teams; and the Big Ten got six teams.  My take: there are some very good teams in these conferences, but, with the possible exception of the ACC, none of them have the competitive depth of the Pac 12.  The selection Committee looks to wins, and in a conference like the SEC or Big 10, it’s easier for a solid team to bring home these wins. 

Stanford is matched up against Santa Clara in the first round.   That puts the last two winners of the NCAA tournament as first round opponents.  The committee has done neither Stanford nor Santa Clara a favor.  One of these two teams with great post season records will be gone after the first round.  If Stanford survives this first round, they are still in the same bracket as Pac 12 winner UCLA, potentially needing to defeat the Bruins to get to the final four (College Cup). 

Stanford beat Santa Clara 3-1 in September.  Stanford played in a tougher conference and has a slightly superior record to the Broncos.  But Santa Clara will have the home field advantage and the extra motivation of being the host school for the college cup.  The Broncos are always at their best in the post season, as their national championship last season demonstrates.

Both teams, but especially Stanford, have the motivation of proving the selection committee wrong.
Bring it on!

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - oldalum - 11-10-2021

I think the main thing that hurt the Pac-12 this year is that as a conference I believe we have only one win against the teams seeded in the tournament (UCLA beat Michigan), and we whiffed on several other chances. We also have too much parity (strength within the conference) so the top 4 teams accumulated numerous ties and, in our case, a loss against the bottom 8. Still, Arkansas lost to Duke and UNC as we did, lost in conference play twice to other top teams, and got a 2-seed in the tournament. The committee clearly viewed the SEC as far superior to the Pac-12. Does that make sense?

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - warren65 - 11-10-2021

I do not think the SEC is superior to the Pac 12 - quite the contrary.  There's an argument that the ACC IS superior to the Pac 12, but even that could be argued.

Stanford lost to UNC and Duke in early season away games.  Both were closely contested. 

As far as Arkansas, well, a good team, but I'd rather be facing them in the first round than Santa Clara.

The Pac 12 has some great coaches and  some very good teams that played inconsistently, but able to take down just about anyone on the right day. 

(11-10-2021, 07:31 AM)oldalum Wrote:  I think the main thing that hurt the Pac-12 this year is that as a conference I believe we have only one win against the teams seeded in the tournament (UCLA beat Michigan), and we whiffed on several other chances. We also have too much parity (strength within the conference) so the top 4 teams accumulated numerous ties and, in our case, a loss against the bottom 8. Still, Arkansas lost to Duke and UNC as we did, lost in conference play twice to other top teams, and got a 2-seed in the tournament. The committee clearly viewed the SEC as far superior to the Pac-12. Does that make sense?


RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Lorcan - 11-12-2021

#2 Seed UCLA just got knocked out by UC Irvine. If we get by Santa Clara tomorrow, and get past #3 Georgetown in Round 2, there's a chance we can make some noise.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Mick - 11-12-2021

Stanford is 13-5-1, SCU is 11-5-2 with a 3-1 loss to Stanford two months ago.

Irvine beat #2 UCLA, Duke beat Old Dominion 1-0 on an end of match penalty kick.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Spiny_Norman - 11-12-2021

Will UCLA still host 2nd and 3rd round games?

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Jamesy - 11-12-2021

(11-12-2021, 10:04 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:  Will UCLA still host 2nd and 3rd round games?

No. If Georgetown wins tomorrow, they'll host the 2nd and 3rd round. If they don't, I'm not sure how they decide who will host. I imagine it would either be Stanford/Santa Clara or Wisconsin?

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - martyup - 11-13-2021

I just saw that Girma won the Pac-12 defender of the year.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - oldalum - 11-13-2021

for the second time.
No one beats her one-on-one

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Spiny_Norman - 11-13-2021

Physical game. Haley and Wesley have both left with injuries. Scoreless at the 40 minute mark. Each team has had one decent shot on goal.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - oldalum - 11-13-2021

(11-13-2021, 02:47 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:  Physical game. Haley and Wesley have both left with injuries. Scoreless at the 40 minute mark. Each team has had one decent shot on goal.
SC was very aggressive and physical in our pre-conference game against them this season, but I was pleased at the time that we fully matched them in that. I hope we can keep that up today.
_______
Another result that warms my heart: 2-seed UNC lost to South Carolina

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - martyup - 11-13-2021

And we give up a goal and trail 0-1

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - cardfan77 - 11-13-2021

PK blocked.  A missed opportunity for Stanford

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - martyup - 11-13-2021

And we lose.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Canalejas - 11-13-2021

Nuts. 

That’s going to cost us a bunch of Directors’ Cup points.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Mick - 11-15-2021

Tough game between two evenly matched teams.  They had 8 and 7 shots on goal.  73rd minute goal by SCU, Stanford barely missed a penalty kick.

SCU plays Georgetown on Friday.  Battle of the Jesuits.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Spiny_Norman - 11-27-2021

After defeating Stanford, Santa Clara beat regional #3 seed Georgetown and #1 seed Duke to advance to the College Cup which is being played in Santa Clara. They will play the winner of today's quarterfinal between BYU and South Carolina. Florida State will face Rutgers in the other semifinal.

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Mick - 11-28-2021

SCU also beat Wisconsin, by the same score as their G'Town and Duke wins, 2-1.  They played 10 on 11 for the last 1/2 hour of the Wisconsin game.  As for Duke, SCU rode a 2-0 first half advantage with goals by Izzy D'Aquila and Kelsey Turnbow within the first 30 minutes.

If you appreciate and enjoy very high level women's soccer, the NCAA semifinals will be played at Stevens Stadium on the Santa Clara campus on December 3. Florida State will face Rutgers at 4 p.m. local time and Santa Clara will play BYU at 6:30 local time. 

The NCAA championship is on December 5 at 8 p.m. Eastern, place TBD.

https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/print/soccer-women/d1/2021

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - terry - 11-28-2021

Go Broncos!

RE: Women's Soccer: A Very Good Team with a Rotten Tournament Seeding - Farm93 - 11-28-2021

Those four teams are not likely to compete for the NACDA cup, so that's great news. 
I really like the Broncos chances to win on their own field.
I suspect Mrs. Ertz hopes they win too.