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Other sports reports - Viking_Guy - 10-19-2012

Last night was a tale of two 3-2 games with very different looks and feels.

In men's soccer, Stanford came back from two one-goal deficits with a makeshift defense and new goalie to beat Oregon State 3-2.  I think the best term for Stanford right now is "scrappy" - they're undersized, especially in the midfield, and often get banged off the ball by larger players (they tend to give up set piece and header goals).  And that scrappiness can go to far; the reason for the makeshift defense was one of their center backs picked up a red card last weekend in Washington for retaliation against a bigger Husky player.  Normal keeper Drew Hutchins came out of the nets to play central defense, and that in part helped to explain why the Beavers, who Stanford was outshooting at one point something like 18-8 and had about a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks, were twice put ahead.  Both goals were counterattacks through or over the top and involved 1 v 1 runs and challenges where Cardinal defenders got out-muscled or out-run.  As Stanford pushed late in the game to try to get an equalizer, OSU got more and more chances, including banging a free kick off the crossbar and a point blank header that happened to go right into the gloves of backup keeper Jason Dodson.

With about 5 minutes left, the commitment of more players forward paid off, as a pinball sequence in the box ended with JJ Koval standing in the way of an attempted clearance by a Beaver defender.  The ball ricocheted off Koval's shin and into the right-side netting, knotting the score at 2-2 and providing a much-deserved bit of luck.  Which paid off even further less than a minute later, when another cross to the center of the area found Adam Jahn, who calmly slotted the ball into the far post and completed the game-turning sequence.  Stanford then hung on as a frustrated OSU team pushed forward, and pocketed the 3-2 victory.

Kudos to the Cardinal men, for riding out a very physical game, although it must be said that the referee really didn't do a good job of keeping control of the match; early reluctance to pull a yellow card on some heavy challenges by both teams in the first half led to a scrum at one point in the second.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the return match against the Huskies on Sunday.

A much different feel to the women's 3-2 game.  Stanford squandered a 2-0 early lead in the first half, and was in real danger of losing their 150 games plus streak of not losing when scoring a goal midway through the second half.  The early run of play was all Cardinal, and Lo LaBonta scored on a lovely heel flick to redirect a Courtney Verloo corner into the net about 6 minutes in.  The lead doubled through a Chi Ubogagu free kick about 15 minutes later, although WSU's keeper really should have saved it - she let the ball get under her on the bounce at the far post.

Then things got ugly.  Earlier in the season, I had been pulling to see freshman Maya Theuer at center back alongside Garciamendez.  Having seen it for the last few games as Kendall Romine has been dealing with an injury, it hasn't been great.  Both goals today were scored against players she should have been marking, the first when she overran a centering pass by the Cougars and let her mark simply spin back and take a shot from 8 yards out almost dead-center in the goalmouth, and the second when she retreated too deep into the box on a cross against Liedle from the right side, leaving an unmarked WSU player standing at the penalty spot for an easy one-touch shot that tied the score in the 38th minute.

But that places a bit too much blame on Maya.  In both cases the defense got little effective support from the midfield against balls down the sideline, and no tracking from the frontline either.  Stanford is still playing a 4-3-3 formation, but it really should play more as a 4-2-3-1, with the wing forwards tracking back to support outside.  Also, Stanford's midfield has been ineffective in moving the ball up the flanks, meaning that most of the overlapping runs forward are coming from Kwon and Liedle at their outside back spots.  Often they get caught up field, forcing a rotation that brings Garciamendez or Theuer away from the center of the pitch and leaves a lot of space in the middle.

Those midfield problems are also being taken advantage of by teams applying high pressure to the Garciamendez/Liedle side of the field, basically daring Theuer to bring the ball forward.  Maya's distribution in that role has not been very great, as her outlet passes tend not to be very accurate (or sending a "hopeful" ball forward over the top). But part of that is the non-Nogueira midfielders seem to default to immediately giving the ball straight back to the defense as a first response to receiving an outlet pass.

All of those bad tendencies are exacerbated when the team starts to get tired, and the midfielders stop tracking closely.

In any case, score tied 2-2 at halftime.  And Stanford very nearly fell behind when a bad giveaway in midfield led to an open shot from the right side at about 17 yards, only to be stopped by a brilliant one-handed diving save by Emily Oliver.  The game was tight back and forth, until Chi Ubogagu fed Rachel Quon off a free kick on the left side of WSU's goal.  Quon, from the left side just outside the post and about 22 yards out, flighted a ball in, and Mariah Nogueira rose up to (maybe) get a tip on it.  It didn't look like a lot of contact to me, but the WSU keeper was thrown off enough that the ball shot past her just over her left shoulder.  As one of the commentators said, she should be nicknamed "Clutch," because of her 20 career goals, something like 15 have either tied the game or given Stanford the lead.

And then they hung on.  The midfield again failed to generate a lot of pressure, and WSU started to commit more players forward.  A dubious combination of calls (Nogueira got tripped up hard from behind to no call, followed within seconds by WSU getting a free kick 25 yards out for a very similar and not as physical or from behind challenge) led to another signature Oliver save, as the free kick was nearly perfectly struck, dying just as it reached the crossbar and trying to dip under it, only to be tipped over by Emily's right hand as she hung in the air.  A few Cougar corner kicks later, the game mercifully ended.

Yes, the Cardinal won 3-2.  But they were outplayed for large parts of the game, and there was a disturbing lack of intensity from about half of the starting lineup.  Injuries and being banged up this late in the season are no doubt part of it; Rosen is out in addition to Romine.  But the lack of tracking and organization seems to turn what should be a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 into a 4-1-blob mess, especially against counter-attacks, where it tends to be the defense and Nogueira alone.  All in all, not a great sign, especially as Stanford is on the road for the last 3 games of the season against 2 of the 3 toughest other teams in the Pac-12, #23 Berkeley and #3 UCLA.

Hopefully tonight will be another 3-2 game that turns out positively, if not pretty, when volleyball plays the formerly undefeated Huskies in Seattle.  UW, who was #2 until losing at Oregon last weekend, provides the biggest (in 6'6" Amanda Gil) test for the Stanford block yet.

VG


Re: Other sports reports - CowboyIndian - 10-19-2012

I hope we win Big Game 3-2.

Re: Other sports reports - 76lsjumb - 10-19-2012

(10-19-2012, 01:28 PM)Viking_Guy link Wrote:Hopefully tonight will be another 3-2 game that turns out positively, if not pretty, when volleyball plays the formerly undefeated Huskies in Seattle.  UW, who was #2 until losing at Oregon last weekend, provides the biggest (in 6'6" Amanda Gil) test for the Stanford block yet.

VG

Hey, Viking Guy...mind sharing your Lotto numbers for this week?  Women's VB wins, 3-2, in a match that could ONLY be described as "positive, if not pretty,"  given the two lost sets were 10-25 blowouts.  Your "prediction" was downright...scary!