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A couple more results - Viking_Guy - 09-07-2014

Field Hockey

Stanford field hockey improves to 5-0 with a 1-0 overtime win at New Hampshire.  They've given up 1 goal in the five games, and have beaten some quality teams - #18 Delaware, and this weekend's neutral and road wins were all over teams who are right around #20 in the ratings most years.

Field hockey is in a tough spot, in some ways analagous to women's basketball and lacrosse.  The vast majority of the strongest teams and respect are on the East Coast, and it's tough to break through.  Even when Stanford has had strong seasons, they generally get shipped to some eastern stronghold in the first round of the NCAA tournament, or, because of the perceived weakness of their league, relegated to a play-in game, almost always on the road, to even make the tournament field.  Last year, they were ranked as high as #6, never ranked below #13, and closed the season at #10, but lost in the conference tournament final on the home field of Liberty in Lynchburg, VA (yes, we're in a conference, the NorPac, that includes Stanford, UCB and Davis in one division, and in the other poor Pacific, which has regional rivals Liberty and Appalachian State of Boone, North Carolina.)  They weren't invited into the 16-team field.  (Actually, 19, if you include 3 play-in games.)

The game can be a bit difficult to understand, but it can be a bit like soccer - it's low-scoring enough that a team that dominates can be beaten by one bad break.  Today was almost that case, as Stanford outshot New Hampshire 11-3,  put 7 shots on goal to their 2, and still had to rely on an overtime tally to get the win 1-0.  By the way, field hockey makes an interesting adjustment - they go to sudden death overtime in the event of a tie, but the teams also are reduced from 11 a side to 7, including a keeper.  It makes OT much more open and attacking, and puts a real premium on fitness and ball control.  Today Alex McCawley took a through ball and ended up 2 on 1.  The one field defender dropped really deep into the circle, and McCawley cracked one home from about 15 yards, just inside the top of the circle.  (One rule FYI - the ball must be touched by a player inside the circle to score as a goal.  UNH had an earlier goal waved off, I think because of that rule.)

The wins matter because Stanford, to get "quality" wins, either has to go East or induce an eastern power to travel west.  They have several chances to impress people with a game next Friday against traditional power Iowa, as well as road trips back east to face #3 and defending champ UConn in Storrs, and #14 Northwestern and #17 Michigan in Ann Arbor.  The problem is, they can't lose any game that ISN'T one of those and have it seen as anything but a "bad loss."

Women's Soccer

Speaking of games that could use an offensive jump-start, Stanford played to a 0-0 draw with Notre Dame in women's soccer this afternoon.  It was hard to focus on the game with the women's volleyball end of set 4 and set 5 overlapping, but again, it looked like a whole bunch of people waiting to see Chi Ubogagu do something on offense.  Stanford had the better of the run of play, better possession, but again, that possession wasn't dangerous; it was a whole lot of triangular passing through the back line and holding midfielders.

The whole "size and strength" thing came up as well, as the Irish were able to knock Stanford off the ball pretty easily (and I would probably have a harsh word or two to say to the referee as well - the Cardinal players ended up on the ground a lot, and yet Notre Dame got the benefit of the call more often than not - 12 fouls against Stanford against only 4 called against a much more physical Irish side.)  But a large part of it is the same issues - there's not a lot of connection between the defense and the offense, and I used that phrasing intentionally - at times it appears as if we have two different formations on the field, a back four and two holding midfielders completely distinct and separated from an attacking midfielder and three forwards.  One major issue is that the front 4 seem to always be waiting on a ball to come to them, and are often cut off by a defender stepping around them.  When the ball is played into space, they do better, but the possession focus of the team means a lot of balls to a stationary "back to goal" player.

Any case, game ball again to the back line, who still haven't conceded a goal in 5 games, and only gave up two real quality chances that I saw.  A couple of other things - Ryan Walker-Hartshorn has to pick up the intensity level and stretch out a bit.  She's a big 6'0" player, and yet she tries to play a delicate game.  Several times today, she had an opportunity to go hard after a ball and simply pulled up, or tried to make a delicate tip, rather than powering into the clash.  One of them resulted in the Irish' best chance, when Chi let a ball in the offensive third run through into the path of Ryan, who instead of stretching for it as it meandered past her about 3 feet away watched it roll onto the foot of an onrushing Notre Dame midfielder for a counter attack.

And I still hate the 4-3-3 with this team.  We end up with a solo player up top a lot chasing the ball, aren't getting a lot of pressure from the outside forwards, and are both conceding a lot of space in the midfield and not supporting LaBonta in the attacking role well.  Part of that is the positioning and runs of the wing forwards, but a lot of it is simply the other team always has a numbers advantage in the midfield.

Anyhow, an unsatisfying conclusion to an up-and-down weekend of Stanford sports.  Seems fitting, somehow.

VG