11-02-2015, 01:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-02-2015, 03:40 PM by Viking_Guy.)
Lefty--
As in the basketball tournaments, it all depends on matchups.
The team as currently constructed has no overwhelming stars - no one player with the combination size, burst and skill of say Jordan Morris, Press or O'Hara. They have a lot of parts that play well together, especially since they began to play Tegan McGrady more, giving them more speed and a natural lefty serving the ball in from the left flank. But there's no consistent finisher - Haley Rosen, the most dangerous scorer, has a heavy and lethal left foot and some size, but a rough injury history has taken its toll on her speed. Andi Sullivan is a great calm, composed presence at holding midfield, but she doesn't have great size.
They'll be vulnerable to their standard nemeses - big, fast, physical teams that are willing and have the depth to press the backline, and counter-attacking teams that can frustrate the "scorer by committee" as Santa Clara did. Penn State was the first type of team - they pressed high, divided up the field by playing two high forwards in vertical line to keep Stanford from switching through the back, and pushed Stanford's midfield around.
The second type relies on Stanford's midfield to get disconnected from the backline as the Cardinal press forward looking for a goal - when Sullivan brings the ball forward and enters the attack, often we only have the two center backs on defense. This year especially, Maddie Bauer has been vulnerable to pressure. Alana Cook has been great as a freshman center back, but the offense relies on Liedle and Amack/McGrady getting forward. If one of them or Sullivan gets dispossessed, there's a lot of room to play into in the Stanford defense.
There's no question Stanford is a better team now than when they lost earlier in the year - McGrady as a strong contributor, Mariah Lee coming off the bench as a change of pace out wide. A stable rotation, if not as much depth as one might want.
But their lack of size means vulnerable on set pieces, and they haven't gotten a lot of offense out of Stanford set pieces - last night at halftime, they had 8 corner kicks, but only 2 shots on goal out of those and the run of play combined.
They're a very good team, and if they win next weekend, they should play at home for the tourney, which will be really helpful. But I think the lack of a Mariah Nogueira-type aerial combat artist and/or a Christen Press-type deadeye finisher makes a championship unlikely. Again, depending on who they match up against. I could see the seeding committee sending K.al or the Broncos to Stanford for a second or third round match, although hopefully it will be more along the line of a CSU Fullerton for a second round matchup. One issue is that there are SEVEN ACC teams in the top 16 of the RPI, so spreading them out will make things complicated.
VG
As in the basketball tournaments, it all depends on matchups.
The team as currently constructed has no overwhelming stars - no one player with the combination size, burst and skill of say Jordan Morris, Press or O'Hara. They have a lot of parts that play well together, especially since they began to play Tegan McGrady more, giving them more speed and a natural lefty serving the ball in from the left flank. But there's no consistent finisher - Haley Rosen, the most dangerous scorer, has a heavy and lethal left foot and some size, but a rough injury history has taken its toll on her speed. Andi Sullivan is a great calm, composed presence at holding midfield, but she doesn't have great size.
They'll be vulnerable to their standard nemeses - big, fast, physical teams that are willing and have the depth to press the backline, and counter-attacking teams that can frustrate the "scorer by committee" as Santa Clara did. Penn State was the first type of team - they pressed high, divided up the field by playing two high forwards in vertical line to keep Stanford from switching through the back, and pushed Stanford's midfield around.
The second type relies on Stanford's midfield to get disconnected from the backline as the Cardinal press forward looking for a goal - when Sullivan brings the ball forward and enters the attack, often we only have the two center backs on defense. This year especially, Maddie Bauer has been vulnerable to pressure. Alana Cook has been great as a freshman center back, but the offense relies on Liedle and Amack/McGrady getting forward. If one of them or Sullivan gets dispossessed, there's a lot of room to play into in the Stanford defense.
There's no question Stanford is a better team now than when they lost earlier in the year - McGrady as a strong contributor, Mariah Lee coming off the bench as a change of pace out wide. A stable rotation, if not as much depth as one might want.
But their lack of size means vulnerable on set pieces, and they haven't gotten a lot of offense out of Stanford set pieces - last night at halftime, they had 8 corner kicks, but only 2 shots on goal out of those and the run of play combined.
They're a very good team, and if they win next weekend, they should play at home for the tourney, which will be really helpful. But I think the lack of a Mariah Nogueira-type aerial combat artist and/or a Christen Press-type deadeye finisher makes a championship unlikely. Again, depending on who they match up against. I could see the seeding committee sending K.al or the Broncos to Stanford for a second or third round match, although hopefully it will be more along the line of a CSU Fullerton for a second round matchup. One issue is that there are SEVEN ACC teams in the top 16 of the RPI, so spreading them out will make things complicated.
VG