12-11-2015, 11:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-12-2015, 12:11 AM by Viking_Guy.)
OT
The first overtime saw two great chances - first Foster Langsdorf got on the end of a ball from Morris Vincent that he got just a toe on to deflect the ball toward on frame from about 6 yards off the near post, but Fenlason, going to ground, made a brilliant reaction save to parry the ball safely away from above his right hip.
Then Akron got their best player, Richie Laryea, free down the left side, but Epstein made a great save sliding to his left to deny a 14 yard low blast.
In the second overtime, Morris got a good shot on frame, but for some reason Amir Bashti ran into the frame, deflecting it and slowing it down from where it was heading toward the right post and leading to a clearance.
PKs described above.
Overall, not a fun match to watch for the most part. Tense but only because of the scoreline. A whole lot of useless possession by Akron, a whole lot of searching balls over the top for Stanford. Not a whole lot of creativity from either side. As I mentioned, the Cardinal midfield had a really rough go of it against the 5 Akron players - when they did get forward, Baird tried to dribble a bit too much several times and was easily dispossessed. Verso really didn't have much impact.
Now for the bad part. I'm really starting to dislike Amir Bashti's style of play. Twellman did as well. He has a pretty touch and a ton of skill, but beyond the block of Morris' shot in the second overtime, he had several plays where he tried to make the pretty move rather than the smart one. The worst offense was one of Stanford's rare forays forward late in the game, when he was running at the Akron backline. Morris in front of him drew the defense into the center channels, and Verso was running unmarked at the left post. Instead of hitting a simple through ball on the ground, he tried to chip the ball over the Zips' backline to Morris, leading to an easy turnover. Later in the game, with a clear shot from about 25, he instead tried to thread a ball through two players to Morris, and turned it over again.
But the most egregious action was trying to draw a foul or card against a Zips player. Bashti gave him a little shoulder chuck after a foul had been called, and the Akron player swung his arm over the top and down in front of his body, maybe making a little contact with Amir's head. Bashti clutched his face and dropped to the ground like he'd been shot. When a player on the team you support makes you hope that soccer eventually goes to video replay and post hoc cards and suspensions for "embellishment," it's not a good feeling.
Got to give the player of the game to Epstein, with a nod to Vincent, who anchored a great Stanford defensive effort.
The other bad thing? Short turnaround. The championship against Clemson will be at 11 AM PT on Sunday. I would hope they would give them a few more hours of recovery time, but at least both games went 110 minutes. Although Clemson will have had a good 4 hours more recovery time, given ESPN's delaying the game 2 kickoff for nearly an hour after the first semifinal ended.
VG
The first overtime saw two great chances - first Foster Langsdorf got on the end of a ball from Morris Vincent that he got just a toe on to deflect the ball toward on frame from about 6 yards off the near post, but Fenlason, going to ground, made a brilliant reaction save to parry the ball safely away from above his right hip.
Then Akron got their best player, Richie Laryea, free down the left side, but Epstein made a great save sliding to his left to deny a 14 yard low blast.
In the second overtime, Morris got a good shot on frame, but for some reason Amir Bashti ran into the frame, deflecting it and slowing it down from where it was heading toward the right post and leading to a clearance.
PKs described above.
Overall, not a fun match to watch for the most part. Tense but only because of the scoreline. A whole lot of useless possession by Akron, a whole lot of searching balls over the top for Stanford. Not a whole lot of creativity from either side. As I mentioned, the Cardinal midfield had a really rough go of it against the 5 Akron players - when they did get forward, Baird tried to dribble a bit too much several times and was easily dispossessed. Verso really didn't have much impact.
Now for the bad part. I'm really starting to dislike Amir Bashti's style of play. Twellman did as well. He has a pretty touch and a ton of skill, but beyond the block of Morris' shot in the second overtime, he had several plays where he tried to make the pretty move rather than the smart one. The worst offense was one of Stanford's rare forays forward late in the game, when he was running at the Akron backline. Morris in front of him drew the defense into the center channels, and Verso was running unmarked at the left post. Instead of hitting a simple through ball on the ground, he tried to chip the ball over the Zips' backline to Morris, leading to an easy turnover. Later in the game, with a clear shot from about 25, he instead tried to thread a ball through two players to Morris, and turned it over again.
But the most egregious action was trying to draw a foul or card against a Zips player. Bashti gave him a little shoulder chuck after a foul had been called, and the Akron player swung his arm over the top and down in front of his body, maybe making a little contact with Amir's head. Bashti clutched his face and dropped to the ground like he'd been shot. When a player on the team you support makes you hope that soccer eventually goes to video replay and post hoc cards and suspensions for "embellishment," it's not a good feeling.
Got to give the player of the game to Epstein, with a nod to Vincent, who anchored a great Stanford defensive effort.
The other bad thing? Short turnaround. The championship against Clemson will be at 11 AM PT on Sunday. I would hope they would give them a few more hours of recovery time, but at least both games went 110 minutes. Although Clemson will have had a good 4 hours more recovery time, given ESPN's delaying the game 2 kickoff for nearly an hour after the first semifinal ended.
VG