12-09-2019, 01:54 AM
One more addendum:
I'm not saying that the saves were easy; more that the shots were bad. In that situation, on that pitch, ANY save is hard.
On formation and tactics; essentially, UNC's 4 mids put a lid on our game through the middle of the pitch - the only space was up the sidelines. That brings in the sideline as a defender, and to take advantage of it, you have to send your outside backs forward.
Let's see if I can do this
Hiatt Girma
Pickett Breide Wesley
Smith Doms Macario Malatskey
Haley
UNC put two players in the space between Breide and the two outside backs, and one behind Breide. So the middle of the defensive third is clogged up, leaving only the back and the sidelines to work with. Then three midfielders started off compact in the middle, taking away easy balls to Doms and Macario, again keeping Stanford wide, and with Smith the only threat for speed, unless Haley could make a turn. Not a coincidence that our best chances were off those two types of plays. But there is a defender on Haley, and another one both backing her up and watching for Macario, and defenders in front of Malatskey and Smith.
What Stanford eventually began to do was to switch higher up the field, through Macario. Doms had another tough game, and didn't draw any attention away for Catarina - she ended up losing a lot of 1v1 confrontations without drawing the second defender.
To beat that kind of clogged up field, you need to move the ball very fast, and very decisively - it's not "receive the ball, take a couple of touches, turn and survey, then hit a pass" - by that point, a UNC defender is on you, and your passing options have been closed down. But Stanford almost always wants to play that deliberative possession and passing style, and isn't very comfortable with the "dump and chase" that isn't pretty, but sometimes works. The other way to beat it is to overload by having a center back bring the ball up and split the two UNC forwards - which happened more and more as the game went on - extra attacker, but exposing you to the counter.
(Another way UNC's women look like Stanford's men - use of college's open sub rules to keep fresh legs to keep pressing. I do agree with an earlier poster - Haley and Macario both looked dog-tired by the second OT.)
One other thing about the way UNC played - by baiting Stanford into playing wide, what danger are you exposing yourself to? Crosses in the air, which again, ain't the Cardinal's strong suit. Stanford had a number of good chances when Smith, Malatskey, Macario, and others went all the way to the endline and then tried to cut in - but far too often they cut in from the sideline into the heart of the UNC defense, looking for a way through a thicket of Tar Heel legs.
Finally, I'd like to say that this was a really great win. UNC has been Stanford's tournament bugaboo for the last decade - in large part because the style Ratcliffe wants to play depends on time and space that the Tar Heels don't give you. To overcome that, with a team lacking a strong aerial presence and any enforcer-type defenders, is really a remarkable testament to how good Stanford is at the type of game they want to play. They couldn't play it offensively tonight, but their defense was stellar, and they never gave up the breakdown that UNC counts on.
Go Card!
VG
I'm not saying that the saves were easy; more that the shots were bad. In that situation, on that pitch, ANY save is hard.
On formation and tactics; essentially, UNC's 4 mids put a lid on our game through the middle of the pitch - the only space was up the sidelines. That brings in the sideline as a defender, and to take advantage of it, you have to send your outside backs forward.
Let's see if I can do this
Hiatt Girma
Pickett Breide Wesley
Smith Doms Macario Malatskey
Haley
UNC put two players in the space between Breide and the two outside backs, and one behind Breide. So the middle of the defensive third is clogged up, leaving only the back and the sidelines to work with. Then three midfielders started off compact in the middle, taking away easy balls to Doms and Macario, again keeping Stanford wide, and with Smith the only threat for speed, unless Haley could make a turn. Not a coincidence that our best chances were off those two types of plays. But there is a defender on Haley, and another one both backing her up and watching for Macario, and defenders in front of Malatskey and Smith.
What Stanford eventually began to do was to switch higher up the field, through Macario. Doms had another tough game, and didn't draw any attention away for Catarina - she ended up losing a lot of 1v1 confrontations without drawing the second defender.
To beat that kind of clogged up field, you need to move the ball very fast, and very decisively - it's not "receive the ball, take a couple of touches, turn and survey, then hit a pass" - by that point, a UNC defender is on you, and your passing options have been closed down. But Stanford almost always wants to play that deliberative possession and passing style, and isn't very comfortable with the "dump and chase" that isn't pretty, but sometimes works. The other way to beat it is to overload by having a center back bring the ball up and split the two UNC forwards - which happened more and more as the game went on - extra attacker, but exposing you to the counter.
(Another way UNC's women look like Stanford's men - use of college's open sub rules to keep fresh legs to keep pressing. I do agree with an earlier poster - Haley and Macario both looked dog-tired by the second OT.)
One other thing about the way UNC played - by baiting Stanford into playing wide, what danger are you exposing yourself to? Crosses in the air, which again, ain't the Cardinal's strong suit. Stanford had a number of good chances when Smith, Malatskey, Macario, and others went all the way to the endline and then tried to cut in - but far too often they cut in from the sideline into the heart of the UNC defense, looking for a way through a thicket of Tar Heel legs.
Finally, I'd like to say that this was a really great win. UNC has been Stanford's tournament bugaboo for the last decade - in large part because the style Ratcliffe wants to play depends on time and space that the Tar Heels don't give you. To overcome that, with a team lacking a strong aerial presence and any enforcer-type defenders, is really a remarkable testament to how good Stanford is at the type of game they want to play. They couldn't play it offensively tonight, but their defense was stellar, and they never gave up the breakdown that UNC counts on.
Go Card!
VG