[Viking_Guy]

Two of the three impressive streaks by Cardinal women's soccer came to an end last evening, as they dropped their first conference game since 2008 and their first home match since 2006 (I think), losing 1-0 to Arizona State.

I had a really bad feeling about the game all day long, which was only exacerbated when it was revealed at gametime that starting freshman center back Maddie Bauer was sitting out for what was termed a minor injury.  Sophomore Maya Theuer, a highly recruited defender who hasn't been able to crack the rotation, came on in her place, and for the most part did a serviceable job.

But again, Stanford started in an absolute funk, getting outshot, outhustled and outgritted all over the pitch.  Other than Theuer, the lineup was the one I thought Ratcliffe should employ, with Verloo, Ubobagu and Uhl up top and LaBonta, Doll and Amack in the midfield.  But ASU employed a pressing 4-2-3-1, where the 3 attacking midfielders supporting the lone striker really cut down on Stanford's ability to possess the ball at the back, while not leaving much room in the middle except on the extreme flanks.  There's a reason it's become the formation of choice for a lot of high-level European teams in the past few years.

Beyond that tactical issue, there just seemed to be an overall lethargy: not chasing balls down hard, and especially not a lot of working hard to get back in supporting defensive positions off the ball.  ASU had a brobdingnagian shot advantage early in the game, and took the lead in the 24th minute or so on a really good shot that really seemed to be the result of the defense backing WAY too far up (the 4 defenders were all inside the area in a line, and the shooter got a clean look at a ball from about 23-24 yards out); they were so concerned about the Sun Devils' dribbling that they conceded a really good chance in the center of the field.

Even that didn't seem to wake them up.  Stanford played as if they were content to play at their current level of effort, the crowd was similarly comatose, and the game just went on.  There were some quality chances, but ASU's keeper came up big, and the defense was doing everything they could to take away Uhl and Verloo.  And Ratcliffe seemed content to simply try to sub new players into the same formation and system that was having trouble getting going against the Sun Devils' pressure with the starters.

In the last 20 minutes, Stanford finally seemed to wake up, but it was too little, too late.  They generated some quality chances, but Uhl sent a close range volley high, and missed a ball that the keeper just got a touch to on the back post.

It's hard to know who to call out.  Campbell played well; she had no real chance at the shot, and held up to ASU's initial charge.  The defense backed up too far on the goal, but only conceded one.  Really, the culprits seem to be an inability to adapt to what ASU's formation allowed, runs down the flanks and to the corner, combined with a real lack of energy from the midfield for most of the game.  Alex Doll may have opened up the competition to start at her position, having no real impact on the game offensively or defensively.  Amack was solid for most of the game.  LaBonta had some nice touch, but missed a really good chance from about 11 yards by trying to hammer the ball instead of shooting far post, ending up sending it right at the keeper.

Most troublingly, Chi seems lost.  She has some moments of brilliance with touch, but often times seems to want to give up the ball really early, instead of taking people on off the dribble, which is one of her strengths.  One of the commentators said that she thought Stanford was really trying to get her going by feeding her some balls, but she didn't do much with them, apart from the service that sprang LaBonta for the chance mentioned above.

All in all, a really sad way to end the long streaks, especially the homefield unbeaten streak - not to be beaten by a superior team, but by a subpar effort and a lack of flexibility.

Sigh.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Two of the three impressive streaks by Cardinal women's soccer came to an end last evening, as they dropped their first conference game since 2008 and their first home match since 2006 (I think), losing 1-0 to Arizona State.

I had a really bad feeling about the game all day long, which was only exacerbated when it was revealed at gametime that starting freshman center back Maddie Bauer was sitting out for what was termed a minor injury.  Sophomore Maya Theuer, a highly recruited defender who hasn't been able to crack the rotation, came on in her place, and for the most part did a serviceable job.

But again, Stanford started in an absolute funk, getting outshot, outhustled and outgritted all over the pitch.  Other than Theuer, the lineup was the one I thought Ratcliffe should employ, with Verloo, Ubobagu and Uhl up top and LaBonta, Doll and Amack in the midfield.  But ASU employed a pressing 4-2-3-1, where the 3 attacking midfielders supporting the lone striker really cut down on Stanford's ability to possess the ball at the back, while not leaving much room in the middle except on the extreme flanks.  There's a reason it's become the formation of choice for a lot of high-level European teams in the past few years.

Beyond that tactical issue, there just seemed to be an overall lethargy: not chasing balls down hard, and especially not a lot of working hard to get back in supporting defensive positions off the ball.  ASU had a brobdingnagian shot advantage early in the game, and took the lead in the 24th minute or so on a really good shot that really seemed to be the result of the defense backing WAY too far up (the 4 defenders were all inside the area in a line, and the shooter got a clean look at a ball from about 23-24 yards out); they were so concerned about the Sun Devils' dribbling that they conceded a really good chance in the center of the field.

Even that didn't seem to wake them up.  Stanford played as if they were content to play at their current level of effort, the crowd was similarly comatose, and the game just went on.  There were some quality chances, but ASU's keeper came up big, and the defense was doing everything they could to take away Uhl and Verloo.  And Ratcliffe seemed content to simply try to sub new players into the same formation and system that was having trouble getting going against the Sun Devils' pressure with the starters.

In the last 20 minutes, Stanford finally seemed to wake up, but it was too little, too late.  They generated some quality chances, but Uhl sent a close range volley high, and missed a ball that the keeper just got a touch to on the back post.

It's hard to know who to call out.  Campbell played well; she had no real chance at the shot, and held up to ASU's initial charge.  The defense backed up too far on the goal, but only conceded one.  Really, the culprits seem to be an inability to adapt to what ASU's formation allowed, runs down the flanks and to the corner, combined with a real lack of energy from the midfield for most of the game.  Alex Doll may have opened up the competition to start at her position, having no real impact on the game offensively or defensively.  Amack was solid for most of the game.  LaBonta had some nice touch, but missed a really good chance from about 11 yards by trying to hammer the ball instead of shooting far post, ending up sending it right at the keeper.

Most troublingly, Chi seems lost.  She has some moments of brilliance with touch, but often times seems to want to give up the ball really early, instead of taking people on off the dribble, which is one of her strengths.  One of the commentators said that she thought Stanford was really trying to get her going by feeding her some balls, but she didn't do much with them, apart from the service that sprang LaBonta for the chance mentioned above.

All in all, a really sad way to end the long streaks, especially the homefield unbeaten streak - not to be beaten by a superior team, but by a subpar effort and a lack of flexibility.

Sigh.

VG