11-02-2014, 07:08 PM
Bob was right; soccer was an easy win. The opening brace from Uhl led to a 4-0 lead at halftime, then Uhl added another in the 80th minute that opened the floodgates again, first with Uhl taking a lovely throughball from Romine and laying it back for a LaBonta finish, then with Chi, being completely unwilling to be left out, dribbling the entire right side of the defense, setting up and then nutmegging the right back, stepping around her endline and cutting back right between the flailing center back and a late arriving midfielder to beat the OSU keeper near post. Expect to see replays of that sequence - Ubogagu's footwork led to some befuddled Beavers.
Volleyball - Bob's right again; it was a big win, against the #12 team in the country on their court, in straight sets. I was just a bit shocked by how thoroughly UW dismantled the Bruins that I'm holding the Cardinal to a very high standard right now :). They also have a hellacious schedule to close the season - at home against the desert next weekend, then in LA, then the mountains at home, then on the road in Seattle and at Berkeley bracketing Thanksgiving. As the commentators were quoting Dunning today, there's still a lot of room for improvement.
A couple of more things I noticed today. First, Oregon's X-play (with two hitters jumping in the same approach - one quick and one behind her slightly delayed) was working really well. Wondering how it might work with Inky. Because she's so athletic, and the sets to her seem to be getting a bit stale - either a forward quick or a back slide. The opposing blocks are starting to sit on that quick middle set for her.
Second, hard to overstate how big Stanford's defense has come up this weekend - Gilbert and Burgess especially. In both matches, Stanford won BIG points with one-armed stab digs by the two of them leading to long rallies, which when the Cardinal terminated, took both the wind out of the opposition's sails and the enthusiasm out of the crowd. The block was hit or miss, not being very effective for long spells and then being completely critical (as at the end of set 1 today). And the passing/serve receive was better today, again with Oregon not being very aggressive at all with their service.
Field hockey: Bob, in an earlier post I covered the rule change. Last season and for a couple of prior ones, the NCAA tournament and seeding have relegated the champions of the 6 weakest conferences BY RPI THE PREVIOUS YEAR. In other words, no matter what Stanford or any team from a weaker conference did, they could've been forced into a play-in game because the NorPac was a bad conference overall the previous season. I think that finally grated on people's sense of fairplay, because as of this season, it is the weakest six teams by current RPI that will be relegated to play-in matches. And Stanford should definitely not be one of them. The poll release on Tuesday is generally followed by an updated RPI within an hour or two. Neither Maryland nor North Carolina lost, while UConn, Penn State, Duke, and Syracuse all won. Duke, Syracuse and UNC all play in the ACC tourney at Duke next weekend, while Penn State and Maryland will be playing in the B1G tourney at Ann Arbor and UConn in the Big East (that still exists for field hockey, apparently) at Providence.
One other score of note: Liberty, Stanford's NorPac nemesis, destroyed Georgetown 7-0 after beating Pacific 5-1 earlier this week. The Flames have played a tough schedule (given their easy access to top-notch teams from Lynchburg, VA). After losing to Stanford 4-1 early in the season, they lost to #15 Old Dominion 2-1, then beat #8 Wake Forest 2-1 and #12 Louisville 2-1. They lost to three teams late in the year, but played both #7 Duke and #14 Virginia tough, losing one-goal matches on the road, before losing at home 4-0 to #1 North Carolina. They are definitely battle-tested, and Stanford's likely opponent in the last NorPac final. They will play the winner of Cal and Appalachian State, while Stanford will take on the winner of UoP-UC Davis, in the semifinals on Friday at Pacific.
I may see what the schedule looks like next weekend and take a drive out to Stockton, hopefully for the final on Saturday.
VG
Volleyball - Bob's right again; it was a big win, against the #12 team in the country on their court, in straight sets. I was just a bit shocked by how thoroughly UW dismantled the Bruins that I'm holding the Cardinal to a very high standard right now :). They also have a hellacious schedule to close the season - at home against the desert next weekend, then in LA, then the mountains at home, then on the road in Seattle and at Berkeley bracketing Thanksgiving. As the commentators were quoting Dunning today, there's still a lot of room for improvement.
A couple of more things I noticed today. First, Oregon's X-play (with two hitters jumping in the same approach - one quick and one behind her slightly delayed) was working really well. Wondering how it might work with Inky. Because she's so athletic, and the sets to her seem to be getting a bit stale - either a forward quick or a back slide. The opposing blocks are starting to sit on that quick middle set for her.
Second, hard to overstate how big Stanford's defense has come up this weekend - Gilbert and Burgess especially. In both matches, Stanford won BIG points with one-armed stab digs by the two of them leading to long rallies, which when the Cardinal terminated, took both the wind out of the opposition's sails and the enthusiasm out of the crowd. The block was hit or miss, not being very effective for long spells and then being completely critical (as at the end of set 1 today). And the passing/serve receive was better today, again with Oregon not being very aggressive at all with their service.
Field hockey: Bob, in an earlier post I covered the rule change. Last season and for a couple of prior ones, the NCAA tournament and seeding have relegated the champions of the 6 weakest conferences BY RPI THE PREVIOUS YEAR. In other words, no matter what Stanford or any team from a weaker conference did, they could've been forced into a play-in game because the NorPac was a bad conference overall the previous season. I think that finally grated on people's sense of fairplay, because as of this season, it is the weakest six teams by current RPI that will be relegated to play-in matches. And Stanford should definitely not be one of them. The poll release on Tuesday is generally followed by an updated RPI within an hour or two. Neither Maryland nor North Carolina lost, while UConn, Penn State, Duke, and Syracuse all won. Duke, Syracuse and UNC all play in the ACC tourney at Duke next weekend, while Penn State and Maryland will be playing in the B1G tourney at Ann Arbor and UConn in the Big East (that still exists for field hockey, apparently) at Providence.
One other score of note: Liberty, Stanford's NorPac nemesis, destroyed Georgetown 7-0 after beating Pacific 5-1 earlier this week. The Flames have played a tough schedule (given their easy access to top-notch teams from Lynchburg, VA). After losing to Stanford 4-1 early in the season, they lost to #15 Old Dominion 2-1, then beat #8 Wake Forest 2-1 and #12 Louisville 2-1. They lost to three teams late in the year, but played both #7 Duke and #14 Virginia tough, losing one-goal matches on the road, before losing at home 4-0 to #1 North Carolina. They are definitely battle-tested, and Stanford's likely opponent in the last NorPac final. They will play the winner of Cal and Appalachian State, while Stanford will take on the winner of UoP-UC Davis, in the semifinals on Friday at Pacific.
I may see what the schedule looks like next weekend and take a drive out to Stockton, hopefully for the final on Saturday.
VG