Men's soccer -- Fantastic win versus UCLA - Printable Version
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Men's soccer -- Fantastic win versus UCLA - DenverCard - 09-30-2018
Following a sputtering start to the season, the men's soccer team really put it together in the second half tonight against UCLA, winning 3-0. In what until recently has been a very one-sided rivalry, with UCLA having won about 85% of the matches, Stanford is now 6-0-3 in the last nine games against UCLA. Unbelievable.
This year's UCLA is, as is often the case, loaded with talent, and they had the better of the first half tonight, with a 5-1 advantage in shots, and a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks. (It was 0-0 at half.) When interviewed at the start of the second half, the UCLA coach pointed out those stats, and seemed pretty confident that his team would start converting its chances. But Stanford played beautifully in the second half, both in being more aggressive in winning 50-50 balls and in some really nice passing combinations.
Special props to a couple of players, neither of whom will show up on the stats sheet. Derek Waldeck was everywhere tonight, and he very rarely had a bad touch. It was almost like there were identical twins of his on the field, as he would be defending near the goal line, then part of the offensive thrust that followed, and on one side or the other. The other is Collin Liberty, a redshirt senior. He's been "waiting his turn" to play behind a lot of talented defenders. Then lo and behold, Jeremy Gunn starts a freshman at right back to begin the year, and Liberty is relegated to mop-up duty. A few games ago, the starter, Ryan Ludwick, gets injured, and Liberty has been playing full games since. And playing well. He's got an amazing throw in, which is a real weapon, he's good in the air, and he makes smart passes. I'm thrilled to see him not only getting a chance to make a contribution, but to do so in winning games. He may have earned himself the position when Ludwick, who appeared to suffer a pretty badly sprained ankle, comes back.
If they replay the soccer games on the Pac-12 channel, I highly recommend viewing the second half of tonight's game.
RE: Men's soccer -- Fantastic win versus UCLA - washingtonismoney - 09-30-2018
Anyone who points to a superiority in ...corner kick statistics is grasping at the thinnest of straws.
RE: Men's soccer -- Fantastic win versus UCLA - muiron - 09-30-2018
(09-30-2018, 07:26 PM)DenverCard Wrote: Following a sputtering start to the season, the men's soccer team really put it together in the second half tonight against UCLA, winning 3-0. In what until recently has been a very one-sided rivalry, with UCLA having won about 85% of the matches, Stanford is now 6-0-3 in the last nine games against UCLA. Unbelievable.
This year's UCLA is, as is often the case, loaded with talent, and they had the better of the first half tonight, with a 5-1 advantage in shots, and a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks. (It was 0-0 at half.) When interviewed at the start of the second half, the UCLA coach pointed out those stats, and seemed pretty confident that his team would start converting its chances. But Stanford played beautifully in the second half, both in being more aggressive in winning 50-50 balls and in some really nice passing combinations.
Special props to a couple of players, neither of whom will show up on the stats sheet. Derek Waldeck was everywhere tonight, and he very rarely had a bad touch. It was almost like there were identical twins of his on the field, as he would be defending near the goal line, then part of the offensive thrust that followed, and on one side or the other. The other is Collin Liberty, a redshirt senior. He's been "waiting his turn" to play behind a lot of talented defenders. Then lo and behold, Jeremy Gunn starts a freshman at right back to begin the year, and Liberty is relegated to mop-up duty. A few games ago, the starter, Ryan Ludwick, gets injured, and Liberty has been playing full games since. And playing well. He's got an amazing throw in, which is a real weapon, he's good in the air, and he makes smart passes. I'm thrilled to see him not only getting a chance to make a contribution, but to do so in winning games. He may have earned himself the position when Ludwick, who appeared to suffer a pretty badly sprained ankle, comes back.
If they replay the soccer games on the Pac-12 channel, I highly recommend viewing the second half of tonight's game.
Yes, a fine win. We're now 5-1-3. We started with three ties, won three, lost one (to UoP) and have now won our first two Pac 12 (well, Pac 5+1 in men's soccer) matches. We've scored 13 goals in those 9 matches: we won 3-0 over Delaware on September 16, lost 0-1 to UoP on Sept. 20, won 3-0 over San Diego State last Thursday, and won today 3-0 win over UCLA. So, it looks like our scoring is finally beginning to pick up - 9 of our 13 goals in the last 4 of our 9 matches. And today's goals were largely very pretty. (Well the 1st especially, the 2nd yes, but the third seemed bit random - about 4 pop up headers in the box.)
And, also yes, Colin Liberty's throw-ins are themselves worth the price of admission. If he's near the end line and makes them high, they are like corner kicks. Anywhere else, if he keeps them low, they are like laser beams.
(09-30-2018, 07:26 PM)DenverCard Wrote: Following a sputtering start to the season, the men's soccer team really put it together in the second half tonight against UCLA, winning 3-0. In what until recently has been a very one-sided rivalry, with UCLA having won about 85% of the matches, Stanford is now 6-0-3 in the last nine games against UCLA. Unbelievable.
This year's UCLA is, as is often the case, loaded with talent, and they had the better of the first half tonight, with a 5-1 advantage in shots, and a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks. (It was 0-0 at half.) When interviewed at the start of the second half, the UCLA coach pointed out those stats, and seemed pretty confident that his team would start converting its chances. But Stanford played beautifully in the second half, both in being more aggressive in winning 50-50 balls and in some really nice passing combinations.
Special props to a couple of players, neither of whom will show up on the stats sheet. Derek Waldeck was everywhere tonight, and he very rarely had a bad touch. It was almost like there were identical twins of his on the field, as he would be defending near the goal line, then part of the offensive thrust that followed, and on one side or the other. The other is Collin Liberty, a redshirt senior. He's been "waiting his turn" to play behind a lot of talented defenders. Then lo and behold, Jeremy Gunn starts a freshman at right back to begin the year, and Liberty is relegated to mop-up duty. A few games ago, the starter, Ryan Ludwick, gets injured, and Liberty has been playing full games since. And playing well. He's got an amazing throw in, which is a real weapon, he's good in the air, and he makes smart passes. I'm thrilled to see him not only getting a chance to make a contribution, but to do so in winning games. He may have earned himself the position when Ludwick, who appeared to suffer a pretty badly sprained ankle, comes back.
If they replay the soccer games on the Pac-12 channel, I highly recommend viewing the second half of tonight's game.
Yes, a fine win. We're now 5-1-3. We started with three ties, won three, lost one (to UoP) and have now won our first two Pac 12 (well, Pac 5+1 in men's soccer) matches. We've scored 13 goals in those 9 matches: we won 3-0 over Delaware on September 16, lost 0-1 to UoP on Sept. 20, won 3-0 over San Diego State last Thursday, and won today 3-0 win over UCLA. So, it looks like our scoring is finally beginning to pick up - 9 of our 13 goals in the last 4 of our 9 matches. And today's goals were largely very pretty. (Well the 1st especially, the 2nd yes, but the third seemed bit random - about 4 pop up headers in the box.)
And, also yes, Colin Liberty's throw-ins are themselves worth the price of admission. If he's near the end line and makes them high, they are like corner kicks. Anywhere else, if he keeps them low, they are like laser beams.
RE: Men's soccer -- Fantastic win versus UCLA - Viking_Guy - 09-30-2018
One other positive - the first goal marked the return of Charlie Wehan, who had been out injured for the last couple of weeks. He kept a half-volley DOWN, and hit it under the keeper, which is something a lot of Stanford's forwards on both the men's and women's teams seem to be having trouble with.
Another thing - this double-header thing? Does anyone else think the field is getting REALLY chewed up? I know the dew starts to settle in the early evening, but I've been noticing a LOT more slipping and loss of footing problems. And the goalmouths are not nearly as pristine as I am used to.
Last thing - one alternative theory that I forgot to mention about the jarring habit of the producers ignoring on-field action in favor of shots of someone the commentators are talking about - e.g., in the women's game tonight, with the ball in play on the field, there was about a 10 second shot of Paul Ratcliffe sitting on the bench. AND THEY WEREN'T TALKING ABOUT HIM. While there was a throw-in, a change in possession, and $C moving the ball along the side of the Stanford area.
I wonder if the producers aren't a bit victim of the discontinuous nature of other American sports. In basketball, hockey, but most especially football, baseball, and softball, the action is very limited (what did they say, about 11-12 minutes of live ball action in the average 3.5-4 hour football game?)
They are brought up in a workplace where they are SUPPOSED to do cutaways, and replays, and closeups, and sideline interviews, to take up the time when there is NO actual game action going on. So when they get to soccer, they just seem uncomfortable staying with a high shot that follows the action, and feel like they need to intervene and "liven up" the broadcast, while soccer afficianados, like me, are yelling "SHOW US THE BALL!"
Anyhow, good wins for futbol this weekend, if not for the oblate spheroid kind.
VG
RE: Men's soccer -- Fantastic win versus UCLA - oldalum - 10-01-2018
I was watching an SEC broadcast (Vanderbilt crushed Georgia 5-0 and at 4-0 leads the SEC!) and they interview a coach in the middle of each half while play is going on (Pac-12 does it at the beginning and end of halftime) and, lo and behold, during the interviews they put a small box in an upper corner with a head shot of the coach talking while the rest of the screen shows the ongoing game! Proof of concept! It can be done!
And by the way, they NEVER showed the coaches at any other time during the game. It's as if, well, they weren't actually playing in the game!
RE: Men's soccer -- Fantastic win versus UCLA - DenverCard - 10-01-2018
One more comment about last night's game: So great to see Charlie Wehan open the scoring against UCLA, in light of the near decapitation he suffered last year perpetrated by the goon, Eric Holt, as seen on the video link below. (Somehow, absent any great soccer skill that I've observed, Holt is somehow on the Hermann Trophy watch list this year.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci1aS7Dt958