Men's Soccer--Gut Punch - Printable Version
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Men's Soccer--Gut Punch - DenverCard - 10-04-2019
Hoping for some reassuring words from the Cardboard community...
Last night the #2 ranked Stanford's men's soccer team was at home against #7 Washington. Stanford started the season 7-0 for the first time since about 2002 (which was followed by an inspiring comeback from 2 goals down to tie UCSB 3-3 to leave Stanford 7-0-1), and UW had outscored opponents 13-0 since their only loss of the season (to Cal State Northridge 3-1).
UW won the first half to a degree that was somewhere between "controlling" and "dominating" of the play, and they led 1-0 at halftime. Stanford was therefore having to work from behind for the third consecutive game. (Watching soccer with your team behind is very nerve-wracking, given that to go from 1-0 down to 2-0 down almost always means an impending loss.) Ah, but as expected, Stanford started the second half looking like an entirely different team, and within three minutes they tied the score on a beautiful left-footed bomb from Zach Ryan, last year's leading scorer. That goal seemed to signal both his reawakening and the reestablishment of order at Cagan. I settled in to watch Stanford reassert themselves and send UW home disappointed once again.
And then the unthinkable. Stanford's leader by both words and deeds, Tanner Beason, who chose to come back for his 5th year after he'd been named Pac-12 player of the year as a redshirt junior, and who plays as if he is indestructible, got clipped as he went for the ball and landed awkwardly. His actions on the ground gave no indication of the nature of his injury, and he walked off unassisted, but he was taken immediately into the locker room and he did not return. I fear a season-ending knee injury, but have not heard anything.
As always, Stanford played hard for the remainder of the match, and had some decent chances, but they were, in my eyes, clearly outmatched. UW's collective level of skill was greater than Stanford's, and the talent disparity showed in the number of shots on goal and dangerous chances. Twice Stanford cleared the ball from their goal line, and UW had other good opportunities to score. Ultimately, UW won in the second overtime with a very nice run from one of their stars, who crossed the ball for a diving header goal. Even that was bittersweet. The Stanford player closest to the game-winner was Jack O'Brien, who has a history of severe knee injury and who was injured recently against Cal. That he was again playing after I feared a dire outcome, made me very happy. However, he was negligent in marking the UW player, who had a few steps on him when he headed in the winner.
In addition to getting outplayed and losing Beason, Stanford's starting right midfielder Charlie Weehan went out with a non-contact injury. He did not appear severely limited, but he missed a number of games last season with injury, making this injury more ominous. And starting left back Andrew Apprahamian was also out for the last quarter or so of the game, although perhaps not because of injury. Five freshman played during the game, and at one point at least four were in the game together when it remained 1-1 late.
Stanford advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA last year, and lost only two starters who were of lesser importance. Beason returned, they have a fantastic goalie in Andrew Thomas, and those who are currently juniors were part of the number one recruiting class that year. On paper their 7-0 start was not unexpected. And yet in addition to having been outclassed by UW last night, I have generally not been impressed with their play this year. The win this year against Akron (away), last year's NCAA runner-up, has been rendered much less impressive by the fact that Akron was 0-7 at last check. And now it looks like Beason has likely played his last game for Stanford, which is so unfortunate for him and the team.
Jeremy Gunn displays irrepressible optimism, at least whenever he speaks publicly, but notice the words he used in the wake of last night's loss: "We had some chances, but UW had the better ones" Gunn said. "When all is said and done they deserved the game. We take it on the chin and we learn from it. It's not fatal. We move on."
"It's not fatal," is quite a bit different from "We had a bad game."
I am impressed by the freshman class. Keegan Hughes, who has started from the beginning, clearly adopted a leadership role last night after Beason went down. Ousseni Boudia is far-and-away the most talented player on the team. Gabe Segal has a knack for scoring, and is good in the air. And the other two frosh who played last night, Keegan Tingey and Cam Cilley, also seem skilled. Perhaps the signs of the deficiencies in this team will lead to a shuffling of the relative playing time and thereby raise collective the skill level of the team.
On the other hand, the younger players may not yet be better than the upperclassmen (and I may have fallen victim to "back-up quarterback syndrome"), or they may simply not be ready for the intensity of college soccer. I fear that Stanford's 7-0 start will continue to fizzle out, and that they will be a .500 team in Pac-12 play, if even that. A borderline NCAA invite and a quick out.
But I'm neurotic/pessimistic. Fortunately, I'm also very tractable. Is there someone in Cardboard land who can buoy my spirits?
A couple more items:
In looking for any update on Beason's injury, I found this Daily article that provides more about last night's game. UW's coach was gracious in what he said. (If Gunn is poached away by an MLS team or other, I would want Stanford to pursue Jaime Clark, a Stanford alum.)
https://www.stanforddaily.com/2019/10/04/washington-hands-mens-soccer-first-loss-in-overtime/
Also, I can't help but comment on the Pac-12 telecast. In contrast to recent away games at Santa Barbara (men's and women's) and Santa Clara (women's), the commentary last night was atrocious. The play-by-play guy knew nothing of soccer. It was like listening to your grandfather attending the first soccer game of his life. "Boy that player runs fast..." "It's amazing how far they can kick the ball..." Trivial facts and inanities filled the air. The color commentator had more useful things to say, but like a scorer who is only effective as the pass he receives, he didn't have much to work with. I wish he would have simply taken over more and marginalize the play-by-play guy.
Okay, rant over.
RE: Men's Soccer--Gut Punch - oldalum - 10-04-2019
(10-04-2019, 03:23 PM)DenverCard Wrote: Is there someone in Cardboard land who can buoy my spirits?Yeah, watch the women play on Sunday at 3 pm on Pac-12 network, vs. UW who are tied with us for first in the Pac-12 at 2-0. Our women just destroyed WSU, a ranked team, 5-0.
(sorry, don't mean to be facetious, just putting in a plug for the women--I watched the 2OT goal that beat the men and I feel your pain)
BTW, the good Pac-12 Network commentators were over at Cal doing the Cal-UW women's game.
RE: Men's Soccer--Gut Punch - Viking_Guy - 10-04-2019
DC--
I felt like Beason's injury was upper body - arm, elbow, wrist, shoulder. Maybe collarbone. He landed awkwardly on his arms coming down.
Thomas is a stud in the net. Has some work to do with commanding his area, though. Like a lot of keepers, he tends to let his defenders defend a bit too much. In other words, if a defender is marking someone, he isn't as aggressive coming for the ball as he might be, as on the first goal last night. A looping ball to the far post falls into a 50-50 ball inside the crease, popped into the crossbar and eventually scrambled into the net.
More generally, I just thought the Huskies wanted it more - they had a lot more bite in their game. WAY too many times I saw a Stanford player waiting for a ball to come to them on offense, rather than attacking it. They went to the ball harder when UW had the ball than when they were receiving it from their own teammates. So the Huskies were able to boss the midfield especially - Stanford couldn't connect balls forward for most of the match. A lot of over the top balls for Bouda to knock down.
I think the Cardinal was over-ranked - they're more a top-15 team than a top-5 team. And if Beason misses any amount of time, they may not be that - they count on the defense being able to cover up balls that get through their high pressure.
On the Pac-12 telecast - the network as a whole seems to have a bunch of jack-of-all-trades, master of none announcers - they bring in color people who are more versed, but get less of the airtime. That seems to be pretty common, but the differential can become painful at points. Maybe one of our industry folks has a comment on the hiring and staffing issues. One thing I noticed is a definite corner-cutting - the women's v-ball at Cal last week being an exemplar - of only the PbP person, no color or second commentator, on a lot of the more recent broadcasts.
My personal bête noire right now is Panchot, and I think it was his mark who got free for the game-winner. On the play, he drifts inside to mark the potential header (who Hughes was defending), leaving the back post open. But more generally, he seems to be reaching Amir Bashti levels of disinterest in defense at points - on one sequence where the Huskies had 5 people in the box pinballing the ball around, Panchot was at about the 25-yard line near the sideline, waiting for the outlet. This from the putative right back. He also had a painful sequence of playing with the ball at his feet, getting double-teamed, then trying to nutmeg the defender which turned into a counter-attack the other way. Which was really the end of the consistent pressure Stanford was putting on after the tying goal, and the last period of real front-foot attacking that the Cardinal had.
VG
P.S. And yes, the women are a joy to watch. Got home too late last night to write it up, but that's a 5-0 win over a top-25 team.
RE: Men's Soccer--Gut Punch - DenverCard - 10-04-2019
VG--
Nice pick-up on how Panchot, and not O'Brien, probably bears responsible for not better defending the winning goal for exactly the reason you identified: that he drifted toward to the middle to "double mark" a player that Hughes had covered, leaving Meek to find space at the far post. This video, which shows how the play started at midfield, demonstrates the breakdown in the coverage. For Stanford to be successful -- heck, for any team to be successful -- these types of mistakes simply cannot happen.
[/url][url=https://twitter.com/i/status/1179947500364423168]https://twitter.com/i/status/1179947500364423168
RE: Men's Soccer--Gut Punch - troyc - 10-05-2019
(10-04-2019, 03:47 PM)oldalum Wrote: BTW, the good Pac-12 Network commentators were over at Cal doing the Cal-UW women's game.
Appreciate the kind words. Thank you for watching! Looking forward to calling both of Stanford's matches on Sunday.
Troy C