A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer

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A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - warren65 - 09-03-2022

Two of Stanford’s signature programs face a deep issue. Deep as in the “deep depth” that Yogi Berra attributed to his beloved Yankees. Both women’s basketball and women’s soccer have lots and lots of talent, making it really tough to break into the starting lineup.

Over at Maples, coach Tara VanDerveer has seven extraordinary players who can play one or both of the two post positons. Two of those players were number-one ranked in their high school class (Haley Jones and Lauren Betts); a third was ranked number three (Cameron Brink). The two with the lowest class rankings (both number 19) can dunk a basketball (Fran Belibi and Kiki Iriafen). Some of these players (Haley Jones or Brooke Demetre) can and likely will play substantial time in the three position, but that still leaves seven outstanding players fighting for three starting positions. I have posted a story about the Magnificent Seven on the Stanford Fast Break Club site. https://fbccardinalnews.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-magnificent-seven-dominance-and.html

Over at Laird Q Cagan Stadium, coach Paul Ratcliffe has a similar issue. He has nine freshmen on his roster, including the number one (Elise Evans) and number three (Allie Montoya) ranked recruits in the nation. Evans has started all four games as a center back and shows signs of being a formidable defender. Montoya has played in all four games and scored the team’s two goals (a brace) in the team’s upset win over higher ranked Penn State.

Somewhat less heralded freshman Luni Kostmayer is tied for the best offensive statistics on the team, with three goals, an assist, and six shots on goal. Kostmayer is a 5’11” forward with the strength to hold the ball and to blast a laser shot into the goal from well outside the box. A future Aby Wambach? I’m looking forward to watching her play.

Other freshmen have seen substantial playing time, including Jasmine Aikey, a 5’10”mid-fielder who has played in all four games and has three shots on goal, and Adi Yuasa, another mid-fielder who has two shots on goal.

Even without the freshmen, Stanford had a number of superior veteran players, including senior Maya Doms, a mid-fielder forward with All American credentials and on the watch list for year-end awards, Samantha Williams, a forward with speed and a nose for the goal, Andrea Kitahata, a midfielder who played on the Under 20 U.S. team, Amy Sayer, a mid-fielder forward with experience on Australian national teams, Julia Leontini, another mid-fielder with good offensive stats, and Kennedy Wesley, a senior outside back who is athletic and reliable (she scored one of the penalty kicks against North Carolina in the NCAA championship game).

So just how hard is it to break into the starting lineup? Consider this: after returning to Stanford from the U-20 national team experience, Kitahata, number 2 in offensive stats from last year’s team, has yet to break into the starting lineup (perhaps due in part to recovering from the U-20 experience). There are now four players with a brace, one each for the four games played. Only one of those players, Samantha Williams, achieved her two goals as a starter. The other three players, Montoya, Kostmayer, and Sayer, came in off the bench to score their two goals.

The soccer team is now 4-0, and has scored 15 goals while allowing only one. Eight players have scored at least one goal; eleven players have one or more assists. The lineup is still unsettled, but the quality of the soccer is excellent.

It should be an exciting season watching Coaches Ratcliffe and VanDerveer wrestling with a problem that every coach would love to have: figuring out who amongst the many gifted and motivated players should get the playing time.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - joemontes - 09-03-2022

(09-03-2022, 03:37 PM)warren65 Wrote: Two of Stanford’s signature programs face a deep issue. Deep as in the “deep depth” that Yogi Berra attributed to his beloved Yankees. Both women’s basketball and women’s soccer have lots and lots of talent, making it really tough to break into the starting lineup.

Over at Maples, coach Tara VanDerveer has seven extraordinary players who can play one or both of the two post positons. Two of those players were number-one ranked in their high school class (Haley Jones and Lauren Betts); a third was ranked number three (Cameron Brink). The two with the lowest class rankings (both number 19) can dunk a basketball (Fran Belibi and Kiki Iriafen). Some of these players (Haley Jones or Brooke Demetre) can and likely will play substantial time in the three position, but that still leaves seven outstanding players fighting for three starting positions. I have posted a story about the Magnificent Seven on the Stanford Fast Break Club site. https://fbccardinalnews.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-magnificent-seven-dominance-and.html

.......

It should be an exciting season watching Coaches Ratcliffe and VanDerveer wrestling with a problem that every coach would love to have: figuring out who amongst the many gifted and motivated players should get the playing time.

I think your article about the "problemmatic" deep post depth situation of Stanford's WCBB pretty much points to the solution -
use JONES and DEMETRE exclusively at the 3, while leaving 6'7 BETTS / 6'5 PRECHTEL / 6'4 BRINK / 6'3 IRIAFEN / 6'1 BELIBI
to battle it out for the 80 minute allotment at the 4 and 5.

Also, the great thing about this Magnificent 7 is that 4 of them (PRECHTEL, BRINK, DEMETRE and JONES) are reliable threats
from beyond the 3-point arc. This could potentially further alleviate the logjam of minutes at the post, since I would challenge
Tara to even give PRECHTEL or BRINK minutes at the 3 when BETTS is at the 5 and IRIAFEN or BELIBI is at the 4, and with
the versatile JONES slotted at the 2.

Yes, this Magnificent 7 also happens to be the 7 with the highest recruiting rankings in the team (#1 BETTS, #1 JONES, #3 BRINK,
#11 DEMETRE, #15 PRECHTEL, #19 BELIBI and #19 IRIAFEN), so it makes great sense not limit all of them at the 4 and 5.
In order to maximize the individual utilization of this group, I can imagine the following rough configuration of positional duties
for this Magnificent 7:

BETTS: 5 (12.5-15 minutes)
JONES:  3 (20-22.5), 2 (10)
BRINK: 4 (10-15), 5 (10-12.5), 3 (5)
DEMEMTRE: 3 (12.5-15)
PRECHTEL: 5 (12.5-15), 3 (0-2.5)
BELIBI: 4 (12.5-15)
IRIAFEN: 4 (12.5-15)

So many possibilities!

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - ca245 - 09-03-2022

Depth in WSoc will be very much needed for tomorrow's game. Kickoff at 3 PM with temperature almost certainly in the 90s.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - BACardinal - 09-03-2022

Same problem for the women's volleyball team.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - CompSci87 - 09-03-2022

WVB has a very clear starting 7, but yes there are some good players behind them. Should make for strong competition in practice.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - cardfan77 - 09-03-2022

The depth for WVB is coming next year especially if Kurt is coming.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - Phogge - 09-04-2022

Sort of like having two Heeesman Trophy winners in the same backfield, Charles White and Marcus Allen.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - Spiny_Norman - 09-04-2022

Stanford women's golf currently has 4 former All Americans on the roster, 2 of whom won the NCAA individual championship and were national Player of the Year as freshmen the past 2 years. They add the top recruit in the country who is expected to push for tournament wins and post season honors as well. And of Stanford's top 5 players right now, only 1 is a senior.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - OCcardinal - 09-05-2022

(09-03-2022, 03:37 PM)warren65 Wrote: So just how hard is it to break into the starting lineup? Consider this: after returning to Stanford from the U-20 national team experience, Kitahata, number 2 in offensive stats from last year’s team, has yet to break into the starting lineup (perhaps due in part to recovering from the U-20 experience).

Although she didn't start, Kitahata did end playing the most minutes (50) of any Stanford forward in the Penn State game. Not sure why she only played 6 minutes in the Cal Poly game yesterday. Hopefully she's not nursing an injury and it was just because Ratcliffe wanted to get some other players more experience.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - Branner77 - 09-05-2022

A friend and soccer guru informs me that Montoya's parents are the leaders of the famed local MVLA club soccer team, which has produced so many Stanford stars over the years, from Lindsay Taylor to Jaye Boissiere. Montoya certainly showed uncanny instincts v Penn St. the other night, in addition to the athletic talent and technical skill presumed for everyone on the LSJU roster!

Kostmayer is the most physically imposing Stanford W soccer player that I can recall since Callie Withers dominated the midfield ~ 20 years ago. Kostmayer was brushing off Penn St defenders like gnats.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - oldalum - 09-05-2022

(09-05-2022, 12:30 PM)Branner77 Wrote: Montoya's parents are the leaders of the famed local MVLA club soccer team, which has produced so many Stanford stars over the years

and assistant coaches too!

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - Spiny_Norman - 09-05-2022

UCLA went to Durham and Chapel Hill this past weekend and swept #2 Duke and #1 UNC. I would get my tickets now for the Friday, October 14 home match vs. UCLA. The teams might be 1 and 2 in the country by then.

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - OCcardinal - 09-05-2022

(09-05-2022, 12:47 PM)oldalum Wrote:
(09-05-2022, 12:30 PM)Branner77 Wrote: Montoya's parents are the leaders of the famed local MVLA club soccer team, which has produced so many Stanford stars over the years
and assistant coaches too!

Montoya's dad just became the new head coach for the Washington Spirit. So he's now Andi Sullivan and Kelly O'Hara's NWSL coach! https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/washington-spirit-interim-coach-albertin-montoya/

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - Jamesy - 09-05-2022

(09-05-2022, 12:48 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote: UCLA went to Durham and Chapel Hill this past weekend and swept #2 Duke and #1 UNC. I would get my tickets now for the Friday, October 14 home match vs. UCLA. The teams might be 1 and 2 in the country by then.

Too late. Game is already sold out!

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - OCcardinal - 09-05-2022

(09-05-2022, 12:30 PM)Branner77 Wrote: Kostmayer is the most physically imposing Stanford W soccer player that I can recall since Callie Withers dominated the midfield ~ 20 years ago. Kostmayer was brushing off Penn St defenders like gnats.

I had the same thought. It's rare to have an athlete with that type of physicality on this team. The North Carolina team we beat (on penalties) in the 2019 National Championship match had 6 field players that were 5-10 or taller. We had one (defender Sam Hiatt). Kostmayer should really help us with some matchups in the years ahead, hopefully in multiple College Cups! (We've also go 5-10 midfielder Jasmine Aikey now, who used her physicality and agility to draw a nice penalty yesterday. She also had a beautiful assist to Montoya in the Penn State match. I'm really excited to see her having an immediate impact on the team.)

RE: A Deep Problem for Women's Hoops and Women's Soccer - mbdude - 09-05-2022

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