10-01-2018, 05:57 PM
Funny, I haven't been that impressed with Hiatt. She seems to me a step or two slow and makes too many poor passes, often because she passes a second after the right time. BUT I never played and am a late life soccer convert...I think I'm pretty knowledgeable for the background I've got but I'd grade my soccer fan knowledge at no better than B+. And the knitting together of the team away from the ball is one of my known weak spots. I'd be much happier if we could put Tierna either at defensive mid or at CB and move Girma to defensive mid. But that won't happen this year - and, even though I'm not a brobdingnagian fan of Sam, I was very happy to see her back on the field, both for her sake and for ours. I don't think Beattie or Belle are better than Sam; I'm just less convinced that they are worse.
I agree with everything else, especially the praise for Naomi Girma, who is an amazing true frosh - such preternatural poise for a young player! Andi had it, Tierna has it, but it is rare.
I thought Alison Jahansouz had an unusually bad match today, not at saves or good play in the box but at her distribution. Way too many bad kicks, both in the middle of play and from goal kicks. I don't remember that from before - maybe just an off day. And SC did press a lot.
Great win!
[quote="Viking_Guy" pid='231516' dateline='1538374947']
A couple of comments.
(1) Hiatt makes all the difference in the world. When she came on in the first half, Stanford started stringing together more passes, and looked much more composed. But then, Ratcliffe decided to sub off most of the starters at the same time, and that's where Stanford almost came apart in the latter stages of the first half. McAlpine's strategy, of starting in a defensive posture, then bringing in his best offensive players against a tired and then sub-laden Stanford lineup, nearly paid off.
More generally, I think a lot of the season's outcome is going to depend on keeping the starters healthy, including Hiatt (VERY glad it was just a broken nose, and not post-concussive symptoms, btw.) When the bench came in, Stanford broke down - less coverage of defense, less awareness of where passes should go, all the signs of non-starters on the pitch. They may be skilled, but they definitely were not used to playing as a unit.
Hiatt getting healthy and her form back may determine how far this team can go. Goad, Breide, and others can play the spot, but they are not nearly the two-way player that Hiatt is - they are much more tilted toward offense. And the connection between backline and forwards was much more tenuous when Hiatt was out. What it felt like was that she feels comfortable changing the point of attack from her spot, while our other midfielders often only seem to do that by going all the way back to Cook, Girma, and Jahansouz. And then we play around with the ball a while in the back, trying to draw the other team forward.
I agree with everything else, especially the praise for Naomi Girma, who is an amazing true frosh - such preternatural poise for a young player! Andi had it, Tierna has it, but it is rare.
I thought Alison Jahansouz had an unusually bad match today, not at saves or good play in the box but at her distribution. Way too many bad kicks, both in the middle of play and from goal kicks. I don't remember that from before - maybe just an off day. And SC did press a lot.
Great win!
[quote="Viking_Guy" pid='231516' dateline='1538374947']
A couple of comments.
(1) Hiatt makes all the difference in the world. When she came on in the first half, Stanford started stringing together more passes, and looked much more composed. But then, Ratcliffe decided to sub off most of the starters at the same time, and that's where Stanford almost came apart in the latter stages of the first half. McAlpine's strategy, of starting in a defensive posture, then bringing in his best offensive players against a tired and then sub-laden Stanford lineup, nearly paid off.
More generally, I think a lot of the season's outcome is going to depend on keeping the starters healthy, including Hiatt (VERY glad it was just a broken nose, and not post-concussive symptoms, btw.) When the bench came in, Stanford broke down - less coverage of defense, less awareness of where passes should go, all the signs of non-starters on the pitch. They may be skilled, but they definitely were not used to playing as a unit.
Hiatt getting healthy and her form back may determine how far this team can go. Goad, Breide, and others can play the spot, but they are not nearly the two-way player that Hiatt is - they are much more tilted toward offense. And the connection between backline and forwards was much more tenuous when Hiatt was out. What it felt like was that she feels comfortable changing the point of attack from her spot, while our other midfielders often only seem to do that by going all the way back to Cook, Girma, and Jahansouz. And then we play around with the ball a while in the back, trying to draw the other team forward.