[DenverCard]

Viking_Guy,

Thanks for the great summary and perspicacious assessment of the game.  Makes me realize that one can watch a game but not see a lot of what is happening.

In contrast to the 7-0 blow-outs or the games in which the opponent packs in their defenders to limit the damage done, last night's game was really entertaining.  Santa Clara has a good team with a number of skilled players.  Seemed like the first hour of the game was pretty even, as reflected in the 2-2 score for much of the second half, but that Stanford controlled the last third of the game, apart from a smattering of offensive forays by Santa Clara.

The streaming coverage of the game was quite good.  The announcer was entirely knowledgeable about Santa Clara's players, but also had good information about Stanford's.  He was well-versed on recent games between the two teams, and he knew soccer.

I too noticed that the Santa Clara goalie seemed to make an effort to unnecessarily initiate contact with the Stanford forwards.  Rather than to seek a penalty in doing so, I took her actions as an effort to intimidate -- to communicate the message that if you came too close to her, you were going to get hit.

Glad to see Madison Haley get a goal.  I think she is sometimes too prone to pass when taking on another player affords a better chance of a good shot on goal.  Similarly, there were too many efforts by the team collectively to thread the needle with diagonal passes from near the top of the penalty box when from that distance, attempting a shot on goal is the percentage play, in my estimation.  Conversely, Sophia Smith is too prone to try to beat players with the dribble.  It seems like she is using tactics that worked prior to college when most players were much less skilled but which usually fail against college talent.  It'll be important for her development to gain a better sense of the location and runs of her teammates.

Also happy to see less of the "safety-first" approach from last year when Stanford repeatedly passed the ball backwards for the sake of control at the cost of taking chances with the ball to generate attacks.  To their credit, Santa Clara was always looking to move the ball forward, and I was impressed by how often their long vertical passes connected.  But as VG pointed out, that may reflect a weakness of Stanford's midfield as much as anything.

[DenverCard]

Viking_Guy,

Thanks for the great summary and perspicacious assessment of the game.  Makes me realize that one can watch a game but not see a lot of what is happening.

In contrast to the 7-0 blow-outs or the games in which the opponent packs in their defenders to limit the damage done, last night's game was really entertaining.  Santa Clara has a good team with a number of skilled players.  Seemed like the first hour of the game was pretty even, as reflected in the 2-2 score for much of the second half, but that Stanford controlled the last third of the game, apart from a smattering of offensive forays by Santa Clara.

The streaming coverage of the game was quite good.  The announcer was entirely knowledgeable about Santa Clara's players, but also had good information about Stanford's.  He was well-versed on recent games between the two teams, and he knew soccer.

I too noticed that the Santa Clara goalie seemed to make an effort to unnecessarily initiate contact with the Stanford forwards.  Rather than to seek a penalty in doing so, I took her actions as an effort to intimidate -- to communicate the message that if you came too close to her, you were going to get hit.

Glad to see Madison Haley get a goal.  I think she is sometimes too prone to pass when taking on another player affords a better chance of a good shot on goal.  Similarly, there were too many efforts by the team collectively to thread the needle with diagonal passes from near the top of the penalty box when from that distance, attempting a shot on goal is the percentage play, in my estimation.  Conversely, Sophia Smith is too prone to try to beat players with the dribble.  It seems like she is using tactics that worked prior to college when most players were much less skilled but which usually fail against college talent.  It'll be important for her development to gain a better sense of the location and runs of her teammates.

Also happy to see less of the "safety-first" approach from last year when Stanford repeatedly passed the ball backwards for the sake of control at the cost of taking chances with the ball to generate attacks.  To their credit, Santa Clara was always looking to move the ball forward, and I was impressed by how often their long vertical passes connected.  But as VG pointed out, that may reflect a weakness of Stanford's midfield as much as anything.