[Hieronymus]

Not a lot of positives from that one.

They did manage to stabilize for awhile after the terrible start and actually had chances to tie it up in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but couldn’t get over the hump. Then the wheels fell off again defensively, and this game was over.

- Boamah started at LB. She turns it over a bit and her defense is sometimes spotty. For example, she lost her mark on the first goal. But Pagador struggles defensively at times too, and she doesn’t add anywhere near as much going forward.
- PR tried to solve RM differently than I proposed. He started Aikey at LM and moved Kohler to RM with Thomas starting at CF. It really didn’t work. The team did nothing the first 20-25 minutes, and couldn’t even hang onto the ball for more than a few passes early. Hard to say from TV why, though. I still don’t think Thomas should start at this level, but it wasn’t all her.
- The biggest story was the trainwreck on defense. I said they were squirrelly vs. SMU - well squirrelly would have been a big step up yesterday. Somehow Emri being out has completely thrown the rhythm off for the whole defense. Emri for team MVP?
- I was wrong on Brandt - she has not played well since Emri went out, and this game was flat out bad. She was a little better wide, but she still wasn’t good.
- Harrison was a mess as well. She struggled on defense and was back to being terrified of the ball on offense.
- It wasn’t all on the back 4. Duke did a really good job of exploiting the weak spots on the wings in a 433, getting players on the opposite side of the field wide, wide open. I edited this on a quick relook, and I still can’t really tell what position 3 for Duke was actually playing. I am almost sure it’s LB, but she is so far forward much of the time it’s hard to tell. But if 3 is the LB, then most of the blame falls on Montoya/RF.
- The entire team is just ice cold on offense. The last pass usually goes right to the goalie or even out of bounds. The last shot is hit with no confidence or conviction. The shooting is so tame, I would like to see a couple of shots get massively overhit even if they go 30 yds over goal. At least show conviction even if you feel no confidence.
- I am really worried about Emri being out another way too - it delays integrating Aikey into the offense completely and time for that has just about run out.

[Hieronymus]

Not a lot of positives from that one.

They did manage to stabilize for awhile after the terrible start and actually had chances to tie it up in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but couldn’t get over the hump. Then the wheels fell off again defensively, and this game was over.

- Boamah started at LB. She turns it over a bit and her defense is sometimes spotty. For example, she lost her mark on the first goal. But Pagador struggles defensively at times too, and she doesn’t add anywhere near as much going forward.
- PR tried to solve RM differently than I proposed. He started Aikey at LM and moved Kohler to RM with Thomas starting at CF. It really didn’t work. The team did nothing the first 20-25 minutes, and couldn’t even hang onto the ball for more than a few passes early. Hard to say from TV why, though. I still don’t think Thomas should start at this level, but it wasn’t all her.
- The biggest story was the trainwreck on defense. I said they were squirrelly vs. SMU - well squirrelly would have been a big step up yesterday. Somehow Emri being out has completely thrown the rhythm off for the whole defense. Emri for team MVP?
- I was wrong on Brandt - she has not played well since Emri went out, and this game was flat out bad. She was a little better wide, but she still wasn’t good.
- Harrison was a mess as well. She struggled on defense and was back to being terrified of the ball on offense.
- It wasn’t all on the back 4. Duke did a really good job of exploiting the weak spots on the wings in a 433, getting players on the opposite side of the field wide, wide open. I edited this on a quick relook, and I still can’t really tell what position 3 for Duke was actually playing. I am almost sure it’s LB, but she is so far forward much of the time it’s hard to tell. But if 3 is the LB, then most of the blame falls on Montoya/RF.
- The entire team is just ice cold on offense. The last pass usually goes right to the goalie or even out of bounds. The last shot is hit with no confidence or conviction. The shooting is so tame, I would like to see a couple of shots get massively overhit even if they go 30 yds over goal. At least show conviction even if you feel no confidence.
- I am really worried about Emri being out another way too - it delays integrating Aikey into the offense completely and time for that has just about run out.