[OCcardinal]

Some responses to the above:
The potential of a serious injury to Thomas is bad but not devastating to our postseason hopes. She's a frosh who has 1 goal and 1 assist in 555 minutes. She got the start against both Duke and North Carolina and generated zero shots in either game.  She'll get better with more minutes, but she's not necessarily the answer right now.  I think we'd be better if Ratcliff played Harvey as a false 9, for example. (By the way, if Thomas is seriously hurt, f*ck North Carolina.  The last time we played them at home they broke Tierna Davidson's ankle.)

Holding North Carolina scoreless is a big deal. The only other team to do that this season is Duke. They scored 3 goals recently against Virginia and have the #7 offense in the country according to Massey.  Keep in mind that we lost 5th year defender Kennedy Wesley (the NWSL's current rookie of the month) at center back.  It was a tremendous luxury that Emri came in and immediately performed at such a high level.  But she's injured now and there's no one else on the roster besides Aikey who gives us anything close to what we need at center back against top offenses. So I think in these remaining games before the NCAA tournament we'll be figuring out how best to score goals without Aikey at mid or forward.  I think part of that was Ratcliff starting Boamah at outside back 4 of the past 5 games.  She's not our best defender but she's aggressive on offense which Ratcliff likes.  Same reason why he put Buda at outside back (which unfortunately backfired in the national championship match - thankfully she's back at mid now).  He also likes Logan Smith at outside back for a similar reason, though she's played much fewer minutes.

Allie Montoya possibly being out for an extended period of time does concern me.  Although her production is down again this year (no goals and only 3 assists in 14 games) she still does things that no one else does for us.  Fingers crossed there.

As for North Carolina getting tired (and us not) that shows we are deeper despite their easier ability to pick up transfers.  (Players can transfer out too and North Carolina lost 9 players to the transfer portal last season).

Finally, I don't blame the NWSL for Stanford's loss of Alyssa Thompson. That was more of a National Team issue (similar to Sophia Smith leaving after her sophomore season). Alyssa had a chance of making the World Cup and got playing time with the senior team (but ultimately wasn't chosen). Her sister then chose to forgo college because her young age allowed her to skip the NWSL draft and sign directly with Angel City to play with her sister. A unique circumstance.  Notably the latest collective bargaining agreement eliminates the NWSL draft entirely. We'll see how things play out going forward. Also, Onyeka Gamero signed with Barcelona. They were a top pro team before Stanford women's soccer won its first national championship.

[OCcardinal]

Some responses to the above:
The potential of a serious injury to Thomas is bad but not devastating to our postseason hopes. She's a frosh who has 1 goal and 1 assist in 555 minutes. She got the start against both Duke and North Carolina and generated zero shots in either game.  She'll get better with more minutes, but she's not necessarily the answer right now.  I think we'd be better if Ratcliff played Harvey as a false 9, for example. (By the way, if Thomas is seriously hurt, f*ck North Carolina.  The last time we played them at home they broke Tierna Davidson's ankle.)

Holding North Carolina scoreless is a big deal. The only other team to do that this season is Duke. They scored 3 goals recently against Virginia and have the #7 offense in the country according to Massey.  Keep in mind that we lost 5th year defender Kennedy Wesley (the NWSL's current rookie of the month) at center back.  It was a tremendous luxury that Emri came in and immediately performed at such a high level.  But she's injured now and there's no one else on the roster besides Aikey who gives us anything close to what we need at center back against top offenses. So I think in these remaining games before the NCAA tournament we'll be figuring out how best to score goals without Aikey at mid or forward.  I think part of that was Ratcliff starting Boamah at outside back 4 of the past 5 games.  She's not our best defender but she's aggressive on offense which Ratcliff likes.  Same reason why he put Buda at outside back (which unfortunately backfired in the national championship match - thankfully she's back at mid now).  He also likes Logan Smith at outside back for a similar reason, though she's played much fewer minutes.

Allie Montoya possibly being out for an extended period of time does concern me.  Although her production is down again this year (no goals and only 3 assists in 14 games) she still does things that no one else does for us.  Fingers crossed there.

As for North Carolina getting tired (and us not) that shows we are deeper despite their easier ability to pick up transfers.  (Players can transfer out too and North Carolina lost 9 players to the transfer portal last season).

Finally, I don't blame the NWSL for Stanford's loss of Alyssa Thompson. That was more of a National Team issue (similar to Sophia Smith leaving after her sophomore season). Alyssa had a chance of making the World Cup and got playing time with the senior team (but ultimately wasn't chosen). Her sister then chose to forgo college because her young age allowed her to skip the NWSL draft and sign directly with Angel City to play with her sister. A unique circumstance.  Notably the latest collective bargaining agreement eliminates the NWSL draft entirely. We'll see how things play out going forward. Also, Onyeka Gamero signed with Barcelona. They were a top pro team before Stanford women's soccer won its first national championship.