Story: WSoccer Preview - Cougs at Seattle Univ. tonight
- Thread starter ScottHood
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Thanks Scott. Enjoyed reading the preview. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a very successful year and proving the rest of the P12 coaches wrong and finishing in the upper division.
I am planning on attending the game. If I do then I will let you know what I saw and think. Don't expect any profound insights as I have never played the game in my life. I've been following soccer ever since the first NASL Sounders game and gained some idea of what is going on. Certainly no expert.
Will do. You get more of a view of the individual performances in person than via TV. TV is usually showing the field in entirety and misses the little things. Don't expect authoritative wisdom though. I think I know more than most but not by much and even that is questionable.
Yes, I do indeed remember the NASL and the big Cosmos. They and LA ruined the league. Without any salary cap they went berserk and spent bundles on name players from Europe. The little guys- Portland, Tulsa, Calgary etc.- couldn't keep up and were soon noncompetitive. With most of the league unable to compete, the league soon folded. MLS seems to have learned the lesson.
Yes, I do indeed remember the NASL and the big Cosmos. They and LA ruined the league. Without any salary cap they went berserk and spent bundles on name players from Europe. The little guys- Portland, Tulsa, Calgary etc.- couldn't keep up and were soon noncompetitive. With most of the league unable to compete, the league soon folded. MLS seems to have learned the lesson.
O.K., here's my observations: (caveat emptor). Final: Cougs 3- Redhawks 1. All scoring in the first half.
Good crowd. Standing room only. Stadium capacity is 650 so I would estimate about 750 present. Surprising thing to me was that the crowd was predominately Wazzu, maybe 2/3's Cougs.
Both teams are quite young. Seventeen of Wazzu's 29 players are underclasswomen, including 9 freshmen and 3 redshirt freshmen or freshwomen if you will. Seatlle U. was even more so with 17 out of their 24 with underclass status. Both teams performed well considering the relative lack of upperclass experience.
During the game the Cougs dominated the play especially during the first half. The Cougs continued to perform fairly well in the second half but Seattle U. adjusted well and gave them more of a fight.
Coaching aspects: The team was well prepared for set pieces/corners. None of the hesitation/"where do I go now" reactions that one would expect with young players. (See last year's football defensive backs and special teamers for what I mean.) The spacing, teamwork and communication was good. Team was well conditioned. I noticed Schulenberger talking animatedly to one of the younger girls that had been substituted for during the second half. I liked it; teach while the deficiency is fresh in the player's mind not later during film study.,
Problems: Many of the longer passes failed to connect. Too far ahead of the intended target. There was an occasional lapse in passing due to a ball being sent into space with the expectation that player X would be there, only Player X failed to read the passers intention and the ball ended up in an empty space. It is early in the season and this is not too surprising. The redshirt Fr. goalkeeper was not tested too much and generally did well. Seattle U's single goal, however, was a wobbler through a crowd. A bit of a fluke. The goalie may have been partially screened by the herd in front but seemed to me to lose focus and was surprised by the ball's sudden appearance. Again, It is early and she is young but this is something that the staff needs to address.
We need more speed. We have no player with the ability to create a breakaway move on offense. Without greater speed on the flanks I am afraid that our upside is limited. We may field a good team, even a very good team, but one with a ceiling below championship status. Nothing to do about that now- can't coach it, only recruit it during the offseason.
Individual qualities: Kaitlyn Johnson (Jr.) was the best player on the pitch. Right behind her was Kelsee Crenshaw (So.). Only starting her second year and she is going to be a good one in the future. Grace Hancock (Fr.) and Sofia Anker-Kofoed (So.) also looked promising.
Overall, a good test and result for the ladies. Seattle U. may be "only" a WAC team but they were league champions in 2013 and 2014. Almost all of their OOC games are with Pac12 schools and other D1 programs. They are used to competing with the big dogs and are not pushovers. They gave our ladies all they could handle in the second half. I thought the game was a good preparation for the coming season.
Good crowd. Standing room only. Stadium capacity is 650 so I would estimate about 750 present. Surprising thing to me was that the crowd was predominately Wazzu, maybe 2/3's Cougs.
Both teams are quite young. Seventeen of Wazzu's 29 players are underclasswomen, including 9 freshmen and 3 redshirt freshmen or freshwomen if you will. Seatlle U. was even more so with 17 out of their 24 with underclass status. Both teams performed well considering the relative lack of upperclass experience.
During the game the Cougs dominated the play especially during the first half. The Cougs continued to perform fairly well in the second half but Seattle U. adjusted well and gave them more of a fight.
Coaching aspects: The team was well prepared for set pieces/corners. None of the hesitation/"where do I go now" reactions that one would expect with young players. (See last year's football defensive backs and special teamers for what I mean.) The spacing, teamwork and communication was good. Team was well conditioned. I noticed Schulenberger talking animatedly to one of the younger girls that had been substituted for during the second half. I liked it; teach while the deficiency is fresh in the player's mind not later during film study.,
Problems: Many of the longer passes failed to connect. Too far ahead of the intended target. There was an occasional lapse in passing due to a ball being sent into space with the expectation that player X would be there, only Player X failed to read the passers intention and the ball ended up in an empty space. It is early in the season and this is not too surprising. The redshirt Fr. goalkeeper was not tested too much and generally did well. Seattle U's single goal, however, was a wobbler through a crowd. A bit of a fluke. The goalie may have been partially screened by the herd in front but seemed to me to lose focus and was surprised by the ball's sudden appearance. Again, It is early and she is young but this is something that the staff needs to address.
We need more speed. We have no player with the ability to create a breakaway move on offense. Without greater speed on the flanks I am afraid that our upside is limited. We may field a good team, even a very good team, but one with a ceiling below championship status. Nothing to do about that now- can't coach it, only recruit it during the offseason.
Individual qualities: Kaitlyn Johnson (Jr.) was the best player on the pitch. Right behind her was Kelsee Crenshaw (So.). Only starting her second year and she is going to be a good one in the future. Grace Hancock (Fr.) and Sofia Anker-Kofoed (So.) also looked promising.
Overall, a good test and result for the ladies. Seattle U. may be "only" a WAC team but they were league champions in 2013 and 2014. Almost all of their OOC games are with Pac12 schools and other D1 programs. They are used to competing with the big dogs and are not pushovers. They gave our ladies all they could handle in the second half. I thought the game was a good preparation for the coming season.
I watched a good chunk of the 2nd half on the web (announcing was bad, by the way) and couldn't understand why Seattle was packing in the goal area when trailing by two. Seemed like they were satisfied to keep the status quo and not have the score escalate.
I did not get the impression that SU was "parking the bus" as the Brits put it. They pulled back the defensive mids a bit in the second half to stop the bleeding. If the situation continued similar to the first half then I expected our ladies to score at least five. They had to go a bit more defensive- sure can't win giving up goals at that rate. Once regaining the ball in the defensive third, they responded and counterattacked as aggressively as possible. Certainly made problems for our Cougs as the second half scoring indicates. It may have looked different on the webcast and I may be wrong but having viewed it in person I got that impression.
Comments about coaching continuity and local interest are well placed. The University of Portland has the finest history of the lot. Seattle U. has a couple of national men's titles to their credit and Seattle Pacific was a national men's power during the early era of the sport's rise in the U.S. The Sounders attendance eclipses New York, L.A. and Chicago in the MLS. For that matter the NASL Sounders also drew extremely well. I used to live on Queen Anne Hill back then and decided to walk down to Memorial Field for the initial game. It was sold out. I can remember somebody asking loudly if anyone knew the rules of the game. One fellow stood up and explained the rudiments of the game to the crowd while the rest of us turned toward him and listened. Despite lacking any knowledge of soccer whatsoever it seemed the city took an immediate liking to it. Very strange and I cannot explain it but the city took to it like ducks to water.
As far as coaching continuity is concerned, yes, we all hope that the turnover rate ends. Reminds me of the Sweeney to Walden coach-a-year problem during the '70s. Potter left, seemingly in large part, because of facilities deficiencies. Moos is addressing that. The next guy, McSomething (cannot recall the name), because of USC's "sleeping giant" status. That was disappointing but I understand and cannot fault him for that. Last year's coach apparently left because of family matters, not an issue related to WSU or Pullman. I hope that Schulenberger is a more permanent replacement. I was glad to see that he retained the two assistant coaches if for no other reason than continuity. The ladies seem to keep chugging along regardless of who the head coach is, but it certainly is not helpful. Hats off to them.
Comments about coaching continuity and local interest are well placed. The University of Portland has the finest history of the lot. Seattle U. has a couple of national men's titles to their credit and Seattle Pacific was a national men's power during the early era of the sport's rise in the U.S. The Sounders attendance eclipses New York, L.A. and Chicago in the MLS. For that matter the NASL Sounders also drew extremely well. I used to live on Queen Anne Hill back then and decided to walk down to Memorial Field for the initial game. It was sold out. I can remember somebody asking loudly if anyone knew the rules of the game. One fellow stood up and explained the rudiments of the game to the crowd while the rest of us turned toward him and listened. Despite lacking any knowledge of soccer whatsoever it seemed the city took an immediate liking to it. Very strange and I cannot explain it but the city took to it like ducks to water.
As far as coaching continuity is concerned, yes, we all hope that the turnover rate ends. Reminds me of the Sweeney to Walden coach-a-year problem during the '70s. Potter left, seemingly in large part, because of facilities deficiencies. Moos is addressing that. The next guy, McSomething (cannot recall the name), because of USC's "sleeping giant" status. That was disappointing but I understand and cannot fault him for that. Last year's coach apparently left because of family matters, not an issue related to WSU or Pullman. I hope that Schulenberger is a more permanent replacement. I was glad to see that he retained the two assistant coaches if for no other reason than continuity. The ladies seem to keep chugging along regardless of who the head coach is, but it certainly is not helpful. Hats off to them.
