2019 Women's D1 Soccer Talk!!!!

First off, good luck to my Bruins. I wish them nothing but a championship. I agree with Map. I smell something special but with how this crazy sport is played, anything can happen :) Second, if my Bruins get knocked out by a lucky team that plays kickball or smash ball, then I hope SC finds some magic cause they're not playing good. If they both fail me and my mom, then I'm going for the Titans and everyone can go, "Cal State who?" like they did in the 70s or when Leon Wood put on a magical night in 83' against Tark's Rebels, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-06-sp-140-story.html
I'm no expert in girls college soccer but what I saw with the Titans the other night made me a believer.
 
Was hoping Michigan would get in the 'SC section of the bracket of the bracket. Would be nice to see a late fall game in weather above 40 degrees. Good news.....hosting home game this weekend. Bad news.....30 degree forecast. Hope to see Pepperdine in NC. Good luck to all.
 
eastbaysoccer said:
Andersen the difference but cal falls to Santa Clara. Who beats Jerry Smith 2x in one year?
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Using history as our guide, I am inclined to agree however, Santa Clara’s achilles heel is their defense. Couple that with the Cal GK I’m leaning toward Cal finally getting out of the first round.
 
dk_b said:
When you fire up the Trans Am, I will be warming up the big rig and we can head on to Texas. You can call me Snow Man and I will find a lazy beagle named "Fred" to complete the look. My rig may or may not be full of beer.
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We may need this because it isn’t easy (nor cheap) getting to Lubbock.
 
oh canada said:
i rather be on USC's side of the bracket than UCLA's. Bummer we couldn't get Stanford and UCLA on opposite sides. Pepp good chance to play UNC in the regional final. Some of those small conference schools that made it in I've never even heard of.
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You have to beat who is in front of you so I am all good with whichever side the Bruins got placed on. It seems that they did not want an all ACC or all PAC 12 final so they put the two strongest teams in each conference on the same side of the bracket along with the third strongest of the other conference.

I like the Bruins draw. God willing late November in Tallahassee is much better than in Chapel Hill or Charlottesville.
 
dk_b said:
You are one of the most savvy soccer observers I "know" (in that anonymous sort of way) but having watched a ton of Cal games for the last decade and, most relevantly, the last two years, I'd say that this year's D is a direct result of having an excellent GK. In 2017, they had Boyd in goal + 3 seniors on the back to go with their excellent frosh center back (who has had a great year this year and did great in particular v UCLA) and 1 of those seniors on the back was an all-American. They had a good season and had a fluke 1 min in to Round 1 v SCU when that all-American drew a red card, SCU hit a perfect free kick and that was that. Last year, they had Smith as a soph but no seasoned D and an inexperienced GK and the team struggled. This year, the team is largely the same as last except AA in goal - the D IS better as a unit and AA is a big reason for that (I'm partial to GKs and their impact on the team). I'd even say that that the D, not the GK directly, was what won that game at UCLA but it was their confidence in their keeper that allowed them to take the chances. She's made THE difference. (as for the Stanford game, I'd say that the GK was the reason it was 4-0 and not 10-0. 13 saves, 39 shots faced, 17 shots on goal. Most notably, Marcario had a whopping 6(!) shots on goal and scored exactly zero goals. Yup, Cal's GK was a difference-maker in that game. Did not give them the win and did allow 4 goals but played a hell of a game)

All that said, it is a fun part of sports that we can have this type of discussion about excellent players. It is not me saying Fishel is not excellent nor you saying that Anderson is not. We are talking about the margins of excellent, excellent players, and it is a tiny # of players that can be part of that discussion. And that's fun. My kid joins the fun directly next year and I can't wait to see more of these players in person.
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I definitely think that Anderson is the real deal. She got peppered with shots by my kid's team. She only has one weakness in my opinion and hopefully they are working on it. She deserves to get 1st team all PAC 12 based upon her consistent play all season. Make no mistake though lot's of what made Cal good when my kid first played them 3 years ago as a freshman was the defense and offense that they had not just Boyd. They had Ariel Shipp and Ifeoma O along with an experienced defense led by Indigo G. Having that much overall talent just made them a better team. Abbie Kim, current star forward, was on the that team and did then exactly what she does now (gets endline and then crosses the ball in) the difference being they had 2 excellent forwards on the end of those crosses. Boyd and Anderson are pretty equivalent in my eyes (both excellent keepers) but the true difference has been Cal's defensive emergence. This current Cal team is weaker than their 2016 team in my opinion which leads me to believe that they are going to lose to Santa Clara this weekend and likely be one of only 2 PAC 12 teams to lose this weekend. I hope that I am wrong and that Cal wins this time around and goes deep.

Good luck to you and your player and congratulations to her joining the D1 fray next season. Enjoy it as it goes very quickly.
 
My !st Round winners:

Stanford
Hofstra
Arizona
Penn St.
Arkansas
NC State
Louisville
BYU
UCLA
Clemson
Duke (in PKs)
Wisconsin
Washington
Brown
Florida State
Virginia
Washington State
Georgetown
Rutgers
Kansas
Virginia Tech
South Carolina
U$C
Texas A&M
Santa Clara
Oklahoma St.
Pepperdine
Michigan
Colorado
North Carolina

My Sweet 16

Stanford'
Penn St.
BYU
Arkansas
UCLA
Wisconsin
Florida
Florida St.
Virginia
Georgetown
Kansas
South Carolina
U$C
Santa Clara
Michigan
North Carolina
 
MakeAPlay said:
My !st Round winners:

Stanford
Hofstra
Arizona
Penn St.
Arkansas
NC State
Louisville
BYU
UCLA
Clemson
Duke (in PKs)
Wisconsin
Washington
Brown
Florida State
Virginia
Washington State
Georgetown
Rutgers
Kansas
Virginia Tech
South Carolina
U$C
Texas A&M
Santa Clara
Oklahoma St.
Pepperdine
Michigan
Colorado
North Carolina

My Sweet 16

Stanford'
Penn St.
BYU
Arkansas
UCLA
Wisconsin
Florida
Florida St.
Virginia
Georgetown
Kansas
South Carolina
U$C
Santa Clara
Michigan
North Carolina
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Titans will upset USC
 
[QUOTE="MakeAPlay said:
I definitely think that Anderson is the real deal. She got peppered with shots by my kid's team. She only has one weakness in my opinion and hopefully they are working on it. She deserves to get 1st team all PAC 12 based upon her consistent play all season. Make no mistake though lot's of what made Cal good when my kid first played them 3 years ago as a freshman was the defense and offense that they had not just Boyd. They had Ariel Shipp and Ifeoma O along with an experienced defense led by Indigo G. Having that much overall talent just made them a better team. Abbie Kim, current star forward, was on the that team and did then exactly what she does now (gets endline and then crosses the ball in) the difference being they had 2 excellent forwards on the end of those crosses. Boyd and Anderson are pretty equivalent in my eyes (both excellent keepers) but the true difference has been Cal's defensive emergence. This current Cal team is weaker than their 2016 team in my opinion which leads me to believe that they are going to lose to Santa Clara this weekend and likely be one of only 2 PAC 12 teams to lose this weekend. I hope that I am wrong and that Cal wins this time around and goes deep.

Good luck to you and your player and congratulations to her joining the D1 fray next season. Enjoy it as it goes very quickly.
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I think your analysis is spot on - the Cal '17 team (the team that lost to SCU after Indigo got her red card - she had a pretty funny tweet about that yesterday) was more complete than the current team. In a way that's my point - this year's team is basically the same as last year's except with an elite GK. I am biased (maybe @GKDAD and @gkrent may agree) but I do think that an elite GK can transform a team b/c the D can play differently, more confidently, take more risks, not get as tight as a close game gets into the later minutes and I think Anderson has. I am a big fan of Boyd's as a person and as a GK but Anderson comes in more "Pac12 ready" than Emily did (I think she'd agree).

(full disclosure: I know both these women really well (I'm not related to either nor am I affiliated with Cal other than from having done my graduate studies there a million years ago). I root hard for Anderson - as hard as I do for my own kids (other than when mine has faced her in HS and next year in college) - and hope Cal can get over the First Round hurdle on Saturday. My younger kids have a conflicting game so I will miss it, unfortunately)
 
FAU not getting a bid as the #31 RPI team shows how important Top 50 RPI wins are. Utah got in because they had 2 Top 50 RPI wins and all of their losses were against top 40 RPI schools! 4 of their 8 losses were to RPI top 12 teams! They deserve to be in and will give Duke a great game.
 
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