Miami game

I watched the entire Miami-UW game yesterday. (Oh, and I did stick around to see the UP/Illinois game, too, in case you're worried.)

A couple of observations about Miami:

• Washington had more good chances than Miami did. Many were set up by Miami defensive miscues, but the Huskies just didn't take advantage.
• Miami did not defend the wings very well. If that continues Sunday, I expect our outside mids/backs to have a field day.

75 minute mark. The stats tell me we're dominating but...score is only 1-0. Is Miami keeping everyone back and packing the box? Or do they have stout defenders? We got a lot of shots on goal...but quality shots?

GO PILOTS!!!

Final score, 2-0 Pilots. Dominant on the stats, it appears, with the PIlots out shooting Miami 26-5 , with 14 on frame vs. 1 for Miami...

I will be interested to hear the story from those at the game... did they pack the box, or....?

They didn't pack the box, we just had trouble finishing. There were a bunch of "shoulda's" a pipe shot, near misses, off sides - pretty near every way to almost score there is. Then we'd gather up the ball in the midfield and make another run at it.

Miami did have some counters, but most were shut down early and they couldn't finish their chances.

Michelle's score was a patented through ball run, she sidestepped the keeper at the top of the box and walked the ball into the net.

Miami actually played us a bit tougher than Illinois did, too. They had a pretty good defense. The keeper had to make 11 saves, so she did well.

You know, it was a strange one. Portland did dominate and Miami had maybe one real chance (on a corner kick), but the Pilots also seemed out of sync and weren't able to maintain long stretches of possession. It's difficult to put my finger on the reason for that, but I'll put it this way... I felt like most of our opportunities came from what the Miami defense gave us, not from what we created.

One thing I do know - the ref allowed the game to be very physical and Miami, whose backline were all quite large, definitely took what the ref gave them. I actually thought the ref called the game fairly, but Miami took advantage of the abillity to play physically while we didn't.

Another thing to point out - I thought the substitution pattern for us today was a bit strange. I realize it's good to get everyone minutes and to experiment wiith different line-ups, but I thought we really missed Danielle when she came out midway though the first half. Halley, quite frankly, didn't have her best game and didn't really create any opportunities at all up top. Danielle came back in late in the game and promptly scored a goal (off a free kick, but still). Also, I thought Kendall was playing well at the start of the game and was surprised when she got pulled. And Sophie coming out was a bit of a head scratcher too. Of course, Miami substituted a ton so it was good to get fresh legs out there.

I thought Kendra was the game MVP... man she looked good out there. She was really the only Pilot giving as good as she got in the physical department and she was making things happen all over the field. She was winning headers, passing well, defending well... an A+ effort from her. Michelle also looked good but didn't really have as much support out there - more than once she would make a run and then have no one to pass to. But her goal was an amazing individual effort after a terrific pass from Sophie.

But more than anything, it was a combination of poor finishing from the Pilots - nearly every shot was right at the keeper - and luck from the Miami defense... I counted at least 3 or 4 balls cleared off the line and more than one or two sure-fire goals that were blocked by defenders. Easily could have been 4- or 5-nil.

So really, a hard game to analyze. Yes, we dominated, but no, we didn't particularly play well.

Geezaldinho wrote:Michelle's score was a patented through ball run, she sidestepped the keeper at the top of the box and walked the ball into the net.

I was sitting behind the goal, and unless my eyes deceived me Michelle actually nutmegged the keeper. It was awesome!

She did nutmeg the keeper. Megan S. was the defensive player of the tournament despite the official ballot.

It did nutmeg the keeper! Another great finish by Mich and the assist by Sophie was top shelf. Great to watch!

A couple of observations based on a somewhat myopic view through the video feed.

This is a talented group, struggling to learn to work together. Garrett seems to be experimenting to find the right combination of players in the right positions.
This is more difficult when he has to play some players out of position because of injuries.

There were always spacing and positioning issues today. Some players are learning new positions and the freshman are learning to play with a new group at a much faster pace than they are used to playing.

Timing, they are learning when to play fast and when to hold the ball and slow the pace. Possession style soccer starts with the back line, playing through the midfield, not over the midfield. During this game they were pushing through the midfield into the final third to fast, driving right into the defenders. The back line is learning to sense when the defensive back line is pushed up and they can play fast, but mostly they are learning that they need to feed the ball into the midfield where the midfielders can hold the ball and draw the defenders forward creating space behind the back line for the forwards to work into. They are learning how to work as a group to move the defends around to create the needed space. The forwards and outside mids need to get their timing sync'd, several times today the outside mids broke up field fast only to cross and find the forwards weren't pushed up and there was no one there to finish their crosses, the timing will come.

They are still learning to balance their play, right now they are playing to much to the right side of the field, making their attacks easier to defend. Finally today they switched the field of play a couple of time but need to do this more, spreading the defenders, creating more space. The left outside mids need to stay out wide, helping to keep the field spread.

Isn't it great to have all of these talented players learning together, improving every week.

Going into the 86th minute with a 1-0 lead made this the closest (by score) of any game this season. Fans are getting spoiled by the wider margin of comfort in all earlier games. Although Miami did not have major scoring chances, we have all seen how one counterattack or one defensive mistake can change a game. This was definitely not won until the 2nd goal because we all know how unfair soccer can be to a team that does not convert its best chances.

Credit the Miami keeper, who made play after play to stop shots. She got such a workout that she gave up taking the goal kicks, which meant that Miami was even less likely to control the goal kick due to being numbers down upfield, as the Pilots won it and rammed the ball right back at them.

The Pilots owned the midfield and Miami could get almost nothing going there. The defense by all Pilot mids was stifling. It looked like audition time at left mid with Kendall, Taylor, Charney and Kendall again alternating in that spot; Kendall looked very strong. I agree that Kendra was the MVP of the game with tackles, leaping headers, attacks up the wing, collisions, crosses -- you name it -- never backing down and dishing out real physical play.

After the game Kassie M. told a fan that she expects to be ready to play the weekend after the Texas road trip. More defensive strength is always a good thing; I wonder how her availability will affect playing time and substitutions across the back line.

Miami GK played well and made a number of key saves: Pilots would like a couple of those chances back.

First goal was superb through ball from Sophie and clinical finish from Michelle E. Michelle E had a great weekend and looked very sharp. Sophie is my player of the season so far. She makes the hard stuff look routine. One example, numerous times each game she takes balls on the chest, controls it, and makes a telling pass for a teammate. Simple right? But nobody else on the team can do it and when she is out of the game UP has a hard time keeping possession for any length of time.

Danielle played 32 minutes and then the last 5, which allowed Halley a long run. I like Halley's commitment and size and attitude - but, as mentioned earlier, unfortunately she did not make the most of her chances today.

Kendall looked sharp before making way for Taylor after only 20 minutes. Taylor also looked good in her 20/25 minutes.

Michelle O had a very strong game today: several critical tackles and interceptions; she makes it look very easy sometimes. Megan filled in well and had a second good game of the weekend. Defenders did not have that much to do although we are always nervous at 1-0 because ya never know.

Harry Redknapp wrote:

Michelle O had a very strong game today: several critical tackles and interceptions; she makes it look very easy sometimes. Megan filled in well and had a second good game of the weekend. Defenders did not have that much to do although we are always nervous at 1-0 because ya never know.

Until seeing them in person this weekend, I did not realize how good Michelle is in the air. She is not a spectacular player, but she gets my vote for defensive player of the tournament. If you watch her closely, she just never seems to make a mistake.

fan from afar,
m.o. is very good on the back line, but in my opinion, she has gotten much, much better back there. she seems more confident an her ability to not only to win headers, but to head them correctly has improved vastly. an i'm not talking about last year, but last week. can pilolt nation imagine when clohee AND kassie come back?!! just what are we going to do?

There were some prospects for the future at the games this weekend.

No, I'm not talking about Marta,

The game today was blessed by the appearances of Cindy Griffith and Lindsey Huie who brought their baby boy and girl, respectively.

Verbal commitment to the pilot program is expected as soon as the kids can talk.

speaking of Queenie here's a picture of her with her SoCal Blues u16 team in 1998. She's third from the left.

purple haze wrote:

Credit the Miami keeper, who made play after play to stop shots. She got such a workout that she gave up taking the goal kicks, which meant that Miami was even less likely to control the goal kick due to being numbers down upfield, as the Pilots won it and rammed the ball right back at them.

Miami did the same thing Friday at UW. At some point in the second half they had a field player start taking goal kicks. Many their keeper's kicks had been pretty short--I'm not sure any of them came close to the half-field line.

Dang, I'm still waiting for that Marta signing.

fozziewozzie wrote:fan from afar,
m.o. is very good on the back line, but in my opinion, she has gotten much, much better back there. she seems more confident an her ability to not only to win headers, but to head them correctly has improved vastly. an i'm not talking about last year, but last week. can pilolt nation imagine when clohee AND kassie come back?!! just what are we going to do?

Maybe we should play a 5-4-2, with 3 central backs. I guess opposing coaches might object.

fan from afar wrote:
Maybe we should play a 5-4-2, with 3 central backs. I guess opposing coaches might object.

I don't think they'd object very much. All the players would be field players; no goalkeeper.

Good point - it should properly be called a 1-5-4-2.

Assuming they'd let you have 12 players on the pitch.

I was the linesman in a game this weekend where one team was doing exactly that. I kept trying to get the #1's attention, but he kept ignoring me. I finally had to go out onto the field to tell him.