Short Corners

Short Corners-- I am not a big fan of thee!

I have rarely seen the Pilots succeed on short corners. Why do the Pilots choose to use them at least 2 times per game? Normal corner kicks, in my opinion, are much more of a goal scoring opportunity. Short corners are fine if a team has weak heading skills or weak kick execution. The Pilots though are skilled in both of these areas. They have a number of players that are deadly in the air as well as some fine target ball players. Put the ball into the box! Let the strength of the Pilot players have a chance to head it in.

Short Corners-- I am not a big fan of thee!

Trenchcoat

I agree. They were messing around with short corners earlier in the season too: and that was with Sophie, Keelin, Cloee, Kendra and Michelle O all in the box.

With those five lining up there is no reason to not play the ball into or around the six yard box and let them at it!

Don't over egg the pudding!

Well I guess in a situation where you are trying to burn clock it might make a bit of sense, or trying to NOT ring up the score too bad I can see using it, or trying to change the cross angle to throw off the defense strategically but with the aerial attack we have.... Yeah, the route one corner attempt makes WAY more sense...

Side note: It's interesting that Foxhoven takes the corners, not exactly a traditional duty for a striker..

But she hits the ball well and she is not a great header. That said it is a little unusual.

If my memory serves me, we had three corners in the Oregon game, and all were taken short. I was puzzled.

I see a place for short corners even with the current Pilot team--but as a surprise tactic. Perhaps once a game.

Once a game is out of reach, I suppose it doesn't matter much what you do with your corners. Perhaps Garrett is trying to experiment with short-corner plays.

I can see two reasons to mix in the short corners. First, it may pull a couple of defenders out of the box, which might open things up a little when you don't go short. Second, Michelle Enyeart's game was made for the short corner. How many times does she dance along the goal line into the penalty area for a quick pass or shot opportunity. That's exactly what the short corner is supposed to do and she is as good at it as anyone.

That said, we haven't had a lot of success with them, so maybe it's time to put the ball in the mixer more regularly.

I asked the same question a couple games ago and was told by a couple players that it is a mind game. It is a sign of strength and confidence designed to throw the other team off. That being said, I still don't like it when they do that.

Does anyone have the statistics for our success with corner kicks this year?

I've been to all the home games and three in Seattle, and as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem like we've had much success on corner kicks, short or long.

Perhaps that's why Garrett's experimenting?

'78 Alum wrote:
I've been to all the home games and three in Seattle, and as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem like we've had much success on corner kicks, short or long.

Oh, for the days of Justi Baumgardt ...

I think statistically more goals happen on the regular corner kicks. I'd rather see short corners taken only if we've had 5 or more attempts on regular corners without scoring. But, seriously, people we won our last game 7-0.

Right. Which means that we're looking around for topics, because the games like Montana and Gonzaga don't tell us anything about how we can match up against Stanford or UNC or whomever.

One of my favorite goals of the season was against Cal, where Keelin (I think) won a header on a corner kick and Sophie heasded that onto the bar, and Michelle O all headed the rebound in.

UP v Cal .mov

for those who missed it the first time..

I'm relatively new to this site. I noticed that some individuals have portions of videos from previouis games at Merlo field (like the Cal game above).

Is there an archive of these video's that I can go to if I missed any of the home games?

The videos are usually attached to the game stories, which can be accessed by clicking on the "details" for each game on the schedule page at portlandpilots.com


Some are as Movie (.mov) files. Some are on youtube.

Those can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/UPPurplePride

Geezaldinho wrote:UP v Cal .mov

for those who missed it the first time..

Wow, I saw the "smile" to start the video, thought it was Chuckie, and closed it in fear!

In the England/Belarus match today a short corner was executed to perfection... Beckham just subbed on, figuring one of his patented precision kicks was in store the Belarus D tucked into the box, instead Sean Wright-Phillips made a run to the near top corner of the 18, received a quick ball, make a quick acceleration past a napping defender and produced a nice goal to the far lower corner from the center-top of the box. This tactical short corner is EXACTLY the intention, reading the defense and catching them unawares...

And doing an occasional short corner will (or at least should) prevent the defense from packing the box.

I too dislike the short corner as a regular tactic due to lack of goal production to date for the Pilots. I'd add Kreminsky and Chandhoke as Pilots with strong heading skills who can be targets. As a surpise during a tight game when the aerial game isn't working, well maybe.

Good thoughts by all, on 'short corners'.

Like a set piece, a good 'short corner/ set play' once a game, can be very deadly if executed properly.

Maybe the Pilot short corners are set pieces? They usually appear to be somewhat timid and hesitantly executed.

Looking forward to the coming weekend matches.

Trenchcoat Wally wrote:Good thoughts by all, on 'short corners'.
Like a set piece, a good 'short corner/ set play' once a game, can be very deadly if executed properly.
Maybe the Pilot short corners are set pieces? They usually appear to be somewhat timid and hesitantly executed.
Looking forward to the coming weekend matches.

It's been looking to me recently like the set corners are an attempt to get Mich and the kicker paired up against two defenders, with Mich even getting a 1 (Mich) v 2 (defenders) opportunity. As we're beginning to see more and more, that's a dangerous situation for the defense.

Last year, I thought Christen Press was really good for Stanford, wreaking havoc on defenses with her speed and ability to take it to the end line and around the defenders towards the goal. Watching Michelle as the team has progressed this year, I think she wreaks even more havoc than Press. The more the Pilots can get the ball to Michelle near the end line, the better. I think that's why we're seeing a good number of short corners.