Illinois Friday Nov 22nd

"What we did not see was the coaching staff develop some of the younger defenders so that they could come in and give some of the back line a break. By develop I mean getting 20-30 minutes on a regular basis. We have the developing Edenstrom, Hall and Bindl to name a few that did not get very minutes this year. At the same time Viera, Amanda and Lou played a full 90 almost every game. I would have liked to see the things we did up front happen with the back line too. We could have used some qualify subs when our starters were hobbled."

With the way that the women's game has evolved over the last couple of years, nearly every game turns into a tight, one-goal game. In these situations, it is very difficult for a coach to take either of his two best defenders out of the game to give experience to lesser players. We saw the results of one such instance when one of the mentioned players came in, scored a great goal on a corner kick but then made a serious defensive error a couple of minutes later and gave up a goal that would not have happened with either Lorielle or Amanda. That one experience could easily have convinced Garrett that he can't afford to take a chance. Keep in mind that the Pilots had exactly one game that they won by more than two goals. What's the soccer adage, "the most dangerous lead is two goals"? It seems the days of three and four goal leads are a thing of the past which means fewer chances to sub out key defenders. All in all, I think Garrett got more out of a few of these freshmen than anyone dreamed at the start of the season and the others appear to have what it takes to do the job going forward.

Just got back from watching the Illinois- BC game. At kickoff there were 50 people in the stands. Yes, I did actually count them. A few more fans showed up, but I would be surprised if there were 100 people there. Illinois dominated possession and had 2 wide open shots at goal that they missed. BC was dangerous when they did get the ball in the offensive side of the field. The Illinois defense was suspect around the goal mouth, they did not do a very good job of getting bodies on BC forwards. The final score was 4-1 in favor of BC, same score as BC's win over Nebraska. We talked to the BC keeper's Dad at halftime. He thought UP was ill treated because they had to play at 11 am. However he thought the last play of the game was legit. The conditions today were much better. It was still cold, but the snow was all gone off the field.

I hate to say it, but I kind of agree with the BC keeper's dad on the last play. Looking at the replay a couple of times, it looks like Lo put the ball in pretty much the spot of the foul, stopped it with her foot and then played the ball to Amanda. Whether Amanda was supposed to take the kick or not, only she and her teammates know for sure. It was a tough way to end the season. Bring on next year!

It's funny... ever since this play, I've been a lot more keyed in to watching similar plays in other games.

During last night's Timbers game, a very similar thing happened. The ref called a foul, and the ball was kicked back to a Timbers player, who did exactly what Lo did... stopped it, and passed it over to a teammate, who then picked up the ball, set it up, and took the kick. It seemed absolutely normal and natural.

But it made me wonder... if a RSL player had run in and stole the ball after that initial "pass", would the ref have blown the play dead? Or would he have allowed it to play on?

I honestly can't say for sure. I think, more than anything, credit goes to the Illinois player for being opportunistic.

The next time I see you I will punish you for your misplaced objectivity.

PurpleGeezer wrote:The next time I see you I will punish you for your misplaced objectivity.

Oh no... I'm not too objective.

I actually think that had the ref's head not been turned, he probably would have blown the whistle and re-set the play. But since he didn't see the initial kick, I think he just rolled with it.

Not good enough. You are still on my list....

After the BC keeper's Dad told me he thought the play was legit, I specifically watched what happened on fouls in the 2nd half. At least twice players stopped the ball with their foot then kicked to another player who took the foul kick. It seems pretty arbitrary to me.

A_Fan wrote:After the BC keeper's Dad told me he thought the play was legit, I specifically watched what happened on fouls in the 2nd half.  At least twice players stopped the ball with their foot then kicked to another player who took the foul kick.  It seems pretty arbitrary to me.

Right? That's what I noticed watching the Timbers/RSL game too. I really do feel like a huge part of the problem was that the ref didn't see the play from start to finish... he just turned around and saw the Illinois player running in to steal the ball from Amanda.

Not to bring back too many ghosts of the past, but what happened in the 1995 title game also featured an opportunistic opponent and a ref that didn't have the conviction to re-set the play. Bummer.

I agree.
The first foul and the final play were suspect. The ref did a poor job.
The Pilots had a great year, better than I expected.

There were 3 great defenders near the ball on the final play.
Ref or no ref, they never should have allowed an opponent to crowd them, much less touch the ball.

As great as we played at times this year we did not play as well as needed in the last game. We allowed them 24 shots to our 11 and 10 on goal to our 5.

I love my team, it was a great year, but we got beat.

The new president of UP is from the University of Illinois.

slick wrote:The new president of UP is from the University of Illinois.

Well, to be accurate, his undergraduate degree if from UI....but he's just moving down the hall from his Executive Vice-President position at UP and he's been a member of the Holy Cross Community since the early 80's.