up vs. illinios

i was waiting for someone else to start this topic so i guess i will. an i want to start it off a quote from the illinois coach after playing UCLA, which i think is our arch enemy!


"That will probably be the best frontline we will see all year," Rayfield said. "And our defense is going to get better. We will face many teams with a lot of talent this year, but it will be tough to find a team as talented as UCLA."


boy, are they in for a rude awakening!! also in that story, they talked aout how there ere 971 people in the crowd. still all i can say about that is...sigh!!

I noticed that quote, too. I would say that UNC, Stanford, and Portland all can boast better front lines. Maybe Florida State too, I just don't know enough about them.

Well, Leroux and Cheney are certainly a higher profile front line than ours, if not Stanford's and UNC's. Not clear that they are better, though, and it's clearly not always the front line that matters.

soreknees,
the u of i coach said 'it will b tough to find 'A TEAM AS TALENTED'. we are not talking about our front line.
either way, i can not wait for this weekend!! i think i am jealous of those of you who were able to go up to seattle this weekend.

SoreKnees wrote:Well, Leroux and Cheney are certainly a higher profile front line than ours, if not Stanford's and UNC's. Not clear that they are better, though, and it's clearly not always the front line that matters.

Good comments from all. Best front lines in order,(my opinion) NC, Stanford, UP, (FSU, based upon goals scored, regardless of who they've faced)...maybe UCLA, et. al. UCLA has yet to prove they can really score, although Leroux is very explosive. Cheney's playing more of a MF feeding role.

But again, even the best strikeforces in the world mean nothing unless there is a solid midfield to create and set up goal scoring opportunities for those talented forwards... (Haha guess which position I grew up playing )

chiefer wrote:

SoreKnees wrote:Well, Leroux and Cheney are certainly a higher profile front line than ours, if not Stanford's and UNC's. Not clear that they are better, though, and it's clearly not always the front line that matters.

Good comments from all. Best front lines in order,(my opinion) NC, Stanford, UP, (FSU, based upon goals scored, regardless of who they've faced)...maybe UCLA, et. al. UCLA has yet to prove they can really score, although Leroux is very explosive. Cheney's playing more of a MF feeding role.

Just to couch the discussion with some stats. here's what the players listed as forwards on the teams Cheifer has mentioned are doing.

FSU - 5 games
Jessica Price 5g, 5a shot%.333
Tiffany McCarty 5g,2a, shot%.227

Becky Edwards is listed as a mid, and has 4 goals
Amanda DaCosta has 3 goals and is also listed at a mid.

UNC 5 games
Courtney jones 3g,4a, shot%.214
Casey Noquiera 3g,2a, shot%.167

Tobin Heath is listed as a mid, she also has 3 goals and 4 assists

Stanford - 5 games

Kelley O'Hara 6g, 1a, shot%.192
Cristen Press 4g,2a, shot%.133

Teresa Noyola, a mid, has 3 goals
and
Kristen Stannard, also listed as a mid, had a hat trick last game to give her 3 goals


UCLA - 5 games

Sidney Leroux 6g, 1a. Shot% .250
Kristina Larson 2g, 1a, shot %.125
Kara Lang 1g, 1a, shot% .077
Lauren Cheney has played AM and forward (Chelsea Cline then plays AM) she has 2g, 1a, shot% .118

Portland - 5 games

Sophie Schmidt 6g,2a, shot% .400
Danielle Foxhoven 5g, 1a Shot%.357

Elli Reed is right now the highest scoring UP mid with 2 goals.



There is some pretty good production from all those teams, and a more from other teams not mentioned, but those teams aren't playing projected tournament teams.

in terms of finishing efficiency from the forward positions, nobody comes close to UP.

I terms of scoring from the forwards, UP can also claim as much goal production from that position as anybody on Cheifer's list.

Trying to set up shots from the 6 yard box may have something to do with that, but other teams may be doing that, too. I don't know, I haven't seen their games.

Regardless, two of the three SA player of the week awards have gone to UP forwards.


What the level of the competition was might be a bit early to say, But that will eventually even out, and a bit later might be a better time to make that evaluation. Some teams this year aren't what was expected, and some teams on the schedules aren't very high level.

Back to the coming opponent: Who can tell us anything about the Illinois forwards or the midfielders who set them up?
I venture to say that UP's midfield is primed to explode with a lot more goals any game now.

First, here's a podcast of a Janet Rayfield interview after their 2-1 loss to UCLA

http://illinihq.com/podcasts/illini_special_podcast/2009/09/04/1553

They are a pretty well organized team. they will play typical big10 ball, which means lots of contact and bumping. They have a pretty good keeper in Alexandra Kapicka.

They didn't score a lot of goals last year (23) and they aren't exactly a bulletproof defense, giving up 26 scores. they lost their big star Ella Masar from last year, and it remains to be seen if they can replace her.

Chichi Nweke was their leading score from last year with h 7 goals on the season. This year she has 1 so far. Jordan Hilbrands is their leading scorer this year with 5 goals already, so the have a potential 1-2 punch. They have a freshman who seems to be pretty good in Niki Read who's is pretty active and might be the best recruit they have had in a while. and they'll get an occasional goal from other places.

Marissa Mykines seems to be their midfielder who does the work in the midfield and the setups for a lot of their goals.


If they get an early goal, my guess is they will try to sit on it and perhaps counter, so we'll probably try for an early one again after we withstand the typical adrenaline rush teams always seem to use early.

Their contests were a 2-1 loss to UCLA last weekend and defeat of Denver (2-1) and a 1-1 tie with Colorado the week before. They also dismantled UCSB last weekend 3-0. They also beat Illinois state,4-0, but I'm not sure we can learn much from that.


They might not be used to a Merlo crowd.Their biggest crowd thus far was the UCLA game at 971. Otherwise, crowds have been about 500.

I think they gave UCLA a handful last week, so they won't be pushovers There is a reason they are ranked. Cheney didn't get the winning goal until the 79th minute.

Last year they beat the Huskies just when they were starting to look very good so it could be a long day.

Here's an early season description of Illinois by one of their good fans who knows a lot about their team and Division I women's college soccer (Brian Moline):

The Illini return almost all of their goal scoring from a year ago. The downside is that they didn't score much (just over 1 goal per game). But, they have added two freshmen up top (Niki Read and Shayla Mutz) who have made an immediate impact. Read scored a goal in their opener, and Mutz drew a penalty in the box that set up a successful PK. Now that returning leading scorer Chichi Nweke is near full speed (came off the bench after twisting her knee last week), it's possible that neither freshman will start, but both will play significant minutes. The other frontrunners are Christina Sahly, finally healthy after three injury-plagued seasons, who is a very good creator, and Jordan Hilbrands, who gives the Illini very good speed on the right flank.

In the midfield, Illinois will be without their best ball-winner, senior Jackie Santacaterina. She had foot surgery this summer and hopes to be back in time for the UCLA game next weekend. She's been practicing this week, but not in all the drills yet. In her absence, junior Cory Steigerwald did a nice job in that center midfield spot last week. She'll be flanked by sophomore Marissa Mykines and senior Courtney Bell, both of whom are good at getting forward in the attack.

The back line is the most unsettled spot right now for the Illini. They return junior Danielle Kot at one center back spot, who played every minute of every match last season. She runs the show back there and is very good at it. Beside her will be another junior Krystin Miller, who started her first game last week after moving from the midfield this spring. She converted a PK and headed away a shot that looked like it was headed for the back of the net in her first start. She brings good size (6'0") and work rate to the other center back spot. On the outside, sophomore Julie Ewing will start at one spot, and the other is being fought for by three players. Senior Brittany Garrett started last year, but is still rounding back into form after offseason ankle surgery. Sophomore Caitlyn Dombart came on in fall practice to earn the start against ISU. Junior Laura Knutson also saw time in that spot in the opener. Ewing in particular will come out of the back to get involved in the attack, and can be very effective in that role.

Illinois has a senior in goal, Alex Kapicka. She improved by leaps and bounds during the season last year and makes very good decisions back there.

The only good thing about Thursday is that tomorrow is gameday!

Oh yeah and there is that other Football that kicks off tonight.

There was a report that Jackie Santacaterina played against UCSB for about 40 minuted and was good at winning balls in the air.

Here is a tidbit of knowledge when you are chatting with some of the out-of-towners from Champaign . . . Brittany Bock's dad was a major athlete at U of I back in the day . . . neither of his D-I wsoc-playing daughters went there however (ND, Eastern Illinois) . . . .

Podcast interview with Illnois frosh Niki Read about their games with UCLA, UCSB, and here start with Illinois.

and a little about the game with the Pilots.

http://illinihq.com/podcasts/illini_special_podcast/2009/09/09/1561

Here is a really great writeup of tonight's game by Brian Moline, an Illinois broadcaster and fan of the Illinois women. He has great respect for the Pilots' program, as you will see, and even tips his hat to Pilot Nation: http://illinihq.com/blogs/molines_musings/2009/09/11/soccer_invades_pilot_nation