Gonzaga game

We did the same thing as you, using the full screen. The other thing it did was make the field look distorted in the sense it was hard to know how much space there was between players and the side and end lines and the ball. There were times when it looked like a player could have gotten a ball but they didn't try for it. I think this was more a matter of the distances appearing shorter than they actually were.

From the perspective of Gonzaga's defense, I actually thought they were doing everything they could to interfere with the flow of play, marking pretty closely, kicking at feet, and so on. Not at all dirty, just trying to be disruptive. I remember reading or hearing comments from an East Coast coach whose team played Gonzaga -- must have been Krikorian from Florida State -- commenting on how much Gonzaga tried to disrupt their play. Florida State beat them 2-0, by the way.

Plus, wasn't it raining heavily during the game? That can have a big impact on passing.

But, there also were some not so good plays.

For me, the biggest problem for evaluating how the team played from the broadcast was the lack of a good sense of distances.

I was at the match on Sunday. It looked like a 4-4-2 w/Hailee in goal, Elle-Michele-Cloee-Jessica on the back line, Kendall-Keelin-Ellen-Taylor across the mid and Micaeala and Danielle up front. Not the sharpest game in the world but overall played well. They dominated most of the match but were not as aggressive as the Txs A&M where the won all the 50-50 balls. Passes were sometimes sent into empty space w/ no player available. The Frosh played well in the end of the game and worked well together. A good result considering they have to get used to playing without Sophie. The D was outstanding as usual (esp Elle n Jess) n Kristen did a good job in relief of Cloee (bloody nose). 8 nonstarters played the last 10 minutes. Rained at times in 1st half and some light showers late in the 2nd half.

Santa - How did Ellen look to you playing in Sophie's spot?

Well, no one can replace Sophie (1 of my favs). I think (imo) she is getting better. She had better ball distribution and more awareness where teammates were on the field. I thought she played better (more confident) towards the end of the game with the other frosh and the pressure was off( not intimidated by older veteran players).

Thanks for the info - When I was out there earlier, I thought she showed lots of promise. Since then, I can't really see very much of how she's doing on the computer, although I did notice she seems to be getting more aggressive in 1 v 1 situations. Good point about being a little intimidated by older players. I know there would not be intentional intimidation, but just the idea - Wow - here I am on the same field as Keelin and Sophie etc. I'd better be careful. Hard to play with confidence in that situation.

I'm not sure that I'd call it intimidation as much as awe or respect. I remember watching the first few home matches and noticing a strong initial tendency for the freshmen, when they received the ball, to "look for the nearest senior." With Sophie, Keelin, Elli, and Jessica strategically positioned around the field, it seemed like there was always one available and they passed the ball to her ASAP. The only real exception was Micaela, whose initial reaction on receiving the ball seemed to be "look for the goal!"

I haven't noticed this nearly as much in recent weeks, so perhaps the newbies are growing into their roles.

SoreKnees wrote:I'm not sure that I'd call it intimidation as much as awe or respect. I remember watching the first few home matches and noticing a strong initial tendency for the freshmen, when they received the ball, to "look for the nearest senior." With Sophie, Keelin, Elli, and Jessica strategically positioned around the field, it seemed like there was always one available and they passed the ball to her ASAP. The only real exception was Micaela, whose initial reaction on receiving the ball seemed to be "look for the goal!"

I haven't noticed this nearly as much in recent weeks, so perhaps the newbies are growing into their roles.

I actually noticed that with Kendall in her first home game last year. She was playing in front of Elli and taking it down the line and early on, instead of taking it to the end line, she was passing it back to Elli. I remember because Garrett got her over to the side of the field and was talking to her pretty sternly which, as you all know, is pretty unusual during play. After that, Kendall immediately started taking the ball to the end line and cutting along the line towards the goal to make those passes back into the front of the goal that we all love. I was virtually certain that Garrett was telling her to trust herself and take it to the end line, cut in towards the goal, and send it in.

i'm really happy to hear that ellen played very well, especially after i said i thought she wasnt ready. maybe not having sophie there made her more relaxed, made her feel like this was more of her 'team'. kind of like the rookie taking over for the seasoned pro after playing in their shadow an making the team their own.

the other thing i was very happy to see was frisbee score again. i've heard many 'talking heads' over the years talk about the 'it' factor some players across all sports possess. i think frisbee has that even though her first appearance on the pitch wasnt that impressive. imo she has that 'it' factor.

Frisbie has the look of a goal scorer. These past couple of games must be great for her confidence. There is no time like this weekend for her to keep it going.