armchair
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The Vol soccer team is undefeated, 6-0, heading into the last weekend of out-of-conference play. That's the good news. The bad news is that we've played a very weak schedule and struggled, at times, to score against a bunch of below average teams. It was one thing to start the season with games against Navy, East Tennessee, Charleston and George Mason--OK, get some feel-good wins--but to follow up that foursome with Belmont and Middle Tennessee?
It's nice that the Vols have generated some positive momentum early in the year. That hasn't been the case in recent years. Two years ago we couldn't score a goal against Liberty, and last year we opened with a 0-0 tie against Lipscomb, then lost a tough one to Washington and got thumped by a very good BYU team. So there is something to be said about simply winning some games, even if they aren't really worth bragging about. We'll see if we can keep the win train rolling this week against Bucknell and, more particularly, Virginia Tech, with the SEC schedule looming. It's possible that we'll be in for a rude awakening when we play SEC teams that will be quite a bit better than our opponents thus far. Va. Tech, on Sunday, will be the first real test for this team, and thus should tell us a lot more about the Brian Pensky's Vols. The Hokies are not great but they are a solid middle-pack ACC team, and the ACC is arguably the best conference in women's soccer. They will test us, and this team needs a test.
"Bunny" Shaw, our imposing center forward and JC transfer, has been the star in attack, netting five (or six?) goals thus far, including three against (mighty) Belmont. We need her to score because, while we've played some good soccer, goals from other players have been scarce. Freshman McKinley Burkett has three, and then A. Kupritz and M. Flynn have one each--each of those being game-winning goals. Our starting midfield of K. Cousins, M. Christy and R. O'Keefe has been solid, but it is a unit that is better defensively than in attack. That's OK--but good teams get some scoring from their midfield to complement the forwards. Burkett has been playing midfield, in reserve mostly, but we need a bit more pace and speed in attack in the middle of the field.
This is a team with a quite a few good soccer players, many of whom are most naturally midfielders. Because we have a veteran starting midfield, some of them have been forced into other positions. D. Marcano, who has good attacking skills and who really could be an attacking midfielder, was switched to outside back last year and did an excellent job. She's in the same position this year and is a stout defender--a major asset. Another excellent athlete and attacking midfielder, M.A. Vignola, was moved to outside back this year. She is still learning the position, but should be good, and I hope she is healthy. Neither Vignola nor talented freshman E. Gilroy played at all in the last two games. I don't know why and hope they are not hurt--we need them. In a perfect world, at least one of Marcano or Vignola would be playing in midfield, where they are best suited, IMO, but then we'd be in a bind at the important outside back position. The same is true of talented freshman P. Franks. She is a nifty, playmaking midfielder--but found herself playing outside back in the last two games. She was excellent against Belmont, but Franks is too good as a playmaker to play wide permanently, IMO--she needs to be in the middle of the field.
Our starting centerbacks worry me. I'm not sure if Pensky has got the right personnel back there, at least in one of the spots. How they play in our SEC games will be a big key to the season.
This is a team that got better last year as the season went along, and this team has even more potential. We'll see if coach Pensky can fully unlock it moving forward.
It's nice that the Vols have generated some positive momentum early in the year. That hasn't been the case in recent years. Two years ago we couldn't score a goal against Liberty, and last year we opened with a 0-0 tie against Lipscomb, then lost a tough one to Washington and got thumped by a very good BYU team. So there is something to be said about simply winning some games, even if they aren't really worth bragging about. We'll see if we can keep the win train rolling this week against Bucknell and, more particularly, Virginia Tech, with the SEC schedule looming. It's possible that we'll be in for a rude awakening when we play SEC teams that will be quite a bit better than our opponents thus far. Va. Tech, on Sunday, will be the first real test for this team, and thus should tell us a lot more about the Brian Pensky's Vols. The Hokies are not great but they are a solid middle-pack ACC team, and the ACC is arguably the best conference in women's soccer. They will test us, and this team needs a test.
"Bunny" Shaw, our imposing center forward and JC transfer, has been the star in attack, netting five (or six?) goals thus far, including three against (mighty) Belmont. We need her to score because, while we've played some good soccer, goals from other players have been scarce. Freshman McKinley Burkett has three, and then A. Kupritz and M. Flynn have one each--each of those being game-winning goals. Our starting midfield of K. Cousins, M. Christy and R. O'Keefe has been solid, but it is a unit that is better defensively than in attack. That's OK--but good teams get some scoring from their midfield to complement the forwards. Burkett has been playing midfield, in reserve mostly, but we need a bit more pace and speed in attack in the middle of the field.
This is a team with a quite a few good soccer players, many of whom are most naturally midfielders. Because we have a veteran starting midfield, some of them have been forced into other positions. D. Marcano, who has good attacking skills and who really could be an attacking midfielder, was switched to outside back last year and did an excellent job. She's in the same position this year and is a stout defender--a major asset. Another excellent athlete and attacking midfielder, M.A. Vignola, was moved to outside back this year. She is still learning the position, but should be good, and I hope she is healthy. Neither Vignola nor talented freshman E. Gilroy played at all in the last two games. I don't know why and hope they are not hurt--we need them. In a perfect world, at least one of Marcano or Vignola would be playing in midfield, where they are best suited, IMO, but then we'd be in a bind at the important outside back position. The same is true of talented freshman P. Franks. She is a nifty, playmaking midfielder--but found herself playing outside back in the last two games. She was excellent against Belmont, but Franks is too good as a playmaker to play wide permanently, IMO--she needs to be in the middle of the field.
Our starting centerbacks worry me. I'm not sure if Pensky has got the right personnel back there, at least in one of the spots. How they play in our SEC games will be a big key to the season.
This is a team that got better last year as the season went along, and this team has even more potential. We'll see if coach Pensky can fully unlock it moving forward.
