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The Vol soccer team secured another key SEC win last night, beating Ole Miss 6-4.
The UT midfield, which has not done much scoring this year, busted out in this game. Anna Bialczak played a great game--scoring two goals and setting up our first goal with a beautiful through pass that sent Bunny Shaw in on the Ole Miss goal. Shaw finished the chance with a perfect strike to the far post to put the Vols up 1-0.
Bialczak is an excellent athlete, and player, and needs to start putting the ball in the net, and tonight she did that. So did her midfield mate Rylie O'Keefe, who like Bialczak is a consistently solid performer but has been too quiet offensively. She, too, scored twice--once on a rebound after a blistering shot by forward Erin Gilroy could not be secured by the Mississippi keeper. Gilroy, a talented freshman, has been excellent on the right flank for UT all year. She has some size yet is quick and clever with the ball, often beating her marker and creating space and then lashing balls into the box to create good goal-scoring chances. She leads this team in assists.
One of the best goals we've scored all year was our last. Danielle Marcano, playing center forward in relief of Shaw, was near the top of the box and looking back at freshman outside back Wrenne French, who had the ball about 30 yards out from goal on the right. French spotted Marcano and whipped in a perfect pass that Marcano headed into the Ole Miss goal with authority. Impressive pass, impressive finish. Marcano is a talented attacking player, but has not been able to find a steady position, and steady playing time, partly owing to UT's depth of talent and partly owing to the vagaries of Coach Pensky's personnel decisions. Marcano played very solidly at right back last year, but this year has been moved back to attack, as a reserve, while first Paige Franks and now French, both freshman, manned the right-back position. French was bright in attack last night and nearly had a goal (twice) off a corner, but defensively she was a bit shaky. The whole team was shaky defensively in the last 10 minutes. We had a two goal lead but Ole Miss was applying pressure, naturally, and we lost our composure--could not possess the ball, gave the ball away easily, and really we were lucky not to give up another goal in the last part of the game.
It was not a defensive performance either team could be proud of. We gave up two goals on corners--on one inexcusably failing to sufficiently mark Mississippi's best player. Centerback McKenzie Gouner, who has been good this year, lost the ball trying to come out of our end and moments later it ended up in the back of our net. Her centerback partner, Maya Neal, is an excellent athlete and does good things--uses her speed and her body well--but remains erratic. She makes too many errant or poorly weighted passes and has a tendency to kick the ball clear when she has time and space to control and possess the ball. When you have time to control and possess, you must do that so that we can have the ball. When you panic and just kick the ball away, it usually goes back to the other team and then you are on the defensive again. It is a matter of field awareness--knowing if opposing players are near you or not when the ball comes to you--and composure. That is a bit lacking in Neal's game. To be sure, she and Gouner have been solid because of their athleticism; it's a matter of eliminating moments of nervous play. I don't think our back four is at a level where they would hold strong for 90 minutes against an elite team such as UCLA or Penn State.
Ole Miss is a good offensive team, and this was a game in which fans could see some talented offensive players on both sides showcase their skills, which doesn't often happen in this sport. However, it's also worth noting that when SEC-leading and defensive-minded South Carolina played Mississippi, they won 2-0, shutting out the rebels.
With a conference record of 3-1-1, the Vols are in 5th place in the SEC. That is a bit annoying as we've played at a higher level than that rank would indicate--but our tie with auburn (a game we had won until late) cost us some key points. That tie is the difference between being in 3rd place and being 5th--but the conference season is only half over. We've got 5 games left, starting with Missouri, away, on Sunday. This is another must-win game for us as missouri has struggled this year--but they play well at home and certainly have some talent, and it promises to be a tough game. We've got to be ready to play an excellent game.
The Vols have got a tough remaining schedule--we must play a good Vanderbilt team that is 4-0 in the conference not to mention florida and also Arkansas in the heart of darkness (meaning in Arkansas). All of those game will be difficult. The teams ahead of us in the conference--South Carolina, Florida, Vandy and Texas A&M--are all good, but this is a /good/ Tennessee team. It's all about getting the result, and points, that your play deserves in particular games. We didn't do that, twice--losing a win against auburn and losing a tie against South Carolina--and so all the Vols can do is try to crank it up another notch--and play better defense than they did last night.
The UT midfield, which has not done much scoring this year, busted out in this game. Anna Bialczak played a great game--scoring two goals and setting up our first goal with a beautiful through pass that sent Bunny Shaw in on the Ole Miss goal. Shaw finished the chance with a perfect strike to the far post to put the Vols up 1-0.
Bialczak is an excellent athlete, and player, and needs to start putting the ball in the net, and tonight she did that. So did her midfield mate Rylie O'Keefe, who like Bialczak is a consistently solid performer but has been too quiet offensively. She, too, scored twice--once on a rebound after a blistering shot by forward Erin Gilroy could not be secured by the Mississippi keeper. Gilroy, a talented freshman, has been excellent on the right flank for UT all year. She has some size yet is quick and clever with the ball, often beating her marker and creating space and then lashing balls into the box to create good goal-scoring chances. She leads this team in assists.
One of the best goals we've scored all year was our last. Danielle Marcano, playing center forward in relief of Shaw, was near the top of the box and looking back at freshman outside back Wrenne French, who had the ball about 30 yards out from goal on the right. French spotted Marcano and whipped in a perfect pass that Marcano headed into the Ole Miss goal with authority. Impressive pass, impressive finish. Marcano is a talented attacking player, but has not been able to find a steady position, and steady playing time, partly owing to UT's depth of talent and partly owing to the vagaries of Coach Pensky's personnel decisions. Marcano played very solidly at right back last year, but this year has been moved back to attack, as a reserve, while first Paige Franks and now French, both freshman, manned the right-back position. French was bright in attack last night and nearly had a goal (twice) off a corner, but defensively she was a bit shaky. The whole team was shaky defensively in the last 10 minutes. We had a two goal lead but Ole Miss was applying pressure, naturally, and we lost our composure--could not possess the ball, gave the ball away easily, and really we were lucky not to give up another goal in the last part of the game.
It was not a defensive performance either team could be proud of. We gave up two goals on corners--on one inexcusably failing to sufficiently mark Mississippi's best player. Centerback McKenzie Gouner, who has been good this year, lost the ball trying to come out of our end and moments later it ended up in the back of our net. Her centerback partner, Maya Neal, is an excellent athlete and does good things--uses her speed and her body well--but remains erratic. She makes too many errant or poorly weighted passes and has a tendency to kick the ball clear when she has time and space to control and possess the ball. When you have time to control and possess, you must do that so that we can have the ball. When you panic and just kick the ball away, it usually goes back to the other team and then you are on the defensive again. It is a matter of field awareness--knowing if opposing players are near you or not when the ball comes to you--and composure. That is a bit lacking in Neal's game. To be sure, she and Gouner have been solid because of their athleticism; it's a matter of eliminating moments of nervous play. I don't think our back four is at a level where they would hold strong for 90 minutes against an elite team such as UCLA or Penn State.
Ole Miss is a good offensive team, and this was a game in which fans could see some talented offensive players on both sides showcase their skills, which doesn't often happen in this sport. However, it's also worth noting that when SEC-leading and defensive-minded South Carolina played Mississippi, they won 2-0, shutting out the rebels.
With a conference record of 3-1-1, the Vols are in 5th place in the SEC. That is a bit annoying as we've played at a higher level than that rank would indicate--but our tie with auburn (a game we had won until late) cost us some key points. That tie is the difference between being in 3rd place and being 5th--but the conference season is only half over. We've got 5 games left, starting with Missouri, away, on Sunday. This is another must-win game for us as missouri has struggled this year--but they play well at home and certainly have some talent, and it promises to be a tough game. We've got to be ready to play an excellent game.
The Vols have got a tough remaining schedule--we must play a good Vanderbilt team that is 4-0 in the conference not to mention florida and also Arkansas in the heart of darkness (meaning in Arkansas). All of those game will be difficult. The teams ahead of us in the conference--South Carolina, Florida, Vandy and Texas A&M--are all good, but this is a /good/ Tennessee team. It's all about getting the result, and points, that your play deserves in particular games. We didn't do that, twice--losing a win against auburn and losing a tie against South Carolina--and so all the Vols can do is try to crank it up another notch--and play better defense than they did last night.
