StrangeVol
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Disclaimer: I am not a soccer expert. I have never played or coached the game. I am simply a fan of the game in general and our program in particular. It is not my intent here to criticize players or coaches but to offer my personal analysis and commentary.
Was that a fun season or what?
We got treated to one of the best soccer season ever at UT. Made it to the Elite Eight (quarterfinals) for the first time ever. Of course, we had a bit of bad luck landing in the overall #1 seed Stanford's bracket and having to face them and their 44 game winning streak on their home pitch. The result, two – nil, was not a surprise to anyone, but I do think we gave a reasonably good account of ourselves.
So now, we move on to the next season, in which I sincerely hope we can maintain and grow our program's strength and success. Seniors Meghan Flynn, Danielle Marcano, Rylie O'Keefe, MacKenzie Gouner, Bunny Shaw, Anna Bialczak, and Shea Yanez have used up their time with us and I know we'll miss them every one. On top of that, we lose a heck of a lot of talent.
However, the cupboard is not bare by any means. We still have rising seniors Katie Cousins, Maya Neal, MA Vignola, and Salera Jordan along with a hand full of experienced underclassmen like Erin Gilroy, Wrenne French, and McKinley Burkett. Mix in some talented freshmen and we have at least the potential for a solid soccer team. These are our newest Lady Vol team members: Tennessee Soccer Signs Seven - University of Tennessee Athletics
In the past, as well as this past season, we were primarily a “direct” team in terms of our style of play. So what do I mean when I say “direct” style? Simply stated lots of long passes into our opponent's half of the pitch trying to give our forwards/strikers a chance to quickly get on the ball and launch a shot.
Why did we play that way? There are two likely reasons. First, when you have a truly gifted player like Bunny Shaw who is magical with the ball at her feet, supported by quick wings like Anna, Danielle, and Erin who can pounce on a loose ball and score, you get the ball forward (into the opponent's end of the pitch) as quickly and often as you can. It's not the most efficient method but it does produce goals pretty often.
That strategy worked well most of the time, but when our 'direct' style was well defended by an energetic and skilled back line (defenders) it left us wanting of both alternate strategies and goals.
The other reason seemed to be that we couldn't play “possession” soccer very well.
So what is “possession” soccer? It's the other and most popular style of play worldwide. We saw a great example of a “possession” system during our match with Stanford.
If you've ever watched Premier League (British) soccer, you've seen how soccer should be played, imo. If you haven't watched any pro soccer, you should. It's very educational. The first thing you'll notice is the precise passing. Almost every pass goes exactly where it's meant to go with just the right amount of velocity (or weight) to put it on the boot of a teammate. Damned impressive. Also very hard to do!
Yes, I realize Premier League is likely the best soccer league in the world and those guys can do anything they want with the ball on their boot 95% of the time. Our girls aren't nearly that skilled but that shouldn't stop us from playing a good deal more of the possession game if we work on it. Stanford did it pretty well and both outshot (30-12) and outscored us (2–0) in a manner that looked pretty easy, playing more “possession” than “direct.” During most of the match, we looked to be under constant siege. They were/are that good.
Which brings me to my main point. We should be able to play either style when we choose to. This past season we couldn't play “possession” very well, due to an obvious weakness in technical skills in some of our players. As a result, I saw a lot of what I thought were passes without purpose or maybe they were just bad passes that totally missed their target. Most of the time our passes seemed to be without a serious intent other than to get the ball out of our end or to just move the ball somewhere down the pitch. Sort of a “boot it down the pitch and see what happens” approach.
I think we can do better than that if we try to improve our technical skills, with great emphasis on passing. Having command of multiple styles of play should be our priority going forward, imo. Stanford plays this way and we can too.
Oh! One other thing. Did anyone else notice that while we got a lot more corner kicks than anyone else in the SEC, we did less with them? I recall us scoring 3 or 4 goals on corners (I really hope there were more) out of 162 attempts. 162. Why was that?
So, having said all that, I'll wrap this up with a few things I'd like to see in the season ahead.
First, it probably goes without saying that I would love to see us develop the ability to play possession soccer more often than not. In my opinion, we simply must become better passers.
Second, we need to really work at getting better on set pieces like corner and penalty kicks. We left a lot of goals on the pitch.
Third, I hope to see MA Vignola with more of a role in our offense. Is it crazy for me to think she might take a role similar to Bunny's role these past two seasons? Probably, but I'd at the least love to see her getting forward on the attack a lot more in the future. The girl can play! The only problem is that she is such a good defender moving her from the back line might not be the best idea, depending on who we have to replace her.
Finally, I would like to see more out of Katie Cousins. I think she can be more of a force than she has been out of the midfield going forward on the attack as she is a very good passer, and is calm and steady with the ball at her feet, and has a very strong shot.
So those are my thoughts for what they're worth.
Happy Holidays!
StrangeVol
Lady Vol Soccer Rules!!!
Was that a fun season or what?
We got treated to one of the best soccer season ever at UT. Made it to the Elite Eight (quarterfinals) for the first time ever. Of course, we had a bit of bad luck landing in the overall #1 seed Stanford's bracket and having to face them and their 44 game winning streak on their home pitch. The result, two – nil, was not a surprise to anyone, but I do think we gave a reasonably good account of ourselves.
So now, we move on to the next season, in which I sincerely hope we can maintain and grow our program's strength and success. Seniors Meghan Flynn, Danielle Marcano, Rylie O'Keefe, MacKenzie Gouner, Bunny Shaw, Anna Bialczak, and Shea Yanez have used up their time with us and I know we'll miss them every one. On top of that, we lose a heck of a lot of talent.
However, the cupboard is not bare by any means. We still have rising seniors Katie Cousins, Maya Neal, MA Vignola, and Salera Jordan along with a hand full of experienced underclassmen like Erin Gilroy, Wrenne French, and McKinley Burkett. Mix in some talented freshmen and we have at least the potential for a solid soccer team. These are our newest Lady Vol team members: Tennessee Soccer Signs Seven - University of Tennessee Athletics
In the past, as well as this past season, we were primarily a “direct” team in terms of our style of play. So what do I mean when I say “direct” style? Simply stated lots of long passes into our opponent's half of the pitch trying to give our forwards/strikers a chance to quickly get on the ball and launch a shot.
Why did we play that way? There are two likely reasons. First, when you have a truly gifted player like Bunny Shaw who is magical with the ball at her feet, supported by quick wings like Anna, Danielle, and Erin who can pounce on a loose ball and score, you get the ball forward (into the opponent's end of the pitch) as quickly and often as you can. It's not the most efficient method but it does produce goals pretty often.
That strategy worked well most of the time, but when our 'direct' style was well defended by an energetic and skilled back line (defenders) it left us wanting of both alternate strategies and goals.
The other reason seemed to be that we couldn't play “possession” soccer very well.
So what is “possession” soccer? It's the other and most popular style of play worldwide. We saw a great example of a “possession” system during our match with Stanford.
If you've ever watched Premier League (British) soccer, you've seen how soccer should be played, imo. If you haven't watched any pro soccer, you should. It's very educational. The first thing you'll notice is the precise passing. Almost every pass goes exactly where it's meant to go with just the right amount of velocity (or weight) to put it on the boot of a teammate. Damned impressive. Also very hard to do!
Yes, I realize Premier League is likely the best soccer league in the world and those guys can do anything they want with the ball on their boot 95% of the time. Our girls aren't nearly that skilled but that shouldn't stop us from playing a good deal more of the possession game if we work on it. Stanford did it pretty well and both outshot (30-12) and outscored us (2–0) in a manner that looked pretty easy, playing more “possession” than “direct.” During most of the match, we looked to be under constant siege. They were/are that good.
Which brings me to my main point. We should be able to play either style when we choose to. This past season we couldn't play “possession” very well, due to an obvious weakness in technical skills in some of our players. As a result, I saw a lot of what I thought were passes without purpose or maybe they were just bad passes that totally missed their target. Most of the time our passes seemed to be without a serious intent other than to get the ball out of our end or to just move the ball somewhere down the pitch. Sort of a “boot it down the pitch and see what happens” approach.
I think we can do better than that if we try to improve our technical skills, with great emphasis on passing. Having command of multiple styles of play should be our priority going forward, imo. Stanford plays this way and we can too.
Oh! One other thing. Did anyone else notice that while we got a lot more corner kicks than anyone else in the SEC, we did less with them? I recall us scoring 3 or 4 goals on corners (I really hope there were more) out of 162 attempts. 162. Why was that?
So, having said all that, I'll wrap this up with a few things I'd like to see in the season ahead.
First, it probably goes without saying that I would love to see us develop the ability to play possession soccer more often than not. In my opinion, we simply must become better passers.
Second, we need to really work at getting better on set pieces like corner and penalty kicks. We left a lot of goals on the pitch.
Third, I hope to see MA Vignola with more of a role in our offense. Is it crazy for me to think she might take a role similar to Bunny's role these past two seasons? Probably, but I'd at the least love to see her getting forward on the attack a lot more in the future. The girl can play! The only problem is that she is such a good defender moving her from the back line might not be the best idea, depending on who we have to replace her.
Finally, I would like to see more out of Katie Cousins. I think she can be more of a force than she has been out of the midfield going forward on the attack as she is a very good passer, and is calm and steady with the ball at her feet, and has a very strong shot.
So those are my thoughts for what they're worth.
Happy Holidays!
StrangeVol
Lady Vol Soccer Rules!!!