In the end all that matters is that you win the game, and today A&M found a way to hang on against Oklahoma St to claim their first Big 12 title in three years. It certainly wasn't pretty, we didn't play well, and we experienced quite a hangover from the Oklahoma game, but we still had just enough left in the tank to hoist the trophy. Winning a championship is hard, it's just that the '04-'07 teams made it look too easy, thereby fooling the fans into thinking we should win the title every year. The Big 12 is improved this year and A&M had to win a lot of close, hard fought games to get to this point. Congrats to the team and coaches for having the maturity to pull this off today. Despite the ugly tactics of most Big 12 teams we play now, meaning their dirty play that tries to injure our players, it didn't work. A&M is still champion. OSU doesn't fall into that category; they are a well-coached team that tries to play the right way and my hat's off to them for a great season. Technically they can still win a share of the title (if we lose to Texas and they beat OU).

The game really came down to about 20 minutes in the 1st half where A&M was really in a groove and were all over the OSU back line. Hooper was taken down for a PK that Shipley calmly put away and then Hooper missed a 1v1 against Franch that would have made it 2-0 and basically ended OSU's chances. After that stretch it was some very ugly soccer on both sides, especially for A&M in the last 30 minutes; it was almost desperation time for our back line as the midfield wilted in the heat and could not gain any real possession. I'm convinced that we are a physically beat up team right now. We have taken an absolute shellacking from almost every opponent and after 7-8 games like that it takes a toll on the players physically and mentally. Not having Merritt for the last 2 games really hurt our effectiveness up top and put even more pressure on the midfield to control the game. They just couldn't do it this weekend, but somehow we found a way to win both games.

Forward
Nora Skelton gave the team some good minutes this weekend and she played hard all by herself up top. She's not super fast or quick, but she can use her body to position herself to make good runs against the back line. Today was Hooper's day and she came in on fire in the 1st half, creating several chances and of course the eventual winning PK by making a double move on 3 defenders and getting into the box. That one play won the title for A&M. The 2nd half these two didn't do much because they had no chance with the midfield pushed back to defend the lead. Hooper did miss a great 1v1 opportunity late in the game vs. Franch when she was too quick to shoot in the box. The key here is Merritt needs to return to the lineup as soon as possible, at least in time for the NCAA tourney. We really missed her presence up top this weekend. [Grade: B]

Midfield
I don't want to seem too negative, especially after winning a title, but I thought we really regressed this weekend in the middle of the field. I don't know what happened to Amber over the last few games but she just isn't right. The hustle we saw earlier this season has disappeared. Beth's play really dropped off this weekend and today she was clearly struggling to find a groove in the middle. She did make some nice slide tackles and few good passes, but overall I think she's really been worn down by all the physical teams we've played over the last month. I would be tempted to rest her until the NCAA tourney to be honest. Raven came to play today and won most of her 50/50 balls in the air. She got some possession for us and made a lot of good defensive plays in the 2nd half when we were on the ropes late in the game. We would have lost today without her. Mautz was okay, but I think the physical play has taken a toll on her as well. Mejewski came on in the 1st half and played very well, winning every ball in the air and making some good passes forward. Overall I'm very concerned about the health of some of the midfielders going into the Texas game and post-season. We had almost no possession and lacked some hustle in the 2nd half that almost cost us the game. We need to take a few days off to get our legs back because that was possibly the most tired A&M side I've seen in about 5 years out there. [Grade: D+]

Defense
Here's the reason why A&M won the title this season. The back line of Rachel B., Young, Schmidt, and Supergirl Lenz were solid and almost impenetrable today. We were smart in marking up all day and did a great job on Lopez, which is OSU's entire offense. I don't remember Kelly Dyer having to make a spectacular save to keep them off the board. Despite a lot of possession and attacks going forward, OSU wasn't very dangerous today at all. There best chances came on a couple of free kicks and corners. That means our defense was disciplined and in the right shape all game long. Phil has done a great job with this group. If Lenz isn't a freshman All-American this year then they should get rid of the award all-together. She has been nothing short of spectacular in conference play and I think right now the league's best defender. Can anyone name someone that has played better than her on the back line this season in the Big 12? Lopez could not get past her once the entire game. That is remarkable. Rachel B. doesn't get a lot of credit but she has had a solid year on the outside, marking some of the league's best forwards. She had another good game today because she plays so smart on the ball. Lyndsay spelled Schmidt for a while and was again very good. The time off to learn from the sideline has really helped improve her knowledge of the game because she's making good decisions every time now. If there is a concern here, it's Bri Young because although she played okay, she's made some mental mistakes that are uncharacteristic for her. Her free kicks have also fallen off as far as being dangerous. But that is nitpicking because this group has been stellar since Big 12 play began. [Grade: A]

Winning the title was a good accomplishment for this team, but remember that the goal of everyone before the season started was making the College Cup. That means getting a top seed in order to play at home in the tourney. Today A&M took a big step forward in gaining a high #2 seed. We need to win out to make it a reality. It's a high bar but we can do it. Texas is playing well right now and today's effort would have resulted in a loss, so we need to pick it up big time on Friday night. Again, I'm very concerned about the midfield play, whether it is because of the worn-down effect or just a conditioning issue, but we've got to be able to string some passes together to give our offense a chance in these tight games. A special mention of the crowd today (2,500 strong) that showed up on a hot day and kept our girls in the match in the 2nd half. But today was a special day for the seniors and they deserve to celebrate a Big 12 championship. Congrats to the whole team and Coach G on a job well done.

I picked a great weekend to attend my first Aggie soccer games of the year. Friday's game was a thriller and watching the team hoist the trophy today was awesome! We have the tools to take care of t.u. next Friday, but the horns have really turned things around. Remember when we were laughing at them for being in last place? Pretty impressive that they've been able to work their way back into the mix. Still, we should definitely win that game. It feels great to finally be on top again after a few years without a title. Like you said, we were spoiled there for a while. It was almost a given that we'd win the regular season or the tournament, and likely both.

We really saw how badly we need Mathias up top. We were pretty one dimensional on the offensive end this weekend. Merritt just provides that spark that we need to be extremely dangerous. I imagine that these games would have been quite a bit easier had she played heavy minutes as usual. Hopefully she'll be back for the tournament, offering up a big surprise to the OU/OSU back lines who were lucky enough to avoid facing her this weekend.

It feels quite familiar to be thinking about our 1-seed chances and what could have been. Seems like we do this every year. Just on the outside looking in at the 4 top teams. A high 2-seed would still be great. We just need to take care of business for 4 more games. The rest will take care of itself. The ACC teams are handing each other losses left and right, so they will essentially hand us the 2-seed if we win out.

I will agree that Amber didn't have one of her better games. I'd take issue with saying the hustle wasn't there though. Especially in the second half I think part of the possession problem was that we adopted a policy of simply clearing it, not mounting a lot of attacks and putting this game on the backs of our defense.

After watching Lenz just get better and better week after week, I am convinced she could very well become the best player to play here at A&M.

[This message has been edited by bdp514am (edited 10/24/2010 7:07p).]

Hard to compare players at different positions. IMO, someone is going to have to do absolutely incredible things to surpass Pistorius as A&M's best. Lenz's defensive presence and intelligence is outstanding, but I think she'll need to add goals and assists to her game to become the "best ever." For instance, Lenz is a better one v. one defender than Young, but Bri has a better all-around game because she defends well and puts points on the board.

[This message has been edited by Hand Of God (edited 10/24/2010 7:23p).]

no doubt HoG, but I think she has tremendous growth potential. That first game against NC she looked lost out there, and now I'd be comfortable seeing her matched up 1 v 1 against any player in the county. It will be interesting to see if she adds some attacking skills to her arsenal in the years to come.

I think you understated a key point in not giving Rachel B. a ton of credit for making what could easily have been the game-saving play when she beautifully took away the osu scoring chance without incurring a PK foul.

Her effort on that play, after first getting beaten by the attacker, was as gutsy as it was magnificent.

SharpDressedMan, you are absolutely right. Bali's come-from-behind effort to chase that OSU player down and then execute a foul-free tackle in the box was spectacular. Moreover, she was matched up against Lopez for much of the first half and shut her down. Our back line looks really good right now. And I completely agree with those who are touting Ralph for freshman All-American. She is downright stellar. I'm soooo glad she chose Texas A&M !

SDM:
Agree on the play by Rachel B. In addition, she really has been an overlooked part of this team all year. Probably what happens when someone is as consistent as she is. She is deceivingly quick and has neutralized her opponent all year. Great team player.
I wish Carly had been able to get more minutes before today. I thought it showed a few times while she was in.

i've been trying to tell y'all all year how good Bali is, glad to see y'all are finally coming around

I admit to not having a trained eye for soccer, but I saw plenty of 110% efforts from numerous players. The back line and Raven Tatum left it all on the field, as did Hooper. Of course Rachel S. was nails.

[This message has been edited by sharpdressedman (edited 10/26/2010 1:17a).]

quote:

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OSU doesn't fall into that category; they are a well-coached team that tries to play the right way and my hat's off to them for a great season

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Funny to hear this if you would have played with or against Colin during his playing days...wouldn't have called him the cleanest player. He was pretty stocky and slow, so if you got the ball away from him, he would try and clip you from behind as he knew he wasn't going to catch up to you. Especially when he played on the Jersey Village high school team. They were really bad.

He is doing a great job coaching at OSU though. They are a very good team.

Hidden - If you think our Free kicking game has fallen off a bit what about our corners. We have no corner game anymore. We've made 2 all season out of 93 attempts. Who kicked the last corner that actually scored?

we had a corner a few games ago where we just kicked it to the player a few feet away (like we often do) that resulted in a score

but i agree that our corners are generally not very threatening

quote:

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After watching Lenz just get better and better week after week, I am convinced she could very well become the best player to play here at A&M.

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I experienced all the pistorious years first hand... It'll take an epic last 3 years filling statsheets and winning games single handedly to even get on ashlee's level... But I hope she can become that !

2007 - I agree. Some of these girls there talking up don't have the stat's. One goal or one assist all season is just not going to do it. There not making any of the Big 12 (offensive, defensive, or newcomer) teams.

Young's all around abilities has made her a very special player for A&M. Bri Young's Career To Date Statistics: 159 Shots, 17 Goals, 17 Assists, 44 Total Points, 6 Game Winning Goals. In the last three seasons, show me one Defender nationwide that has these kind of offensive numbers. In fact, when she finishes her career at A&M, her offensive numbers should be good enough to put her in the top half of the A&M record books.

2008 - Sorry, I wasn't speaking of Bri. She is a great all around player. If anything I was speaking for Bri, because she does have the stat's and will get noticed. But Lenz's (1 goal & 1 Assist) or Bali (1 assist) all season totals is just not going to do it. There's just to many other girls out there with better stat's. Maybe if Lenz scored more off those corners she will make the Big 12 Newcomer player of the week.

I think Lenz has a shot at the Newcomer team. I seriously doubt if there is too many freshmen out there in the Big 12 that have any better offensive numbers then she does. Speaking of her getting more corner kicks, we should be scoring far more goals off our corner kicks. Right now the problem is the closest we have to someone that can consistantly put well placed corner kicks on target is Carly Wohlers. And she is either not playing or has very limited time on the field. Regarding Young's free kicks. Has anyone bothered to noticed that since the weekend of the Baylor/Texas Tech games, the teams have made an adjustment. The defense is pushing A&M further out from the 18 when she takes her kicks. The team needs to work on countering that somehow. Our set play numbers have definitely dropped off since BU and TTU games.

Good point about our corner kicks. 2 of our corners vs. OSU didn't even make it onto the field of play. Not good. We haven't been dangerous all year with them except when Wohlers takes them. Unfortunately, she's almost never in the game. Bri's leg is slightly injured which might be hampering her free kicks now, and yes, teams have adjusted to us by pushing us out away from the goal to make timing issues difficult. We need to adjust to their adjustments.

On Lenz:
One of the things that really bothers me about how defensive All-Americans are selected at both the conference and national levels is that a player has to have some offensive numbers in order for them to standout amongst other defenders. That's silly. The whole purpose of a defender is to defend the best attacking players from the other team. DUH! I couldn't care less what they are doing on the offensive end of the pitch. And to that end, Rachel Lenz is hands down the best 1-on-1 defender in the Big 12; seriously, no one has beaten her since the first few games of the season! She absolutely shut down Lopez on Sunday (with a little help from Rachel B.). I've seen a lot of soccer nationwide via the Internet this year and there are only a handful of defenders better than Rachel right now (one of them being UNC's Crystal Dunn who we saw in person). I just think Lenz is a no-brainer choice for Freshman All-America.

Definite notice the drop off is velocity of Bri's kicks, still think she is one of our best. Ralph has performed like a seasoned veteran and it would be great for her to get the props. Hooper was the inspriration the team needed on Sunday, their level of play picked up in both halves when she entered.

What is it that makes our corner kicks so weak? Is it kick location, personnel positioning, ???

Both!

Defender is probably the toughest position to get recognition for your efforts. Also, I must point out that while Lenz was continuing to improve, she has really started to come on when they moved her to the outside, out there she has more freedom to showcase her talents against the top forwards. Let us not lose tract that part of her success can be attributed to moving Bri onto the backline. Now Lenz can be even more aggressive because Bri has her back. The defense really started to click in the Kansas game when they permanently moved Young to centerback position. Since then the team has 5 shut-outs in 7 games. Bri has obviously had a steadying impact on the backline. I don't know about you, but up until recently I haven't really known what to expect out of the defense. I just hoped there was enough offense to bail us out.

Good point about Bri. Her move to center back has been the key to solidifying the defense. She does give Lenz the freedom to take chances against attacking forwards. We need Bri 100% for the NCAA tourney though if we are to advance, especially on the road.

Good points about Bri and Lenz. Lots of luck to the girls going forward.

Corner kicks from the right side should be taken by a left footer, because the ball will bend in toward the goal. There's something about a bending ball that make it easier. We use to have that in Becca when 9 of her corners scored in her freshmen year. This is why Carly can be deadly, and we don't have that this year. A right footer on this side will bend away, and should only take left corners.

2008 - "When you say the defense started to click around the Kansas game..." I wonder how much of that is because we started going with 5 Mid's. When we play with a (4-5-1) it has an appearance that we are packing it in, even though we attack with it. With only one forward up at top. An extra Mid will keep the pressure off that back line which gives us our shut-outs, because were winning the middle more. The (4-5-1) is a good formation for us now, because with 4 mid we play to soft.

Yes that has helped as well. It has provided for more bodies to drop back quicker to help defend while giving A&M a better opportunity to control midfield. You may have also noticed that by going to the new 4-5-1 formation, our scoring production has dropped off as well.

A fair price to pay on scoring less goals, in order to keep them from scoring.

Exactly. Defense is more important than offense. I will gladly sacrifice a few goals to keep our soft defensive midfield area (between the 18 and 25 yard mark) well defended. This has been the difference since we switched to the 4-5-1. In coming years we might be able to go back to 4 midfielders because the talent level is increasing, but for now we need to stay in it permanently.

[This message has been edited by flylikeabird (edited 10/28/2010 10:00p).]

HiddeAg2 ,
If you are insinuating that you are an aggie by your name I am embarrassed for Aggieland. From what I have always heard about Aggies and the 12th man they are there to support one another. Isn’t that what the meaning of the whole 12th man is about? Stepping up for one another in time of need… All I can see from your long winded reports would be you breaking down the team and picking apart the negative. Why do you feel like you have the right to grade them as if they are getting a report card??? If you were so good at analyzing a soccer team why are you not a division 1 coach yourself? HiddenAG2 it sounds more like you’re a club coach to me! How about picking out all the positive things and encouraging them from now on that would be a true Aggie.

fireman2 set up an account for this very post.

Sounds like HiddenAG upset a parent to me......

Oh snap.

fireman2's Thoughts on HiddenAg:
He's mean and negative. [Grade: F]

[This message has been edited by CDub06 (edited 10/29/2010 10:58a).]

FYI, a lot of sports performances are broken down like this. It's not malicious.

In fact, Cessna has an article in the Eagle after every football game breaking apart strengths and weaknesses.

http://www.aggiesports.com/football/Robert-Cessna-Grades-the-Aggies2010-09-04T22-44-27