NCAA Women Soccer Tournament - Ellis Field
We turned our home field advantage over to Baylor.
Friday:
Baylor 1, #3 USC 1, Baylor advanced on Penalty Kicks (3 to 0)
Notre Dame 2, Texas A&M 2, Notre Dame advanced on Penalty Kicks (4 to 1)
Sunday:
Baylor 3, Notre Dame 2 (overtime)
People on this board have the impression that Notre Dame was a very strong team. They were tricked into thinking this because of their high [#14] RPI ranking.
Although they were a very good team, Notre Dame was NOT a Top 25 team.
They were NOT ranked in the Top 25 by the United Coaches poll, Top Drawer poll, or the Soccer America poll.
We were ranked:
United Coaches poll - #6
Soccer America poll - #7
Top Drawer poll - #4
We were definitely a better, stronger team than Notre Dame. We just did not play as well as we normally do or we would have kicked their a$$ like Baylor did.
Sadly, we chose to play one of our worst games against Notre Dame. We wasted our home field advantage. A large part of our subpar play may have been due to our playing such a weak schedule.
Notre Dame played a much stronger schedule than we did. They played three of the top five teams in the country Duke, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
We did not play any teams in the Top 10 but played three games against two Top 25 teams - Pepperdine & Florida [twice]. We won all three games.
Pepperdine: in overtime on a goal by Jimena Lopez.
Florida: (Game 1) 2-1, a regular season game on goals by Cienna Arrieta (assist - Emily Bates) and an incredible free kick by Kendall Ritchie in the second half.
(Game 2) 2-1 in overtime in the SEC Tournament on a goal by Rheagen Smith (assist Kendall Richie) and what was officially registered as an "own goal" in overtime.
Baylor definitely outplayed Notre Dame:
Shots: Baylor 19, Notre Dame 13
Shots on Goal: Baylor 8, Notre Dame 3
Saves: Baylor 1, Notre Dame 5
Corners: Baylor 6, Notre Dame 4
No matter how subpar we played against Notre Dame, we at least scored another remarkable late goal [Emily Bates] to send the game into overtime.
Stats from Notre Dame game:
Shots: TAMU 17, Notre Dame 24
Shots on Goal: TAMU 6, Notre Dame 10
Saves: TAMU 8, Notre Dame 4
Corners: TAMU 9, Notre Dame 3
We lost to Notre Dame mainly due to our lack of skills in taking penalty kicks and not having a goal keeper skilled in defending penalty kicks.
We should be playing Duke Friday instead of Baylor.
The SEC really got screwed by the NCAA in placing two of our best three teams (#1 South Carolina and #3 Florida) in the same bracket. Friday, they have to play each other in South Carolina.
Remaining Seeds
#1 Stanford, Duke, South Carolina
#2 UCLA
#3 Florida, Penn State
#4 Princeton
and Baylor
Remaining Games:
#3 Penn State at #1 Stanford
Baylor at #1 Duke
#3 Florida at #1 South Carolina
#4 Princeton at #2 UCLA
We had a hell of a fantastic season. Sadly, it ended on a devastating lost solely due to our inability to take and defend penalty kicks.
I hope there is a ton of practice in the off-season in the art of taking and defending penalty kicks so that this type of lost never happens again. Just learn how Watts takes PKs.
We turned our home field advantage over to Baylor.
Friday:
Baylor 1, #3 USC 1, Baylor advanced on Penalty Kicks (3 to 0)
Notre Dame 2, Texas A&M 2, Notre Dame advanced on Penalty Kicks (4 to 1)
Sunday:
Baylor 3, Notre Dame 2 (overtime)
People on this board have the impression that Notre Dame was a very strong team. They were tricked into thinking this because of their high [#14] RPI ranking.
Although they were a very good team, Notre Dame was NOT a Top 25 team.
They were NOT ranked in the Top 25 by the United Coaches poll, Top Drawer poll, or the Soccer America poll.
We were ranked:
United Coaches poll - #6
Soccer America poll - #7
Top Drawer poll - #4
We were definitely a better, stronger team than Notre Dame. We just did not play as well as we normally do or we would have kicked their a$$ like Baylor did.
Sadly, we chose to play one of our worst games against Notre Dame. We wasted our home field advantage. A large part of our subpar play may have been due to our playing such a weak schedule.
Notre Dame played a much stronger schedule than we did. They played three of the top five teams in the country Duke, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
We did not play any teams in the Top 10 but played three games against two Top 25 teams - Pepperdine & Florida [twice]. We won all three games.
Pepperdine: in overtime on a goal by Jimena Lopez.
Florida: (Game 1) 2-1, a regular season game on goals by Cienna Arrieta (assist - Emily Bates) and an incredible free kick by Kendall Ritchie in the second half.
(Game 2) 2-1 in overtime in the SEC Tournament on a goal by Rheagen Smith (assist Kendall Richie) and what was officially registered as an "own goal" in overtime.
Baylor definitely outplayed Notre Dame:
Shots: Baylor 19, Notre Dame 13
Shots on Goal: Baylor 8, Notre Dame 3
Saves: Baylor 1, Notre Dame 5
Corners: Baylor 6, Notre Dame 4
No matter how subpar we played against Notre Dame, we at least scored another remarkable late goal [Emily Bates] to send the game into overtime.
Stats from Notre Dame game:
Shots: TAMU 17, Notre Dame 24
Shots on Goal: TAMU 6, Notre Dame 10
Saves: TAMU 8, Notre Dame 4
Corners: TAMU 9, Notre Dame 3
We lost to Notre Dame mainly due to our lack of skills in taking penalty kicks and not having a goal keeper skilled in defending penalty kicks.
We should be playing Duke Friday instead of Baylor.
The SEC really got screwed by the NCAA in placing two of our best three teams (#1 South Carolina and #3 Florida) in the same bracket. Friday, they have to play each other in South Carolina.
Remaining Seeds
#1 Stanford, Duke, South Carolina
#2 UCLA
#3 Florida, Penn State
#4 Princeton
and Baylor
Remaining Games:
#3 Penn State at #1 Stanford
Baylor at #1 Duke
#3 Florida at #1 South Carolina
#4 Princeton at #2 UCLA
We had a hell of a fantastic season. Sadly, it ended on a devastating lost solely due to our inability to take and defend penalty kicks.
I hope there is a ton of practice in the off-season in the art of taking and defending penalty kicks so that this type of lost never happens again. Just learn how Watts takes PKs.