redd38 said:

---

Watt has tried two no-look passes on her last two possessions, neither one has worked.

---

They're collapsing on her with two and no one is there to help.

greg.w.h said:

---

redd38 said:

---

Watt has tried two no-look passes on her last two possessions, neither one has worked.

---

They're collapsing on her with two and no one is there to help.

---

Well passing to a place she isn't looking isn't the solution

no foul is interesting on that one. That may have been a red card in the world cup a few cycles ago...

Can't watch, still down a goal? how much time left?

2-1 USC 17 min left

I'm at just under 17 left. But streaming is fickle.

Starting to run out of time

"She did everything but put it on frame"

Story of the game

10 minutes left, still down a goal

That's about as good a look as Watt is gonna get

This game should probably be about 4-4

watching the facebook stream (https://www.facebook.com/Pac12Plus/videos/998172253849428/) and this announcer is insufferable...

5 minutes left, still down a goal

It's now or never

Yellow to USC for wasting time

And thus begins the off season

Thanks to our seniors!

What a nauseating finish to the season

gave up 2 bad goals, should have given up another. overshadows some pretty good offensive possession that generated a lot of chances.

Mistakes are magnified and often costly at this level of NCAA play.

Two crap goals and we have to make an all-American play to score. I guess that's the summary of the season.

Congratulations to the women for the season. They played hard, and without the bone head defensive lapses stood a great chance of winning this afternoon.

I wish much success to all the seniors in their future endeavors. Thanks for your effort and representing our University so well.

I also thought the announcers were really bad. However, considering a top ten team averages less than 500 in attendance, the announcers probably thought they were narrating to the other 10,000 USC students and alumni who couldn't find time to support their team in person.

I quickly muted the sound and just watched the game.

F! Sucks that we can rarely get ourselves out of the early rounds.

Well, everyone will be back home for Thanksgiving I guess.

@redd38 I'm not excusing it. There was a lot of play that I wished was cleaner and sharper and more aggressive. Usually Ally has been the leader on that and I expect with her eligibility completed that new leaders will give us a new presence on the pitch.

I hope the team enjoys the seniors being around until they're gone and gets time to reset. I don't want to rush them, but my wife especially looks forward to their next game with the 2020 edition fully in place.

The definition of insanity is the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness

It's hard to accept that a couple of really poor defensive mistakes cost A&M a chance to pull an upset on the road against a more talented USC squad, but at this level your season ends when you commit them. In a game where A&M had the run of play, had good possession and build up (especially in the first half) and multiple chances that should have been scored, it was the backline that was simply stretched too thin to cover fast USC forwards that led to those miscues.

On the first goal, Walton was too far up field and couldn't get back to cover the USC flanker, who crossed the ball into the box, where Piper and Alston collided on the clearance, leaving a rebound to be struck off a bounce and past Caldwell. It probably should have been saved by Kenna, but she was slow to react to the shot (something that's been a huge issue all year for the GKs). The second USC goal was arguably the worst self-inflicted goal I've ever seen at A&M in all my years of following the program, except for possibly Alston's giveaway goal vs Notre Dame in another 2nd round NCAA game a few years ago at home that led to the devastating PK loss. Walton collected a long kick from the Trojan GK and had 10 seconds to decide what to do with it. There were no USC players within 20 yards of her until she held the ball for too long. First, she was going to pass back to Caldwell and, after wasting several seconds, turned with the ball and looked right but saw that a USC player had stepped in front of Alston. Arietta was covered in front of her, so she dribbled forward but too far out in front of herself, which was taken away by USC and quickly finished after a pass and 1v1 against a helpless Caldwell. She did have Smith open to the far left of her, but the panic probably set in and it was too late. I feel bad for Walton, a senior who has had a good career at A&M and has been a major contributor over the years despite being a lightly recruited hometown prospect. But those two mistakes, especially the second one, put A&M in too big a hole to recover. But overall the back line really struggled all day and substituting Hill for Walton didn't help as she was beaten multiple times by USC forwards. Even the normally reliable Katie Smith had issues marking attackers in the second half, one of which should have been a goal. A&M is going to have to get better defensively, both on the back line and at GK, if we are ever going to advance far into the tourney again. If the coaches are going to stay with the 3-back set, we must have more athletic, faster players to cover lost ground on counter attacks. Smith is the prototype for this type of player, but we need two more.

The good news, and actually very surprising, was the play in the middle of the field. T. Ziemer had a strong game and developed good chemistry with McCain, Lopez and Kolb on the outside, which resulted in A&M holding possession in USC's final third for long stretches of the match. At times A&M passed too much around the box instead of taking a USC defender on 1v1 to stretch the back line and create more space for shots. And those wasted offensive possessions in the first half came back to doom A&M in the end. The midfield was getting the ball to Watt, but she refused to go at the defense or take quicker shots with the small spaces she had. I've never understood why Watt doesn't trust her speed to get by any defender, even in traffic (she only needs to get through 1 out of every 3 attempts and it's a 1v1 against the GK). She had 2 good opportunities on breakaways against two defenders but slowed her run to goal to hold the ball, which resulted in eventually a lost possession. I really thought she was going to have a magical moment in the last seconds of the match with her breakaway, but again she held up and it cost her a shot on goal. Hopefully she will learn to do this at the next level.

A&M's goal was a thing of beauty. After a missed corner attempt, the ball rebounded out to Katie Smith, who played a nice give and go with Piper which resulted in a pass out to Lopez and then a perfect cross to Watt, who calmly headed it into the open side of the goal to get A&M back in the game. At that point it felt like we might come back and tie the match and get to PKs, but USC turned it up a notch in their play, which resulted in a missed wide open 1v1 against Caldwell (who did a good job of closing space and forcing the USC forward to go around her). Not sure how an All-American could miss that shot, but it kept us in the game until the end. The rest of the match was evenly played, with both sides missing shots on goal. A&M finished with the advantage in almost every category, especially shots (21-9) and overall possession. We played hard and together and the coaches had them ready to play, but it was a tough way to end the season for the second time in four years against the Trojans in LA. A&M deserved to win this game but as we all know all that matters is how many goals you score and allow in your own net.

So, another season in the books. Thanks to the seniors for their contributions over the years. I still believe this was a disappointing season and we didn't meet expectations in SEC play. Next year has a lot of question marks, and in my mind a true rebuilding year unless Lopez improves on a stellar 2019 season. Obviously, we will miss Watt badly and wonder where the offense will come from, but I doubt we'll ever see that combo of blazing speed and talent at forward again at A&M. The incoming freshmen will have to be as good advertised if we are to compete for an SEC title. I'll have a separate post on program thoughts, but I do think the coaches have to examine if strategy and the type of players in the program and consider some major changes in approach and what the future of the game holds. A&M is struggling to advance past the 2nd round right now, and if winning a national title is still the stated goal, we are going to have to both recruit better athletes and change some strategy to keep up with the elite programs.

Disappointing finish. Not because we were favored to win, but because we should've been in position to pull the upset. We allowed two bad goals and just couldn't pull back even despite some great efforts. Frustrating finish to the season. I know the players feel that way especially.

South Carolina advanced to the round of 16, but Arkansas lost. So after 2 rounds the SEC is left with only one team. If I read the tiny print in the brackets correctly, S. Carolina will play Kansas on Sunday.

I noted in the box score that the attendance was 700. That must have included the folks watching from the windows of the houses and the buildings over looking the field. I think I counted a bleacher session of five rows which were about 2/3 filled. During a break I counted the folks I could see and estimated the number of people on the side opposite the camera at 150 max. It must have been really crowded on the other side.

Hidden, thanks again for your very fair and detailed summaries all year. You and others on this board are a delight to those of us who enjoy watching without the in depth understanding of the game.

They only have, ahem, seats on the 1 side. They did have a band and cheerleaders there. You would never know they have won 2 national championships. They did add a level to their scorers structure which looks like a cheap deer stand.
What happened was like men's football having a turnover near their own end zone. We were much better offensively than in 2016. There was a play in the first half where the only place Jimena could kick the ball was up the sideline and she got frustrated that a teammate did not get in position to get it.

Thanks for your eyes and analysis.... Wait til next year, eh?

Has this program just stagnated to point of bombing out in the second round of the tournament on a regular basis? Every year I read about the great recruiting classes the program brings in. Then in the fall I read the game threads and the more knowlegeable posters express frustrations with what is going on in the program. So many missed opportunities it seems and losses to teams we shouldn't be losing to. So what gives? Has G run his course?

Mistakes and missed opportunities plagued the team all year. It became obvious early in the season when knowledgeable posters saw serious flaws in the team's overall ability and execution. Wishing and hoping for magical improvements in serious, technical deficiencies did not produce remedies.

It seemed a typical year for Aggie soccer, being very competitive in the SEC, making the NCAA tournament, winning a tournament game, and likely finishing among the top 20 in the final rankings. Overall, the program is excellent, but not elite.

The team played hard and represented the university very well. They did the best they could, and went as far as their talent would take them. The win over tu was huge for many reasons, and it was the highlight of the season for me.

Congratulations to the players and coaches on another very good season. Being recognized as a consistently exceptional program has been praiseworthy for years, and Aggies everywhere are justifiably proud.

A poor showing in the final game will sting, and it is very unfortunate for the seniors. The proverbial "next year" won't be there for them.

IMO, the coaching and the program are sufficiently well-known to annually fall short in the NCAA tourney that elite recruits who want to play in the College Cup series will continue to go elsewhere, and the program will remain on an admirably high plateau, but not successfully compete with any regularity for top honors.

What we have a program that is the envy of most others in the nation. That is worth supporting and celebrating.

Edit for grammar.

WBB team was there to support the team

Hopefully it goes better on the hardwood this evening.

The counterpoint is that we are annually positioned for deep runs. I think we need to recruit more talented, aggressive players like Mikaela Harvey to get on the pitch and demonstrate leadership in going after the ball. One per class would be perfect. And we need difference maker mentality that is tough as nails especially against better opposition.

I'd even argue some projects that fit that mold could turn out well even if neither seasoned nor finished as products coming in. I DO think G has put together a fabulous resume. But I worry he has settled for what he has accomplished. I also think when we see a team get a goal we cannot sit on our heels because the game plan previously dictated a slower game with lightning strikes by a single, somewhat overwhelmed striker in what is effectively a 4-5-1 since we aren't good at retreating with faster opponents. I love the enthusiasm, but the passing never seems crisp even when we enthusiastically get the ball.

The new seniors need to sit down with G and the staff and talk about how the next twelve months they want to lead a change because only they can lead that change when coaches can't meet with the players. It needs to include individual accountability to the team.

I'll give a simple example: I know when I have taken fitness requirements seriously and when I just checked boxes. I know when my individual drilling is producing better ball handling (footling???) and when I'm slacking. I know when I'm following my diet and when I'm cheating it. I know when I got my aerobics fully in and I know I can't catch up during the season so I can't come in slacking.

But younger players might not see the upperclassmen attending to business. They might need to be invited to join the individual upperclassmen to watch preparation and observe conditioning both activity wise and frankly in play.

I hope we see a visible change as they take in that challenge because they're going to have to absorb more, younger talent to be effective next fall. They can't rely on "our turn" mentality to win. There was too much dependence on Watt Friday. They must resolve not just to replace her but to make sure that can't happen going forward.

greg.w.h said:

---

I think we need to recruit more talented, aggressive players...

---

That is the primary challenge. The elite recruits are going to elite programs to compete for national championships. With Coach G being a known entity and the program's history of infrequent deep runs in the NCAA tourney, the recruiting challenge will be very difficult to overcome.

The program being legitimately excellent is admirable.

sharpdressedman said:

---

greg.w.h said:

---

I think we need to recruit more talented, aggressive players...

---

That is the primary challenge. The elite recruits are going to elite programs to compete for national championships. With Coach G being a known entity and the program's history of infrequent deep runs in the NCAA tourney, the recruiting challenge will be very difficult to overcome.

The program being legitimately excellent is admirable.

---

I think the culture can be extended to better play by having as few as one additional aggressive player per class. The talent is there, but it isn't playing as effectively as it could due primarily to timidity. Need leaders who can stir them up through play. And create a competition for excellence.

I especially feel the chemistry is not there for passing. They need to play together more. They don't know what the other person is thinking. All that can be addressed by the team taking responsibility for seeing it and working together on it.

I even believe G rewards initiative so it's a bit surprising we don't see more.