Some thoughts:
I'm starting to really like this new Box formation because of how much possession it gives and opportunities it provides moving forward and creating scoring chances, especially when we are limited offensively with Carroll still out with injury. When you have 4-5 players always around the ball in the middle 70% of the field, you are going to keep possession longer and win back possession faster with the pressing ability on the opponent. You saw the potential of this formation as A&M just dominated possession the first half and had the Gators pinned deep for the first 30 minutes or so. I've never seen A&M outplay Florida in the middle of the field like they did today. It was pretty shocking actually. This Florida program has really fallen off compared to where they were just 3-4 years ago. Arkansas has clearly passed them as well as we've seen the last few years.
Can we agree that Barbara Olivieri is going to be a superstar at A&M? She has improved so much from club play and she was clearly underrated by TDS. She is a 5-star impact player for sure and there certainly are not many freshman midfielders better than her in America. So, it was a great move by the coaches to put Olivieri at the attacking mid position because she just gave the Florida defense fits all game long. She is great on the ball, but she also can deliver strong shots on goal. I really thought one of those shots early in the game was going in but credit the Gator GK on a great save. Her play finally paid off with a goal on a bending corner kick that I think the wind helped with to go into the side netting. And she also had a long-angled shot go off the crossbar in the second half. So, with Olivieri helping take some pressure off Russell, we saw Russell have a pretty good game and she had some good passes into the box. It does make me wonder if a Carroll/Olivieri combo up top might be a dynamic duo.
I was happy to see Kate Colvin get the start today because she is so good either in the central mid or attacking mid position. Her soccer IQ is very high, and she created several scoring chances by getting into good positions to receive passes into the box, however, she does need to improve the finishing shots on goal, with at least 4 point blank chances to score, one of which was off the crossbar. I think she is better in central midfield, but while Carroll is healing, she is a great option attacking as well. Credit to the coaching staff for finding this diamond in the rough in recruiting as she was not highly recruited. Her time practicing with the Houston Dash has developed her skillset quickly, and she has a chance to be a special player at A&M for the next four years.
Like I discussed last week, the weakness of the Box is taking the risk of pushing your outside backs up field to provide the outside edges of the formation and for more crosses into the box, but it does leave only 2 central backs to defend a large portion of the field if the opponent quickly pushes the ball upfield. Today, we did a much better job of defending those chances with Sample and Smith having strong games. Florida finally adjusted a bit in the second half by moving another player forward to pressure the back two (they only had 1 forward in the first half) and they subsequently won more possession and created a few more chances in the offensive third. However, they should not have scored today because the A&M defense was solid for 99% of the match.
But the goal given up today (completely against the run of play) was unacceptable because it was completely avoidable. Hutton likes to roll the ball out to her backs, but many times she does it when the opposing forwards are too close and can press those backs to create unnecessary tension and force perfect passes to get out of danger, which is what directly led to the bad turnover by Lopez near the sideline that started the Florida quick counter and goal. Sample also tripped over the ball and attracted a few more defenders to help, which left the goal scorer an open shot that slid under Hutton (who probably could have gotten a hand on it anyway but she was too far off her line). However, Hutton did have a better game today with one really nice save later in the game to protect the 2-1 lead (off yet another Lopez turnover at the top of the box).
I'm worried about Anderson Williams after her injury today. We are already down several players for various reasons and we can't afford to lose any more. I think we have only 16 players left that are available to play. That's not good and it means we better be in physical shape all season. Geczik had another nice game and created some chances. Also, Taylor Ziemer had a very good game in the middle of the field.
So, 2-1 is fine after a loss to the best team in the SEC and now we have some winnable games coming up to get on a roll. Yes, we should have scored about 5 goals today, but this team is starting to become fun to watch, especially with all the possession and chances on goal. Finally, Ellis Field was in immaculate condition today for a first game. The best I've ever seen it actually. It did look like a carpet out there.