Right now A&M is a very average team. The numbers don't lie. We're 0-3 against Top 10 teams (and no Clemson is not a Top 10 team as they are struggling and unranked as well) and we scored one goal in those matches with limited offensive opportunities. We've beat up on 4 empty tomato can opponents to cushion the record. We lost a deserved win against another average team OSU on the road in the last four minutes on the match. So, A&M is 5-3-1 with 3 of the next 4 opponents against legit good teams in Arkansas, Auburn, and LSU. Without Olivieri's presence in the midfield, it's reasonable to assume we could lose all three matches. Tennessee has a good record but it's a mirage. A&M could be 6-6-1 entering a final 5-game stretch against much lesser opponents where we could win all of them. Why do I highlight this? Coach G has the second longest consecutive NCAA appearance streak in the nation behind only UNC. We are currently #46 in the RPI with no notable wins. If we did indeed finish 11-6-1 with no Top 50 wins, the committee would be hard-pressed to put us in the tourney outside of winning a few games at the SEC tourney. So a season that had such high expectations from almost everyone, including the coaches when you consider the scheduling, is now on the brink. It would make things much easier if we could pull off an upset against Arkansas on Thursday or at least tie LSU on the road. Auburn would be a stretch because they are really good and pushed FSU to the limit.

Obviously injuries have wreaked havoc on this team. Remember that we still have no idea if Carroll will even return this season. Olivieri might return but she won't be close to 100% until next year with an MCL injury. Anderson Williams got off to a promising start before being out for the year with an ACL. Ali Russell is playing with a bandaged leg and is clearly not where she was just a few months ago. Katie Smith has a bandaged hand and it does seem to bother her out there as her play has slipped ever since the injury. Then we have some experienced players that are just not quite right out there for whatever reason and their play is down from the Spring. Karlina Sample is struggling a bit with her quickness and speed. Kendall Bates has probably led the team in turnovers in the middle of the field. Macie Kolb seems to lack the quickness and speed we saw just months ago in the tourney. Kate Colvin has been up and down and not quite where she was in the Spring either. This isn't meant to be a negative rant, it's just what I think we all see out there when we start looking for reasons why this team is underachieving.

Now, to be fair, we've had to rely too much on inexperienced freshmen as the veterans' play has fallen off. Hayes has been excellent and Pante has been good. However, some others have disappointed and not lived up to what I thought after studying film. I'll admit I was wrong about some of them and I'll try to be more level-headed in the future before seeing them on the field at the collegiate level. The coaches talk a lot about relying on inexperience and freshmen, but the fact is that we only start 2 freshmen (Hayes, Pante) when Olivieri is in the lineup. We have 3 senior starters in Sample, Kolb, and Bates. We have another upperclassman starting in Katie Smith. The rest are experienced sophomores that have played in a lot of games including the NCAA tournament at the highest level. So, while we are younger than the average team, we are not technically inexperienced in the actual starting lineup. The depth is obviously a problem with too many freshmen seeing significant minutes when they're not ready for the quality sides we've seen so far.

I think this goes deeper than just inexperience. Many of us have commented how the team is not very good on first touches, controlling possession at the feet, and accurate passing to teammates in traffic, especially in the midfield. It's not terrible, but when you play elite opponents, one mistake can cost you a goal or at the very least spend a lot of energy running back on defense to cover for it. Over the course of a game these mistakes add up. Add to that the inability to finish chances inside the box and you get the results we've seen so far from this team.

I won't comment much on the game today because I think Giggem nailed it with his/her analysis. Pepperdine is very well coached and had a good strategy to shutdown our strengths, mainly getting wide and crossing into the box. They swarmed us on the outside and forced it back to the middle where we just don't have the quality to control possession and beat opponents moving into the offensive third. Unfortunately, even with Olivieri, I don't think this is something that can be solved this season. Thankfully we have help coming next year in recruiting. So when we have chances in front of goal we must finish them. Boeckmann played better in the second half and hit the crossbar off a cross and I thought Hayes was going to get one before she lost balance. Yes, the refs were terrible and missed several offside calls that weren't, but it wasn't the difference in the game. The Waves were clearly a better team and we were outmatched. Notice how their quality in possession led to several chances on goal, and if it weren't for Caldwell, they would have scored a few more. I just wish this team would come out and play hard in the first 10 minutes of matches, because you just cannot give up simple goals like Pepperdine scored today early in the match. I don't know what the answers are right now, but I would get back faster tempo in the midfield with quick touches and passes instead of holding the ball and being indecisive, which leads to turnovers. Let's hope we get some players back from injury soon.

Good summaries. This is an experience year given the injuries. G is making lemonade out of the lemons of injuries. They're getting better as we watch them and they're playing extremely capable and well-coached teams. It is what is.

I want the team to fully own the responsibility for stepping up. We need the coaches to continue to scout and game plan. The players on the pitch are capable and able to do the rest by listening, executing, and building personal skills through repetition of touches with each other under pressure.

I saw some great passes Sunday. And I saw a lot where we just gave the ball away. Some were clears and got it out of the back third. Nothing wrong with that. But when we had shirts available to do aim at it seemed we just weren't crisp about half the time.

I know the issue is in your own team scrimmages you know how the other player will react so you don't get surprised all that often. The game moved very fast for our fish yesterday and we saw some frustration both games this week and some desperation. The game will slow down with more experience and soccer is a thinking person's game. But don't overthink, either!

My first real contact with explosiveness was a Turkish national that played for my international school in Jakarta in the mid 70s. He dribbled at full running speed in part because he had played since a toddler against competitors that did the same. He was brutally fast and equally quick. But his best skill was deciding and going.

During the time I've watched our team the player that reminded me the most of him was Mikaela. She had that decide and go skill. At first she got beat by smarter competition. And sometimes they baited her into fouls and cards. But she always had that look.

We need more of that. We can do that. And it is built on fantastic team chemistry. We can do this! Coach G teams ALWAYS grow during the season. This team will, too!

MookieBlaylock said:

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Tough schedule but I think we have played the hard part of the schedule

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LSU, Arkansas, and Auburn are very good and can play with anyone.