Second goal was just as bad. Kenna was way late on coming out and deer in headlights.
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Last: 1 yr ago by CDub06
Brutal. Just brutal.
Even with the defensive lapses tonight, I think my bigger long term concern for the season is that we need someone that can put the ball in the back of the net. We create enough chances but our convert rate is too low.
Second was worse than the first...Sports-Ag said:
First goal never should have happened. I didn't see the second.
So how many times do our players have to roll on the ground after getting knocked over before a foul is called?
Giving up a goal late killed us in about 5 games last year.
Giving up a goal late killed us in about 5 games last year.
We watched a large portion of the game. A few things were noticeable:
- we were far more physical in the first half than the second. I think some of that had to do with the way the game was being called (or not called). The lack of calls on obvious fouls or even the blatant hand ball gave TCU the courage to step it up and know they could press harder, which they did.
- We hit the crossbar or sidebars, but not the back of the net! That was frustrating. There could have easily been at least 2-3 more goals for the Ags if we had finished.
- When moved away from more possession based to a more run and shoot style in the last (at least) 15 minutes. This really gives the ball to the opponent far too easily. I don't know if we panicked, or if it was the plan.
- I missed the 2nd goal. The first looked like the goalie came out a bit early and essentially whiffed. Maybe that's not the best description of what happened, but that's how it appeared from the angle they showed on tv.
Lots to work on, for sure.
- we were far more physical in the first half than the second. I think some of that had to do with the way the game was being called (or not called). The lack of calls on obvious fouls or even the blatant hand ball gave TCU the courage to step it up and know they could press harder, which they did.
- We hit the crossbar or sidebars, but not the back of the net! That was frustrating. There could have easily been at least 2-3 more goals for the Ags if we had finished.
- When moved away from more possession based to a more run and shoot style in the last (at least) 15 minutes. This really gives the ball to the opponent far too easily. I don't know if we panicked, or if it was the plan.
- I missed the 2nd goal. The first looked like the goalie came out a bit early and essentially whiffed. Maybe that's not the best description of what happened, but that's how it appeared from the angle they showed on tv.
Lots to work on, for sure.
Watched the replay of the losing goal and they were re-showing the previous play when TCU got the ball so if you weren't there you didn't see what happened. We had a goal kick and Caldwell kicked it to Katie Smith who kicked a low line drive and it seemed to rebound right to the TCU player.
That was a disappointing result. Still better than last year's match.
But, man, that's one of the most frustrating games I've seen in a while.
But, man, that's one of the most frustrating games I've seen in a while.
A very tough night for A&M with a disheartening 2-1 loss late to TCU. It was such a shame because I thought A&M was deserving of the win overall but at least a tie. A&M led 1-0 and lost. That just can't happen at home when you have the advantage. The good news is that I do think we finally found an optimal lineup which dominated the match for about 15 minutes in the second half. In fact, during that stretch, it was some of best Aggie soccer I've seen in a while. A possession-oriented, relentless attack that just couldn't finish in front of goal. But soccer can be a cruel game and the A&M side witnessed it tonight. TCU is a good team and has some really skilled and poised players. They can hold possession for a long time and make it difficult to take away from them, forcing opponents to expend a lot of energy to regain it. A&M played their best match of the season tonight and still lost. That's a credit to TCU. They took their chances and we didn't and that was the difference.
The backline was coming off their best performance of the season at Ohio St (maybe one of the best defensive efforts I've ever seen at A&M) and for the most part was solid, running down and stopping most wide runs or penetrations into the box. Unfortunately, two major mistakes cost A&M the game. The first happened when Sample was caught too far up field after a missed tackle attempt (why is she across midfield with the midfielders in the first place?), which opened a huge hole behind her and a slotted pass forward left Katie Smith scrambling to try and cover it. The resulting 1v1 on Caldwell, who made a very poor effort on the ball, was calmly put away. The second happened late in the match with four minutes left as the little dynamo Lancaster beat Pounds for a ball and quickly split the defense between Smith and Sample (who was caught flat footed on the outside) and beat Caldwell (who needed to close the gap faster and make herself bigger and get lower to the ground) to the far post for the winning goal. At least Calzada had her usual stellar level of play once again on display tonight, shutting down almost everything on her side of the field. Seriously, what a miss by the recruiting services as she is clearly one of the ten best freshmen in America.
Both GKs had tremendous saves early in the match, with Cornog's header tipped over the bar by TCU (a truly incredible save) and Caldwell with a good save in the first few minutes on a shot from 1 yard out. Unfortunately for Kenna, as aforementioned, she had a few positioning mistakes on the ensuing goals (especially the winning goal by Lancaster) and it wasn't her best game. Also, way too many services out of the back that put the back line under constant pressure, thereby expending energy we would need late in the match.
In the aforementioned 15-minute stretch in the second half, the lineup of Hayes, McDonald, Boeckmann, Pounds, Cornog, Colvin, and Pante were just spectacular in possession and creating dangerous chances on goal. I was trying to recall a time that A&M played that well in the attacking half for an extended period against a quality opponent. Man, I wish we could play like that consistently because this team would be a lot of fun to watch. Alas, as soon as substitutions were made, our quality dropped off and we lost the momentum for the rest of the match. We probably kept that group on the sideline too long before they re-entered. I don't know if Becerra is a bit injured or just played out of position and was yanked, but she only played 2 minutes. However, Boeckmann, Pounds and Cornog (who seems to finally be comfortable and played her best game of the season) seemed to play well together and during that stretch in the second half were firing on all cylinders. Pante, who is a completely different player this year, had a great game with many wide runs and beautiful crosses into the box. Sometimes I wish she would just go to goal and create her own shot since our forwards can't shoot effectively.
Right now, it looks like the forward tandem of Hayes and McDonald work the best together, at least in creating chances in front of goal. The issue is finishing and not hesitating to take shots. We only took 11 shots tonight and had many more chances to shoot on goal. McDonald missed a great chance early in the match wide open in the middle of box, although Hayes's perfect free kick a minute later made up for it. McDonald also missed a great chance in the second half from the top of the box and crushed it over the goal. I'd like to see Hayes make a quick turn with her back to the goal and take more quick shots. We just don't look comfortable taking shots on goal at the forward position, and that's not good. When your midfield is creating many good scoring opportunities on crosses and passes into the box, your strikers need to put the ball in the back of the net. And right now there doesn't seem to be any answers from Carroll, Anderson, or Jai Smith. The loss of Geczik and Olivieri (who covered up the lack of scoring punch at this position last year) just looms large over this team right now. I wonder what Kniffen's status is for this season?
Finally, the referee crew tonight was subpar at best. Several missed calls and inconsistent foul calls in the middle of the field. At times TCU was mugging our players and nothing was called. Only 1 foul was called on TCU in the second half. That's just absurd. A&M was robbed of a few extra corners as well on bad calls over the end line.
I was really disappointed in the attendance tonight. Only 1,421 fans showed up to maybe the biggest home game of the season. I know Fish Camp had a big crowd, but what difference would that crowd have had on tonight's game instead of scheduling an empty tomato can that didn't matter? I wish we would have had some mandatory attendance for the corp tonight. And the atmosphere was pretty weak for a big game outside of the loud band that played at times. 70,000 students and only about 100 showed up. That's not going to get it done. It's time to bring back 12th Man Rewards program or something similar. Anyway, that's my rant for this season on attendance.
The backline was coming off their best performance of the season at Ohio St (maybe one of the best defensive efforts I've ever seen at A&M) and for the most part was solid, running down and stopping most wide runs or penetrations into the box. Unfortunately, two major mistakes cost A&M the game. The first happened when Sample was caught too far up field after a missed tackle attempt (why is she across midfield with the midfielders in the first place?), which opened a huge hole behind her and a slotted pass forward left Katie Smith scrambling to try and cover it. The resulting 1v1 on Caldwell, who made a very poor effort on the ball, was calmly put away. The second happened late in the match with four minutes left as the little dynamo Lancaster beat Pounds for a ball and quickly split the defense between Smith and Sample (who was caught flat footed on the outside) and beat Caldwell (who needed to close the gap faster and make herself bigger and get lower to the ground) to the far post for the winning goal. At least Calzada had her usual stellar level of play once again on display tonight, shutting down almost everything on her side of the field. Seriously, what a miss by the recruiting services as she is clearly one of the ten best freshmen in America.
Both GKs had tremendous saves early in the match, with Cornog's header tipped over the bar by TCU (a truly incredible save) and Caldwell with a good save in the first few minutes on a shot from 1 yard out. Unfortunately for Kenna, as aforementioned, she had a few positioning mistakes on the ensuing goals (especially the winning goal by Lancaster) and it wasn't her best game. Also, way too many services out of the back that put the back line under constant pressure, thereby expending energy we would need late in the match.
In the aforementioned 15-minute stretch in the second half, the lineup of Hayes, McDonald, Boeckmann, Pounds, Cornog, Colvin, and Pante were just spectacular in possession and creating dangerous chances on goal. I was trying to recall a time that A&M played that well in the attacking half for an extended period against a quality opponent. Man, I wish we could play like that consistently because this team would be a lot of fun to watch. Alas, as soon as substitutions were made, our quality dropped off and we lost the momentum for the rest of the match. We probably kept that group on the sideline too long before they re-entered. I don't know if Becerra is a bit injured or just played out of position and was yanked, but she only played 2 minutes. However, Boeckmann, Pounds and Cornog (who seems to finally be comfortable and played her best game of the season) seemed to play well together and during that stretch in the second half were firing on all cylinders. Pante, who is a completely different player this year, had a great game with many wide runs and beautiful crosses into the box. Sometimes I wish she would just go to goal and create her own shot since our forwards can't shoot effectively.
Right now, it looks like the forward tandem of Hayes and McDonald work the best together, at least in creating chances in front of goal. The issue is finishing and not hesitating to take shots. We only took 11 shots tonight and had many more chances to shoot on goal. McDonald missed a great chance early in the match wide open in the middle of box, although Hayes's perfect free kick a minute later made up for it. McDonald also missed a great chance in the second half from the top of the box and crushed it over the goal. I'd like to see Hayes make a quick turn with her back to the goal and take more quick shots. We just don't look comfortable taking shots on goal at the forward position, and that's not good. When your midfield is creating many good scoring opportunities on crosses and passes into the box, your strikers need to put the ball in the back of the net. And right now there doesn't seem to be any answers from Carroll, Anderson, or Jai Smith. The loss of Geczik and Olivieri (who covered up the lack of scoring punch at this position last year) just looms large over this team right now. I wonder what Kniffen's status is for this season?
Finally, the referee crew tonight was subpar at best. Several missed calls and inconsistent foul calls in the middle of the field. At times TCU was mugging our players and nothing was called. Only 1 foul was called on TCU in the second half. That's just absurd. A&M was robbed of a few extra corners as well on bad calls over the end line.
I was really disappointed in the attendance tonight. Only 1,421 fans showed up to maybe the biggest home game of the season. I know Fish Camp had a big crowd, but what difference would that crowd have had on tonight's game instead of scheduling an empty tomato can that didn't matter? I wish we would have had some mandatory attendance for the corp tonight. And the atmosphere was pretty weak for a big game outside of the loud band that played at times. 70,000 students and only about 100 showed up. That's not going to get it done. It's time to bring back 12th Man Rewards program or something similar. Anyway, that's my rant for this season on attendance.
12th man rewards program is back. Tonight's game was double points. They have been advertising it some. I too was disappointed in attendance as this was one of our best home games against an instate rival on a beautiful night. It doesn't seem they did any kind of local marketing, maybe the 7pm midweek game is not desirable to the youth programs, even our ball kids were all adults… they were also giving away free shirts which I think still remained up until game time. The trend from students across all sports is almost an indifference to sports in general. Even at football games the spirit doesn't seem to be there like it used to be.
I love Katie Smith, she is an all SEC caliber player, but she has to do better with her passes. An awful pass from her across the back led to the first save Caldwell had to make. The second goal was on her, and our poor strategy late, playing it out of the back after a goal kick.
As hidden noted on the first goal Sample got caught too far up the field. This has happened to all of our defenders this year and has often resulted in goals when the outside mid doesn't come back to cover for them. That was the case here. Also a problem was that Calzada had drifted back to far allowing the TCU player to remain inside even though she was behind Smith. Smith couldn't catch up, Caldwell doesn't have her best effort and calzada(likely worried about running into the post, which she did run into) missed the ball when it looks like she should have been able to save it.
I believe the coaches were yelling at Becerra about positioning. They quickly subbed in Leb. We need one of the two of them to get better quick so we have more central mid depth. They both have skill but need to get up to the college level speed quick.
Our forwards are frustrating. They are all too slow to shoot. They all prefer to trap and make a move instead of just shooting it right away. Couple this with a hesitancy from all of our mids to shoot and you get the sputtering attack that we see. We do a great job of getting wide and sending in many good crosses but are outnumbered and just don't have a dominant finisher who finds her way onto the end of the cross and can put it away. Someone like Ashlee Pistorius would make this team great.
There are flashes of brilliance from this team. There is also a lot of room for improvement.
I love Katie Smith, she is an all SEC caliber player, but she has to do better with her passes. An awful pass from her across the back led to the first save Caldwell had to make. The second goal was on her, and our poor strategy late, playing it out of the back after a goal kick.
As hidden noted on the first goal Sample got caught too far up the field. This has happened to all of our defenders this year and has often resulted in goals when the outside mid doesn't come back to cover for them. That was the case here. Also a problem was that Calzada had drifted back to far allowing the TCU player to remain inside even though she was behind Smith. Smith couldn't catch up, Caldwell doesn't have her best effort and calzada(likely worried about running into the post, which she did run into) missed the ball when it looks like she should have been able to save it.
I believe the coaches were yelling at Becerra about positioning. They quickly subbed in Leb. We need one of the two of them to get better quick so we have more central mid depth. They both have skill but need to get up to the college level speed quick.
Our forwards are frustrating. They are all too slow to shoot. They all prefer to trap and make a move instead of just shooting it right away. Couple this with a hesitancy from all of our mids to shoot and you get the sputtering attack that we see. We do a great job of getting wide and sending in many good crosses but are outnumbered and just don't have a dominant finisher who finds her way onto the end of the cross and can put it away. Someone like Ashlee Pistorius would make this team great.
There are flashes of brilliance from this team. There is also a lot of room for improvement.
The communication and play between Smith and Sample is what lost this game
There is Zero reason for a player to be left wide open on the back
Cannot have your back 3 pushing up when the other team is running 3 forwards
Coach G out coached again no surprise
There is Zero reason for a player to be left wide open on the back
Cannot have your back 3 pushing up when the other team is running 3 forwards
Coach G out coached again no surprise
[Start a thread on Politics about it and we will let it stay up but we don't let threads get derailed on this board. -Staff]
The number of times we've hit the crossbar this year is astounding.
I need to watch the replay of the game, because the defensive breakdowns that led to the goals were mind boggling. I couldn't take it all in live.
I need to watch the replay of the game, because the defensive breakdowns that led to the goals were mind boggling. I couldn't take it all in live.
The highlights I watched made it look like the TCU goals came off of counters after a turnover moving into our midfield. That'll get you beat 9 times out of 10 as usually you'll have defenders out of position as they move to support an offense transition.
Good point on the corps attendance. Maybe we expected to have a sellout on the merits of the game alone. I was told by those on campus that the match didn't seem to be marketed very well though.
Thursday night games are rough on the out of towners, but it was the students that didn't show up. For the students that do show up, the yell leaders aren't doing a whole lot to engage them. We are personally buying confetti and it's just not in our personal budgets to provide confetti for the students every game. The students need to get more involved somehow. A student group (like Maroon Militia) would go a long way to re-engaging the students.
That's my rant on attendance.
Thursday night games are rough on the out of towners, but it was the students that didn't show up. For the students that do show up, the yell leaders aren't doing a whole lot to engage them. We are personally buying confetti and it's just not in our personal budgets to provide confetti for the students every game. The students need to get more involved somehow. A student group (like Maroon Militia) would go a long way to re-engaging the students.
That's my rant on attendance.
The keeper play on both goals was just awful. She was stiff, too high, and flat footed.
The keeper was not the problem
The RB was the problem and out of position on both goals
The RB was the problem and out of position on both goals
Keeper play on the two goals certainly wasn't very good but yeah, it was only one of several problems present.
I agree on the point of the backline getting too far up field. They've been caught several times this season and it resulted in scrambling and scoring chances. There is just no need for Sample to play that far into the midfield, especially when she doesn't have the top end speed to recover like Smith and Calzada can. The midfield also is at fault for not covering or communicating with the backline when they push up and are out of position. Also, there has been some miscommunication at times between Sample and Smith and that's disappointing for two very experienced seniors. They both had some poor passes forward that resulted in turnovers and scrambling to defend, but that is usually more a case of the overall strategy of playing out of the back against numbers. I've never liked that strategy unless one of the defenders is all alone on a sideline and has room to run.
Again, overall I thought the backline played well for 95% of the match, but on defense it only takes 1-2 mistakes to cost your team the game. It's a tough position because you have to be nearly perfect to preserve a shutout. And, in this case, the GK has to play better as well.
Again, overall I thought the backline played well for 95% of the match, but on defense it only takes 1-2 mistakes to cost your team the game. It's a tough position because you have to be nearly perfect to preserve a shutout. And, in this case, the GK has to play better as well.
I think we played 3 defenders all spring so it is concerning that there are communication issues after 6 exhibition games and 7 regular season games.
Ok, I stand corrected. I didn't know 12th Man rewards program has returned. That makes the student attendance even more disappointing. I know that kids today don't care about sports anymore, but there has to be a way to entice 500 or so to show up at a big soccer game. It would have made a difference in the game for sure because the energy in the stadium wasn't very good. Marketing has always been a problem at A&M and they don't seem to have any answers. Maybe try a new strategy? Hell, I'd even bribe students to come to games with higher grades if it worked. I guess with this younger generation we have to manage our expectations.Expert Analysis said:
12th man rewards program is back. Tonight's game was double points. They have been advertising it some. I too was disappointed in attendance as this was one of our best home games against an instate rival on a beautiful night. It doesn't seem they did any kind of local marketing, maybe the 7pm midweek game is not desirable to the youth programs, even our ball kids were all adults… they were also giving away free shirts which I think still remained up until game time. The trend from students across all sports is almost an indifference to sports in general. Even at football games the spirit doesn't seem to be there like it used to be.
I think maybe only mandatory corps attendance will work going forward. Maybe they spread it out over all our home games so they are always there.
That pass from Smith to Sample 2 minutes in set the tone
Just a lazy terrible pass that forced Sample to make take the yellow
Pante absolutely dominated the right half and had the TCU LB on skates Even #5 had the LB giving her 8 yards of space
Should have scored at least a couple in the 2nd half
Just a lazy terrible pass that forced Sample to make take the yellow
Pante absolutely dominated the right half and had the TCU LB on skates Even #5 had the LB giving her 8 yards of space
Should have scored at least a couple in the 2nd half
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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Team as is will be lucky to finish above .500! No offense.
Pante is only player who can take on and beat a defender. She should be moved to CF, now!
Mcdonald is fast but cannot shoot -move her to halfback.
Carrol nonexistent. Go to 4-4-2 with Hayes and Pante.
Mids nonexistent.
Calzada has room to attack but won't. She prefers to pass back!
Sample used to advance the ball way up field putting pressure on defense. Now stops at mid field.
Try a new GK.
Fire away !
Pante is only player who can take on and beat a defender. She should be moved to CF, now!
Mcdonald is fast but cannot shoot -move her to halfback.
Carrol nonexistent. Go to 4-4-2 with Hayes and Pante.
Mids nonexistent.
Calzada has room to attack but won't. She prefers to pass back!
Sample used to advance the ball way up field putting pressure on defense. Now stops at mid field.
Try a new GK.
Fire away !
BigJim49AustinnowDallas
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:
Team as is will be lucky to finish above .500! No offense.
OFFENSE TAKEN
I've been saying this for years about our teams. There are usually only 1-2 players per season that can consistently take on a defender and beat them 1v1 to create stress on an opponent's shape and open up more passing lanes. This can usually only be remedied through recruiting. I wish the coaching staff would give up some speed to create more creative players like Harvey in the mdifield.BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:
Pante is only player who can take on and beat a defender. She should be moved to CF, now!
Look at TCU last night, they had 3-4 players that could beat our defenders, and it made the difference both in the midfield and in the attacking third, including their winning goal. A&M will continue to be average until we have more of these type of players on the roster.
the last goal - TCU wins goal kick- lancaster dribbles by Katy Smith who for some reason lets her walk it into the box - meanwhile Sample trails 5 yards behind- just terrible defending by the back 2
Also Katie smith, calzada and sample played the full 90 so fatigue plus mental lapse. The first goal I for sure thought calzada was in position to back up Caldwell and she whiffed too. Tough breaks.
I almost wish one of our players had fouled the TCU goal scorers. I watched parts of the Clemson at West Virginia game Thursday, and a West Virginia player was going one on one with the keeper just inside the box and was grabbed from behind on the shoulders by a Clemson player and went down. The ref called a penalty kick but did not show a card on what I thought should have been a red card. Clemson blocked the PK and held on to win 1-0.
If the ref is not going to red card in that situation, why not take a player down? You might block the PK.
If the ref is not going to red card in that situation, why not take a player down? You might block the PK.
Thanks Hidden and Expert for the analysis, well done.
As far as attendance, Thursday night is very tough on out of towners but we need to figure out how to get students there. Maybe a reach, but could the lack of offense affect attendance, not enough excitement? Maybe not. Could also the mentality of the defenders playing too high be that everyone thinks all hands on deck to try to stimulate the goal-scoring?
I'm not gonna through Kenna under the bus (like some have) for one subpar game, she has had a stellar season. Calzada is a future star, let her gain confidence. Hayes and Pante are excellent but we need more 1v1 attackers and I think like you guys said, that is on recruiting.
As far as attendance, Thursday night is very tough on out of towners but we need to figure out how to get students there. Maybe a reach, but could the lack of offense affect attendance, not enough excitement? Maybe not. Could also the mentality of the defenders playing too high be that everyone thinks all hands on deck to try to stimulate the goal-scoring?
I'm not gonna through Kenna under the bus (like some have) for one subpar game, she has had a stellar season. Calzada is a future star, let her gain confidence. Hayes and Pante are excellent but we need more 1v1 attackers and I think like you guys said, that is on recruiting.
Nor should Kenna be "thrown under the bus." She has been FANTASTIC this season.
On those two goals, she was the least of the problems. It was just a complete defensive meltdown.
On those two goals, she was the least of the problems. It was just a complete defensive meltdown.
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