LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng season ahead!

AggieCrew44 said:

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First adjustment is playing the young Matula 90 min at CB. She is our best one and it ain't close. Cornog can't play there

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Agreed. She played CB all thru club career. Have no idea why she was playing OB the last 2 matches.

Guaranteed Bets-
Death
Taxes
Coach G team underachieving

Serious Lee said:

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is it talent or coaching? do we have the same problem our womens hoops team had with blair(letting go of a legend who is way past their prime)?

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Our talent level has dropped a little, and the rest of the sport has caught up

We were dominant when lots of programs didn't take it seriously

If they can figure out the back line I still think this can be a very good team. Like top 4 in the SEC good. They have more attacking talent than they have had in years. They need to tweak some things personnel wise though

cadetjay02 said:

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Guaranteed Bets-
Death
Taxes
Coach G team underachieving

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Not to overreact but G needs to be next on the chopping block.

Bjork will hire a great replacement.

Coach talk after every game is a nice outlet to vent. I'd rather understand 1) what our problems are on defense that are allowing too many easy goals and 2) why we can't finish around the net.

AggieCrew44 said:

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Goro Majima said:

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cadetjay02 said:

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Guaranteed Bets-
Death
Taxes
Coach G team underachieving

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Not to overreact but G needs to be next on the chopping block.

Bjork will hire a great replacement.

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He's not going anywhere. He built a dominant program that lasted for 2 decades. He's gonna get every opportunity to get it back

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Sorry but that type of mentality is why Aggie teams mostly underwhelm. And he's never won a natty still.

Giving coaches that are obviously past their prime and now declining too many chances?

Yeah, it's only happened with Childress, Evans and Blair. So maybe not THE reason. But it's A reason with those programs.

Goro Majima said:

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Giving coaches that are obviously past their prime and now declining too many chances?

Yeah, it's only happened with Childress, Evans and Blair. So maybe not THE reason. But it's A reason with those programs.

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Blair won an SEC title the year before he retired lmao

We have kept head coaches too long as evident in the decline of our soccer program, men's tennis, women's swimming, women's softball under Evans and our track program hasn't done well the past couple of seasons

Well, then enjoy your mediocre, underachieving soccer team, my brother.

AggieCrew44 said:

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I'll enjoy it when they get back to being a top team in the SEC, which this team still has a chance to do

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If they do that, I'll buy you a beer.

The 2 goals we gave up in the run of play were just ridiculous. All WSU had to do was be in the area and wait until we made a mistake. And then we had so many opportunities. The one that stood out to me was 6 minutes into the second half Caldwell threw the ball out to Smith down the right side, Smith passed the ball to Hayes in the middle and when Hayes passed the ball to Boeckmann on the left both Boeckmann and Smith were offside. And then 5 minutes later Calzada had a great run on the left side and earned a corner which we then kicked out of bounds on the other side of the field.

Despite the loss to FSU, I was encouraged because we showed a lot of fight and determination, and we had a formula for success (get the ball wide to McDonald for crosses or shots as she outpaces most defenders). Even though we followed that same formula tonight, the number of missed chances in front of goal cost us the game. Yes, the referee made a bad call on the Washington St. penalty, but it doesn't matter if we put away our chances. The bottom line is that A&M cannot lose to a very average WSU side (traveling across the country) at home playing in our elements (110 degree heat) when we've dominated possession and the stat board. It's an unacceptable loss that puts the team in an 0-2 hole and now must fight hard just to get back on track.

While the finishing in front of goal was abysmal, the back line is having a hard time communicating and the players are not comfortable with their respective positions yet. Multiple times they would be out of position and congregate in one area instead of marking players that ran free for open passes. That led to some desperate defending and some risky tackles inside the box, one of which the ref awarded a penalty. This is not a particularly quick or fast back line, so if they get turned or make a mistake with the ball, they are beaten and the result is someone has to come over to cover/help and invariably leaves someone open to receive a pass. On the winning goal late in the match, Geczik got sucked in to help and forgot to check behind her, where a wide open WSU player was waiting for the easy 1v1 past Caldwell. Cornog had a really rough first half as she was laboring in the heat and couldn't control her passes or was beaten easily on the ball, but she did recover a bit in the second half with a good tackle to save a potential goal. But her lack of speed and quickness is going to be a problem going forward. Macy Matula was solid with some good stops, but unfortunately her sister Margo (playing inside) was tagged for the penalty on a risky tackle, that while clean, was called by ref. Margo needs to play at CB the rest of the season and let her eventually become the anchor of the back line. Also, we need to get Calzada on the outside more for her patented long runs that she made last year. She did have one great run tonight, but we need several more per game. Armenta needs to play at outside mid because her skill and speed on the ball is very good which could result in a lot of good crosses, and she can also shoot the ball from distance. Finally, there's still too much playing around in the back with cute passes that usually just result in long passes or turnovers. When we are pressured back there, bad things start to happen. I don't know what the answer is here, but we've given up 5 goals in two games at home. That won't get it done.

The midfield improved as the game progressed, but there is still inconsistency and an inability to establish possession early in matches. We basically played kickball with WSU in the first half, or we simply kicked it long to McDonald to avoid the inevitable turnover in the middle of the field. Long gone are the days when A&M could control tempo and possession in the middle of the field as a cohesive transition between the defensive and offensive parts of the pitch. I still believe Hayes is playing out of position and should be up top with McDonald. However, she played well tonight and made some good runs into the box. Boeckmann got the start alongside her and she also played well, especially in the second half as she set up several scoring chances with her play as an attacker. Pounds needs to work on keeping the ball at her feet when she traps or receives passes in space, because too many times it bounds too far away from her resulting in a rushed kick or turnover. Becerra and Leb came in but didn't seem to mesh well with the other mids, so it's disappointing two highly regarded prospects from last year don't seem to have developed much in the offseason.

If the coaches want to play 3 at forward, it needs to be McDonald, Hayes, and Pante/Smith. Wilkinson's game just doesn't mix well with the pace and quickness of these three. If we want to put our best combo there to score more goals, that's my suggestion. Or put Pante/Smith back at outside mid and play 4 midfielders. McDonald is really have a breakout Junior campaign and is our most dangerous player on the field. She has improved her leg strength, both on crosses and shooting on goal. Unfortunately, she did miss a 1v1 that would have given us a 2-0 lead early and the match would basically have been over with WSU struggling in the heat. There were several other misses in front of goal by Williams, Pante and Hayes. Armenta missed a great chance but did hit the crossbar. Moreover, the continual offsides calls really hurt, especially a few that had us 1v1 with the GK if we concentrate on the last defender before moving forward. Boeckmann's was egregious because it was set up so well by Hayes and would have probably won the game at that point in the match.

The pieces are there to have a good team this season. There is enough talent to advance in the NCAA tournament. It's up to these coaches to figure it out fast. We really need to win the rest of the nonconference games remaining, because most are at home and we are the more talented team. We can't afford to let this start spiral into another underwhelming season and cause a lot of noise in the program in the offseason. Let's hope for a good showing against Baylor next week in front of a packed house to get things headed in the right direction.

Based on what I've seen so far, my starting lineup would be:

F Hayes
F McDonald
OM Pante
CM Boeckmann
CM Smith
OM Armenta
OB Calzada
CB Margo Matula
CB Macy Matula
OB Geczik (if healthy)

Ag4eva95 said:

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This is an overreaction. Haven't been good in quite a few years

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We won the SEC and made the elite 8 3 years ago. G turned it around after a couple bad years about a decade ago. We are now coming off a couple real bad years. We have enough talent this year to be good.