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SLU Women's Soccer Thread


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3 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

Abbie Miller with the header off the corner in the 2nd overtime for the 3-2 win. It’s amazing how many corners she gets her head on. She hit the post twice with her head off corners last game. 

Another set piece. Groark wins the corner. Friedrich with delivery. Strong set piece finishing for SLU this year.

 

 

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16 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

It’s great to hear of the ladies success. Ignorant question: what is the catalyst to the strong team this year? Is it as simple as recruiting?

We’ve had a really solid team for a few years now. I think it was 2 years ago we made the tournament and lost to a ranked Kansas team in OT. I can’t remember if it was las year or the year before, we had a record A10 streak without giving up a single goal. But I’ll leave it to skip or courtside to name the catalysts.

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1 hour ago, Reinert310 said:

We’ve had a really solid team for a few years now. I think it was 2 years ago we made the tournament and lost to a ranked Kansas team in OT. I can’t remember if it was las year or the year before, we had a record A10 streak without giving up a single goal. But I’ll leave it to skip or courtside to name the catalysts.

That’s right. I forgot about the tough loss to Kansas. Still, it seems like the program is trending up since then.

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1 hour ago, BilliesBy40 said:

It’s great to hear of the ladies success. Ignorant question: what is the catalyst to the strong team this year? Is it as simple as recruiting?

It’s never one thing. 1) There are a variety of ways to win and be successful. 2) It takes a combo and balance of things in some fashion to do it.

SLU is finishing more chances more often this year, and, many have been off of set pieces. They have been more dangerous there than before. They have had depth and balance, but, they have been getting a little bit more of it, at a higher skill level and better fitness level. SLU can sub in and out many players, and quality doesn’t change all that much.

Recruiting is a factor, yes. SLU has done a nice job recruiting all over the entire Metro area and the rest of the state. And SLU has had success getting some local players to transfer to SLU after initialing heir college career elsewhere, often at Power 5 schools. Diversifying recruiting would be a good goal, in multiple aspects.

SLU has a very young team. They play very few Seniors, and, many are Freshmen and Sophomores. There are obvious no weak positions on the team, which says a lot because the team is so young.

Shields has done a nice job building an organized, fun, team, with a quiet but confident, fun, winning culture on and off of the field with good kids and students. There is a lot of team bonding.

Now, SLU also has had some established success so more kids are considering and choosing SLU more quickly and more often as to where to play. Shields isn’t a yell and scream type, isn’t a rah rah type, and she has good command of the team and program, where you know she is in charge, that she is organized with structure, where there is some freedom for players and coaches and staff, but everything they do is within their culture or they don’t do it or they change it. 

Other opportunities for improvement:

Scheduling, (this has improved by the way) but try to play a Power 5 non conference game later in the season in between league games. The league has not been a leader on this, more of a nuisance in the past. The reasons for it are to reduce the early season pressure of having to get a result in one or a few particular games. Sometimes playing later when you have had more time to get into the season is better. But the league must improve this and help out out.

Size, speed, pace, physicality, although some of this has improved as well. But SLU has room to recruit more players with more size and speed that still have strong on ball skills and can play with pace. Power 5 teams have this all over the place.

Making the NCAA’s even more consistently, and winning a game or two while there. Getting over the hump  in the NCAA tourney v some Power 5 teams. One way to help this is to be even more dominant in league play and conference tourney, plus get non-conference results to ensure best possible seeding. 

Biggest on the field difference this year so far has been set piece finishing. Several of SLU’s younger players are immediate high level contributors, as opposed to just a few.

Long way to go. But they are finding ways to win close games where they play well but have not been mistake free. I would like one more back line player like a Klug, but who wouldn’t.  It wasn’t all that long ago when Pokorny was SLU’s only dangerous offensive threat in big games. She was fun to watch. 

 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

How has nobody talked about Puricelli and how she played like 40 min with one arm?

 

6 minutes ago, courtside said:

She’s a big time keeper. 

I didn’t have a chance to turn it on until OT, what happened? Funny side note about the women’s team: I went to the Thursday round of the PGA at Bellerive with my mom and we were sitting on the bleachers. I was either wearing a SLU hat or shirt and started talking to this woman who said her daughter was a freshman on the woman’s soccer team. It was Hannah Friedrich’s mom. She was very nice. 

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13 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

 

I didn’t have a chance to turn it on until OT, what happened? Funny side note about the women’s team: I went to the Thursday round of the PGA at Bellerive with my mom and we were sitting on the bleachers. I was either wearing a SLU hat or shirt and started talking to this woman who said her daughter was a freshman on the woman’s soccer team. It was Hannah Friedrich’s mom. She was very nice. 

Friedrich had two more assists today, and she has done well delivering set pieces this year. It used to be mostly her and Pokorny. She now has more help on offense.

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1 hour ago, courtside said:

Friedrich had two more assists today, and she has done well delivering set pieces this year. It used to be mostly her and Pokorny. She now has more help on offense.

Pokorny was playing pro in Denmark last I heard.  

Was only able to watch about 5 minutes of late second half today.  Saw a sweet cross whipped into the area.  Actually thought the resultant header looping into the goal, but it went right to the keeper.  Amazing how the technical level of the girls has improved over the past five years...

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10 hours ago, Gremio14 said:

Pokorny was playing pro in Denmark last I heard.  

Was only able to watch about 5 minutes of late second half today.  Saw a sweet cross whipped into the area.  Actually thought the resultant header looping into the goal, but it went right to the keeper.  Amazing how the technical level of the girls has improved over the past five years...

I believe Pokorny's class went from near bottom of A-10 as Freshmen to top by Senior year. That was one of the first full cycles of recruits. Takes time to teach and train a different way and system, have some success, elevate recruiting, depth, results. Plenty more goals to set and achieve as a program moving forward. 

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23 minutes ago, courtside said:

 

I'm watching the game now. 26 min in. I've said it before but it is amazing how many corners Abbie Miller gets her head on. She's 5'8" so a little tall but not tall enough to account for how many she gets on. She's like a rebounder in basketball that just seems to have that knack for knowing where to be. Watch her on this goal. (She's the initial header) she's gets in a bit too far, bodies the other girl moving her out of the way to get her head on the ball and the shot to goal. Emily gets the goal but this one like many really belongs to the one making the assist

9 games in 5 players with 2+ goals, 4 out of those 5 are 2 frosh and 2 sophs. The leading goal scorer is Emily Groark a Jr with 5. 10 different players have scored. 

2 players with 4+ assists. Sr Hannah Friedrich with 7 and Soph Anna Walsh with 4 (also 2 goals)

20 goals scored 6 allowed

1-1 vs top 20 teams.  The Billiken women have had some good teams lately but this looks to be the best so far with the future looking still better

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