SLU Women's Soccer Thread

[bauman]

24 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

3-2 victory for the Billikens! Down 1-0, Katie Houck ties it, down 2-1, Caroline Kelly ties it, then Kelly gets the winning goal!

I didn’t watch, I chose not to be ripped off by FloSports, but from the stats it looked like a tough, hard fought game (7 yellow cards total). Kelly was the playmaker today on offense, Puricelli gets 5 saves. I think the defense missed Sophia Stram (hope she’s all right, she’s a great defensive player). Going on the road and beating a team as good as Xavier is a great victory.

SIUE on Sunday, 1pm at Hermann Stadium.  SIUE is a good team, they won the OVC last year, they’ve had some losses this year, but I think that will motivate them to try to beat SLU.  Roll Bills!

What happened to S Stram?

[Lord Elrond]

49 minutes ago, bauman said:

What happened to S Stram?

No idea, she didn’t play at all.

[courtside]

SLU 3 Xavier 2

Exciting big road win for SLU against a good Xavier team. Not an easy game at all. Challenging place to get a win. Xavier was better in a back and forth limited chances first half. SLU was better in the 2nd half as the game opened up more.

4-2-3-1 for SLU. Brinkman for Stram. (explained at the bottom) Brinkman began at left center back but later moved to right center back. Houck also moved to the middle and Beach outside. Heckel and Halverson played a full 90, Houck, 84 minutes in back. Beach and Brinkman split half of the time. 

……………

Back and forth first half where each team was better in stretches, but clear edge to Xavier overall, especially for combination play up the middle with its center back through defensive midfield on counters. Xavier collapsed the middle of its defense well. Didn’t give much for SLU up fromt.

SLU increased its physicality, intensity, urgency, as the game progressed, and SLU was the better team in the 2nd half. Lots of grit, character and toughness when needed.

………………..

Xavier’s first half goals were both transition counters, both left side of the box, two different players cut in to the box from their left instead of wide to the end line. Both were well finished one timers, bang bang. Marking was just not quite tight enough for SLU.

On the first, 10th minute of the game, Flick created a little space from both Brinkman and Halverson on right side of the box towards SLU’s goal, cutting back to the middle and provided service for top of box to Rogers on the run back towards the ball. (talked about her pregame) for the one time finish running onto the ball. Miller was a step late in coverage. 

https://twitter.com/xavierwsoc/status/1568017672834793472?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

15th minute. SLU’s goal was a long ball set piece from Houck. Instead of a left side of the box cross, Houck got under it and put it high right to the keeper (Galley) where Kelly used her length and positioning for a good screen and the keeper misplayed it for a goal. Xavier’s first year keeper struggled at times in the game.

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1568016682194452482?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

31st minute. Xavier came back with again, one touch passing, back line through defensive midfield, Dancer from the right side of box again, was able to cut to the middle against Halverson, to probide service, and a far post volley finish from Flick going to goal far post, tucking inside Beach defending.

https://twitter.com/xavierwsoc/status/1568022656519393282?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

Two quality goals from Xavier on their two quality chances in the half. Marking wasn’t quite tight enough to prevent crosses, and marking wasn’t quitr organized enough defending the service on counters on the goals and another strong 2nd half chance. I thought Jane Olcott (Villanova transfer) did a nice job initiating some of those counter plays from the defensive midfield for Xavier. 

…………………..::..

50th minute. Emily Puricelli made a highlight reel save early in the 2nd half to keep the deficit 2-1. (need a clip of that one) And it was on a counter off of a midfield SLU free kick. Xavier clearance came turf bouncy to Brinkman at midfield who had it stolen by Vargas sprinting to goal with Halverson chasing. Heckel also getting back. But Vargas cut back left inside the 18 creating space from Halverson and Heckel right side of the box. And she hit a nice shot upper far corner shot. seemingly in, but Puricelli leaped out of nowhere with a one handed full extension save to send it wide. Spectacular. 3-1 there is a different game. But that also ended any super strong Xavier scoring chances the entire 2nd half. There were some set pieces here and there that were well defended by SLU.

Immediately after that, 51st minute. SLU then scored a high quality goal, as Larson worked the right sideline, to win a ball from two players, feeds Gaebe in the middle who feeds to Kelly. Then Kelly buries a top class upper far corner shot from 22 yards out. Great strike. Elite finish. (need a clip of that one.)

SLU added a few other strong chances late. Larson beat two defenders left side and walked in alone and inexplicably a foul was called on Larson, or she slots a goal. Walsh also later had a strong chance called back for a questionable foul. Walsh received a yellow for dissent after the call. Halverson repeatedly made strong left flank runs, beating defenders and providing service.

75th minute. Game winner was a Kelly free kick from left side of the box, after Larson won a foul. Very strong 2nd half from Larson. Out in a lot of hard work on the wings. On the free kick, Kelly saw the open near post upper 90 and ripped it there off of the Xavier Keeper who was not in position.

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1568038144594923521?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

SLU tightened up its defense and marking in the 2nd half. Set piece defending was good. Transition counters were very limited after early 2nd half.

A plethora of fouls and yellows started piling up on both teams as well. (7 total) But SLU matched the physicality, effort and pace. 

Xavier plays on a cramped turf field. They clog the middle well. Difficult to find space. They had about 4 or 5 very high quality chances, and finished 2 of them. Xavier as mentioned in pregame scores primarily in transition and off of set pieces. SLU had about 4 or 5 quality chances and finished 2, getting fortunate on a 3rd. SLU had 2 set piece goals and 1 nice combination play goal. The game opened up more in the 2nd half.

Shots were 10-6 for Xavier and corners were 4-0 for Xavier. Larson and Kelly came alive in the 2nd half up front. Gaebe made plays and occupied a lot of defenders which created space and opportunity for others. Good bench minutes from Walsh. Lawler had  a solid game.

Xavier shortened its usually longer bench of subs for the game. They seemed to get a little fatigued later. SLU also shortened its bench for the game with only about 3 subs getting significant minutes. (Gaebe, Walsh, Beach) SLU was better later with Kelly and Larson on the wings and Gaebe up top. Rotating Groark with Walsh and  Friedrich. 

SLU played without Karsen Kohl, who has missed the past 3 games with an ankle/foot injury. She’s been in a boot. And SLU played without Sophia Stram, who was the recipient of a late challenge foul against Nebraska where she had her feet (ankle/foot) taken out from under her. (it was a yellow card for Nebraska on the play) She finished the game. But she wasn’t 100%. 

SLU started Brinkman in Stram’s place before switching in Beach and moving Houck over to the middle. Stram who has been having a strong season, was missed at times in the game. 

……………………..

Xavier is a good team that hasn’t even played its best ball yet. They will get results in the Big East. They had a nice road win at Louisville. And they had a dominant performance at Loyola Chicago, another road win.  Xavier’s only other loss besides SLU was at Northwestern, who is having a good season. They just beat top 10 Stanford.

………………….

Dayton had a nice result over a good Butler team. They are off to a good start this season. 

Nebraska dominated a good NC State team but settled for 0-0. 

Arkansas picked up a 3-3 draw at BYU. BYU is one of the toughest places to play and they were in the national title game last year.

In case anyone was wondering, Notre Dame is still destroying teams. 3-1 at Purdue. Shots were 29-6. Not sure if I have seen 5 teams better than Notre Dame this season. (Definitely less than 10) They have been way under ranked so far this season.

 

 

[Lord Elrond]

9 hours ago, courtside said:

SLU 3 Xavier 2

Exciting big road win for SLU against a good Xavier team. Not an easy game at all. Challenging place to get a win. Xavier was better in a back and forth limited chances first half. SLU was better in the 2nd half as the game opened up more.

4-2-3-1 for SLU. Brinkman for Stram. (explained at the bottom) Brinkman began at left center back but later moved to right center back. Houck also moved to the middle and Beach outside. Heckel and Halverson played a full 90, Houck, 84 minutes in back. Beach and Brinkman split half of the time. 

……………

Back and forth first half where each team was better in stretches, but clear edge to Xavier overall, especially for combination play up the middle with its center back through defensive midfield on counters. Xavier collapsed the middle of its defense well. Didn’t give much for SLU up fromt.

SLU increased its physicality, intensity, urgency, as the game progressed, and SLU was the better team in the 2nd half. Lots of grit, character and toughness when needed.

………………..

Xavier’s first half goals were both transition counters, both left side of the box, two different players cut in to the box from their left instead of wide to the end line. Both were well finished one timers, bang bang. Marking was just not quite tight enough for SLU.

On the first, 10th minute of the game, Flick created a little space from both Brinkman and Halverson on right side of the box towards SLU’s goal, cutting back to the middle and provided service for top of box to Rogers on the run back towards the ball. (talked about her pregame) for the one time finish running onto the ball. Miller was a step late in coverage. 

https://twitter.com/xavierwsoc/status/1568017672834793472?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

15th minute. SLU’s goal was a long ball set piece from Houck. Instead of a left side of the box cross, Houck got under it and put it high right to the keeper (Galley) where Kelly used her length and positioning for a good screen and the keeper misplayed it for a goal. Xavier’s first year keeper struggled at times in the game.

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1568016682194452482?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

31st minute. Xavier came back with again, one touch passing, back line through defensive midfield, Dancer from the right side of box again, was able to cut to the middle against Halverson, to probide service, and a far post volley finish from Flick going to goal far post, tucking inside Beach defending.

https://twitter.com/xavierwsoc/status/1568022656519393282?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

Two quality goals from Xavier on their two quality chances in the half. Marking wasn’t quite tight enough to prevent crosses, and marking wasn’t quitr organized enough defending the service on counters on the goals and another strong 2nd half chance. I thought Jane Olcott (Villanova transfer) did a nice job initiating some of those counter plays from the defensive midfield for Xavier. 

…………………..::..

50th minute. Emily Puricelli made a highlight reel save early in the 2nd half to keep the deficit 2-1. (need a clip of that one) And it was on a counter off of a midfield SLU free kick. Xavier clearance came turf bouncy to Brinkman at midfield who had it stolen by Vargas sprinting to goal with Halverson chasing. Heckel also getting back. But Vargas cut back left inside the 18 creating space from Halverson and Heckel right side of the box. And she hit a nice shot upper far corner shot. seemingly in, but Puricelli leaped out of nowhere with a one handed full extension save to send it wide. Spectacular. 3-1 there is a different game. But that also ended any super strong Xavier scoring chances the entire 2nd half. There were some set pieces here and there that were well defended by SLU.

Immediately after that, 51st minute. SLU then scored a high quality goal, as Larson worked the right sideline, to win a ball from two players, feeds Gaebe in the middle who feeds to Kelly. Then Kelly buries a top class upper far corner shot from 22 yards out. Great strike. Elite finish. (need a clip of that one.)

SLU added a few other strong chances late. Larson beat two defenders left side and walked in alone and inexplicably a foul was called on Larson, or she slots a goal. Walsh also later had a strong chance called back for a questionable foul. Walsh received a yellow for dissent after the call. Halverson repeatedly made strong left flank runs, beating defenders and providing service.

75th minute. Game winner was a Kelly free kick from left side of the box, after Larson won a foul. Very strong 2nd half from Larson. Out in a lot of hard work on the wings. On the free kick, Kelly saw the open near post upper 90 and ripped it there off of the Xavier Keeper who was not in position.

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1568038144594923521?s=21&t=2pbWRhEGjzm67lk_gey-fA

SLU tightened up its defense and marking in the 2nd half. Set piece defending was good. Transition counters were very limited after early 2nd half.

A plethora of fouls and yellows started piling up on both teams as well. (7 total) But SLU matched the physicality, effort and pace. 

Xavier plays on a cramped turf field. They clog the middle well. Difficult to find space. They had about 4 or 5 very high quality chances, and finished 2 of them. Xavier as mentioned in pregame scores primarily in transition and off of set pieces. SLU had about 4 or 5 quality chances and finished 2, getting fortunate on a 3rd. SLU had 2 set piece goals and 1 nice combination play goal. The game opened up more in the 2nd half.

Shots were 10-6 for Xavier and corners were 4-0 for Xavier. Larson and Kelly came alive in the 2nd half up front. Gaebe made plays and occupied a lot of defenders which created space and opportunity for others. Good bench minutes from Walsh. Lawler had  a solid game.

Xavier shortened its usually longer bench of subs for the game. They seemed to get a little fatigued later. SLU also shortened its bench for the game with only about 3 subs getting significant minutes. (Gaebe, Walsh, Beach) SLU was better later with Kelly and Larson on the wings and Gaebe up top. Rotating Groark with Walsh and  Friedrich. 

SLU played without Karsen Kohl, who has missed the past 3 games with an ankle/foot injury. She’s been in a boot. And SLU played without Sophia Stram, who was the recipient of a late challenge foul against Nebraska where she had her feet (ankle/foot) taken out from under her. (it was a yellow card for Nebraska on the play) She finished the game. But she wasn’t 100%. 

SLU started Brinkman in Stram’s place before switching in Beach and moving Houck over to the middle. Stram who has been having a strong season, was missed at times in the game. 

……………………..

Xavier is a good team that hasn’t even played its best ball yet. They will get results in the Big East. They had a nice road win at Louisville. And they had a dominant performance at Loyola Chicago, another road win.  Xavier’s only other loss besides SLU was at Northwestern, who is having a good season. They just beat top 10 Stanford.

………………….

Dayton had a nice result over a good Butler team. They are off to a good start this season. 

Nebraska dominated a good NC State team but settled for 0-0. 

Arkansas picked up a 3-3 draw at BYU. BYU is one of the toughest places to play and they were in the national title game last year.

In case anyone was wondering, Notre Dame is still destroying teams. 3-1 at Purdue. Shots were 29-6. Not sure if I have seen 5 teams better than Notre Dame this season. (Definitely less than 10) They have been way under ranked so far this season.

 

 

Thanks for the summary. The quality wins of the teams that SLU beat (Arkansas and Xavier) as well as the quality of Norte Dame’s play should push the Billikens higher in the polls. SIUE is probably looking for a way to spark their season, so they will probably come in to Hermann Stadium like they are trying to win the Super Bowl. We cannot look past them, but again, if SLU plays up to their potential they should win.  Hopefully Stram will be back on Sunday. 

[billikenfan05]

This is ALL-WORLD stuff from Puricelli.

[courtside]

27 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Thanks for the summary. The quality wins of the teams that SLU beat (Arkansas and Xavier) as well as the quality of Norte Dame’s play should push the Billikens higher in the polls. SIUE is probably looking for a way to spark their season, so they will probably come in to Hermann Stadium like they are trying to win the Super Bowl. We cannot look past them, but again, if SLU plays up to their potential they should win.  Hopefully Stram will be back on Sunday. 

Sure. 

Here are the other two goals I mentioned above:

Puricelli save:

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1568241886711918603?s=21&t=9zLRlszddiLmgszIUP1CfA

Here is Caroline Kelly’s first goal. Larson did the work on the wing to Gaebe to Kelly. Elite finish:

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1568244560865947649?s=21&t=9zLRlszddiLmgszIUP1CfA

Xavier is combining some promising Freshmen, (Flick, Dancer, Bain, etc..) a few good transfers, (Lockwood, Olcott) with some experienced returning players. (McLaughlin, Le etc…) Xavier will get results in their league as they keep putting it all together. They already have those wins over Louisville and Loyola Chi both on the road.

SLU also competes head to head with Xavier, Arkansas, Notre Dame etc quite often in recruiting. 

 

 

[willie]

The ladies seem to be picking up a lot of cards. What is the college rule for cards? Is there an accumulation number where you have to miss a game? 

[courtside]

2 yellows in a game equals one red, ejection, play with 10, one game suspension. This happened to Katie Houck this season vs Notre Dame. SLU played with 10 for much of the 2nd half.

A 5th cumulative yellow equals one red, and a game suspension. 

 

[willie]

27 minutes ago, courtside said:

2 yellows in a game equals one red, ejection, play with 10, one game suspension. This happened to Katie Houck this season vs Notre Dame. SLU played with 10 for much of the 2nd half.

A 5th cumulative yellow equals one red, and a game suspension. 

 

thanks

[RUBillsFan]

42 minutes ago, courtside said:

2 yellows in a game equals one red, ejection, play with 10, one game suspension. This happened to Katie Houck this season vs Notre Dame. SLU played with 10 for much of the 2nd half.

A 5th cumulative yellow equals one red, and a game suspension. 

 

Do the cumulative yellows reset after the suspension?  Theoretically if SLU has a good lead in the A10 standings & some players with 4 yellows going into the 2nd to last A-10 regular season game, they should actively try to get yellows late in that game so they miss the final regular season game instead of any A10 tournament or NCAA tournament games, right?  Game is less meaningful & SLU could likely handle St Joes in that game even without a couple key players.  Or do yellows reset for the tournaments?

[Lord Elrond]

The yellow cards are fairly evenly distributed

Walsh - 2

Beach - 2

Houck - 1YC/1RC

Kelly, Gaebe, Larson, Nicholas, Paloucek all have 1 each

no need to worry about cumulative YC’s yet. They only got 7 total all last year too

[courtside]

Additional Yellow Card Caution explanation:

Yellow Card accumulation carries over into post-season play. However, a person gets 8 total Yellow Card Cautions, if you include post-season and regular season combined, instead of 5 Yellows during regular season only.

Example: if a player ends regular season with 4 Yellows. That player gets a 5th in first his/her playoff game or Conference Tourney game. That player is not suspended yet until he or she gets to 8 total Yellows combined regular season and post-season.

Also, Yellow Card accumulation suspensions change after a player already gets suspended once. Example: If a player gets 5 Yellows, and therefore gets suspended 1 game, that player will get suspended after only 3 Yellows the next time instead of 5. The next time after that it’s 2 Yellows. etc…

There is never really a time a player would want to actively seek getting Yellows. But Yellow Cards can and do happen. They are a part of the game. Not all are given or not given equally. 

There was also a fan ejected from the game last night. But that’s a whole other thing. 

I will say the ref did a good job with injury prevention, much better than with some I have seen. He forced Caroline Kelly to exit the game briefly for injury precaution after banging heads with an opposing player. And he forced Hannah Larson to do the same after an opposing player accidentally blasted the ball to her face from a few yards away. (Larson did not want to exit even briefly) 

 

 

 

 

[courtside]

SLU has a new 2024 Women’s Soccer commitment from Hope Kim. 

Hope is a skilled, speedy, finishing forward with good length. Excellent in space.

She was a First Team Kansas 5A All State Forward for Blue Valley Southwest High School. 

Hope also plays Forward and Right Wing for her ECNL Club Team Sporting Blue Valley. Her Team finished top 16 nationally in ECNL play this Summer. Hope was First Team All Midwest Conference. (her rigorous conference includes prestigious teams such as National Champion U16 Scott Gallagher, KC Athletics, Michigan Hawks, Eclipse etc…)

Hope was also an inStat (soccer analytics) Top 50 national player this past Spring. 

She was invited to the USYNT ID Camp Training for U16 girls this Summer. 

An Athletic Family, Hope’s 6’4 older brother Jinwoo, will be a college hooper somewhere. And her cousin is a Princeton baseball commit. 

[slufanskip]

Ladies up 1-0 at the half vs SIUE at home. Very early goal by Kelly poking in a misplayed ball by their Keep. Bills have completely dominated the game and should easily have at least a couple more goals. 

[courtside]

3-0

Tinkering. 

Good to try a 4-1-3-2 to start a game vs using it mostly later in a game when they need a goal. SLU did it for about 25 minutes before going 4-2-3-1. The strategy is to attack aggressively for early goals, and to get Gaebe and Kelly to pair up top instead of only one of them playing at a time, or having to move Kelly to a wing if leaving them in together.

When you do this, you alternate Miller and Lawler as a lone defensive midfielder. And you can (SLU did) play your wings a little deeper if you want in that formation.

SLU did the same in the 2nd half. Switched Groark and Friedrich from wide to middle and vice versa, each half, to try that out too. Groark has mostly played in the middle this season with Friedrich wide. 

Efficiency could have been a lilttle bit sharper. Credit to SIUE for spirited defending of their final 18 much of the game.

…………………

A couple of good results today:

Nebraska 1 USC 1

VCU 0 Virginia 0. 

 

[Lord Elrond]

SIUE played a very physical game, I thought, which kept St Louis scoring to only 3, but at the expense of not being able to generate any offense. Only 2 shots for SIUE, none on goal. Puricelli gets a shutout without needing to make a save.  Stram was back and played well, but only for 67 minutes (she’s usually in all game, guess she’s being limited to heal up). Goals from Kelly, Friedrich, and Miller (on a PK). Biggest negative I saw was Halverson went down hard in the 29th minute and came off limping, she was in a boot the second half.  Not good.
 

On to A10 play, where they take on LaSalle on Thursday (5-2 in preseason) and Richmond on Sunday (1-5-1), both on the road. SLU should be favored every game in league play, but I’m sure every team playing them will be looking for the upset.

[courtside]

2 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

SIUE played a very physical game, I thought, which kept St Louis scoring to only 3, but at the expense of not being able to generate any offense. Only 2 shots for SIUE, none on goal. Puricelli gets a shutout without needing to make a save.  Stram was back and played well, but only for 67 minutes (she’s usually in all game, guess she’s being limited to heal up). Goals from Kelly, Friedrich, and Miller (on a PK). Biggest negative I saw was Halverson went down hard in the 29th minute and came off limping, she was in a boot the second half.  Not good.
 

On to A10 play, where they take on LaSalle on Thursday (5-2 in preseason) and Richmond on Sunday (1-5-1), both on the road. SLU should be favored every game in league play, but I’m sure every team playing them will be looking for the upset.

That’s why you have a 2nd 11. You need a 2nd 11 and beyond to win at a higher level. 

SLU played 23 players today. Kohl was back after missing 3 games with injury. Taylor Krueger saw her first minutes of the season after having her own injury issues. Injuries are a part of the game. Taylor Krueger saw her first minutes after having some of her own injury issues. 

Another good game from Jess Preusser, who was super close to a goal. She was terrific against Missouri State, and gave SLU some minutes at Xavier too. Or whomever else. Bri Arthur played some outside back today. (helped out there last year when needed) Whether it’s newcomers getting experience, veteran players providing a spark, everyone has an important role on the team. 

 

[Lord Elrond]

Jess Preusser has made some excellent passes the past few games. Also, Briana Arthur played defense, the first time I can recall seeing her play there. She never looked out of place, so another example of the whole team chipping in and helping the team play.

[courtside]

Top Drawer Soccer: 13

College Soccer News: 15

Unofficial RPI: 23

United Soccer Coaches: 15 (New week Tomorrow)

[Lord Elrond]

29 minutes ago, courtside said:

Top Drawer Soccer: 13

College Soccer News: 15

Unofficial RPI: 23

United Soccer Coaches: 15 (New week Tomorrow)

Well deserved!

[Lord Elrond]

A10 Offensive Player of the week - Caroline Kelly

That makes 3 of 4 weeks that the A10 Offensive Player of the week was a Billiken, Emily Groark and Emily Gaebe have also won it. 3 different players. 

[courtside]

Caroline Kelly was named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Best 11 Team of the Week. (following Emily Gaebe’s recent selection last week)

Caroline Kelly was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week. 

And Caroline Kelly was named College Soccer News National Player of the Week. 

[slufanskip]

37 minutes ago, courtside said:

Caroline Kelly was named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Best 11 Team of the Week. (following Emily Gaebe’s recent selection last week)

Caroline Kelly was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week. 

And Caroline Kelly was named College Soccer News National Player of the Week. 

That’s a nice week lol

[BuiltFordBills]

 

[Lord Elrond]

4-1 win on the road to start the A10 conference schedule. They outshot LaSalle 23-2. LaSalle was 5-2 going into that game.  Goals from Larson, Stram, Groark and Sawyer.  The only blemish was giving up the early goal.  Next up, Richmond in Richmond. 14 different Billikens now have at least one point. The Spiders are 1-5-2 after tying St Joseph tonight.