SLU Women's Soccer Thread

[courtside]

1 hour ago, Speyburn said:

2024 Soccer Schedule - University of Missouri Athletics (mutigers.com)

That’s a partial schedule. It’s missing 6 games. Mizzou will be releasing their full schedule soon.  

[courtside]

On 7/4/2024 at 10:00 AM, courtside said:

 

Toughest non-conference schedules based on 2023 stats:

 

1. Penn State
2. BYU

16. SLU

21. Xavier

23. Creighton

 

Penn State plays 8 RPI Top 25 teams (from 2023) on this year's schedule. They play 16 RPI top 100 teams.

 

BYU plays 6 RPI top 25 teams. Many of their other opponents are RPI top 100 as well. 

 

Two seasons ago SLU hosted 2 National top 10 teams, Arkansas and Notre Dame. Both finished in the Elite 8. 

 

Mizzou hasn’t released its schedule yet but it will include a trip to Duke and Miami FL as well as 9 additional top 100 RPI SEC opponents. 

 

After an early addition, SLU reached out to 8 portal players (mostly 1 year grad transfers) at 3 positions in the late Spring period. 1 reached advanced discussions but that player chose a different school. 

 

New staff announcements will be arriving shortly. 

SLU non-conference schedule is currently at 14. (300 schedules have been released thus far)

Welcome Bri Halverson, who was most recently Girls Director at St. Louis Stars, as well as an assistant coach at Summit High School. (Missouri Class 3 State Finalist this season)

[courtside]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:37 AM, courtside said:

https://slubillikens.com/news/2024/2/29/womens-soccer-adds-10-players-to-2024-roster.aspx

There were no surprises in the announcement. They have all been discussed here. There were 2 additional mid-semester incoming transfers that were previously announced. Both are on campus and playing Spring ball. And SLU is also expected to add an additional player, to make the roster total 33 for 2024. (SLU has 11 Freshmen commits for the 2025 class)

……..,……..

The additional player expected is Elise Le, a defender at Xavier where she started all 62 games she played the past 3 seasons. A very good, reliable defender, Elise also brings 5’10 size to her left back position. 

………….

Unlike some of its peers, SLU typically doesn’t have many early enrolled recruits. The trend in recent years is for schools to bring in Freshman a semester early in the Spring to get acclimated. It’s common.

SLU prefers to let those players enjoy and finish their high school years and arrive in the Summer. Addy Lang is an exception this Spring. Addy was a highly recruited defensive holding midfielder out of Kansas City. SLU lost both starters to graduation at the position. Addy played Summer ball with Caroline Kelly last year, and she routinely played up an age group, so she’s used to playing with older players.

……………

The roster size is typical of where SLU wants the roster to be annually, around 30, a little over, a little under. And that really isn’t much different than a basketball roster based on how many players play at a given time.

More successful teams have a 2nd 11 group of players that can play at a similar level to the 1st 11. With injuries, player development, and transfers, this is a typical roster size. 

……………

Each school has their own recruiting strategy. SLU typically likes to target roughly 100 players in a class or recruiting cycle. Of that 100, they will get serious with about a third of that group. And they will get commitments from roughly a third of that. So, 100/33/11 type of philosophy.  SLU has roughly 80 plus recruiting targets from 17 states so far in the 2026 class.

…………..

Recruiting rankings have some marketing value, but they are overrated. With that said, re-stating for purposes of full disclosure, I am a consultant with the TDS’ Men’s and Women’s rankings. At the moment, the class is ranked 33rd nationally. But I believe it is better than that. It will likely get into the top 30 or 25. It will take 1 or 2 more deeper NCAA runs for a few more people to come around. But they are getting there.

…………….

Remember, SLU has had 5 recent All Americans. And none of them were the highest recruited players nationally. SLU recruited and developed them anyway. And what matters is the year end ranking based on non-conference results, league results, post season results. That’s what matters most.

…………….

SLU has recently recruited events in Florida, Texas, Kentucky, St. Louis, Kansas City, Iowa, Illinois, and elsewhere. They will be returning to Florida next week, and they will be in Virginia, Seattle, California, among other places this Spring and Summer. 

…………….

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Elise Le:

https://slubillikens.com/news/2024/7/15/womens-soccer-billiken-great-brionna-halverson-named-assistant-coach.aspx

[courtside]

1 hour ago, courtside said:

That’s a partial schedule. It’s missing 6 games. Mizzou will be releasing their full schedule soon.  

They did release it on social media. In addition to the already mentioned SLU Missouri State, Miami FL, and Duke, they will also play Memphis, Illinois, SEMO non-conference. 

The SEC is playing one less non-conference game this season, with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas to the conference:

https://x.com/mizzousoccer/status/1812929766565290405?s=46&t=TsCCkuE48YmnkWfoKqc_Ng

 

[courtside]

On 7/4/2024 at 10:00 AM, courtside said:

 

Toughest non-conference schedules based on 2023 stats:

 

1. Penn State
2. BYU

16. SLU

21. Xavier

23. Creighton

 

Penn State plays 8 RPI Top 25 teams (from 2023) on this year's schedule. They play 16 RPI top 100 teams.

 

BYU plays 6 RPI top 25 teams. Many of their other opponents are RPI top 100 as well. 

 

Two seasons ago SLU hosted 2 National top 10 teams, Arkansas and Notre Dame. Both finished in the Elite 8. 

 

Mizzou hasn’t released its schedule yet but it will include a trip to Duke and Miami FL as well as 9 additional top 100 RPI SEC opponents. 

 

After an early addition, SLU reached out to 8 portal players (mostly 1 year grad transfers) at 3 positions in the late Spring period. 1 reached advanced discussions but that player chose a different school. 

 

New staff announcements will be arriving shortly. 

Welcome Mary Niehaus.

After 2 years playing professional soccer overseas, and spending another 2 as a teacher, Mary Niehaus has rejoined the program as Soccer Director of Operations.

Mary was a 3 time A10 1st Team Goalkeeper and 3 time All Region player for SLU.

https://slubillikens.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/mary-niehaus/2044

[willie]

1 hour ago, courtside said:

Welcome Mary Niehaus.

After 2 years playing professional soccer overseas, and spending another 2 as a teacher, Mary Niehaus has rejoined the program as Soccer Director of Operations.

Mary was a 3 time A10 1st Team Goalkeeper and 3 time All Region player for SLU.

https://slubillikens.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/mary-niehaus/2044

So Court. What does the Director of Operations do?

[courtside]

46 minutes ago, willie said:

So Court. What does the Director of Operations do?

Typically, they manage day to day program operations, examples include:

summer camps, dept activities and development, recruiting events, budget, team travel. scheduling, event management, compliance, work with other departments, computer work/recruiting database, liason w booster groups, students, etc..academic progress, game day events, and more. 

There are generally 2 paths people take in the position, entry into coaching or athletic administration.

More competitive programs have a HC, 3 assistants, and a soccer operations director. 

[slufan13]

I'll wait until MMP confirms it 

[OkieBilliken]

 

Thats fair.   SO PUMPED FOR THIS SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[billikenfan05]

4 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

 

Thats fair.   SO PUMPED FOR THIS SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Going to certainly be something to watch. Major coaching staff changes and some key pieces graduating. From an outsiders perspective, I could certainly see the Bills escaping preseason accolades. 

[slufan13]

Midtown Madness had it first 

[courtside]

59 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

 

Thats fair.   SO PUMPED FOR THIS SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s largely based on the previous season. And this happens annually. Only 1 team was dropped from the top 25 from the final 2023 polls. And, a team was added in their place. And 1 additional tied for 25 team was added to the rankings Even the others receiving votes are mostly similar. And with few exceptions teams moved very little from final 2023 rankings. 

SLU finished 11th in the USC final poll. (10 in RPI) Preseason 2024 poll UCLA jumped them from 15 to 11. And the team that upset UCLA last postseason, UC Irvine was the team left out of the top 25. And they found a way to add Duke preseason top 25 after a rare down season last year. 

This is why you will also see preseason players to watch based on last year’s postseason teams. (Puricelli, Heckel, Gaebe).

It’s good publicity though. And expectations are high for both programs.

It’s also why SLU Men’s Soccer is not ranked in the USC poll preseason poll.

TDS will vary a little bit. CSN usually has more variance. 

[Pistol]

5 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

Going to certainly be something to watch. Major coaching staff changes and some key pieces graduating. From an outsiders perspective, I could certainly see the Bills escaping preseason accolades. 

This is true.

It's also crazy what this team returns, though. I was certain Lyndsey Heckel was moving on for some reason, and she's back for a grad year.

[OkieBilliken]

3-0 SLU at the half.   

[OkieBilliken]

4-0 final.   Season starts next week.   

[OkieBilliken]

This is kind of interesting.  We hired Wyoming’s head coach Colleen Corbin to be an assistant.   They went into Provo in an exhibition game and beat #3 BYU, future SLU opponent.  

[Lord Elrond]

7 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

This is kind of interesting.  We hired Wyoming’s head coach Colleen Corbin to be an assistant.   They went into Provo in an exhibition game and beat #3 BYU, future SLU opponent.  

That’s more than a little interesting. I would assume BYU would have been rotating players, trying different things, as it was  an exhibition, but there was no box score on the Wyoming website, just the recap that showed the 1-0 result. Wyoming was ranked 11 of 12 in the preseason Mountain West poll per the Wyoming website.  Wyoming scored in the 35th minute per the recap, and made in stand up with 9 saves. There would have been plenty of time for BYU to reverse the result.  Interestingly, there was a box score on the BYU website, which confirmed the results. BYU had 15 shots, 9 on goal, and 9 saves by Wyoming. The BYU keeper only faced 3 shots, but 1 went in.  This was the second exhibition game BYU played, they lost on Wednesday 2-0 to Utah Valley. The keeper who played all minutes in both games so far was Lynette Hernaez, and she is the only experienced keeper on their roster, she’s a sophmore who played 1355 minutes last season (she also only faced 6 shots on goal in the first exhibition game, and allowed 2 goals). The only other keepers on the roster are another redshirt sophmore who doesn’t have any minutes of play to her credit on the BYU website and a true freshman, so they weren’t rotating keepers in exhibition play. 

[courtside]

On 8/6/2024 at 3:48 PM, courtside said:

It’s largely based on the previous season. And this happens annually. Only 1 team was dropped from the top 25 from the final 2023 polls. And, a team was added in their place. And 1 additional tied for 25 team was added to the rankings Even the others receiving votes are mostly similar. And with few exceptions teams moved very little from final 2023 rankings. 

SLU finished 11th in the USC final poll. (10 in RPI) Preseason 2024 poll UCLA jumped them from 15 to 11. And the team that upset UCLA last postseason, UC Irvine was the team left out of the top 25. And they found a way to add Duke preseason top 25 after a rare down season last year. 

This is why you will also see preseason players to watch based on last year’s postseason teams. (Puricelli, Heckel, Gaebe).

It’s good publicity though. And expectations are high for both programs.

It’s also why SLU Men’s Soccer is not ranked in the USC poll preseason poll.

TDS will vary a little bit. CSN usually has more variance. 

SLU will be ranked 8th in the initial Top Drawer Soccer Poll 

[courtside]

23 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

This is kind of interesting.  We hired Wyoming’s head coach Colleen Corbin to be an assistant.   They went into Provo in an exhibition game and beat #3 BYU, future SLU opponent.  

 I always caution against taking too much from preseason, games, polls, etc….

With that said, BYU was a Final Four team last year for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. They recruit well but they will be playing a lot of inexperienced players. They lost 9 starters and about 15 players who saw good playing time on great teams. They return 2 starters, another player who played a lot, and a reserve UCLA transfer. It’s a program big on player development. They’ll likely start 3 Freshmen, and, they’ll play some others that didn’t play last season. They recruit well. 

They’ll still play a 4-4-2 diamond. They moved Fryer to the wing, Bailey up top. Their keeper didn’t play the SLU game last year, but, she became their starter for the rest of the season shortly after that. It will take some time for them to sort it out, find some goals, and play with their familiar high octane pressure and pace. 

[OkieBilliken]

10 hours ago, courtside said:

 I always caution against taking too much from preseason, games, polls, etc….

With that said, BYU was a Final Four team last year for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. They recruit well but they will be playing a lot of inexperienced players. They lost 9 starters and about 15 players who saw good playing time on great teams. They return 2 starters, another player who played a lot, and a reserve UCLA transfer. It’s a program big on player development. They’ll likely start 3 Freshmen, and, they’ll play some others that didn’t play last season. They recruit well. 

They’ll still play a 4-4-2 diamond. They moved Fryer to the wing, Bailey up top. Their keeper didn’t play the SLU game last year, but, she became their starter for the rest of the season shortly after that. It will take some time for them to sort it out, find some goals, and play with their familiar high octane pressure and pace. 

Interesting.   Its probably a better thing that we play them early in the season.   

[courtside]

1 hour ago, OkieBilliken said:

Interesting.   Its probably a better thing that we play them early in the season.   

BYU has made the NCAA Tourney 24 times in the past 29 years under the same coach. 8 Sweet 16’s. 2 Final Fours. They have a great program. It’s also a unique program due to the Mormon religion, having some players that sit out a few seasons, etc…

As for preseason predictions generally, SLU Associate Head Coach Colleen Corbin, led Wyoming to the MWC title in a year they were picked 9th in the league. Last year FSU was the best team in college soccer. They were not picked to win the league. Clemson, who made the Final, was picked 6th in the ACC the same year. TCU, was picked 2nd in the Big 12, they missed the tourney.  So it varies quite a bit.

Preseason rankings are a starting point from the previous season. Some teams will stay where they are and/or improve, others, will drop off slowly or quickly. 

For SLU, winning the league, making a deeper run in the NCAA tourney, are the expectations this season. Ultimately, winning the national championship is the goal as a program. 

I will also throw in that under the new rules, beginning in 2025, college soccer rosters will be limited to 28 per team (Men as well). And all 28 players will be eligible for full scholarships. Obviously many schools will provide less than the 28. 

 

[Billiken Rich]

Not sure what tickets normally cost but got an email from the ticket office with free tix for the first three games.  Took advantage of the tix for BYU.  I can talk my lovely wife into nearly any sporting event preceded by a pretzel and beer at Urban Chestnut.  The opener is supposed to be ugly on the weather front....

Hey @courtside!  On the 22nd, I'll be the big guy wearing the blue StlDenise3D (my lovely wife's company) shirt, if you want to come over and kick my a$$ or, you know, just say hi....

 

[courtside]

On 8/11/2024 at 9:58 PM, courtside said:

SLU will be ranked 8th in the initial Top Drawer Soccer Poll 

Top Drawer Soccer Preseason:

Four Billikens are in the top 50 national preseason top 100 player list for all positions.

 

Heckel 5

Gaebe 17

Puricelli 31

Larson 46

 

Three Billikens on the 3 Preseason National Best Eleven teams.

 

Heckel 1st Team.

Gaebe 2nd Team.

Puricelli 3rd Team.

 

Heckel top 3 defender.

Gaebe top 6 forward

Puricelli top 3 keeper. 

[slufan13]

Per Midtown Madness it appears that SLU will carry a top 10 presesaon ranking

[OkieBilliken]

Maddie Pokorny scored her first professional goal for Racing Louisville tonight!