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SLU 4 George Washington 0

 
SLU opened the game in a 4-1-3-2. This is how they opened at Xavier. And it’s something they usually use when needing a goal in the 2nd half. SLU also occasionally does it against bad teams, to get an early multi goal lead. Then they settle back into the 4-2-3-1, which is exactly what they did against GW. 
 
The goals stopped coming for 2 reasons. High volume substitutions, as well as the change back to the less aggressive formation. It’s a formation that is to the benefit of SLU to play against the better teams, earlier in games. SLU didn’t use it once for example against UMass.
 
In the GW game, SLU opened with Sawyer as the extra forward with Gaebe. They have also tried Larson and Fox. It doesn’t work with Larson as SLU needs Larson’s build up in the midfield. It does work with Sawyer and her pace. SLU had preferred to bring Sawyer off of the bench middle of the first half. We’ve seen this before in past years, when it took too long to eventually start Gaebe. At some point you have to start and play your best players. Sawyer was one of SLU’s best players at UMass. Hope Kim scored the goal. Starts are rewards.
………………..
 
Some of the goals and early highlights:
 
Le won a header to Simon. Nice combination play with Gaebe and she slots it to Emily for the goal 1-0.
 
Sawyer steal squares to Gaebe in front of goal. Shot blocked for corner. On SLU’s corners this year, Sawyer is the safety valve who plays back to defend any unexpected breakouts. Corner clear right to Sawyer whose 35 yard shot finds the upper corner 2-0. 
 
Sawyer again squares to Larson who had a wide open chance roll off of her foot.
 
10th minute. Stream long ball to Sawyer and who took it wide, service to Gaebe far post and she volleyed it off of the crossbar bar from 5. So many chances inside the 6 this season for Gaebe that have been high. Simon rebound was wide.
 
Le wide to Sawyer edge of box run, shot saved to Howard in front of goal finish 3-0. SLU gave Rylee Howard a chance up top as 1 of 2 forwards, as well as on the wing, to get her going a little bit. With the extra attacking player formation still in effect, she was able to get one. 
 
Schwartz followed her own chance for the 4th goal. One of Lucie’s skill sets is poise and finishing inside the 18. She also once again played in the central defensive midfield as she did at UMass. This is a new position for her. 
……………….
Every healthy field player played for SLU. This included Autumn Jackson who has sat out the past 2 years with knee surgeries. Autumn was a high level recruit at outside back for SLU. She unsurprisingly played very well in her first game back. Some will remember the 2 year wait for Anna Lawler to get back on the field with something similar. Big deal. Big moment. Tremendous patience, work, and perseverance. It will take some time and reps, but she gets forward on the flank, defends the 18, is poised on the ball, sharp with distribution. 
……………….
More aggressive offensive formation to start the game, with maximized attacking personnel. And SLU had 4 goals and several other near misses in the first 30 minutes. SLU emptied the bench and changed formations after 30 minutes. And you can see the differences. While winning 8-0 vs 4-0 is always fun, it isn’t going to change much, and it won’t change a few previous game missed opportunities.
 
In fairness to GW, they have a brand new coach, a good fit there, who was hired late in the offseason. I do think they will be much more competitive in a couple of seasons.
 
We’ll see if SLU is willing to open the exact same way with personnel and tactics Thursday.
………………..
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4 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

Autumn Jackson seems to be well loved by her Billiken teammates. She got a large cheer from the bench when going in, and gets cheers whenever she touches the ball,

Redshirt freshman. She's missed the better part of 2 years with a knee injury (end of HS, beginning of college) and this was her debut.

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Some of SLU's non-conference opponents still look pretty good    UMKC is 6-1-3.  Xavier 8-1-1, Penn State 8-2-1. Didnt think BYU was going to be an RPI anchor, already with four losses.    And, of course, Caroline Kelly scores again as TCU takes out Arizona 1-0.     Wonder who is going to have more goals this year Kelly or Gaebe?   Helps you appreciate how truly historic last year's offense really was.  

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5 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

Some of SLU's non-conference opponents still look pretty good    UMKC is 6-1-3.  Xavier 8-1-1, Penn State 8-2-1. Didnt think BYU was going to be an RPI anchor, already with four losses.    And, of course, Caroline Kelly scores again as TCU takes out Arizona 1-0.     Wonder who is going to have more goals this year Kelly or Gaebe?   Helps you appreciate how truly historic last year's offense really was.  

 

BYU has a good RPI right now at 25. BYU, Penn State, and Mizzou, play 3 of the toughest schedules in the country. As long as those teams get some results, they will have a good to great RPI. There’s more margin with those schools to lose more games. 

 
Xavier has less of a margin. They have a draw at the current top ranked RPI team. The tweaked RPI this year has less reward for strong draws. Xavier is winning games at a higher level clip. And as long as they continue to take care of business, they will have another good RPI season as they usually do. KC has an improved team that is targeting the top 100. Creighton is also an improved team targeting the top 50.
 
SLU is sitting at 41 RPI this week. There is a statistic which shows which schools maximized their non-conference RPI the most. SLU was 18th. And obviously that could have even been a little bit better too. Penn State was 1. 
 
SLU was in position to defeat KC/Penn State/Creighton. Creighton played well enough to draw Georgetown Sunday on the road. but a nice late goal and late non-PK call was the difference.
 
SLU had “historic” offensive success both of the past 2 seasons. Last year’s team scored 7 goals more than the 2022 team. It also played 2 more games than the previous season.
 
It took SLU 12 games to start Gaebe last year. And it took them 14 games to start Gaebe and Kelly together. They then outscored opponents 22-0 in their last 5 games, scoring no less than 3 goals in any of those games. And that was in mostly a 4-2-3-1 formation. 
 
SLU hasn’t had as much offensive production from the 2022 class and 2023 class. Two of the 2023 players were injured and missed last season. They are just getting started. And, SLU hasn’t had as much success yet with adding attacking players in the transfer portal. The closest they came was a 5th year grad transfer that is starting for Santa Clara. SLU was runner up. They are trying to get another one going a little bit.
 
So that leaves several talented Freshmen who are new and who are adapting to the pace and physicality of the college game. They get better and better each week in practice/training, and in each game. SLU has a similar amount of potential Freshmen attacking contributors next season. Having 4 or 5 experienced strong scorers is the ideal situation. 
 
One of things SLU can do, and has done at times intermittently this season. is change their formation to add an extra attacking player to generate more offense and to finish more chances. Part of the early season reluctance to it was being partial to the base 4–2-3-1 formation. And part of it is SLU had some new players playing in the defensive midfield. But they have shown they can handle less numbers there at least some of the time. 
 
At Xavier SLU opened in a 4-1-3-2. They scored 3 goals against a good team.and they were dangerous for more. Part of the reasoning for it was because Xavier is playing a 3-6-1 this year. And it was more of a numbers situation to create mismatches. Gaebe dominated the game. SLU used a Freshman to pair with Gaebe. SLU used Larson to pair with Gaebe in the 2nd half at Creighton, but Larson is needed in the midfield build up. 
 
Against GW, SLU also opened in the 4-1-3-2 formation. This time they started Sawyer next to Gaebe instead of a Freshman. And they kept similar midfielders. The result was dominating a bad team early, scoring 4 goals in 30 minutes. while having high level chances for many more. You still have to have strong midfield play with this formation.
 
SLU already has more goals than TCU this season. But that’s apples to oranges. SLU is now top 50 in scoring offense. That’s only likely to improve. Gaebe will likely have more goals than Kelly assuming health for both. But that isn’t what it’s about and that’s also apples to oranges. Hopefully Carol scores many goals every game at TCU. Good for her. 
 
Loyola Chicago is having a solid season. They are a good defensive team. It took Michigan State the 84th minute to score against them. It took Wisconsin 77 minutes to score against them. They’ve given up more than 1 goal in a game just twice, with 5 shutouts. It’s another opportunity for SLU to roll out the same starting lineup and same formation as it did vs GW.
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8 hours ago, courtside said:

That's good to see.  BYU seemed to play so physically against us in the opener.  I hated that.     

 Now I am officially worried about Loyola.  They don't seem to give up a lot of goals.  

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46 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

That's good to see.  BYU seemed to play so physically against us in the opener.  I hated that.     

 Now I am officially worried about Loyola.  They don't seem to give up a lot of goals.  

They did draw Fordham (2-2) on Sunday, which seems like not a good result for Loy-Chi, but a look at the box score shows Loy-Chi played with only 10 for 70 minutes, and almost pulled out a win until they let in a tying goal with under 2 minutes left, so on the road with only 10 that’s a great result. Which leads to my question of the week, play by play from the box score:

18:55 LUC substitution: van Roekel, Roos for Jones, Kenedi.        
19:14 Red card on LUC van Roekel, Roos

Question: How the heck do you get a red card after only 19 seconds of play? Is that some kind of record?

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22 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

They did draw Fordham (2-2) on Sunday, which seems like not a good result for Loy-Chi, but a look at the box score shows Loy-Chi played with only 10 for 70 minutes, and almost pulled out a win until they let in a tying goal with under 2 minutes left, so on the road with only 10 that’s a great result. Which leads to my question of the week, play by play from the box score:

18:55 LUC substitution: van Roekel, Roos for Jones, Kenedi.        
19:14 Red card on LUC van Roekel, Roos

Question: How the heck do you get a red card after only 19 seconds of play? Is that some kind of record?

 

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Looked at the replay on ESPN+, she came in at center back, made a terrible pass back to the goalie, and just tackled the Fordham player from behind before she got into the box and could beat the goalie, so DOGSO. That was her only touch of the game.

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53 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Looked at the replay on ESPN+, she came in at center back, made a terrible pass back to the goalie, and just tackled the Fordham player from behind before she got into the box and could beat the goalie, so DOGSO. That was her only touch of the game.

In college, do you have to sit out the next game after acquiring a Red?  Maybe too bad she wont play against us.     If so, I guess the SLU men would have one or two sitting out after that debacle in Philly

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1 hour ago, OkieBilliken said:

In college, do you have to sit out the next game after acquiring a Red?  Maybe too bad she wont play against us.     If so, I guess the SLU men would have one or two sitting out after that debacle in Philly

Yes, if you get a red card, you are required to sit out the next game in addition to sitting out the rest of the game you get a red card. It will be interesting to see what happens after that issue at the end of the men’s LaSalle game. If it was on a coach, same rules apply I beleive

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1 minute ago, Lord Elrond said:

Yes, if you get a red card, you are required to sit out the next game in addition to sitting out the rest of the game you get a red card. It will be interesting to see what happens after that issue at the end of the men’s LaSalle game. If it was on a coach, same rules apply I beleive

Yes, it was one of the assistant coaches, he will miss the next game.

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6 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

That's good to see.  BYU seemed to play so physically against us in the opener.  I hated that.     

 Now I am officially worried about Loyola.  They don't seem to give up a lot of goals.  

(Clean) Physical play is part of the game at this level. You need that and pace at this level to go along with skill, poise, etc..

BYU is at 23 RPI which is great. They lost many players due to graduation from 2 Final Four teams. And, they have had half a dozen players with injuries this year. Less experienced. They rely heavily on Fryer who missed 2 games. Bailey missed 5 games. Walbruch is out for the season. They score often in transition, and, that is how many teams score against them. SLU had a long stretch where they created but didn’t finish some chances. 

More competitive opponents present more opportunity. You want to play the best opponents. 

1) SLU will open 4-1-3-2 same lineup as GW. (My preference) They will play it until they have a multi goal lead.

2) SLU will play a 4-2-3-1. And if it’s 0-0 half time type of game, SLU will change to the 4-1-3-2 to get a goal or 2 in the 2nd half

3) SLU will play a 4-2-3-1 throughout but they will tweak personnel here and there, i.e. move an attacking player to defensive midfield. And of they are playing well or have a lead, they won’t change it the entire game. 

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6 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

Looked at the replay on ESPN+, she came in at center back, made a terrible pass back to the goalie, and just tackled the Fordham player from behind before she got into the box and could beat the goalie, so DOGSO. That was her only touch of the game.

Roos van Roekel has played exclusively in the defensive midfield for Loyola this season, including at Fordham. Sometimes starting, sometimes not, sometimes by herself, sometimes not. But she’s a promising middle of the field defender with size for them, getting good experience as a first year player. Sometimes starting. sometimes not, sometimes by herself sometimes not. (Cibulka and Jones will possibly pair there which is normal for them)

She moved to Chicago in high school, after previously playing in the Netherlands and England. She played both high school and club soccer with SLU’s Sarah Sarnowski.

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Loyola Ramblers

 
Head Coach Barry Bimbi was fired shortly before preseason, for off of the field issues. He had previously signed an extension through 2027. Assistant Angela Staveski was named Interim Head Coach returning from maternity leave. Assistant Brendan Roth left for DePaul. Staveski hired Men’s assistant Aleksandar Saric, and, she hired St. Louisan Jim Schneiderhahn. Jim was a long time assistant at Purdue and Illinois State prior to that. Gabby Whittinghill completed the staff assistant hires.
 
Despite all of that turnover. Loyola has done well so far this season. They are solid at every position. They play hard, they are organized, they compete, and they defend. I expect them to play a 4-2-3-1. They experimented earlier in the year with a 4-1-3-2. But I don’t expect to see that unless they are down a few goals. More likely they will be trying to be a bend but don’t break defense, while trying to find a way to counter in a low scoring game. 
 
Loyola has a good mix of older players, less older but experienced players, and a few promising Freshmen. 
 
Two big target forward Freshmen stand out up top in Rossi and Leigh. Leigh will also play on the wing. Neither are pace players. They mix with some smaller, skilled, quick playmakers in Harrsion in the central attacking midfield, and Hevey on the wing. Harris is their pace forward who will also play on the wing. 
 
Abel is in her 5th year as a starter at center back. Solid and experienced, along with Cibulka in front of her. Loyola is unafraid to line up a few shots from distance well beyond the 18 if given the chance.
 
This is a game that SLU can take control of early with an aggressive approach to personnel and formation. This speeds up the pace of the game and decision making in back for the Ramblers. Turnovers forced, transition offense. It also opens up the game and it requires Loyola to play the entire field length and width more often.
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Just now, Lord Elrond said:

Gave up a goal 2 minutes in, they misjudged Loy-Chi’s speed. Need to get it back 

Well placed shot, too. They just got beat on that one.

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