SLU Women's Soccer Thread

[OkieBilliken]

1 minute ago, Pistol said:

By the way, Dayton tied Fordham tonight, so SLU will move up to first place with this win. That means SLU clinches the 1-seed and regular season title with a win or tie at Dayton this weekend. Dayton needs to win but can still take the 1-seed. Can't ask for more exciting stakes for a final gameday if you're the A10.

This is really good news.  It puts all the pressure on Dayton Sunday.   

[Lord Elrond]

Billiken Bench is being emptied , everyone gets minutes tonight it looks like 

[Lord Elrond]

5-1 Billikens, Cagen Leonard scores unassisted with 7 minutes left

[Pistol]

3 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

5-1 Billikens, Cagen Leonard scores unassisted with 7 minutes left

She's fast! Looked like Hannah Sawyer blazing by that GMU defender. Got her own rebound, too - second time tonight a freshman has scored on her second attempt.

[Lord Elrond]

5-0 win, nice job Billikens

[Lord Elrond]

FYI, they announced the A10 Qtr final here at Hermann Nov 2, 7pm, a Saturday 

[courtside]

With its 5-0 win over George Mason, SLU moved into 1st Place in the A10 with 1 game to play. SLU is 36 in RPI. Dayton is 47. A win or draw wins the regular season league for SLU.  A loss gives it to Dayton. A win is important for RPI purposes for both teams. 

If SLU can win their next 4 including the conference tourney, combined with other results, SLU can finish mid 20’s RPI with 2 A10 titles. One soccer analytic outlet projected SLU as a 6 seed in the NCAA Tourney this week.

……………..

SLU is now 14th in scoring offense. 10th in goals against average. 21st in shots. 9th in corner kicks per game.

…………

Dayton Flyers

Senior Noel Blain is their best scorer, size and pace on left wing. She’s having a breakout season. She can play as a target or in space. And she can play 1v1 wide. She likes to drift to the middle. You want to keep her in front and make her play as a target with her back to the goal. 

Benigno is in her 5th season as an undersized playmaker in the midfield. She sets up deeper in the midfield in order to move forward and also to help defend. She will also take any shot between 18-22 yards and beyond without a 2nd thought. It’s the way she scores.

Dayton rotates a true Freshman up top Grenda, with Bowman. Grenda is a target forward and Bowman a good dribbler, is better in space. 

Dayton rotates a transfer Hallbeck with a true Freshman Smith on the right side. Laney Smith is very good at running onto crosses and finishing as a true Freshman. Hallbeck is more of a direct, keep it simple winger.

Dayton has a pace defensive midfielder in Kerber (BC transfer) who leads distribution from the back. They like to play through her and she gets forward. M Russell is more of a stay at home defender.

Mendoza worked her way into the starting lineup at right back and she is the one back line player who gets forward up the right side. Karfonta plays on the other side.

Raimondi and Fields are their center backs, solid but are vulnerable in transition. Read is experienced and solid at keeper in her 3rd season starting.

……………….

Dayton has vastly improved its offense efficiency this season. Not a high volume shot team. And they will go stretches without doing much offensively, and then they quickly score with the chances they do have and create.

I expect to see a 4-2-3-1 formation from Dayton that is slightly defensive oriented, but that is willing to get forward when opportunities present itself throughout the game. SLU will need to play an aggressive full 90 from the opening whistle.

…………….

[courtside]

Cougs doing their part in a tough environment in Lubbock. 

https://x.com/byusoccer_w/status/1850026518199795934?s=46

Game winner in the final minute:

https://x.com/byusoccer_w/status/1850030188899467674?s=46

Secured a top 4 Big 12 Tourney seed and first round bye. First home loss in 20 games for the Red Raiders. First conference loss in 27 games.

[Lord Elrond]

FYI, at the men’s game tonight, they announced that the start time for the Women’s game on Saturday was now 5pm vs previously announced starting time of 7pm.

[OkieBilliken]

Another year another conference title.  The road to the tournament runs through midtown.  

[Lord Elrond]

Looks like Davidson is our first round opponent.  We have not played them since the Covid season of 2020. We beat them in the conference championship game that year, in front of a crowd of no one. Once again, I say Covid sucked, I have yet to hear any disagreement on this.

[billikenfan05]

1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:

Looks like Davidson is our first round opponent.  We have not played them since the Covid season of 2020. We beat them in the conference championship game that year, in front of a crowd of no one. Once again, I say Covid sucked, I have yet to hear any disagreement on this.

I don't think there are any "covid fans" out there.

Davidson lost their coach Adam Denton to Richmond a couple years ago. Not that it matters anymore, but funny.

[courtside]

On 10/25/2024 at 1:43 PM, courtside said:

With its 5-0 win over George Mason, SLU moved into 1st Place in the A10 with 1 game to play. SLU is 36 in RPI. Dayton is 47. A win or draw wins the regular season league for SLU.  A loss gives it to Dayton. A win is important for RPI purposes for both teams. 

If SLU can win their next 4 including the conference tourney, combined with other results, SLU can finish mid 20’s RPI with 2 A10 titles. One soccer analytic outlet projected SLU as a 6 seed in the NCAA Tourney this week.

……………..

SLU is now 14th in scoring offense. 10th in goals against average. 21st in shots. 9th in corner kicks per game.

…………

Dayton Flyers

Senior Noel Blain is their best scorer, size and pace on left wing. She’s having a breakout season. She can play as a target or in space. And she can play 1v1 wide. She likes to drift to the middle. You want to keep her in front and make her play as a target with her back to the goal. 

Benigno is in her 5th season as an undersized playmaker in the midfield. She sets up deeper in the midfield in order to move forward and also to help defend. She will also take any shot between 18-22 yards and beyond without a 2nd thought. It’s the way she scores.

Dayton rotates a true Freshman up top Grenda, with Bowman. Grenda is a target forward and Bowman a good dribbler, is better in space. 

Dayton rotates a transfer Hallbeck with a true Freshman Smith on the right side. Laney Smith is very good at running onto crosses and finishing as a true Freshman. Hallbeck is more of a direct, keep it simple winger.

Dayton has a pace defensive midfielder in Kerber (BC transfer) who leads distribution from the back. They like to play through her and she gets forward. M Russell is more of a stay at home defender.

Mendoza worked her way into the starting lineup at right back and she is the one back line player who gets forward up the right side. Karfonta plays on the other side.

Raimondi and Fields are their center backs, solid but are vulnerable in transition. Read is experienced and solid at keeper in her 3rd season starting.

……………….

Dayton has vastly improved its offense efficiency this season. Not a high volume shot team. And they will go stretches without doing much offensively, and then they quickly score with the chances they do have and create.

I expect to see a 4-2-3-1 formation from Dayton that is slightly defensive oriented, but that is willing to get forward when opportunities present itself throughout the game. SLU will need to play an aggressive full 90 from the opening whistle.

…………….

SLU 0 Dayton 0

It’s always a good day when securing a regular season conference title. It is SLU’s 6th in the past 7 seasons. They will compete for their 7th straight A10 Tourney Title.

It’s challenging to evaluate when the team has been going through health and illness issues. Gaebe and Larson tried to give it a go but they had limited movement, limited physicality, and limited energy. Some other SLU players were struggling as well. And this changed the way SLU was going to be able to play and attack.

Despite a front foot start, SLU struggled maintaining their usual level. They were unable to keep the ball down, use triangles/combination and use the width and length of the field. Way too much bouncy middle of the field aerial play. Bring it down and go. Passing accuracy wasn’t there. Effort is always there for SLU.

On another day Gaebe and Larson would be more competitive vs the UD back line etc…and the UD back line. Those are matchups you want. SLU was able to get Sawyer wide at times and Larson made a nice play on Sawyer’s crossbar shot. But overall it was a less than 100% level for SLU.

Full credit to UD who is well coached, plays a hard 90, and is a good solid NCAA bubble team. 4-2-3-1 for both teams. Dayton mostly played its starters the entire game with 2 forward subs. Grenda was unavailable so Blain moved up top and Smith started on the wing. Later in the game Dayton subbed out a defender for an extra attacker which was effective for them. 
……………..

If SLU wants to do damage in the conference tourney and NCAA Tourney, they will need to raise their level individually, and as a group. And they are good enough to do that.

Celebrate success for a day. Not many schools are winning 6 league titles in 7 seasons.

…………..

It was a missed opportunity for SLU to move into the top 30 RPI. SLU sits at 33 heading into the conference tourney. It wasn’t the best opponent RPI day either. (Mizzou lost 14 spots after dominating a game they lost that would have moved them quite. a bit the other direction from 88. It would be better for SLU to play better RPI teams in the conference tourney. 

…………….

Non-conference RPI:

Penn State 9

Xavier 26

SLU 33

BYU 34

Creighton 57

Mizzou 102

Missouri State 105

………….

Kansas City 180

SIUE 316

……………

A10 RPI:

Dayton 42

UMass 49

Loyola 73

Fordham 87

[OkieBilliken]

A couple of legendary coaches retiring at UNC and Illinois.   Wonder if Coach KS is going to get some looks.   

[courtside]

13 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

A couple of legendary coaches retiring at UNC and Illinois.   Wonder if Coach KS is going to get some looks.   

Dorrance stepped down before the season. Damon Nahas is a strong candidate to be their next head coach. Kieran Hall will take over for Robbie Church (retiring) next yesr at Duke.

Oregon, Oregon State, (Sinacola left before the start of the season) Kansas State are some of the early openings. There will be more.

Illinois hasn’t made the NCAA Tourney the past 11 seasons, after making it 10 of 12 prior to that. I know Freeman wants the job and he has Rayfield’s blessing. But It’s only going to get tougher to compete in their league. Year 1 after expansion, USC won the Big 10, and UCLA came in 2nd. 8 Big 10 teams likely aren’t going to make the NCAA Tourney in 2024. 10 are likely.

Katie Shields gets contacted every year for openings including this past season. She’s happy at SLU, and she’s been at SLU 13 years in total. 

SLU’s focus is solidifying an NCAA berth, and maximizing seeding. SLU is projected to be a 6 or 7 seed at this time for the NCAA Tourney. Winning the conference tourney and getting a few other results should have them in the RPI 20’s. Have to win the A10 Quarterfinal first and go from there. 

Xavier is playing for the Big East Championship today at Georgetown.

[OkieBilliken]

4 minutes ago, courtside said:

Dorrance stepped down before the season. Damon Nahas is a strong candidate to be their next head coach. Kieran Hall will take over for Robbie Church (retiring) next yesr at Duke.

Oregon, Oregon State, (Sinacola left before the start of the season) Kansas State are some of the early openings. There will be more.

Illinois hasn’t made the NCAA Tourney the past 11 seasons, after making it 10 of 12 prior to that. I know Freeman wants the job and he has Rayfield’s blessing. But It’s only going to get tougher to compete in their league. Year 1 after expansion, USC won the Big 10, and UCLA came in 2nd. 8 Big 10 teams likely aren’t going to make the NCAA Tourney in 2024. 10 are likely.

Katie Shields gets contacted every year for openings including this past season. She’s happy at SLU, and she’s been at SLU 13 years in total. 

SLU’s focus is solidifying an NCAA berth, and maximizing seeding. SLU is projected to be a 6 or 7 seed at this time for the NCAA Tourney. Winning the conference tourney and getting a few other results should have them in the RPI 20’s. Have to win the A10 Quarterfinal first and go from there. 

Xavier is playing for the Big East Championship today at Georgetown.

If we win out, will get a home game in the 1st round?

[courtside]

55 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

If we win out, will get a home game in the 1st round?

Yes, likely. 

In order to host until the Elite 8, you have to be a 1 or 2 seed, meaning a top 8 overall seed. SLU was this in 2022 as it had a 2 seed.  Or you need upsets.

Example: 2022 Unseeded Memphis defeated SLU, then they defeated 7 seed Mississippi State at Arkansas the 3 seed. 3 seed Arkansas defeated 6 seed Ohio State. 3 seed Arkansas then narrowly defeated unseeded Memphis in PK’s. Then 3 seed Arkanas lost a close game at 1 seed Florida State in the Elite 8.  

Last season, SLU was a 6 seed. It hosted Indiana. Then SLU traveled to a 2 seeded team, Penn State, where SLU first defeated 3 seed Georgetown in the 3v6 game, before losing to 2 seed host Penn State. 

So there is a very reasonable chance SLU would host a game. Then depending on their seed and results, they are likely to travel to a 1 or 2 seeded site with a pod of 4 teams. If SLU is an 8 they play a 1. If they are a 7 they play the 2. 3v6, 4v5. Etc….seed upsets of course change matchups.

Some teams do get seeded better or worse than expected too. Matchups matter more than seeding. But the better the seeding number the more home games you can play. (SLU was better on the road this season than at home.) 

[TheA_Bomb]

Welcome to the board

@coastal @genzee @Alica @boosterflight @Heisler @blue bodega @tarragona

So cool of you to come to the board and exclusively "like" one posters messages and nothing else ever.

[courtside]

A10 Quarterfinal. Davidson.

The Wildcats like to play a 4-2-3-1. 
 

Probables: 

Smith in goal. 
Roumy and Snead at outside back. 
Mann (their leader in back) and Bestif at center back.

Pruitt and Barnes in the defensive midfield. Pruitt likes to play higher and she’s willing to shoot from distance. 

McCready and Lyons on the wings. McCready is a size and pace wing who has an extra gear and makes frequent long diagonal runs. Pak is a playmaker in the middle. And Whiddon is a true Freshman target forward up top. Moody is also a front four attacker.

There’s some opportunity to play up the middle on the ground, and reverse fields diagonally wide in space in the outside back positions. Davidson is organized, plays hard, and can match physicality. A strong turnaround season for Piechnick in her 2nd year, with a mix of young players and a few veterans.
 

[Lord Elrond]

9 minutes in, Lucie Schwartz scored, 1-0 Billikens

[Lord Elrond]

1-0 at halftime. 15 shots by Billikens to 4 by Davidson, Billikens have been playing in the Davidson half most of the game, but need another goal to gain breathing room.

[Lord Elrond]

PK by Lyndsey Heckel 15 minutes into the 2nd, 2-0 Billikens

[Lord Elrond]

Next game Weds Nov 6th, 7pm at Hermann Stadium vs St Joseph’s. We tied them 1-1 on Oct 3rd at our place.

[slufanskip]

So close so many times. Hit the post or crossbar 3 times

Another win, but another game where we dominate play and opportunities but don’t finish well. Without hesitation this should have been minimum 4-0 and easily could have been 6-0. If this doesn’t change and at this point I’m not sure I expect it to, the Bills will not accomplish their goals

[courtside]

23 hours ago, slufanskip said:

So close so many times. Hit the post or crossbar 3 times

Another win, but another game where we dominate play and opportunities but don’t finish well. Without hesitation this should have been minimum 4-0 and easily could have been 6-0. If this doesn’t change and at this point I’m not sure I expect it to, the Bills will not accomplish their goals

And the lack of goal scoring margin is why SLU isn’t going to be in the week to week rankings. But those things don’t matter. You have to either get a result against a high level team, a high profile team, or win by bigger margins against the other teams.

SLU has created as many if not more chances than the past few top 10 seasons. But scoring efficiency hasn’t been there. For this team that needs to be getting more from the older more experienced players. 

it was encouraging to see a few players move much better physically than they have in a couple of weeks.

SLU’s attackers including some of its most experienced players need to be stronger on the ball in the final 25 yards. A few many soft turnovers there. Need to value the ball more in that space. And find it more quickly when losing it.