Semifinal 1 -- UNC v. BC

[Matnum PI]

BC and their fans having a party. Pretty cool.

SU and NU players looked stunned walking onto the field. Warming up now...

[Snog]

Congrats to BC for taking down the Heels. Exciting game. Felt it came down to shooting. Carolina 34 shots 10 goals 11 saved wasted 13 shots. BC did much better 25 shots 8 saved 11 goals only 6 wasted. Big delta in a 1 goal game !!

[tothedraw]

What a job by AWW this year. To get that defense and goalie up to the level they played today was outstanding. And it was definitely not the North show, she did her job, didn't force it but came up with key ones when they needed it. Team game. I'm hoping for a BC/SU final.

[Can Opener]

Congrats to BC for taking down the Heels. Exciting game. Felt it came down to shooting. Carolina 34 shots 10 goals 11 saved wasted 13 shots. BC did much better 25 shots 8 saved 11 goals only 6 wasted. Big delta in a 1 goal game !!

FPS were a disaster for Carolina. Especially those last two -- stick side high and over the cage. Ouch.

[LarryGamLax]

Like I said...Perceived greatness and Real greatness.

Let the excuse making begin.....



BC - 11 , UNC -10....HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN??

[tothedraw]

Hall on fire and a poor shooting day by UNC will negate draw wins pretty quickly.Ortega was "off".

[seacoaster]

What a job by AWW this year. To get that defense and goalie up to the level they played today was outstanding. And it was definitely not the North show, she did her job, didn't force it but came up with key ones when they needed it. Team game. I'm hoping for a BC/SU final.

Agree 100%. And AWW outcoached her counterpart in this game. Better game plan, and UNC didn't adjust.

I don't think Ortega was off; I think Scales did a remarkable job on her today. BC bottled up Hoeg a lot, and got the benefit of poor shots (FPSs especially) and about seven really good stops from No. 1. I've been critical of Hall all year, but she and Scales are the MVPs today.

[Can Opener]

What a job by AWW this year. To get that defense and goalie up to the level they played today was outstanding. And it was definitely not the North show, she did her job, didn't force it but came up with key ones when they needed it. Team game. I'm hoping for a BC/SU final.

+100

[DMac]

Belle Smith quietly played a pretty good game on both ends of the field too.
Very steady player.

[Cletus]

Pretty surprising that the three T finalists in this game are all coming up pretty small.

Good point. Moreno is no longer a contender. Ortega will need to win this for UNC and/or have a monster of a final. If Carolina wins, but Ortega is held to low points here, I would say Izzy can plan her victory speech.

Did you start eating those gummy bears already? Charlotte North has a boatload of draw controls in addition to virtually the same number of goals as Scane. Where do you see that Scane is a shoe in just because the Carolina blue are out?

[totc]

Great win by BC. North Carolina has looked vulnerable the last third of the season. They got bit today.

You have a point. There is a sports team with offices nearby the UNC lax team that had the same levels of expectation for a national title, and had four overtime games to end its regular season. It also found itself in a fifth OT in the national final. But the field hockey team was able to win the Division I title a scant three weeks ago.

[Cletus]

BC and their fans having a party. Pretty cool.

SU and NU players looked stunned walking onto the field. Warming up now...

Oooh—that’s a cool bit of reporting from the “field”

[seacoaster]

Pretty surprising that the three T finalists in this game are all coming up pretty small.

Good point. Moreno is no longer a contender. Ortega will need to win this for UNC and/or have a monster of a final. If Carolina wins, but Ortega is held to low points here, I would say Izzy can plan her victory speech.

Did you start eating those gummy bears already? Charlotte North has a boatload of draw controls in addition to virtually the same number of goals as Scane. Where do you see that Scane is a shoe in just because the Carolina blue are out?

Agree; I actually think the frontrunner -- right now -- is Charlotte.

[njbill]

I actually credit the BC win almost entirely to Hall. She is responsible for the poor shooting by Carolina, I think. A large percentage of Hall’s saves were very high quality. It wasn’t bad shots, it was great saves. When a goalie is playing at her level, 6’ by 6’ becomes 3’ by 3’.

Carolina crushed Boston College on the draw. North got zero draws. They held her to two goals on eight shots. She turned the ball over a few times. The game plan certainly was to shut her down. That plan was a success. (Once again Trenchard shut down North. Why Colson was a Tewaaraton finalist and Trenchard wasn’t is a travesty.)

Another part of UNC’s game plan was to win the draw. That part of the plan was a great success today.

North Carolina held BC to 11 goals. That should have been enough to win the game, and would have been but for Hall.

I’m willing to give the BC coach credit for getting her players pumped up to play a good, solid game. But that wouldn’t have been enough if Hall had only played a very good game.

North Carolina lost today primarily because they came up against a white hot goalie. It happens. That’s not to take anything away from BC’s historic win. A goalie is one of the 12 players. If one player plays out of this world, her team may win because of her performance, as happened today.

[Bart]

What a job by AWW this year. To get that defense and goalie up to the level they played today was outstanding. And it was definitely not the North show, she did her job, didn't force it but came up with key ones when they needed it. Team game. I'm hoping for a BC/SU final.

Agreed with AWW. Elite coaching by her and her staff today and this year.

[njbill]

Pretty surprising that the three T finalists in this game are all coming up pretty small.

Good point. Moreno is no longer a contender. Ortega will need to win this for UNC and/or have a monster of a final. If Carolina wins, but Ortega is held to low points here, I would say Izzy can plan her victory speech.

Did you start eating those gummy bears already? Charlotte North has a boatload of draw controls in addition to virtually the same number of goals as Scane. Where do you see that Scane is a shoe in just because the Carolina blue are out?

Agree; I actually think the frontrunner -- right now -- is Charlotte.

I suppose, but that is only because Scane hasn’t played yet today (perhaps why you said “right now”). If Syracuse wins, then North’s chances improve, if for no other reason than she will have another chance to have a good game.

But North hurt her chances today because she had a sub par game, arguably even a poor game. Now, she benefits from the fact that two of her competitors played worse than she did and, I think, are effectively out of the running.

Let’s see what Scane does today when she comes up to bat.

[seacoaster]

Njbill: "(Once again Trenchard shut down North. Why Colson was a Tewaaraton finalist and Trenchard wasn’t is a travesty.)"

Absolutely.

[tothedraw]

I think she deserves credit for shoring up a defense that was a weak point early and not relying on North so heavily that when she has a regular day it's not a killer. Hall was white hot, agreed.

I'm a Maryland fan but also agree that Colson was not the best defender this year. But how many T finalists will they give one team?

[DMac]

njbill wrote
I actually credit the BC win almost entirely to Hall. She is responsible for the poor shooting by Carolina, I think. A large percentage of Hall’s saves were very high quality. It wasn’t bad shots, it was great saves. When a goalie is playing at her level, 6’ by 6’ becomes 3’ by 3’.

Carolina crushed Boston College on the draw. North got zero draws. They held her to two goals on eight shots. She turned the ball over a few times. The game plan certainly was to shut her down. That plan was a success. (Once again Trenchard shut down North. Why Colson was a Tewaaraton finalist and Trenchard wasn’t is a travesty.)

"Almost entirely" has to leave a lot of room for some pretty good D played by the people in front of her too. BC D never really let UNC get into high gear and roll the way they usually do.
North didn't win any draws but UNC didn't win all of them either. I think you're shorting Charlotte a little here in saying she played small today (earlier post). When they had her out front (why she didn't play out there all afternoon is beyond me) the Heels had to double her which creates opportunities for others. She drew the D way out, and for my money this should have gone on all afternoon (she also would have eventually split that double and beat them). I thought she played within herself, didn't hog the ball and try to win it all by herself, and kept the team steady (seemed to take control in the after goal huddles). Not a game in which she dominated as she has so often, but a pretty steady game nonetheless.

[njbill]

njbill wrote
I actually credit the BC win almost entirely to Hall. She is responsible for the poor shooting by Carolina, I think. A large percentage of Hall’s saves were very high quality. It wasn’t bad shots, it was great saves. When a goalie is playing at her level, 6’ by 6’ becomes 3’ by 3’.

Carolina crushed Boston College on the draw. North got zero draws. They held her to two goals on eight shots. She turned the ball over a few times. The game plan certainly was to shut her down. That plan was a success. (Once again Trenchard shut down North. Why Colson was a Tewaaraton finalist and Trenchard wasn’t is a travesty.)

"Almost entirely" has to leave a lot of room for some pretty good D played by the people in front of her too. BC D never really let UNC get into high gear and roll the way they usually do.
North didn't win any draws but UNC didn't win all of them either. I think you're shorting Charlotte a little here in saying she played small today (earlier post). When they had her out front (why she didn't play out there all afternoon is beyond me) the Heels had to double her which creates opportunities for others. She drew the D way out, and for my money this should have gone on all afternoon (she also would have eventually split that double and beat them). I thought she played within herself, didn't hog the ball and try to win it all by herself, and kept the team steady (seemed to take control in the after goal huddles). Not a game in which she dominated as she has so often, but a pretty steady game nonetheless.

BC defense did play very well today. So, yes, the coach, or at least Coach Kent, gets credit for that. But if Hall had only had a very good day, BC loses, notwithstanding the good defense.

UNC won the draw 16-7. North got no draws. People have been touting her as a great draw collector, which she has been. But not today. She shot 2 for 8 and had several turnovers. I think she had a bad game. If you think otherwise, you of course are entitled to your opinion.

I don’t give North much credit, if any, for any good play from her teammates. If I am being doubled, and my teammates play well, I get credit? Don’t think I agree with that.

I also don’t give her any credit for staying out of the way (not your words). Don’t follow your logic there.