Let's hear it for the ladies: Field Hockey and Women's Soccer

[ASweet3781]

Yesterday the #2 Field Hockey team beat BU 5-0 to go to 15-0 and the #15 Women's Soccer team won in Double OT at Tulsa to go to 14-2.

Looking at their remaining schedules it's very likely the Field Hockey team will finish 19-0 (at Providence at Georgetown, Princeton/UMASS home) going into postseason and the women's soccer team 16-2 (Home vs Houston and SMU).

I was pleasantly surprised to see Women's Soccer is #6 in the RPI. I was worried the lack of ranked teams in the AAC would hurt them. The Field Hockey team, the winner of the last 2 National Titles, was unceremoniously dropped from the #1 ranking in favor of Syracuse, likely due to the impression the ACC is the only conference that warrants the ranking. Has the ACC frozen out playing UConn in Field Hockey? Besides BC no one played UConn this year which I find odd considering they are the winner of the last 2 titles.

Great season so far from both teams. I am especially encouraged by the resurgence of women's soccer at UConn. No idea what was going on in that program but there was a big drop off after the 2007 season and I was worried whether they'd ever make it back on the national stage under Tsantiris.

 

[4in16]

The fact a team that has won the last 2 national titles and has won 29 games in a row (15-0 this year), has 7 straight shutouts (11 total) and only given up 5 goals it is more than a bit baffling to lose the number 1 ranking regardless of conference strength. I got all this just looking at their schedule, just makes no sense.

 

[ASweet3781]

The fact a team that has won the last 2 national titles and has won 29 games in a row (15-0 this year), has 7 straight shutouts (11 total) and only given up 5 goals it is more than a bit baffling to lose the number 1 ranking regardless of conference strength. I got all this just looking at their schedule, just makes no sense.

Yup. It may be a blessing in disguise as I am sure they will use it for motivation but it's a BS thing to do. Only thing I got is they were more impressed with Syracuse win's but it's not like UConn has none. They beat Stanford, BC, ODU, Northwestern. And most of these players beat Syracuse, Duke, and UNC to win their last 2 titles. Not like they are an unproven commodity. Really demonstrates that Power 5 arrogance.

 

[dbmill]

Yesterday the #2 Field Hockey team beat BU 5-0 to go to 15-0 and the #15 Women's Soccer team won in Double OT at Tulsa to go to 14-2.

Looking at their remaining schedules it's very likely the Field Hockey team will finish 19-0 (at Providence at Georgetown, Princeton/UMASS home) going into postseason and the women's soccer team 16-2 (Home vs Houston and SMU).

I was pleasantly surprised to see Women's Soccer is #6 in the RPI. I was worried the lack of ranked teams in the AAC would hurt them. The Field Hockey team, the winner of the last 2 National Titles, was unceremoniously dropped from the #1 ranking in favor of Syracuse, likely due to the impression the ACC is the only conference that warrants the ranking. Has the ACC frozen out playing UConn in Field Hockey? Besides BC no one played UConn this year which I find odd considering they are the winner of the last 2 titles.

Great season so far from both teams. I am especially encouraged by the resurgence of women's soccer at UConn. No idea what was going on in that program but there was a big drop off after the 2007 season and I was worried whether they'd ever make it back on the national stage under Tsantiris.

I've written before on UConn field hockey not playing ACC teams during the regular season. UConn does play Boston College pretty much every season. In past seasons UConn may have another ACC team on the schedule as well, but not always. The odd thing is, these games against ACC are invariably at neutral sites, rather than a home and home series. For instance, last year UConn played North Carolina at BC, the year before that the two teams played at Old Dominion's field. In 2011 they played Virginia at Princeton. It's a pretty obvious pattern once you notice it.

One other thing I've noticed about the field hockey team this season is the scores of their games. It would seem the last two championship seasons have seen UConn play a lot of low scoring defensive games where the Huskies would win by a goal or two. This year's team seems to have the same defensive ability as before, but this season they seem to be blowing out a lot more teams.

 

[dbmill]

Yesterday the #2 Field Hockey team beat BU 5-0 to go to 15-0 and the #15 Women's Soccer team won in Double OT at Tulsa to go to 14-2.

Looking at their remaining schedules it's very likely the Field Hockey team will finish 19-0 (at Providence at Georgetown, Princeton/UMASS home) going into postseason and the women's soccer team 16-2 (Home vs Houston and SMU).

I was pleasantly surprised to see Women's Soccer is #6 in the RPI. I was worried the lack of ranked teams in the AAC would hurt them. The Field Hockey team, the winner of the last 2 National Titles, was unceremoniously dropped from the #1 ranking in favor of Syracuse, likely due to the impression the ACC is the only conference that warrants the ranking. Has the ACC frozen out playing UConn in Field Hockey? Besides BC no one played UConn this year which I find odd considering they are the winner of the last 2 titles.

Great season so far from both teams. I am especially encouraged by the resurgence of women's soccer at UConn. No idea what was going on in that program but there was a big drop off after the 2007 season and I was worried whether they'd ever make it back on the national stage under Tsantiris.

UConn women's soccer haven't looked this good for about eight years or so. I think the big difference for the women's team is that in Rachel Hill they finally have the big time scoring threat that the team has lacked since the days of Kristen Graczyk and Jessica Gjertsen 10 plus years ago. Hill is the real deal. The other thing is that this year's team has plenty of experienced and solid juniors and seniors playing in support of Hill. It's sort of the opposite of the men's team which has floundered in its youth. I suspect that the women's team will be fine as long as Hill is a Husky, after which it will be time to start worrying again.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

It had been so long since women's soccer had been relevant that I was wondering if it was time for Tsantiris to go. This year is a very pleasant surprise. I still have some reservations going forward, but I will enjoy our resurgence.
Field Hockey is a juggernaut and it's great to see. the Fruit and their number one ranking. Just like with their men's hoop team, being number 1 during the season doesn't guarantee anything in the post season. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[gioff23]

UConn's problem is 2-fold.

The ACC is to field hockey what the SEC is football.

The scheduling problem is a geographic issue - we could go to NC and play 2 games in a weekend (say, Duke, UNC, or Wake), but those schools will likely not reciprocate because when they travel to Boston by air, to play BC they want to stay in town and play a BU. And if they're (ACC teams) being honest, the 2d partner on a 2-game weekend is not supposed to be the #1 team/defending national champs.

 

[huskypantz]

It's crazy that our field hockey program has developed into a national juggernaut.....and yet they're still greatly shadowed by women's bball. I am not sure that the women's bball fans truly comprehend what they've been witnessing for the past 20 years.