Women's Soccer

[ASweet3781]

Has Coach Len given up?

Don't see a lot of urgency in that program anymore. I see a lot of mediocre results.

In this sticky time in college athletics I am disappointed that a program that was arguably the most successful on campus pre UConn 2000 seems so rudderless at a time when they should be helping lead us to success on the field.

 

[Gurleyman]

They really haven't been very good in a while. There was one Cinderella run to the finals in the early 2000s, but that's been an outlier. Probably they were hurt by the number of big money schools (SEC, etc.) that added the sport in the Title IX boom of the 90s. Top Northeast (even in-state) talent has gone away (Penn State had a team USA level forward from Connecticut a few years ago).

Somewhat encouraging loss to Stanford - a 1-0 defeat, but outshooting the No 2 team in the nation 17-12 or so is a positive in terms of potential. I was expecting a whooping.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I have wondered that, especially after being friends with and watching the Huskies play in the mid to late 1990’s when UConn was a Top 5 program and fell to either ND or UNC in the Final 4 several years in a row.

I have a good friend who is connected to the women’s team and she states a handful of key issues:

1) Recruiting - Historically, UConn’s bread and butter was depth from Connecticut and all-stars from the rest of New England and key talent pools like Long Island and Northern Jersey. Today, UConn only has 1 player from NNJ and 2 from Long island and they are not the Gatorade state player of the year types anymore. UNC has 5 from NJJ and LI, Penn State has 7, and even BC has 6. Outside of the Northeast, UConn has had limited success, which is a problem as the soccer talent has spread to places like NC (UNC’s teams in the 90’s were Mid-Atlantic and Midwest based), Florida, Texas, and California (Santa Clara, Portland, UCLA & Stanford have always been good).

2) Competition - Due to Title IX and the explosion of money going into football primarily, universities like Florida State, Florida, and Texas A&M have jumped into the national title hunt over the last 10 to 15 years (note that the SEC does not even sponsor men’s soccer).

3) Inquiries - Ever year, especially in the last 5 or so, UConn has been clobbered by injuries and other roster losses. Without the depth they used to have, these loses cannot be covered and their record shows such.

Overall, Len is a good guy; but, I agree that a fresh look maybeneeded and more attention from the university as a while (the team hit their pinnacle just as the women’s basketball team hit prime time, and now they are travelling in opposite directions).

 

[ASweet3781]

Looking at their recent seasons very clear patterns emerged.

A. They completely over schedule out of conference early on staring off with multiple ranked teams right off the bat.
B. They lose the vast majority of these tough out of league games putting them in a hole they need to dig out of every year.
C. Playing the tough schedule doesn't seem to be beneficial to them because they usually go on to lose or tie mediocre competition later on in the season meaning they can't make up their losses early on and miss the NCAA Tournament. It also shows that playing the tough competition doesn't seem to make them better.

I saw on their season preview on the UConn site where Len says he'd rather play the tough teams to see what he has instead of beating the weak teams. Well that is clearly not working out well for them. You can't be so stubborn in your ways that you don't adjust when it doesn't work anymore.

 

[Gregory Koch]

Hey, we almost beat a top 5 team last year. If we had held off UCLA and the rain for 12 more minutes, we would have won. Although if the rain didn't come after that, we'd still have another 20 minutes to hold off the Bruins. Instead, it was 3-2 after 58 minutes, and they called it since it has to go 70 minutes to be official. And that was the high point of our season. Shame.

 

[Gurleyman]

They've played better since that opening day. Narrow loss to No. 2 Stanford where we outshot them, and now four straight shutout wins, including Syracuse this weekend (I almost called that our Big East opener).

Too early to say for sure if we've improved or if we've just taken advantage of an easier stretch of schedule.

 

[dbmill]

They've played better since that opening day. Narrow loss to No. 2 Stanford where we outshot them, and now four straight shutout wins, including Syracuse this weekend (I almost called that our Big East opener).

Too early to say for sure if we've improved or if we've just taken advantage of an easier stretch of schedule.

I regularly attend the women's soccer games. No question they are a better team. Offensively, they are a very spotty team. They constantly go for the long ball, and often take long range shots instead of setting up the offense, and it drives me a bit crazy. However the big improvement is on defense. Freshman Goalkeeper Emily Armstrong is a big improvement over what they have had the last few years. I think the other big improvement on the defensive side is the play of Gabby Cuevas. She was a highly touted recruit who had to sit out the last couple of years due to ACL injuries. Cuevas is now healthy and playing, and she is making a big difference in the back line. She doesn't seem to be overly fast, perhaps due to her past injuries, but she seems to be a very heady and talented player who just seems to make good decisions and plays. Overall, the defense this year rarely panics or gets into mad scrambles around the net.

The big match coming up on the schedule is a home game against Georgetown on Sept. 22. UConn played them on the road last season and got killed, 4-0. I understand the Hoyas are still quite good, so it will be interesting to see how it goes this time around. UConn played much better than I ever expected against Stanford, so I expect this to be a good game.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

UConn lost to G-Town 2 to one; but, they did out-shoot the Hoyas 16 (1 goal, 6 save) to 7 (2 goals, 2 Saves).

Also not thrilled that the attendance was just north of 800. I wish UConn built the new basketball practice facility in another location so that the soccer stadium could be moved to the Memorial stadium location to help gain more student visibility. The women's team has fallen to 24th place in attendance as of 2012 with an average attendance per game of 924. UConn was #16 in 2011 with an average attendance of 960.

 

[FDNY99]

UConn lost to G-Town 2 to one; but, they did out-shoot the Hoyas 16 (1 goal, 6 save) to 7 (2 goals, 2 Saves).

Also not thrilled that the attendance was just north of 800. I wish UConn built the new basketball practice facility in another location so that the soccer stadium could be moved to the Memorial stadium location to help gain more student visibility. The women's team has fallen to 24th place in attendance as of 2012 with an average attendance per game of 924. UConn was #16 in 2011 with an average attendance of 960.

If they end up swapping the soccer field with the football practice field they will be right up on top of the hill directly above the hoops facility. That should help a little bit.