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Old 08-11-2017, 11:31 PM
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Thumbs up Exhibition: Miami (OH) 4 Dayton 2

Well. That was an eye opener.

The score ended up 4-2 but the only part you really need to remember is Miami controlled the entire game start to finish. It was not all that competitive as they dominated possession and forced the Flyers to chase for most of the 90 minutes.

Dayton gave up three goals in about the first 8 minutes -- all of them from elementary defensive mistakes or compounded by small mistakes that turned into larger ones. Ridiculously soft tackling in the midfield was the primary result of about two of them. The run of play eventually got the ball into the Flyer box and after that Miami just knocked them home.

At halftime it was 3-0. Dayton made it 3-2 midway through the second half on a solid effort goal and then a Kiehl PK. But UD barfed up another one just seconds after cutting the lead to 1 and the game ended 4-2.

If you had to grade each component out in this one, I would be hard pressed to give anything better than Ds or Fs in any single category. The back line had a terrible game. Endless giveaways, awful clearances, and there were long stretches where we literally just decided to start passing it to Miami players on the defensive third to see what might happen. Every defender struggled. Kamphaus' distribution and decision-making centrally was too slow and inept. Even Pestell struggled for her standards. More on her in a minute.

In the midfield, wait, we don't have a midfield. At least not yet. We've trying Griesinger, Collie, Brown, and a couple others in there but none are what we need. Zero possession goes through the center circle and for those who dont follow soccer all too much, that's like watching a basketball team that does not do anything but shoot 3-pointers: its a sign that something is missing and you cant win over the course of a season like that. The main issue is we have way too many players that do not play with their head up. When they get the ball they need 5 touches to corral it and then figure out where teammates are, defenders are, and where the ball should go. Nobody receives the ball already knowing what to do and where to go with it. By the time they make up their mind, they are covered and are usually dispossessed. If you want to know the biggest crutch I see so far in the team, its lack of any presence in the middle third.

Without that, the offense is mostly long ball distribution from the back line to the forwards by either balls to the flag or over the top. Problem is these are the easiest balls to defend and do not yield reliable scoring chances UNLESS you have tremendous pace and dribble-drivers up top. Unfortunately, we do not other than Alexis. In fact, we lack pace everywhere on the field -- so much so that its almost shocking at times.

Nobody has any closure speed other than Kiehl or Pestell. You can run all the 40yd dashes you want, but stopwatch speed and game speed are two different things. These are the only two with game speed tonight. You cant win when only 2 of 10 field players have a "go fast" gear. If you dont have a "go fast" gear, you better be one heck of a ball-winner, possession-holder, and distributor. Problem is, those lacking pace also lack these traits too. In other words they dont have a "go to" skill that separates them from anyone else -- yet.

Miami's high-ball pressure made our back line wilt far too many times with bad clearances and poor unnecessary giveaways. But, in their defense, they have no MF to distribute the ball to yet because those players are as motionless as NOAA ocean buoys. And when they do get fed, they are dispossessed way too often. Sooner or later you'll just stop getting fed altogether if you keep losing possession. Teammates will notice who do and do not keep the ball. We need to develop a couple mids that can demand the ball, hold possession, and quickly transition us from defense to offense with distribution on the ground. But they are gonna have to dig some balls out from time to time -- its not always going to be easy and right at their feet. Tonight we didnt dig a thing out.

Up top, Miami did a nice job of bottling the Kiehlster up. She didnt get loose and do much other than a tough-angle shot off the crossbar in the first half. Again, in her defense however she had so little decent service. Just kicking 40yd long balls to her isnt the answer. Thats not playing to her strength. She needs to run at defenders w/the ball at her feet. But she needs service TO HER FEET. And she needs it while running toward goal and not having to slow down, collect, turn, and then go. Hit the woman in stride with some diagonals. Popping balls over the top and down the middle is no kind of answer. Kiehl is all about the ball at her feet.

She's on an island out there at the moment. Leroy has some muscle to throw around but lacks target size and pace. We need a target forward.

Despite Pestell struggling defensively with some uncharacteristic bad touches and passes on her part, she was the one bright spot offensively. On about 5-6 occasions she overlapped with dribble-drives on 50-60yd runs down the touch lines -- oftentimes dribbling past defenders, turning the corner, and putting a solid cross in the box. She was the only one who put decent crosses in the box tonight that had pace, placement, and purpose. To do that on those long runs as a back line player is pretty impressive. That she constantly HAD to do it however is not a great sign. If Pestell is having to do that every night for us to create a couple good scoring chances, we're in trouble. Those need to be manufactured from other areas of the field first.

Miami exposed our lack of individual foot pace nearly the entire game. Which is not a great sign because Miami was not great last year and gave up 4 goals (to one player) in their other exhibition vs NKU. We didnt exactly take on an ACC team with NCAA at-large goals tonight.

The good part about being humbled and knowing you need a ton of work is you shouldnt be overconfident moving forward. We're missing Weigel (injury) and a couple other players. But even despite this, I see warning signs after two scrimmages.

We may be able to overcome some of them, but I dont see us overcoming any of them until we get a couple MFs that can do some work around the center circle. What we're seeing is the vacancy left behind by Leedom and O'Malley. While both were up and down, when they were up, they were among the best in the league at what they could do. They also had size and vision and played with decent pace even though I wouldnt call them straight-line speedsters. But they could play quickly and thats 98% of it. Their departure left a huge void.

I will do a preseason preview early next week with my more in-depth outlook and predictions.
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Old 08-12-2017, 01:21 PM
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Just when you thought the ladies were getting a little backbone and might have a chance down 3-2 after the Kiehl PK, they give up a goal 55 seconds later on a header off a corner where the goal scorer was unmarked. Just can't happen.

Out set pieces were pretty abysmal as well. Several players tried corners but the service was not very good. LeRoy had a couple of free kicks from about 35 yards out but they were just lollypop high fly balls right to the keeper.

Miami put some pressure on our back line and it bothered us a bunch - forcing quick clearances with no purpose and bad passes. As a defender you are often on an island by yourself, developing confidence in your skills and handling pressure - not an easy skill to learn.

Other than Pestell, not much to see last night.

Need some ladies with an attitude out there.

Last edited by ud69; 08-12-2017 at 01:26 PM..
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