Duke Women's Soccer 2024

Clemson lost 4-0 at Auburn
Notre Dame lost 2-1 at home to Michigan State

As for Duke, the OSU keeper played well. Have to give credit where credit is due
That said, the 2 mistakes noted above were commonplace in seemingly every game last year. You just can’t get beat like that over the top and expect to compete with Florida State. You can’t clear rebounds up the middle. You have to play progressively when you pass the ball and you have to draw the defender towards you to create space. At some point, you have to give younger players a shot.
 
TheTrain said:
The goal we surrendered was just awful. In the 55th minute, Bruster gets the ball under no pressure and for whatever reason decides to strike a weak back pass to Freeman.
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That pass was insane. She wasn't under any pressure at all, and the defender was right in front of her! That pass didn't have any authority to it at all. Inexcusable.

The bigger systemic concern, though, is the finishing. I didn't see the game, but it's hard to believe that we generated 11 shots on goal and couldn't convert any of them, no matter how good the keeper was. Putting 50% of your shot attempts on goal is pretty normal, but putting 0-for-11 of those on-goal attempts into the back of the net is terrible.
 
If you look at the roster composition, we have very few true defenders. Just bizarre. So here is a random thought: who are your 10 best outfield players and just play them regardless of class. Lynch is a rugged, physical player with offensive skills. Could she not be the answer at centerback to pair with Roller? Are there not faster midfielders or forwards that would make better outside backs?
 
Field and stadium conditions looked wet. Yes more weight could have been placed on the pass which was dangerous to begin with. I’m sure she would love to have it back. Learn and move on. I am more shocked by the commentary of the posters, however. To use terms like “mindless,” “insane,” “pathetic,” “bizarre” and “inexcusable” is sad. These are someone’s daughters. Do you have some hidden agenda? If you’re going to start a thread then show some support for these players. They are not professionals. Please review the section in posting guidelines about Destructive Negativity.
 
quahog174 said:
Field and stadium conditions looked wet. Yes more weight could have been placed on the pass which was dangerous to begin with. I’m sure she would love to have it back. Learn and move on. I am more shocked by the commentary of the posters, however. To use terms like “mindless,” “insane,” “pathetic,” “bizarre” and “inexcusable” is sad. These are someone’s daughters. Do you have some hidden agenda? If you’re going to start a thread then show some support for these players. They are not professionals. Please review the section in posting guidelines about Destructive Negativity.
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Hey clam up! (I'm kidding, I'm kidding, couldn't resist). Yeah, we need to be a bit more tolerant of youthful miscues.
 
Unfortunately, these mistakes have been repeated multiple times with no accountability. Nobody is besmirching one’s character. When the QB throws repeated interceptions or the RB repeatedly fumbles, they get criticized. When the point guard repeatedly turns the ball over, they get criticized. That pass for a starter for a power program is inexcusable. It can’t happen.
 
At the end of the day, the buck stops with Church. He keeps rolling the same players out there expecting different results. As a coach, you must have accountability. Ultimately, he is responsible.
 
TheTrain said:
Unfortunately, these mistakes have been repeated multiple times with no accountability. Nobody is besmirching one’s character. When the QB throws repeated interceptions or the RB repeatedly fumbles, they get criticized. When the point guard repeatedly turns the ball over, they get criticized. That pass for a starter for a power program is inexcusable. It can’t happen.
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How in the world do you know that there is no accountability? And why is it up to you to press the public accountability button here? I for one appreciated quahog174's comments, and in fact they made me feel some shame that I didn't post something similar.

There are a lot of ways of providing feedback, Train, that get the point across but stop short of using loaded words like I've seen here and in other threads (golf threads being a prime example). There is a definite line that, I believe, quite a few of us like to see drawn on DBR, one between constructive criticism and humiliating criticism. My belief is that you and others here have crossed that line more than once. And yes, that is my belief; I am not a moderator or anything and my word carries for next to nothing here, so please feel free to flame or ignore. But I think there might be more than one or two DBR members who just might agree (at least in principle).
 
I'm happy to retract my "insane" comment. That was wrong, and I apologize for it. I think @quahog174 was right to call me out on it.

However, I do stand by the word "inexcusable". A D1 soccer player simply cannot make that pass. Better to be dispossessed by an aggressive defender or clear the ball long than to make that pass, especially when the defender is in full view. I would bet money that Bruster feels exactly the same way in retrospect.

But it illustrates one of the basic problems with soccer compared to basketball: It's easy in basketball to find something redeeming in a player's performance, even if someone had an overall terrible day (and we've seen plenty of criticism in the basketball threads). In soccer, scoring is so rare that a single moment of bad play, especially by a defender, can be the bulk of the difference between winning and losing for the entire team, and it can completely define a player's performance for the game. Soccer is a beautiful game, but it is incredibly unforgiving.

In any case, my apologies to Bruster and the team. I'll try to do better in the future.
 
Phredd3, I truly mean no offense because I normally enjoy your posts, but "inexcusable" is a pretty loaded word in my book. I cannot make an educated response in this instance, because I have not seen the play in question, but I can draw a parallel. The lacrosse tournament game several years back against the Hoos, where we got control of the ball with under a minute to play and only had to hold the ball to win and advance to the finals (I think, might have been semis), only to throw it out of bounds and enable UVA to tie it and then win in OT: that might well have been the single worst lacrosse play I have ever seen, and I ranted and raved (privately) for hours about it ... but I still would not go far enough to call that "inexcusable". Stuff happens in the heat of the moment, and anybody can make a (to use one term) bone-head play. And I am guessing that the lacrosse player making that pass, as well as the women's soccer player making that pass, realized within a second just how bone-head it really was. Such is sports, and I think it's fair game to call out something like that in a public forum, but preferably in a manner that doesn't make it seem so much like the poster is personally offended by the player's action.
 
75Crazie said:
Phredd3, I truly mean no offense because I normally enjoy your posts, but "inexcusable" is a pretty loaded word in my book. I cannot make an educated response in this instance, because I have not seen the play in question, but I can draw a parallel. The lacrosse tournament game several years back against the Hoos, where we got control of the ball with under a minute to play and only had to hold the ball to win and advance to the finals (I think, might have been semis), only to throw it out of bounds and enable UVA to tie it and then win in OT: that might well have been the single worst lacrosse play I have ever seen, and I ranted and raved (privately) for hours about it ... but I still would not go far enough to call that "inexcusable". Stuff happens in the heat of the moment, and anybody can make a (to use one term) bone-head play. And I am guessing that the lacrosse player making that pass, as well as the women's soccer player making that pass, realized within a second just how bone-head it really was. Such is sports, and I think it's fair game to call out something like that in a public forum, but preferably in a manner that doesn't make it seem so much like the poster is personally offended by the player's action.
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In this case, I think it is just a semantic difference. I even said, "I would bet money that Bruster feels exactly the same way in retrospect." My use of that word is not meant to be as loaded as you apparently feel it is, and I am in no way personally offended by the pass in question. It's an issue that the individual and the team absolutely must address, but that is all I mean by that expression. I'm not sure what word or phrase you would use to describe the lacrosse play you mentioned, but please substitute in whatever phrase you would have used there, and I think we're on the same page.
 
You know what? That was a pretty stupid play! And you know something else? I have seen more than one EPL player make that same type of pass. As I said ... stuff happens. I can definitely excuse that play at a level that is (supposedly, at least) amateur far more readily than at a professional level. And I think the discussion of such plays should be similarly weighted. As much as college sports is trending towards the professional level ... my guess is that women's soccer is not yet close to that.

And Phredd3, I agree more than you might think. My callout is colored by the occurrence of your term in near proximity to other weighted terms in the last couple of days.

And, while I have the floor, I have noticed something else: there are evidently 3 Phredds and 174 quahogs on this board. Is that correct, or am I not interpreting these aliases correctly? In my case, I know there are far more than 75 Crazies here.
 
75Crazie said:
You know what? That was a pretty stupid play! And you know something else? I have seen more than one EPL player make that same type of pass. As I said ... stuff happens. I can definitely excuse that play at a level that is (supposedly, at least) amateur far more readily than at a professional level. And I think the discussion of such plays should be similarly weighted. As much as college sports is trending towards the professional level ... my guess is that women's soccer is not yet close to that.

And Phredd3, I agree more than you might think. My callout is colored by the occurrence of your term in near proximity to other weighted terms in the last couple of days.

And, while I have the floor, I have noticed something else: there are evidently 3 Phredds and 174 quahogs on this board. Is that correct, or am I not interpreting these aliases correctly? In my case, I know there are far more than 75 Crazies here.
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That play reminds me of Fred Brown-James Worthy
 
Look, we’re all on the same team here. My point was simply to let’s be more positive and supportive and ultimately enjoy the games more. If this away game was going to be a stern test to begin with, then I think we performed admirably and I like our chances moving forward especially if we play OSU again on a neutral field. Finally I fail to see that Bruster repeatedly committed the same mistake. It was a one-time gaffe.
 
I think the worst back pass I've ever seen in women's soccer game was in the 1999 World Cup quarterfinal. Brandi Chastain put it past Briana Scurry and into the net. Turned out OK in the long run.

In men's soccer, I've seen some UGLY back passes.
 
75Crazie said:
And, while I have the floor, I have noticed something else: there are evidently 3 Phredds and 174 quahogs on this board. Is that correct, or am I not interpreting these aliases correctly? In my case, I know there are far more than 75 Crazies here.
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There are 3 Phredds on this board, but unfortunately, I'm all of them. It just depends on how I wake up which one you get: the polite one, the nasty one (see above), or the light-hearted one.
 
Halftime from Lincoln
1-0 Duke
11 shots (5 SOG) for Duke
4 shots (0 SOG) for Nebraska
2 changes to Duke’s starting lineup: Bruster and Piper out; Hase and Groff in
Piper has not entered the game
 
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