Iām hyped. VERY hyped.
I am hyped as well. I think weāre gonna be really good next year.
It will be interesting how Coach uses the combination of speed and skill in the attack, since the front line does not appear to have more than average size. This could make for a 4-3-3? Portuguese style?
Looking forward to a great womens season!
i personally love the 3-1-3-3-1
3 forwards a sweeper of some sort 3 mid field 3 defense 1 goalie. the sweeper plays generally in the middle of the field. so i personally like that style best.
[QUOTE=the daxified one;216951]i personally love the 3-1-3-3-1
3 forwards a sweeper of some sort 3 mid field 3 defense 1 goalie. the sweeper plays generally in the middle of the field. so i personally like that style best.[/QUOTE]
Sweeper plays in the back. I donāt think teams play 3 forwards anymore. Maybe the coach could educate us on his various formations.
actually when i played sweeper was where ever i wanted to be.
[QUOTE=the daxified one;216951]i personally love the 3-1-3-3-1
3 forwards a sweeper of some sort 3 mid field 3 defense 1 goalie. the sweeper plays generally in the middle of the field. so i personally like that style best.[/QUOTE]
I have never seen this formation played beforeā¦sounds kinda odd. It looks like you have one to many men on the field, but I guess you are including the keeper. What teams play this formation, club and/or national? Seems like you kinda sacrifice a lot of d for potential attacks in that formation.
Alsoā¦I am not familiar with a sweep playing so far up. Typically, you play a sweeper kinda like a free safety in football. Def pos for sure.
I have never seen this formation played before.....sounds kinda odd. It looks like you have one to many men on the field, but I guess you are including the keeper. What teams play this formation, club and/or national? Seems like you kinda sacrifice a lot of d for potential attacks in that formation.Alsoā¦I am not familiar with a sweep playing so far up. Typically, you play a sweeper kinda like a free safety in football. Def pos for sure.
well we had a lot of offensive minded players and i went up when we did counters. i was including the goalie as well. but i was allowed to go any where in between th goal boxes. which i had a crazy endurance but in club play you get to sub a lot so it works fine.
coach can you officially comment on the the signees yet?
Sorry guys. Been very hectic and I have not been on much.
First about our formation ā we changed to a 4-3-3 early in the 2005 season. Actually it was the week before we went to Clemson and won the Carolinasā Cup. I am committed to playing attacking soccer and for the womenās game that means 3 up top. I also like that we can easily drop our weakside forward back so it looks like a 4-4-2 on defense or even both wide forwards and play a 4-5-1 easily (we did this in the Indiana game last fall and for the last 20 minutes of the game versus USC). Two other reasons I like it is that my wide backs can get forward into the attack (both of my wide backs this year were converted forwards), and that it puts a premium on special players in the midfield.
I can now talk all you want about the incoming class. I cannot talk about our 2008 commits, but the 07s, absolutely. What do you want to ask?
Coach Lipsitz
Coach, generally speaking, will this class see a lot of PT or is this still loading up for the future? Without naming players, did you miss out on any you wanted or did recruiting go as well/better than planned?
Sorry guys. Been very hectic and I have not been on much.First about our formation ā we changed to a 4-3-3 early in the 2005 season. Actually it was the week before we went to Clemson and won the Carolinasā Cup. I am committed to playing attacking soccer and for the womenās game that means 3 up top. I also like that we can easily drop our weakside forward back so it looks like a 4-4-2 on defense or even both wide forwards and play a 4-5-1 easily (we did this in the Indiana game last fall and for the last 20 minutes of the game versus USC). Two other reasons I like it is that my wide backs can get forward into the attack (both of my wide backs this year were converted forwards), and that it puts a premium on special players in the midfield.
I can now talk all you want about the incoming class. I cannot talk about our 2008 commits, but the 07s, absolutely. What do you want to ask?
Coach Lipsitz
which freshman do you think will personally have the biggest impact on the team in the long run?
Coach, generally speaking, which players do you think have the most ātalentā? Iām sure if thereās a lot of that on the field, more college dudes will start to show up at the game to show some support.
Coach,
My sons travel team run the 4-3-3 (Portuguese coach, played on Naval) just as you describe. And yes it places a premium on mids with good tech skill and excellent vision.
One thing I also like is the diamond (4-3-1-2) which easily morphs from the 4-3-3. Mourinho has used this at FC Porto and Chelsea. It must be a Portuguese thing.
Very much enjoy your comments. I think our womens soccer team is in excellent hands!
J Felt is cracking me up. I will leave it to you college guys to discuss the ātalentā
As for the talent, I do expect many of the newcomers to contribute right away. My greatest challenge will be combining all the returning talent with the newcomers. We are already discussing this as a team. The need to embrace these talented freshmen and make them feel comfortable right away is critical to our success.
It is so unpredictable who will contribute right away. They must come in extremely fit or they will not play. One of the ānamesā will dissapoint and one of the freshmen that I did not expect as much from will excel and come out of no where. It happens every year.
Clearly we have our biggest issues in the backline. We recruited an entire backline to come in because we will need 4 new starters by 2008. Katie Davies comes in with the most accolades and ability to step right into center back in the college game. I would expect a couple of other freshmen to compete for time in the back also.
We have a very talented group of midfielders coming in which will help give us some depth in the midfield. This has been a problem for us since my arrival and the ability to sub some in there on difficult weekends should help tremendously. Sam Huecker is the player talked about the most nationally but there are a couple other incoming midfielders that I believe are also at her level.
Up top we return everyone, and have an entire new front line coming in, so the battle for playing time should be intense. It will make everyone better.
I have been asked many times why I wanted to bring in a special and large class after losing only one player from the team (what a loss it is ā Kelsie is impossible to replace). Rather than bring in a large freshmen class to replace a great graduating class, I wanted them to come in and have a year to learn from the leaders. That way there should be no drop off after next yearās very special senior class graduates. At least that is the plan ā now we have to make it happen.
The second day of preseason in August there will be an exciting match ā¦ the GREEN and GOLD Scrimmage. This year, for the first time, we will be playing freshmen v. upperclass. Should be a great match. It will be a shame that someone has to lose on our home field. That does not happen often and I guarantee that there will be some ribbing from the coach about the losing team ruining our perfect record at home.
[QUOTE=Charlotte Soccer Coach;217844]
I have been asked many times why I wanted to bring in a special and large class after losing only one player from the team (what a loss it is ā Kelsie is impossible to replace). Rather than bring in a large freshmen class to replace a great graduating class, I wanted them to come in and have a year to learn from the leaders. That way there should be no drop off after next yearās very special senior class graduates. At least that is the plan ā now we have to make it happen.
The second day of preseason in August there will be an exciting match ā¦ the GREEN and GOLD Scrimmage. This year, for the first time, we will be playing freshmen v. upperclass. Should be a great match. It will be a shame that someone has to lose on our home field. That does not happen often and I guarantee that there will be some ribbing from the coach about the losing team ruining our perfect record at home.[/QUOTE]
Coach, thanks for the insight. How do the scholarships work when you only lose 1 player and bring in so many (15 or so?)? How many do you have to work with?
I canāt believe I donāt know this but are you saying you havenāt lost at home since youāve been here? Wow.
We were undefeated at home in 2006 (7-0-2)
In 2005 we were 6-3-0 at home.
We led the conference in attendance this year and we were undefeated at home ā can you say DIRECT CORRELATION! The team talks about the fans and other coaches comment on how loud it gets. Thatās enough for me!
Coach, what do you see as our most important game next year and how do you think A-10 womenās soccer in general will shake out?
Great questions, and tough ones to answer.
I tell the players all the time that what we āthinkā will happen means nothing, we have to go get it done. That being said ā I think there are a few things that stand out.
We know in order to increase our RPI we have to travel and play tough out of region games. In September we travel to Athens to play UGA on a Thursday and then straight out to Tempe to play ASU that Sunday. Since this is early in the season it is a chance to make some noise plus the UGA game looks like it may be televised nationally on CSTV (coming to TW cable soon).
The following weekend we are home hosting USC and Clemson. Thatās two very big weekends in a row. Mix in some important instate matches and we have a tough pre-conference schedule.
As for the A10, many people are thinking St Louis will drop a long way. Not a chance. Sure they will be in transition having lost a fantastic senior class, but they are still very talented.
Dayton returns all but one player from their 06 roster. They will be very tough. I think URI will also be highly placed in the preseason conference poll. I could keep listing teams as I think the A10 will be much stronger in 07 and continue to get stronger in the coming years.
What I hope will be the biggest game of the year will be on Sunday, November 11th on our home field. This is the date for the A10 Tournament Championship match and we will be hosting it. A beautiful November day, playing for an NCAA bid in front of a couple thousand rabid fans. Sounds like a good day!
wow that is a tough stretch of OOC games.