Sooner Women's Soccer - Out West for 2 Matches - Gonzaga-Montana

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Women's Soccer Team will be out west this weekend to play two matches against good competition. On Thursday, the first match will be against Gonzaga at 9 PM. The Match against Gonzaga will be on ESPN+ and will have a Live Stats feed as well. On Sunday, the Sooners will play Montana at 1 PM CST. Only Live Stats is available for this match.

The Sooners will need to rebound from their 4-0 loss to Samford last Sunday to get ready to play this 'weekend' against two quality teams. In 2022, Gonzaga was 10-3-5 with a conference record of 5-1-3. This season in 2023, the Zags are 3-1 as they have defeated Houston Christian 3-0, Hawaii 7-5 and Weber State 9-2. Their loss was their last match against Nebraska 1-3. In 2022 Boise State was 7-7-6 and 3-4-1 in their conference. In 2023, they are 3-0-1 as they have defeated North Dakota 1-0, North Dakota State 3-1, MSU-Billings 4-0 and tied their last match against Ohio State 2-2.

With their 3-1 record through the first two weekends of the 2023 Season, the Sooners do show the promise of a successful season. The two matches this weekend look to be solid matches against two decent squads. Two wins by OU would indicate that the Sooners are perhaps on their way to a breakout season in 2023.

I wonder if there will be a change in GK this week. Ramey #0 has not played poorly, but at times she is a bit passive on balls in the box. Giorgio #1 seems to attack the ball a bit more strongly than Ramey does, when it is needed. We could continue to see the two GK'ers rotating in the two halves also.

I think the defensive back will remain the same, but perhaps Clifton #23 might get a start with Andi Wolfe #19 and Cailey England #8 on the back row. That would leave Stevens #4, Kroflin #22, Matise #9 and Parkhurst #6 to be in the next line of defense or subs for the back row.

Weber #31, Pak #7, Brown #14 and Commaret #28 will probably man the midfield with help from Kroflin and Matise.

Washington #12, Murrell #5, Danni Wolfe #16 and Hawkins #2 will start up front for the Sooners with Wagner #20, Pappas #15, and Eikelbarner #24 providing minutes on the pitch in relief.

I will be hoping to see good ball control and passes in the midfield area of the pitch. If OU can maintain the ball through the middle of the pitch, the forwards acan attack the goal as they have scored 18 goals in their first four games despite being shutout by Samford.

I think I saw Galekhutle #10 (a new transfer from Tyler Juco) on the sidelines against Samford. If so, she might contribute as a midfielder or forward this weekend.

I think that the Sooners will return from Spokane, WA late Sunday afternoon with at least a 1-1 weekend. With good play this weekend, they could return after a 2-0 weekend in Spokane.

Good luck to the Sooners this weekend.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The first match on the trip to Washington did not go too well for the Sooners as they played Gonzaga in a late night match if you are in Oklahoma. Gonzaga scored twice in the first 25 minutes to take control of the match with their pressure in the midfield area and their possession time. The final score of 3-0 win for Gonzaga probably did not indicate the true picture as Gonzaga was in control throughout the match. But OU did play better in the second half. I will add that Gonzaga is currently ranked #24 and I did not know that until the commentators mentioned it. I missed that.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Gonzaga match.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/8/31 ... 24-gonzaga

The 9 PM first touch start included a couple new wrinkles in the starting lineup for the Sooners.

GK - Ramey
The Defensive Row row was England, A Wolfe and Clifton
The Midfield players were Kroflin, Weber and Pak
The Outside Halfbacks were Washington and Murrell
The Forwards were Hawkins and D Wolfe.
The 7 subs used in the first half were in order;

Parkhurst (Mid) for Kroflin.
Matise (OHalf) for Murrell,
Galekhutle (Mid) for Pak, (This was the first action of the season for Galekhutle.)
Stevens (Def) for Clifton,
Wagner (FWD) for D Wolfe,
Brown (Mid) for Weber,
Pappas (OHalf) for Washington,

The match started on a down note as a shot from the outer edge of the box was not successfully handled by Ramey. On the bounce off her attempt to catch the shot, Katie Doyle of the Zags was johnny-on-the-spot to quickly play the ball and score for Gonzaga in the 7th minute of play. It was an unfortunate goal against OU. In the 28th minute, the Gonzaga picked up a corner kick against the Sooners. Gonzaga served the ball well into the center of the box as Giana Riley scored on a nice one-touch header/shoulder for the goal from the Maddie Kemp lofted corner kick. It was Kemp's 2nd assist of the match. The first half was spent in the OU defensive half of the pitch. The Zags had possession of the ball in OU's defensive half for 58% of the time and 62% of the time. OU only possessed the ball in their offensive end for 7% of the half. The Sooners were outshot 12 to 2 and the Zags had 5 corners to OU's 0 corner kicks.

The Sooners came out in the second half and played better against Gonzaga and maintained possession of the ball for longer periods of time. The Sooners ended up with the ball in possession in their offensive end of the pitch for 55% of their possession time by the end of the game. That was up from 39% at half. Oklahoma did outshoot Gonzaga 10-6 in the 2nd half as they tried to get back into the contest. A Gonzaga goal 21 minutes into the 2nd half probably ended the Sooners chances for a tie or a win. After a foul against OU, the defensive set was a bit slow in getting set up and no Sooner was watching the ball closely. The Zag player at the ball, Maddie Kemp again, noticed that the Marissa Garcia was wide open in a 10-15 yard gap between two Sooners in the box. A quick pass from Kemp to Garcia produced a 1-on-1 chance that Garcia scored on against Giorgio, who played the 2nd half for OU as GK'er. It was a sleepy goal allowed by OU off of a head's up play by Kemp.

In the second half, the Sooners added Commaret (Mid) to the subs that played along with Giorgio.

Hawkins, A Wolfe and England played the entire 1st half for OU. For the game, A Wolfe and England played the entire 90 minutes. seven (7) other Sooners played 59 minutes or more with Hawkins (82), Weber (77), Washington (77), Clifton (72), D Wolfe (70), Murrell (63) and Pak (59). Parkhurst played the most minutes off the bench with 40.

My observation about the Sooner play the last two games is as follows. The back row of 3 main players are playing well but they are often outmanned and the midfielders have trouble getting back on the outsides of the 3 person back line and in front of the back line. Pak, Washington, Murrell and often Weber are pushing forward to help Hawkins and D Wolfe in the offensive end. Last night Kroflin tried to stay back in the middle of the pitch to help the defense but the outside was pretty open against OU. It is a tough thing for the outside half's to work the entire length of the pitch effectively. When the ball gets to the offensive end near the box for the Sooners is often 2 against 3 or four defensive players. There are just not enough Sooners forward. The 3-5-2 concept (it was termed a 5-3-2 alignment by the announcers last night) requires a lot of speed outside and good possession in the midfield area from what I see. The Sooners try to slant the field towards the ball and play with 4 defenders most of the time towards that side. But when the ball comes from the middle and then outside, one side seems to be short of defensive players. Possession of the ball is very important to the Sooners it seems. Without the ball and in quick transitions, the Sooners end up out of position. It is true that Samford and now, Gonzaga, have amplified that fact and they both seem to be strong teams. Stronger certainly than Tulsa, ORU and Ark-Pine Bluff.

I hope things will go better on Sunday at 1 PM against Montana. The Sooners are now 3-2 on the young season. The only way to view the match on Sunday will be via Live Stats.

Good luck to the Sooners on Sunday as they look to jump back on the winning side.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Today's match against Montana may be a stiff test for the Sooners, their 3rd tough match in a row. Montana is now 4-0-1 as they have outscored opponents 14-3 in their five matches. the tie for Montana was a 2-2 tie to Ohio State in which they trailed 1-2 at the half.

In their five games, the Grizzles have only allowed 38 shots with only 11 saves being required while allowing only 3 goals. Eleven (11) different players have scored for Montana in the 5 games. Ten (10) players have picked up an assist.

Montana appears to have a very good defense and looks to possess the ball a majority of the time allow so few good shots.

The match today at noon will not be televised. OU Soccer fans will have to watch via "Live Stats" which is an "art" all to itself.

Good luck to the Sooners today at [Edit: 1 PM not noon]. Hopefully the Sooners can get back on the winning side of the score.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners played an intense match in Spokane to finish their west coast trip. The Montana Grizzles bested the Sooners however in a tight 1-0 match with the winning goal scoring in the 43rd minute of the first half. Montana's Kathleen Aitchison came off the bench to score the games only goal. Montana raised their season's record to 5-0-1.

Montana only had 6 shots in the 90 minutes of play with Oklahoma's Sierra Giorgio picking up 4 saves as five of the six Grizzlies were 'on goal'. Oklahoma limited the Montana corner kicks to 2 in the game as well.

Oklahoma played forward after the game's only goal. The Sooners tallied 16 shots with 5 shots on goal as the Montana GK'er stopped all 5 shots on goal. Eight of the 15 shots by Oklahoma was blocked by the defense of Montana. Oklahoma did earn 8 corner kicks on the day with no goals coming of the set pieces. Hawkins had 5 shots with one stopped by the GK. Murrell had 3 shots with 1 'on goal'. Three Sooners had 2 shots with Danielle Wolfe and Leonie Weber with each putting 1 shot on goal. England and Kroflin had the two remaining shots in the match with England's being saved just under the crossbar.

Once again, the Sooners were on the short end of the possession total with 43% or 38:42 minutes of possession. But in those minutes the Sooners were on attack 69% of that time.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the match against Montana.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/3/ ... na-on-road

The Sooners have no gone 3 matches without the Sooners kicking the ball into the twine behind the GK. The record for the Sooners is now 3-3 on the season and that have scored 18 goals while allowing 11 goals in 2023. The Sooners have been outscored 0-8 in their last 3 matches. The record of those 3 teams is 13-2-3 in the young season. (Gonzaga was leading Utah Tech 2-0 at the half when this was written for that 13th win.)

There was one change in the starting lineup today for the Sooners as Sierra Giorgio started in goal for the Sooners. The rest of the lineup was the same as it was on Thursday with:

England, A Wolfe and Clifton on the 3-player back line. Washington and Murrell were on the outside on the middle of the field playing up on offense and back on defense. Pak, Weber and Kroflin were in the midfield with Hawkins and D Wolfe as the forwards. Eight of the 10 starters played 71 minutes or more in the match. Six of them played all 90 minutes.
The bench was shortened with only 6 other Sooners taking the pitch. Parkhurst (Mid) 34 minutes, Galekhutle (Mid-FWD) 26 minutes, Pappas and Matise (Mids) playing 19 minutes and Stevens and Wagner playing 6 minutes.
The Soones return home to John Crain Field and the Sooner fans on Thursday for a 7 PM Match against Murray State Racers of Kentucky. The Racers atre 1-4 on the season with a match on Sunday night against UT-Martin. Murray State has been outscored 3 to 8 in goals in the first 5 games of 2023. The match against Murray State will be televised on ESPN+ and the game the Hispanic Heritage Night with the Pride of Oklahoma Band playing at half time. With a temperature high forecasted on Thursday at 103 degrees, the game might be delayed an hour due to the heat. Stay tuned for a potential game time change on Thursday.

Good luck to the Sooners on Thursday night.

Boomer Sooner!

[Sooner Cal]

Coach says there’s no reason OU can’t be a winning program. I agree, but. In order to win, we must upgrade the roster. Speed is key and the Sooners lack team speed and quickness. You can teach skills and tactics, you can’t teach speed.

I believe the recruiting strategy should focus on speed.

The second thing you can’t coach is a striker’s mentality. Very few players have it. Our chances of landing one are small.

If we don’t upgrade our speed and athleticism, we’ll have no more success than we had with the last 3 coaches.

[OUBeliever56A]

I agree that the team could use more speed, especially in the midfield area. The Sooners also need to get longer, meaning taller. Especially on defense and on the scoring end.

One other thing that I notice is that the team does not 'anticipate' plays well. They are a step slow many times as they wait for the play to take place and then react. Watching a player take a header from 6 feet away is watching. Pick a side that the player can 'pass' the ball and take a route that direction to intercept the ball. You might be surprised what can happen. I see Hawkins doing that on ball in the air and in balls at the feet of several players. Very few other player do this. Maybe it is called anticipation or just luck. But when it happens, it helps.

Coach Mott has to be given a couple years just to re-build. There are 10 days until the first Big 12 match for the Sooners. Maybe the Sooner can generate some momentum against Murray State and get themselves on the winning side.

Hartman and Michel covered up so many flaws in the Sooners last season as the anchors of the defense with their speed and defensive play. The Sooners are missing England not being in the midfield area also IMO. But I agree that England is needed on the back line this season. The Sooners may be a couple of players short that are needed this season.

Boomer Sooner!