OU Women's Soccer-Big Weekend includes North Texas and SMU

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Women's Soccer team faces two teams this weekend in a week that may be key to their season. Here is the staff writers article about the weekend's matches.

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/8/31 ... t-smu.aspx

On Thursday the Sooners will face North Texas at Denton in a 7:00 PM first touch. North Texas is 4-0 in the young season with wins over Abilene Christian 5-1, Oral Roberts 4-0, Houston Baptist 4-1 and Stephen F Austin 4-0. The combined scores of the four games is 17-2. Two players for North Texas have scored 5 (O. Klein) and 4 (K Burnell) goals. A total of 8 players have scored goals and a different set of 8 players have been credited with an assist. So far, the Mean Green of North Texas has been a scoring machine. Clearly the pressure will be on the Sooners backline and goal keeper on Thursday night.

On Sunday, the Sooners return to John Crain Field for a match with SMU at 7 PM. SMU has also had a good start to the 2022 season as they are 2-0-1. They defeated Rice 2-1 and NW State (LA) 1-0. On the road, SMU tied Tennessee in Knoxville. SMU is currently ranked as the #15 team in the country. SMU was 12-5-2 in 2021 and defeated Texas 2-0 in the first round of NCAA Tourney last year before losing to Florida State (#1 seed).

The weekend looks like it could be a tough one for the Sooners unless they are able to improve their play across the board. The Sooners really need to work on getting speed players outside to defend and to attack. From what I have seen they are vulnerable on the outside to against speed. I wonder aloud about maybe a formation change. Maybe they could change to a 4-3-3 instead of the 4-4-2 that mutates to a 4-4-2 when the Sooners try to attack that they have been playing. In the 4-3-3, the back row players could stay back and focus on defense. That would require some shuffling though of players. It will be interesting to see what the Sooners do to defend better this weekend.

Both matches will be available to stream on ESPN+ with a subscription.

Good luck to the Sooners during the Labor Day weekend.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners went to Denton yesterday and picked up a big win against North Texas last night 3-2. Goals were scored by Weber (#31) on a penalty kick, Bri Amos (#13) on a nice assist by Washington (#12) and a highlight bicycle kick by Hawkins (#2). OU limited the high scoring North Texas squad to 4 shots on goal in a strong defensive effort.

Here is the staff writers article about the much needed win by the Sooners:

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/9/1/ ... n-unt.aspx

I thought that Coach Mark Carr's post game comment was very telling. He said, "Since our last game, we have worked really hard on improving some key areas and our kids showed that learning and executed the game plan to a tee. I thought we battled and competed hard tonight. Denton is not an easy place to come and score three goals. Really proud of our team but I know we are not done."

I watched the game with one and half eyes, while trying to watch a Jack Ryan steaming series with my wife. I can't say I saw every play but I felt the Sooners did a much better job of staying back on defense and with mid-fielders. I think that was a big key in limiting north Texas to only 4 shots on goal. The back row of Kroflin, Michel, Hartman and Geoffrey really did a good job of presenting a solid line of defense across the field most of the game. There seemed to be at least 3 of them back on defense at all times. The four defenders played all but 8 minutes of the game. GK Short, played strong in goal also saving 2 of the 4 shots on goal. I thought the mid-fielders played well also. Washington, England, Weber and Murrell moved up and down the field in a controlled way with England seeming to concentrate on defense and Washington and Weber looking for opportunities to move forward. I noticed that Pak, Wagner, Pappas and Brown both seemed to play well in reserve roles in the mid-field also. I thought Hawkins and Bri Amos played well up front and made good on two opportunities in the mouth of the goal. Bri Amos and Washington teamed up on the second assist/goal of the season in a nice pass and shot play. These two seem to play well off each other. Hawkins scored her first goal of the season with a picture-worthy moment on a bicycle kick (not the jump up in the air and rotate backwards Pele-type of goal) but a very worthy kick of the ball back over her shoulder into an empty net on a ball deflected by the goalie after a nice entry from Weber on the right side. Weber opened the scoring with her own penalty-kick goal after a foul by North Texas against Murrell I think in the penalty box.

North Texas scored twice on answer goals after OU had scored. The first goal was directly off the center-kick after Weber's goal. North Texas scored in 23 seconds after the first touch. North Texas, for just about the only time, caught OU forward and ended with an open runner down the middle of the field, to score quickly on OU. OU seemed to learn from that too easily scored goal as they played very strong defense after that. The second North Texas was about 3 minutes after the Hawkins goal, I can't say I say the NT score or the replay. (I guess Jack Ryan was trying to stay alive right about then.) But the goal was scored by Drenowatz (#14) for her 4th goal of the season.

All-in-all I thought the Sooners played their best match of the season last night. Hopefully that is just what the doctor ordered to get on track for the team.

Congratulations to the Sooners on their first win of the season. Let's hope they can follow up on Sunday with another strong effort to win 2-in-a-row.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners built upon their success against North Texas and played the #15 SMU Mustangs to a 1-1 tie Sunday night before a good crown at John Crain Field. It is a sign of marked improvement for the Sooners to finish the week with a 1-0-1 record against two tough opponents. Here is the staff writers article about the tie against SMU.

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/9/4/ ... 5-smu.aspx

The starting lineup for the match was same as the one started against North Texas.

GK - Short
Defense - Michel RM, Hartman LM, Kroflin RO, Geoffrey LO
Midfield - Murrell RO, Washington LO, England M, Weber M (England and Weber play more of a front/back instead of left/right in the middle of the field.
Forward - Hawkins LF, Amos RF

The Sooners played 9 other players in the match as subs; Pak (Mid), Wesco (F), Brown (Mid), Pappas (RO-Mid), Wagner (Mid), Clifton (Def-LO), Westlie (Mid-RO), Thomas (Def-RO) and E. Rapp (Def-LO).

I really thought the midfielders played well last night. England and Weber were filling nicely and moving the ball forward while helping on defense. Washington continues to provide speed outside up the field while handling the ball very well and passing the ball inside. Murrell also pressed upward well with some strong physical play. Brown and Pak also played well as subs in the midfield area.

The defenders had a second game where they remained back, for the most part, and moved the ball up to the middies well. Kroflin, by design I think, seems to press the ball forward a bit with the other 3 defenders remaining back. When Thomas subbed for Kroflin, she did the same. Michel and Hartman is the heart of the back row with their very solid play.

Bri Amos and Hawkins are always pressing things up front and trying to stretch the play forward. Hawkins play to score the tying goal was fueled by desire as she popped the ball up over the Goalie's head and then in the middle of two SMU players, headed the ball into the goal. It was a pair of nice entry passes to the front of the goal by Kroflin and Bri Amos. Wesco and Wagoner also added some good minutes as subs.

The lone goal by SMU was also right in the middle of the pitch as the entry into the goal area was a bouncer that got over the defense and by Short as Boland scored an easy goal. It was really the only sub-par play by the Sooner defense all game.

The Sooners have seemed to done a good job of making quick improvement and righting the ship. Their is great effort by the Sooners during the play.

At 1-2-2 they have an opportunity to move into a winning record in the upcoming week against two in-state schools, Tulsa and Oral Roberts, as they make two trips to Tulsa on Thursday (7 PM) and Sunday (5 PM). The Tulsa match looks to be on ESPN+ per the Tulsa schedule.

Tulsa and Oral Roberts are both 3-2-1 on the season coming into this week. But Tulsa has lost to the two best teams they have played (OSU 0-1 and Creighton 0-2). Oral Roberts lost to North Texas and Missouri State. I think OU could be favored in both matches despite being on the road.

Good luck to the Sooner Women this week.

Boomer Sooner!