Sooner Women's Soccer - Samford Wins over OU 4-0 - OU is now 3-1

[OUBeliever56A]

Who knew that traveling to Samford was going to be the challenge that it turned out to be? Yes, Samford was 11-4-7 in 2022 and was awarded a spot in the NCAA Tourney where they lost to Georgia 2-0. But, seriously, the Samford Bulldogs were a very strong team. They were tall, athletic and very aggressive all match. They were faster or as fast almost to a player vs the Sooners. The final score was 4-0 as Samford won over the Sooners in convincing fashion.

I do suspect that Coach Matt Mott knew about Samford. Last year, his Ole Miss team tied Samford in preseason play in a 0-0 match. Maybe he suspected that the Sooners would need just such a game.

Samford pressured the ball all over the pitch. It was a stark difference from the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game on Thursday where the Lady Lions played off of the Sooners for 90 minutes. Samford was right there, in OU's space pressuring the ball and disrupting the Sooners flow of the ball in the midfield area. The Sooners had to adjust quickly as they fell behind 2-0 in the first 12 minutes of play. Both goals to open the match were well executed plays where Samford moved the ball around or by the Sooner defense and attacked the goal with their speed and size.

I would say after the first 12 minutes, the Sooners did make an adjustment and 'hold-their-own' for most of the game after that. The last minute goal (82nd minute) as OU was playing forward with all 11 players was a consequence of the Sooners trying to score at all cost. The goal just before halftime, was a defensive breakdown as Samford picked up a turnover at midfield.

OU was able to total 9 shots with only 3 shots fielded by the Samford GK. The OU GK'ers were able to pick up 3 saves against 16 shots. Samford had 10 corners to Oklahoma's 4. I was surprised to see that Samford had 14 fouls whistled against them while OU had 9. Watching I felt that OU was called for more fouls. Maybe the aggressive, physical style played by Samford lulled me to sleep as I just expected them to be able to "body" the Sooners off the ball many times. You could see the frustration on many Sooners as the Samford players was always challenging them at the ball. I will say that I did not see any "quit" in the Sooners. They played hard until the match was over.

Samford never gave up more than 2 goals in 2022. So far in 2023, they have only given up 2 once. I would suspect that is a solid trend and they control the ball well and have a stout defensive back row. I think Samford could be very good in 2023.

Oklahoma can learn from the match. They need to be able to handle the pressure in the midfield and connect on the passes with pressure on them. The Sooners need to go meet the passes a bit better against the pressure. The defensive needs to work on handling the speed of players on the outside with runners filling the box as the ball is moving quickly. In some ways the first two goals against the Sooners reminded me a bit of the Nebraska exhibition match. But Samford is a better team. The Sooners need to make the most of the chances on offense when the Sooners put the ball in the box and have a chance to score. Sometimes a loss can help. There is now a defined measuring stick provided for the Sooners to work towards i believe. The first Big 12 match is in 18 days from yesterday against Kansas. The next three matches to need be used to get ready for the Big 12 play.

One concern after the match was that after a hard tackle against Eikelbarner, she did not return to the match and only played 15 minutes in the first half.

The Sooners need to regroup quickly as they will travel to Spokane, Washington for two matches on Thursday and Sunday. The first match will be against Gonzaga at 9 PM CST on Thursday. The second match will be against Montana at 1 PM CST on Sunday.

Gonzaga is 3-1 on the season in 2023 with their loss on Sunday 3-1 to Nebraska. Gonzaga was 10-3-5 in 2022. Montana is 3-0-1 in 2023 with a tie against Ohio State in their match this weekend. The Grizzles were 7-7-6 in 2022.

At this point, the 3-1 start for the Sooners shows some promise and is still a plus for me. The two matches this weekend look to be solid matches against two decent squads. It will be interesting to see how the Sooners respond to the loss to Samford.

Good luck in Spokane to the Sooners!

Boomer Sooner!

[AustinTXSooner]

We saw two different games on Sunday. Full disclosure, I did not watch the second half. I had it on in the background, but I wasn't watching it.

I thought we looked deflated after they scored the second goal. We were not winning hardly any 50/50 balls. Our goalie kept kicking it long and Samford would control the ball and attack again. I don't see possession time in the stats, but it felt like 65/35 in Samford's favor. We just couldn't keep possession of the ball. Their speed at forward was exposing our defense.

I couldn't figure out the head referee. I couldn't distinguish between the fouls he called and those he didn't. There was a lot of flagrant shoving going on (arms separated from the body) and he didn't call much. Pak got tackled from behind one time, which is usually a yellow card, but no foul was called. He called the game differently. They were used to it, we weren't. If we aren't scouting referee's tendencies, we should. We have to make better adjustments. I see Hawkins got a yellow card in the second half. I'll have to go back and see why. I'm curious as to what would elicit a yellow card from that ref.

[OUBeliever56A]

I agree about the reality of the first 15 minutes. It was like the Sooners had been swimming downstream in a nice cool river with plenty of food to eat and no problems. Then they heard the waterfall up ahead in front of them. But the waterfall was not the biggest problem after they found themselves in the pool below. Suddenly, they were not the biggest or baddest fish in the river. The surrounding fish were just bigger and faster and had teeth.

After a while, OU figured out how to not get eaten, but they never found a way to be out of trouble.

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the sunday loss to Samford.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/8/27 ... at-samford