Sooner Soccer- Plays late this afternoon vs BYU in the Quarters
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2023 10:01 am
The Oklahoma Sooners Soccer Team plays this afternoon at the scheduled time of 5:30 PM vs the 7th Ranked BYU Cougars. But there are two other Quarterfinal games that will be played before the Sooner BYU match today so the game time could shift to a later start.
In their earlier meeting this season, the Sooners were defeated by BYU 2-0 at John Crain Field in Norman. Both BYU goals included 2 assists showing the ability that BYU has to pass and to flood the zone with players. BYU plays a quick brand of soccer. I thought OU played pretty well against BYU the first time. But the Sooners will have to find a way to score if they desire a win in regular time.
Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the math with BYU.
https://soonersports.com/news/2023/10/2 ... arterfinal
One key is the availability of Dani Wolfe for today's game. During the second half in the match against OSU on Saturday, Wolfe took a hard fall and seemed to injure her hand/wrist/elbow or shoulder. If she can not play today, I think OU would take one of three approaches. 1) Move Hadley Murrell into the starting forward role with Ella Pappas taking Murrell's place in the midfield. 2) Move Muriel Kroflin off the back row where she played on Saturday to the midfield and allow Weber to move forward to join Emma Hawkins as a forward. Ella Pappas would take Wolfe's spot. 3) They will move Morganne Eikelbarner from the bench into the starting forward role.
I do not think that Escalante Galekhutle has the endurance to play big minutes in the starting role. She is a valuable sub playing short minutes in each half. But I am sure that Coach Mott will have a plan today if it is needed to replace D Wolfe.
It will also be interesting to see if Kroflin stays on the 4 player back line as an inside defender alongside Andie Wolfe with Calley England on the outside right and Cassie Clifton on the outside left. That change against OSU seemed to be effective and kept OU from being short-handed on the back row as they sometimes can find themselves. England was also effective at moving forward to help in the midfield at times.
Good luck this afternoon to the Sooners against BYU.
Boomer Sooner!
In their earlier meeting this season, the Sooners were defeated by BYU 2-0 at John Crain Field in Norman. Both BYU goals included 2 assists showing the ability that BYU has to pass and to flood the zone with players. BYU plays a quick brand of soccer. I thought OU played pretty well against BYU the first time. But the Sooners will have to find a way to score if they desire a win in regular time.
Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the math with BYU.
https://soonersports.com/news/2023/10/2 ... arterfinal
One key is the availability of Dani Wolfe for today's game. During the second half in the match against OSU on Saturday, Wolfe took a hard fall and seemed to injure her hand/wrist/elbow or shoulder. If she can not play today, I think OU would take one of three approaches. 1) Move Hadley Murrell into the starting forward role with Ella Pappas taking Murrell's place in the midfield. 2) Move Muriel Kroflin off the back row where she played on Saturday to the midfield and allow Weber to move forward to join Emma Hawkins as a forward. Ella Pappas would take Wolfe's spot. 3) They will move Morganne Eikelbarner from the bench into the starting forward role.
I do not think that Escalante Galekhutle has the endurance to play big minutes in the starting role. She is a valuable sub playing short minutes in each half. But I am sure that Coach Mott will have a plan today if it is needed to replace D Wolfe.
It will also be interesting to see if Kroflin stays on the 4 player back line as an inside defender alongside Andie Wolfe with Calley England on the outside right and Cassie Clifton on the outside left. That change against OSU seemed to be effective and kept OU from being short-handed on the back row as they sometimes can find themselves. England was also effective at moving forward to help in the midfield at times.
Good luck this afternoon to the Sooners against BYU.
Boomer Sooner!