NCAA women's soccer Week 2 was not very mindful or very demure. There was nothing modest about the end-to-end action. Whether it was crunching tackles, unexpected upsets, or absolute bangers of goals, the women's game delivered bold, audacious soccer all weekend long.
Two weeks and about four games in depending on the schedule, it's crunch time already for teams trying to increase their Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) before starting conference play. Some coaches load up the nonconference schedule with heavy hitters designed to push a team early. Others sprinkle in a heavy hitter, but mostly try to boost their win percentage before starting conference play. It's all about strategy and the delicate line between growing confidence through tough wins and accidentally demoralizing your players.
What's increasingly shaping up as a storyline is whether all out offense or stodgy defense makes a bigger difference in securing valuable wins or draws. For example, Arizona lost 2-0 to UNC in the last 15 minutes after putting on an impressive defensive showing, but only generating three shots with one on target. When the game fell apart for them in the 76th minute, there wasn't enough time to overhaul the game plan and start pushing forward to find better quality chances.
Would Arizona have been better served by being less cautious and pushing early? Possession nerds will argue that with the number of chances created, UNC was bound to score and by being slightly more offensively aggressive, Arizona would have lowered UNC's expected goals. Arizona fans, as well as fans of counterattacking soccer would argue that the team with the most possession often ends up losing. Both are right and the answer is execution. Arizona did not manage a dangerous chance until after they were down a goal, a flaw in their defense first game plan.
Another example can be found in the Missouri v Saint Louis University show down on Sunday night where the opposite proved true. Early in the game, the Tigers pushed forward and attacked, but once SLU scored their opening goal, it was all Billikens for the majority of the game, which ended 2-0 in Saint Louis' favor.
The reverse happened when SLU played Brigham Young Univeristy to a 1-1 draw. After growing into the game in the first and scoring through an Emily Gaebe effort, an exhausted Billikens squad spent the last 20 minutes of the second in their own half, allowing BYU plenty of opportunities to score, which they eventually did.
Meanwhile, the teams that look the best so far, like Florida State and North Carolina, have been all in on offense. FSU dropped 10 on North Florida and three on Rice, but their upcoming match against Georgia will be the first big test of the reigning champions. One of the fastest rising teams, No. 21 Virginia, has consistently produced two goals a game, relying on their offense to overcome No. 3 Penn St, a team that made a deep run last year in part due to stingy defense.
It's only four games in, but so far, the verdict is that the strategic choice is pushing for a goal as early and as often as possible. Monmouth scraped out a 1-1 draw against Viginia Tech by scoring early and then surviving the rest of the game. In their upset over No. 7 Pitt, Buffalo scored early to jump out ahead and thus had the confidence to net a second goal once Pitt tied it up.
No matter where you come down on the debate about offense versus defense, the key to look for moving into week 3 is whether your team has shown consistency and improvement. Michigan, for example, has not demonstrated improvement after a rough start, but Clemson has. Being mindful is important this early in the season, being demure is decidedly a detriment.
Quick Notes
Keep an eye on Denver. After opening their season with a 2-1 loss against UNC and then losing to Idaho St., DU upset No. 23 Texas A&M on Wednesday. The UNC loss was close and could have gone Denver's way, especially after trying in the second half on a penalty kick. Now, with a signature win under their belt, DU's confidence will continue to grow, which should put opponents on notice.
No. 8 Michigan State set a new attendance record at home with 3,180 fans in attendance to watch their 2-2 draw against No .9 Arkansas on Thursday night.
Shyra James, fifth-year senior, broke Colorado's all-time scoring record. Trinity Byers, senior, became the first Texas player to score 50+ goals while also moving into the lead for NCAA career goals among active players.
FSU, Stanford, UCLA, and UNC are all top ten teams that have yet to lose or tie a game through two weekends of play. Of those, UNC probably has the grittiest record, as none of their wins have come easy or in the same way. UCLA has done it with four clean sheets.
Colorado won 2-0 over a Michigan side that hasn't been able to live up to their expectations so far this season. It was a good win for the Buffs and secured the 300th NCAA win for head coach Danny Sanchez.
Butler won 5-3 over Drake in a game where all eight goals were scored in the first half of play.
What to Watch Week 3*
No. 4 BYU v No. 6 UCLA, Wednesday, Aug 28 at 10 p.m. EST, BTN
Not to keep highlighting BYU, but they do have one of the more interesting schedules, and they've had a rockier start to their season than expected with 1-1 ties at SLU and Long Beach State. On the flip side, UCLA has yet to concede a goal and their offense has been rolling.
Arizona v. Pepperdine, Thursday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m, EST, ESPN+
Arizona held UNC scoreless for 75 minutes and even then has only given up two goals this season. Pepperdine will be looking for some revenge after a 3-1 loss to USC. It's a needed RPI-boosting win for both programs, which means the entertainment value is high.
No. 24 Iowa v Wake Forest, Sunday, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m EST., Big10+
Iowa has been ranked since preseason and tied Western Michigan 1-1 and no.12 Texas 0-0 this weekend. Wake Forest, while unranked, has managed to come up with some big results beating Temple 4-0 and No. 20 Mississippi State 2-1 this weekend. It will be a heavyweight defensive slugfest and a good test of how serious both teams are.
Louisville v Cincinnati, Thursday Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. EST, ESPN+
Louisville and Cincinnati are both .500 or below teams so it might be a surprise to see them on a what to watch list. But, I'm personally a fan of several .500 or below teams and think that you can learn a lot by watching average teams and then watching the cream of the crop. This is anyone's game and anything could happen so it's worth a watch just to see.
*Rankings are based on the Aug.19th poll as the new coaches rankings had not been released at the writing of this article.
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