A thrilling disappointment

I can't lie, I had high hopes about this team. Coming in, my biggest question was offense, and with the addition of such a great freshman class, I was expecting big things for this team.

That's not to say that I'm utterly disappointed. Am I disappointed in how it ended? Absolutely. This team was better than 9th in the ACC, and if they make one play at any of many different junctures throughout the season, we're getting ready to go to Cary tomorrow.

But there's also a lot to be happy with. For the most part, the freshman class lived up to expectations, and set the bar high for the next three years. Lydia Hastings and Sade Ayinde got the most press, but I was extremely impressed with what I saw, in more limited time, from Skyy Anderson, Danielle Schulmann, Ashley Grove, Jasmyne Spencer, Becky Kaplan, and Dominique Vellutato. Some thoughts in general:

• Kaplan continued to impress me more and more every game. Her defense came on very quickly around the middle of the season, and, with Ayinde, she helped to anchor that strong line down the stretch.
• Spencer may be one of the most explosive players I've seen. A little refining, and she can be a legitimate threat over the top.
• Vellutato didn't play as much as some other freshmen, but when she was in there she was always around the ball. I think she can evolve in to a strong midfield player.

But, ultimately, this season turned for the worse in the 89th minute loss at Virginia Tech. Even a tie there significantly changes things. But, for nothing else, give this team credit for doing what they had to do when they were backed in to a corner. They didn't get the cooperation, and missed the Tournament because of it, but when this team had to, they reeled off back-to-back wins. And there's something to be said for that.

So next season, I'd look for continued strong defense, and an offense that, led by younger players in their second year, can score with the best of them in the ACC. It'll be interesting to see if Mary Casey, First Team All-ACC this year, will start in goal or on the defensive line; I imagine it'll be a competition, starting tomorrow. There's not much lost if you put her on defense and go with Yewande Balogun, though, if she can revert to her freshman year form.

I want to thank you all for sticking with us this season. If you get soccer withdrawal, I'm always good for a conversation about this team. My e-mail address is hdecoursey@wmucsports.com, and don't hesitate to e-mail. Until next season, then, so long from College Park, and Go Terps

Season recap coming

Full season recap coming after today's final Coach Pensky show. Also be sure to tune in to the Terrapin Roundup at 5:00 for my season-recap package, as well as my "expert" (eye-roll) analysis on the season.

It all comes down to this

Certainly not the position the Terps would like to see themselves in, heading in to the final week of the regular season. Out two points from the ACC tournament, the Terps (six points) need to win Thursday against Clemson, and have Miami (8 points) go no better than 0-1-1 on the road at NC State Thursday, and UNC Sunday. At 0-1-1, the teams would end in a tie for 8th place at 9 points, and Maryland would have the tiebreaker, having won the head-to-head matchup 1-0 on October 5th at Ludwig Field.

On paper, it doesn't look good. Maryland can and should beat Clemson, who sits at 1-6-1 in-conference. And Miami will probably lose to UNC, the top team in the conference. We should have our answer Thursday night in Raleigh, then. And with NC State as the bottom team in the conference, it looks good, on paper, for Miami. But, that's why they play the games.

Maryland is coming off a tough 2-1 win in Raleigh yesterday. They knew it was a must-win game, and got the big performance from the top player when they needed it most. Nataly Arias put the game-winner home towards the start of the 2nd half, and the defense was able to hold. Now it's on to Clemson.

The defense has played phenomonally all year, so we'll have to see how the offense can come through in a high-pressure, must-win situation. Clemson is already eliminated, and a tie is no good, so they could play spoiler by holding strong on defense for 90 or 110 minutes. But I think Maryland can pull this off. After that, it's time to root for the Wolfpack.

Join us Thursday starting at 6:40 for the final regular season game. Should the team advance, we'll be in Cary next week for the ACC Tournament

Must-win

After two tough, tough losses this past week to Virginia (OT) and Virginia Tech (1-0 on an 89th minute goal), I would certainly put at least one, if not both of this week's games (BC on Thursday and NC State on Sunday) in to the "must-win" category. The team still sits only one point behind Clemson and Miami, tied for 8th in the ACC with 4 points (Maryland obviously having a tiebreaker over Miami with their 1-0 win earlier). I feel like the Virginia game in particular proved that this team can put up multiple goals in an ACC game, something they haven't done since the last game of the 2007 campaign, and something they'll have to do to make it to Cary and the ACC tournament.

And it's set up pretty well this week. Boston College is a tough team, sixth in the conference but not at the same level as Virginia. And NC State is at the cellar of the ACC with no points. Both could go either way. The Terps need to win at least one, and results in both would certainly be advantageous.

We won't be able to get to Chestnut Hill or Raleigh this week, but we'll be back for Senior Night against Clemson on Thursday the 30th, and we'll be with you for the ACC tournament, should the team advance. Until then, the plan is to check in this weekend with a look at the BC game. Don't forget to listen to Coach Pensky today at 3:00

Capitalizing

Sorry for not checking in with a preview last week. With some time off this week, look for a few entries.

Florida State and Miami last week were two very well-played games for the Terps. After a tough 1-0 overtime loss against the Seminoles, Sunday's game became must-win; starting 0-4 in-conference with Duke and Virginia coming up is very tough.

But the team came out very strong and played Miami the same way Florida State had played them; maintaining offensive possession and keeping the pressure on. It paid off in the 45th minute with Kaila Sciascia's team-leading sixth goal. But even past the goal, the ability to keep possession against an ACC opponent was a key element that will pay dividends in the future.

Other notes from the game:

• No question about Mary Casey's health at this point. She looked great in both games over the weekend. I'd look for her to continue to start until she loses the job; she's playing very well, and the defense is playing more than adequately without her. Specifically, I've been impressed with freshman Becky Kaplan and Sade Ayinde, who have started the past few games, as well as Skyy Anderson, who came off the bench when Aimee Bresani was hurt against Miami. All three have logged significant minutes and have played well on a back-line that was, and still is, in my opinion, the team's biggest strength.
• I mentioned this much earlier in the season, before she missed games with injuries, but I've been extremely impressed with Jasmyne Spencer since she returned. Her speed gives her the ability to create opportunities on the outside, and with the defense's strength at putting the ball up and over opposing defenses, she'll have big opportunities over her career.
• After her extremely promising start, Lydia Hastings has slowed down a bit in the past few games. Her ballhandling has slipped. I still see a ton of potential, but right now she's not creating opportunities as easily as she was in the non-conference season. That said, she's been contributing a lot defensively from her forward spot. It's not necessarily a great thing on the surface, because it shows that they've had to play everybody back to face a high-pressure attack, but she's been handling it very well. I could certainly see her evolving into a Nataly Arias, a midfielder with strong defense and consistent big-play ability.

Duke is this Sunday, and while I won't go so far as to say it's must-win (Duke is 9th in the country), a win would be vital in the race for the ACC Tournament. Join us Sunday at 1:00 for all the action!

Goals, Goals, Goals (Midseason review)

10 goals seems like it would be just what the doctor ordered, going into the very tough ACC season. And although it was only Mount St. Mary's and not North Carolina, Florida State or another ACC powerhouse, I feel like today's game can give the girls a lot of confidence in their ability to create opportunities and score goals off of set pieces in the ACC season, something that has troubled them for the past two years.

My midseason review:

This team is better than 4-3-1 shows, and Coach Pensky knows it. I get the impression he thinks they could be 8-0, and if you look at their three losses, they were all specific miscues that led to one-goal losses. Am I saying they could, or should, be 8-0? No. But this team certainly has the potential to be up there with the ACC, and it'll be fun to see if they can live up to it.

Specific players I've been impressed with? Freshmen Lydia Hastings and Danielle Schulmann have both impressed me with aggressiveness on and off the ball, and specifically ball-handling. Kaila Sciasca's team-leading five goals show the tremendous improvement she made during the off-season. Ashley Grove's ability to create opportunities from the outside, coming off the bench. You have to be impressed with the contributions from the recruiting class, and I get the feeling if they string good plays together consistently, it's a very dangerous team.

What needs work? The defense and the goalkeeping have seemed to be out of sync with each other at times, leading to unneccesary goals and losses. Yewande Balogun has not looked the same as she did a season ago, and putting Mary Casey in net, while a very good goalie, takes one of the Terps top defenders off the back line. If Balogun can get on a roll in the second half, it'll be tough to get it past them.

We'll be unable to join you this week from North Carolina, as the girls open up the ACC season against Wake Forest Thursday and North Carolina Sunday. But we'll be back the weekend after that here in College Park against Florida State and Miami.

As always, tune in to the Brian Pensky show Monday at 3:00 to listen to everything Coach Pensky has to say.

Dartmouth review

There is no doubt that the Terrapins play thus far this season had been somewhat disappointing. They had not been consistently finishing games, and making mental errors, which has led them to lose or tie teams they should have defeated (Bucknell, Elon).

However, Friday’s game against Dartmouth saw a different Terrapins team then we have seen this season. From the beginning, the Terps played considerably more aggressive than in the other games this season, in addition to cutting down on their mental errors. Mary Casey, who was starting in goal for Yewande Balogun for the second straight game, made some outstanding saves to keep the Big Green off the board. Offensively, the Terps had quite a few great scoring opportunities, as they had nine shots on goal. However, they were not able to put one in the net, which has been a common theme for the Terps this season.

The second half, however, is when the team really began to play to their potential. Erika Theisen scored on a header off a fantastic cross from Annesia Faulkner in the 51^st minute. It was a perfectly executed play, something that hasn’t been seen enough from the Terps so far. Later on in the half, when the Terps appeared to be trying to preserve their lead, Dartmouth scored in the 75^th minute to tie the game at one. However, just three minutes later, Danielle Schulmann scored for the Terps. To me, this seemed to be a sign of the team coming into their own. Earlier in the season, the team would likely have lost all confidence after the goal, and would have played not to lose; yesterday they shrugged it off rather quickly. More impressively, after the goal, they continued their aggressive play right through the end of the game. This was the first game where the team played hard for all 90 minutes, and I think we may see a different Terps team for the rest of the season.

A few other thoughts

- Mary Casey started her second straight game as Goalkeeper in favor of Yewande Balogun. In talking to coach Pensky after the game, he said that the change was not as a result of a lingering foot injury that caused Balogun to miss time last season, but rather, because the team needed a change. If that is the case, then you have to wonder about the psyche of Balogun. After coming off such an impressive Freshman season, she has struggled this far, and based on how Casey has preformed, it may be a while before Balogun reclaims her job.

The Freshmen continue to impress. Danielle Schulman scored her second goal of the season, and played very well defensively. Lydia Hastings and Amy O’Sullivan (who hails from my home town of Rochester, New York) had a few good looks on offensive as well. If the Freshmen continue to develop at this rate, this team has a very bright future ahead of them.

Dartmouth Goalkeeper Laurel Peak made some of the most impressive saves I have seen in quite sometime. While the stat sheet will show that she gave up two goals, it does not do her justice, as Peak single handedly kept the Big Green in the game for the majority of the contest.

The next contest is Sunday, against William and Mary, again in Charlottesville. Hal Decoursey and Jenna Shulman will bring you the action on WMUCSports.com starting at 11:40 am