Why Women's Soccer is Great!

[PhiI C]

It applies to college, high school and women's national soccer teams. It is great and entertaining. But you have to realize that soccer has a big competitive nature to it as every sport but in soccer so much is left up to your team and the way you perform. There is no guarantee that you will win no matter how good you or your team plays. Plus in soccer you don't just always get to specialize like on offense and defense and everyone has to play both ends of the field depending on the situation. And so much is dependent on your teammates and one big play or mistake can cost you the game on help you win it. It is so entertaining to watch and anything can happen at any time suddenly. When you think you have seen it all then something else happens. We are very blessed to have good teams in Texas in the college ranks. One of them are the Lady Aggies who have done great the past several years and should have a great team this year. Another is of course UT Lady Horns who have recruited well and have a young team and should do well this year indeed. Fun times in this sport indeed. If you live near Austin or College Station definately worth watching these ladies play.

[PhiI C]

One thing that shows that soccer is so unpredictable. If you have a good goalie then there is a good chance you will win if she has a great game. She can keep you close but she can't win. Remember you have to score goals in soccer. It is like having a good pitcher on your baseball or softball team. They can keep you close and in the game but they can't win them for you (Unless you happen to have one that is a great hitter).
Take the great Kansas soccer team last year. This was an outstanding team especially on defense and had one of the best goalies in the country in Meghan Miller. They had a great season and were finally at 20 - 4 when it was over and had success in the playoffs. During that year they had 15 shutouts and 7 games where they only allowed one run and just one where they allowed 2 runs and one 3 runs. During the year they beat a great Lady Aggie team 1 - 0 but lost to UT by the same score so the two teams tied for the regular season Big 12 Championship. When UT played Kansas in round 2 of the Big 12 Championship they had never allowed more than one goal in any of their games. Against UT they were ahead 2 - 0 which should have won it for them especially with the fantastic game Miller had played but in soccer anything can happen suddenly at any time. That builds up the suspense even when you think you are watching a dull game because it is so sudden. UT scored with about 22 minutes left in the game mainly because one of the Kansas players collided with their goalie who had the ball caught to stop a Texas threat. The collision caused her to drop the ball and UT took advantage to score. Still Kansas had a 2 to 1 lead but with six minutes Texas had the ball on Kansas end of the field and the defense probably could have held them but one of the Kansas players committed and unnecessary foul giving UT a free kick near the Kansas goal that they took advantage of to tie the game and send it into overtime which UT got the third goal to win 3 to 2. In the NCAA playoffs Kansas met Nebraska a team UT had beaten 2 to 0 in the Big 12 tournament. Both teams were tied 1 - 1 and it went into overtime which Nebraska became the only other team to score two goals on them and won 2 to 1. A great season but it shows that anything can happen in soccer. It is so great so get ready to enjoy the women's college soccer season this year.

[PhiI C]

This is the preseason ratings for women's college soccer in 2005.

This is the preseason national rankings from the NSCAA for Division I Women's Soccer. The 2004 final record and rank are shown. Regular-season polls will begin Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Division I Preseason Coaches Poll, Aug. 16, 2005
Rank School W-L-T Prev.
1 University of Notre Dame 24-1-1 1
2 University of North Carolina 20-1-2 5
3 UCLA 18-7-0 2
4 University of Virginia 17-3-2 7
5 Santa Clara University 18-5-2 3
6 Texas A&M University 18-6-0 15
7 University of Portland 20-4-0 6
8 Penn State University 19-3-1 9
9 University of Connecticut 18-7-1 13
10 Ohio State University 19-4-3 8
11 University of Tennessee 17-5-2 T11
12 Duke University 15-8-0 T11
13 University of Illinois 16-6-2 14
14 Stanford University 13-6-3 T19
15 West Virginia University 15-6-0 RV
16 Boston College 15-7-1 17
17 University of Nebraska 14-9-0 22
18 University of Arizona 15-6-0 25
19 University of Florida 16-4-3 21
20 University of Washington 17-5-1 10
21T Princeton University 19-3-0 4
21T Wake Forest University 10-7-2 NR
23 University of Kansas 18-5-0 18
24 University of California 11-6-3 RV
25 University of Wisconsin 16-6-1 RV
Also receiving votes: Clemson, Auburn, Colorado, Villanova, San Diego, Yale, Dayton, Texas, Maryland, Colgate

Lots of great teams indeed. What sticks out for us UT fans is that UT isn't ranked in top 25 but that is ok with us because there is no BCS nonsense here and the national champion is determined on the field. Besides we prefer not to have the pressure and sneak up on everyone. :)

[PhiI C]

Another great thing in women's college soccer is the parity now especially between the top teams. If you look at the first 18 years 1982 to 2000 North Carolina with their great coach Anson Dorrance completely dominated women's college soccer. During those 18 NC dominated the talent in recruiting and coaching. They won 15 national championships and were runner ups in 2 of the 3 years during that time period that they didn't win it. But as time went on more and more girls liked soccer and played it and there were more outstanding players for colleges to choose from. True NC will probably always gets its' share of the best ones but there is enough to go around to where they are seriously challenged every year. Even in years when they will win it all there will be some stiff challenges. They will get talent and win the National Championship once in a while but not like those years
dominace. In fact during the past four years there have been four different national champions. There are lots of good players to choose from and many will prefer to go else where rather than ride the bench for four years at NC. NC had an awesome team though in 2003 and won the NC with a 27 - 0 record and an easy National Championship game. With most of their players coming back in 2004 it was expected to be an easy repeat but as I had said anything can happen in soccer and they lost their only game of the year in the playoffs against Santa Clara 1 - 0 in overtime and didn't even make the final 4. This helped open the door for Notre DDame to win it last year in a great national championship game against UCLA that was decided by penalty kicks.

[JasperDog94]

Here are my reasons why soccer is great:

























































































Thanks for taking the time to read.:)

[Phil C]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Here are my reasons why soccer is great:

























































































Thanks for taking the time to read.:)


I see there is so much involved that just trying to think about it left you speechless!

:D

[Hannibal]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Here are my reasons why soccer is great:





Couldn't have said it better myself.






















































































Thanks for taking the time to read.:)

[Phil C]

Originally posted by Hannibal


I see Hannibal had so much good to say he was speechless too!

:D

[Phil C]

Another good thing about women's soccer is that it enables promising girls that have soccer talent to get college scholarships and get an education even if they don't go to the pros.

[Phil C]

There is one fault in soccer that I don't care for. That is when a game has to be decided by penalty kicks after two overtime periods. What I don't like is that it basically brings it down to just two players - the kicker and the goalie. That is like two high school football teams in overtime having a running back at the ten and a defender at the five and seeing if the running back can score or the defender can stop him. I would prefer to see the whole team concept. One of the ways would be each team gets a corner kick and when the kick is kicked they would have about ten seconds to get a goal (on most corner kicks goals are scored within a few seconds after the kick). If a team is ahead after each team has had a corner kick then they win. If it is still tied repeat the sessions ten times. The odds are you will get a winner. Now after ten sessions if no one has won then you can resort to penalty kicks but at least the effort has been made to keep it within the whole team basis. Still with this fault it is a great sport.

[handNthedirt]

What healthy person is drunk at 10:40 on a Thursday morning??? Phil C needs to seek professional help!

[Phil C]

One thing about soccer is that it can be boring like any sport for a while then wham! the excitement abounds. It happens in football when you are watching a dull game and then suddenly big plays happen. A great sport indeed. Pardon me while I take a sip of my ---------------------- coffee!! LOL

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by handNthedirt
What healthy person is drunk at 10:40 on a Thursday morning??? ROTFLMBO!!!! Great one HID!:clap: :clap:

[Phil C]

Originally posted by handNthedirt
What healthy person is drunk at 10:40 on a Thursday morning??? Phil C needs to seek professional help!

I thought it was insulting and a cruel poor taste thing to say to someone you know is diabetic.

[Phil C]

What is also going to be interesting is to see the rankings when they are updated again next Tuesday. Excitement indeed!

[handNthedirt]

not only is he drunk before noon, he's a diabetic, and he's the loneliest man alive...Phil C needs professional help and a friend!

[Phil C]

Originally posted by handNthedirt
not only is he drunk before noon, he's a diabetic, and he's the loneliest man alive...Phil C needs professional help and a friend!

Not your friendship though.

[handNthedirt]

i wasn't offering.

[PhiI C]

Originally posted by handNthedirt
i wasn't offering.

Too late! I wasn't accepting!

[PhiI C]

Actually I am only joking. I am not mad at all. But I love it when they give me an excuse to reply and keep wonderful threads like this at the top later when it starts to get too far down. :) :) :)

[GreenMonster]

Womens soccer is great for one reason and one reason only. Soccer chick legs have got to be one of God's greatest creations. :kiss: :kiss: