ND just beat Louisville 3-0 on PKs. ND made its first three; Louisville missed its first three. Ballgame.
I would rather have played Louisville. ND is very big and very organized defensively. Their offense is predicated on counterattacks and we have had trouble with teams like that. Besides, in this one game I learned to hate two ND players. The GK who has a constant smirk which someone needs to wipe off his face with a hard right hand (but not during the match) and #18, whose attitude is insufferable. He has the type of demeanor which might get the hot tempered Valentin Noel to take a shot at him, which would be very bad news.
We are a more skilled team and I think we can hurt them with our speed down the wings if we stay wide. But their CBs are very solid and did a great job on the few crosses attempted by Louisville. Louisville’s offense was almost 100% based on their Striker (13 goals this year, fifth best in the NCAAs), who played in the middle and a lot of the time played with his back to the goal aka Gerhard Muller, Robert Lewandowski and others. That made him easier to defend and ND marked him with #18 leaving their CBs to double him if necessary. The longer the match went, the less of a threat he became. Louisville didn’t attack very much down the wings. We need to!
I would rather have played Louisville. ND is very big and very organized defensively. Their offense is predicated on counterattacks and we have had trouble with teams like that. Besides, in this one game I learned to hate two ND players. The GK who has a constant smirk which someone needs to wipe off his face with a hard right hand (but not during the match) and #18, whose attitude is insufferable. He has the type of demeanor which might get the hot tempered Valentin Noel to take a shot at him, which would be very bad news.
We are a more skilled team and I think we can hurt them with our speed down the wings if we stay wide. But their CBs are very solid and did a great job on the few crosses attempted by Louisville. Louisville’s offense was almost 100% based on their Striker (13 goals this year, fifth best in the NCAAs), who played in the middle and a lot of the time played with his back to the goal aka Gerhard Muller, Robert Lewandowski and others. That made him easier to defend and ND marked him with #18 leaving their CBs to double him if necessary. The longer the match went, the less of a threat he became. Louisville didn’t attack very much down the wings. We need to!
