Soccer - Onwards and Upwards

[overseasbbfan1]

Tough loss for the Horns in the conference semis, but congrats on fighting and hanging tough after such a rough start to the year. The team finishes 9-9-3, not a great record, but it looks a lot better when you consider the 1-4 start to the season. The squad features 14 underclassmen and 8 freshmen, and we only lose one starter and four seniors overall. And one of this year's highly touted recruits only saw action in the first three games, so hopefully she and all others who were injured will be healthy and ready to go next year. Keep working, Horns, and next season should be a good one!

 

[BabyHorn]

I would agree that was a tough season and not very fun for anyone. Although they definitely played better after their 1-4 start.

Too that point, I believe Petrucelli's comments were after the game "we have alot of work to do"! To that end, I believe their season isn't over and they haven't stopped practicing even though their not playing in the post season, to get an early start on next year. Talk about getting focused early.

Healthy bodies and a few new national team recruits should improve the situation. No offense to anyone or the girls...but missing the NCAA tournament doesn't sit well with anyone. Onwards and upwards to a great 2010 season.

 

[2222Horn]

Just wondering if we're starting to recruit Texas a little bit better? I know we come out to CA for quite a bit of the roster talent. Just watched Stanford over the weekend and they're loaded. Considering 3 years ago they had a rough unranked season, it's possible to turn a program around but they were able to pick up some very high level local recruits (as well as their typical nationwide presence).

Just wondering what Coach P's recruiting has been like. We had those great 03 and 04 classes that led to the 06 and 07 years but I'm not sure if we've fallen off the pace since then.

 

[overseasbbfan1]

I think the recruiting has been good. I know we had a big freshman class that included highly touted recruit Fortune and the nation's best incoming GK Gaul. And one of our top scorers was a freshman, Higgins, and she and fellow frosh Campise were named to the Big12 All Newcomer Team. Unfortunately, Fortune only played the first three games so I guess she was hurt; another poster mentioned a lot of early season injuries. I think the biggest issue early on was the loss of three All-American defenders, but our defense got a lot better after the rough 1-4 start. We'll have to wait until February to see what next year's class looks like.

 

[pantone159]

FYI, the best source of women's soccer recruiting info is this spreadsheet, maintained by somebody on Big Soccer:
https://sites.google.com/site/soccerrecruits/

Still just the same two names for next year (Lexi Harris, Gabby Zarnegar), but there are three names for the year after.

Coach P has done a great job recruiting, but it seems like one class every four years is not that strong. E.g. out of this years seniors, most got little playing time, except Emily Anderson, who was a walk-on, and Stephanie Gibson, who was I think an earlier class but she redshirted a year. The class 4 years before this one was the same, the girls in that class hardly played. Next years class is the next round of the 4-year cycle.