UNC Women's Soccer 2026-2027
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"This team" just beat the team expected to finish second in the SEC on the road. It has clearly out-possessed and out-shot the higher ranked MSU team (which is considered a legit national title contender) so far today. We lost our top three scorers to the pros, one of our expected stars to a torn ACL already, and the majority of the team are Freshman/Sophomores. Relax.
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Did we review for a red card of the Munson injury?
This looked like a complete sell/flop from where i am
This looked like a complete sell/flop from where i am
This 3 player back line is getting worked on counters and long-balls. It has been the difference in the game. We have controlled the game but have just made it too easy for them to get behind us.
The red card sucks but honestly I can't disagree with it...foul from behind on a breakaway is technically a red card even if it didn't look like more than a little shove in the back. Never should have put ourselves in that situation....that's the 3rd or 4th breakaway we've given up today and that has been the difference. You put yourselves in a bad situation, eventually you are going to pay for it.
Great finish on the free kick for MSU, can't hate on that. Absolutely perfect placement. This game is probably done for us now being down a player. Will be interesting to see how we line up in the back now, and also will be a good test of our young team against some adversity. Losing to a top 5 team is not the end of the world. A tough loss can be one of the greatest teaching/learning opportunities. Lots to like today from the first half with such a young group, but the approach in the back isn't working (don't like the 3 back set or Alvarez being in the center with BG out wide, and don't like BG trying to go forward with only 3 back there). I honestly would like to see us go to a 4 back with Munson dropping to be the right back where she played last year. We need more speed / recovering ability back there.The other obvious weakness is the lack of a true 9. Devey hasn't been much of a threat or factor today.
The red card sucks but honestly I can't disagree with it...foul from behind on a breakaway is technically a red card even if it didn't look like more than a little shove in the back. Never should have put ourselves in that situation....that's the 3rd or 4th breakaway we've given up today and that has been the difference. You put yourselves in a bad situation, eventually you are going to pay for it.
Great finish on the free kick for MSU, can't hate on that. Absolutely perfect placement. This game is probably done for us now being down a player. Will be interesting to see how we line up in the back now, and also will be a good test of our young team against some adversity. Losing to a top 5 team is not the end of the world. A tough loss can be one of the greatest teaching/learning opportunities. Lots to like today from the first half with such a young group, but the approach in the back isn't working (don't like the 3 back set or Alvarez being in the center with BG out wide, and don't like BG trying to go forward with only 3 back there). I honestly would like to see us go to a 4 back with Munson dropping to be the right back where she played last year. We need more speed / recovering ability back there.The other obvious weakness is the lack of a true 9. Devey hasn't been much of a threat or factor today.
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Bad calls and a wake announcer who can barely form a coherent thought
Ball was not in possession which means not a clear goal scoring opportunity and she also cut across the UNC player. Terrible call
Alvarez and Gaetino are skillful but soft. O’Neill has showed a bit of grit to her, but this D is going to get exposed all year cause our juniors are going to try to skill their way out of situations. Need some physicality - especially out of our CB position. Why we are playing Stratton off the bench in attack and not in CB is insanity.
I wouldn't call Gaetino "soft". She took an elbow to the face and returned....she was literally puking her guts out from the heat against Arkansas and didn't even sub out (the literally stopped the game to clean it up lol). But she's reckless and gets out of position, and that is a problem when you only have 3 in the back. But I agree with the premise that something in the back needs to change. They were really exposed repeatedly in a game where we really looked like the better team in most other facets of the game for much of it. Going to a 4 back line and not giving up a bunch of breakaways would be worth sacrificing some possession in midfield.
Impressive response again by our team pulling one back a player down. This one may not end up our way, but it could be a great confidence builder for this group to show them that they can compete with the top teams, and expect to beat them if they clean up a few issues.
Still out-possessing MSU even down a player too. Love that.
Still out-possessing MSU even down a player too. Love that.
Straun looking confident and assertive...she'd be getting ready to take some major playing time away from someone (probably Pennie or Kennedy), but unfortunately for us we're about to lose her to national team duty.
Nothing lasts forever. Totally dominant when Anson was coaching. Still a top program but not elite every year like it was. A national title 2 years ago buys the new coach some time.
It’s game 4, you’ve been nothing but negative this entire game. The whole team is essentially made up of freshman and sophomores, they will grow. I thought we were CLEARLY the better team today against the number 5 team in the country and big 10 favorites. This is not a bad result especially after dominating the match after the red and going down 3-1
That is true, because it's not 1990 anymore and girls soccer is about 500,000 times bigger than it was in the dynasty years. We can no longer get all of the top players in the country every year.
Acting like this was some massive failure is ridiculous. Outplayed a top 5 team for most of the game, even after we went down a player. This is a ridiculously young team. The days of dynasties like Anson had are over...there is too much talent and too much parity out there now.
Lots to look forward to with this group once we can get everyone back from national team duty later in the season.
I will enjoy watching this team get better and building towards November
MSU scored two pretty legit goals, too. That touch that led to their second was straight-up luck… and a great set piece goal. We definitely weren’t outplayed. And the first goal was a transition goal off a silly turnover that expect probably won’t happen much again.
Freshmen showed some spunk. Manning brought some physicality and willingness to serve the ball. Good minutes for her first game. Strawn looked awesome.
Losing Munson really hurt.
I agree probably need to go to a 4 back, especially with the schedule we have this year. To do that I think you’d have to sacrifice either Kennedy or Pennie. And even then, Strawn may take one of their spots soon.
Freshmen showed some spunk. Manning brought some physicality and willingness to serve the ball. Good minutes for her first game. Strawn looked awesome.
Losing Munson really hurt.
I agree probably need to go to a 4 back, especially with the schedule we have this year. To do that I think you’d have to sacrifice either Kennedy or Pennie. And even then, Strawn may take one of their spots soon.
Totally fair. I meant more how she approaches challenges and tackles. Looking to out-skill instead of being physical and then gets physical after getting beat. The last two teams we played have had two very physical defenses. Drastically different look to ours.
Not a fan of the 3 6 1. It seems as if he's trying to win a creativity award or something. Go with a 4 4 2 or something along those lines (my favorite has always been the 4 1 2 1 2). Put Stratton on the backline. Put Stanislaus or Denigan up top. Play Thayer one half and Gundry the other. If Gundry doesn't work out, use Johann. Thayer has not shown she's the best option hands down. She let a couple get by her she could have saved.
Unless they're hurt, Rich and Martinez need to play every game. When you bring in some of the best freshmen in the country, either you use them or you lose them. Don't need to see a large amount of this freshman class transfer next year.
On the positive side, glad to see Manning and Stanislaus play. They should be pushing for a starting spot against Arizona.
Just need more than 1 player up top and more than 3 players in back. Rotate players. Opponent speed up top still gives him a lot of fits and playing the defense high does not help. He has never changed his approach.
Unless they're hurt, Rich and Martinez need to play every game. When you bring in some of the best freshmen in the country, either you use them or you lose them. Don't need to see a large amount of this freshman class transfer next year.
On the positive side, glad to see Manning and Stanislaus play. They should be pushing for a starting spot against Arizona.
Just need more than 1 player up top and more than 3 players in back. Rotate players. Opponent speed up top still gives him a lot of fits and playing the defense high does not help. He has never changed his approach.
The team played really hard. They are young but they showed grit and fire. I was glad to see that Deman play Bradley, Manning, and Deus a lot during the second half. It is going to take the three of them to get the chemistry down with the starters. This can only be accomplished if Damon continues to play them like he did today. Stratton has to play more on the defensive side of the ball. She is tall and physical and can help bring physicality on the defensive end. We missed so many shots during this game. If we would have made at least 2 of them, we would have won the game. It was 21 to 7 so we triple them in the number of shots. He has got to play Rich and Martinez some. He can play them during the 1st half. At least the last 5 to 6 minutes before half. Otherwise, he may lose them to the transfer. Manning had a couple of cross court passes that should have been goals. The same with Antonucci. If we are going to get corner kicks, He needs to have Stratton in there along with Gaetino and have some set plays for them to do headers or something. I know the team is really young, but they still had a chance to win this game. Overall, I thought the team played very well and they could have won it. This will be a good learning experience and teaching moments to clean up some mistakes, etc. moving forward. I agree with the two-goal system. He works for our women's field hockey and lacrosse teams. There is no shame in your game, Damon to go and ask EM and JL for advice on how they are able to make this system works. We are a school of national champions and those two know how to do it. Go Heels!
Thayer has let 3 goals in this season/today. Two were off the corner of post, one a breakaway and the other basically another breakaway. The third was a perfectly placed ball around the wall that also glanced the post. Maybe she should have had the wall shifted another 3 feet to the right…
I’m not against splitting GK like we did in the past if we have the depth, but which goals exactly did she so horribly miss? And you think any of the others would have stopped them?
And the goal against Arkansas that was called back she was screened and pushed out of the way…
I think Thayer got the nod at GK because she is taller than the other 3. That is big on corner kicks, something we’ve had trouble defending in the past. Also, all 3 of the other GKs on the roster got multiple starts last year, and all of them had their issues. So there is no clear better choice right now. Thayer didn’t have any massive gaffes that I saw today, so I don’t think she deserves to be benched because of this one game. A lot of the problems were coming from our back line.
The biggest concern I’ve seen with Thayer so far is that she seems really weak playing with her feet. Had a nearly disastrous turnover playing a pass with her feet in the second half today and also had a near whiff with her left foot in the first half of Arkansas game that resulted in a corner kick conceded (to be fair, she was given a weak back pass under high pressure to put her in that situation to begin with). But in the modern game, you have to be better with your feet or college is about as far as you’re going to get at a GK.
The biggest concern I’ve seen with Thayer so far is that she seems really weak playing with her feet. Had a nearly disastrous turnover playing a pass with her feet in the second half today and also had a near whiff with her left foot in the first half of Arkansas game that resulted in a corner kick conceded (to be fair, she was given a weak back pass under high pressure to put her in that situation to begin with). But in the modern game, you have to be better with your feet or college is about as far as you’re going to get at a GK.
I really like O'Neill, but she moved out of the way on that shot. If she had held her position...
Is the exhibition game in Ireland going to be streamed or televised?
“No one fears this program anymore”
” the other team gives scholarships, too”. Dean Smith
” the other team gives scholarships, too”. Dean Smith
Comments from Nahas. Munson has severe cramping issues. Their goals were just 1v1 due to a defensive mistake versus being broken down by their offense. We were the better team throughout the game, even down a man. Must finish with quality shots. We fought til the end.
“No one fears this program anymore”. Am I missing something here? This does not make sense. Other schools have just as much talent as we do now. With NIL money, the playing field is more on even par in today's society. To be honest, it does not have anything to do with other teams being afraid of us anymore. Michigan State was ranked higher than us for a reason in the polls. That team is a veteran team with a lot of upper classman on their roster, junior, seniors, and some transfers. Our team is made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores who are playing different roles this season. We should have could have won this game yesterday. We triple them on shots 21 to 7. We just failed to score. We had a ton of chances to score. This showed the inexperience of our team right now. It did not help to have to veterans to leave the game. One got a red card while the other one had severe leg cramps. We were basically one player down after that veteran player was thrown out. It just one lost. Some of your guys are unreal. You are not going to win all of the games in today's society. That is very hard to do. They will learn from this lost, watch film, and make the necessary adjustments because this is what good teams do. Summer D. stated this in her comments and she transferred in from GA as a graduate transfer. She knows what she is talking about IMO.
Disagree on MSU looking like the better team. they certainly took advantage of their counter-attack opportunities, but UNC dominated teh game and had much more dangerous scoring opportunities.
Shots: UNC 21. MSU 7
Corners: UNC 9, MSU 2
Saves: UNC 1, MSU 3
We continued to dominate even when a woman down.
UNC definitely needed to get more shots on frame, that had been good through the first 3, this game looked more like last year.
UNC simply cannot defend the counter with that much freedom to MSU runners. Bad defensive gameplan, way too aggressive by our backs considering we played with just 3/
The complete luck 2nd goal for MSU was the difference in the game. the MSU wing puts a wild toe on the ball and it falls perfectly to the striker. That touch had zero actual intent in it.
Considering how much we dominated the game a woman down, it seems like we could still get plenty of offense with 4 backs? And that way the long runs by O'Neal and Gaetino would not suffer consequences.
In terms of age it is important to remember that our roster imploded in our transition year between coaches. Between women going pro and transfers we started from scratch. And tons more going pro the next two years as well.
And that recruiting class created that year was at a historic low for UNC in terms of talent: barely top 10. Things turned around recruiting-wise when we pulled off the title run. Those are the upperclassmen that should be leading the team now. The few upperclassmen we do have are mostly transfers, and thus "new" as well.
Upperclassmen:
- Jr Alzarez - starting CB
- Jr Gaeitino - starting RB
- Sr Blum - 1st year transfer
- Gr Dennigan - 1st year transfer
- Jr Mara - returning from season long injury
- Jr Pennie - starting 6
- Sr Williams - deep reserve
- Sr Stratton - 1st year transfer
- Jr Tongberg - Deep reserve
- Sr Smith - deep reserve
- Jr Bradley - transfer returning from season long injury
This team is young well beyond just the roster metrics of average age.
I stated this fact above. That our team is relatively young. The three transfers are the veterans and that is it. We lost 78% of the offensive scoring from last year. Everyone that came back are playing in different roles and positions. They will continue to gel and get comfortable playing with one another each game that they play. I need to make a correction that I stated on an earlier thread. I recently read a column that was posted by CL. In that article it stated that Kennedy Bell had originally committed to UNC women's soccer program. She went to Hough High School. The same school that Luke Maye. I know she played against Asha Means who attend Lake Norman Charter. She graduated from high school in 2022. She decommitted from UNC and went to Maryland for two years. The question I want to know is why did she decommit from UNC? Was that right around the time that Anson step down and a lot of players bolted out?
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