Women's Soccer: Behind the FSU Lines

This is always a pleasure, but I am joined by Prince Akeem Joffer who covers women's soccer, women's hoops and softball for Tomahawk Nation. He's been doing this longer than I have and any fan of ACC women's soccer ought to check out his writings. This is probably our fifth or sixth "preview."

Welcome, Prince. Let's talk about Thursday's matchup in Charlottesville.

First question: Both programs come into this game reeling a bit, and interestingly, sharing the same results on their respective West Coast trips:  both of us lost to Stanford 2 - 1 and both had 2 - 0 leads erased late in the game as Cal fought back for the ties.  Virginia let a win at Louisville slip away late and FSU gave up four answered goals in a loss at Notre Dame.  The question is, who rights their ship faster?

Probably whoever wins on Thursday but since we obviously don’t know who that will be I will say Virginia rights their ship faster because the schedule is much softer for the Hoos going forward. UVA finishes with two juicy chances for six points with ACC bottom feeders Pitt and Boston College. I think that the Cavaliers will likely win both of those games irrespective of what happens Thursday especially considering that both games are in Charlottesville.

Thank you. So, this seems to be something of a down year for the 'Noles.  What's changed?

We could talk about this all day but I’ll be brief. There is still a lot of talent on the team but the staff hasn’t really nailed down a consistent lineup. FSU hasn’t been settled in the midfield. Taylor Huff is now doing her thing with Bay FC and Florida State hasn’t yet found someone that has taken her place at the 10 spot. The defense has been good all year until the last two games where it has broken down conceding six goals total to Stanford and Cal. Was that just a bad stretch or does it portend trouble down the road? We will see.

We all know about Jordynn Dudley, and she will no doubt generate most of the attention of the Virginia defense.  Who else can hurt us?

There are several players who could step up as the team is fairly deep (which can be a blessing and a curse) but offensively Wrianna Hudson is a tough matchup. Hudson is second in the ACC in goals per game despite splitting time with Solai Washington up top next to Dudley. Hudson is 6’2 so she is tough to stop in the air and she is dangerous on set-pieces. Mimi Van Zanten is another player to watch. She has come back from an injury and (mostly) switched positions to holding midfield where is very good defensively disrupting opposing offenses.

How is Traitor Yuna McCormack doing for you?  Her substitution patterns in the Stanford game seemed strange.  (For the record, I am all for freedom of movement for college athletes.  I started writing 10 years ago largely because I wanted to beat the drum, as it were.  But I like the rule that you couldn't transfer in conference.  If Yuna wants to be somewhere else, fine.  I'd love to wish her well in future endeavors.  But to leave us for FSU, who has more or less stomped all over the ACC much of the last decade?  That's too much, and why she'll be Traitor Yuna McCormack.)

I knew this question was coming. Val, we are going to have to agree to disagree regarding Yuna. Transfers are the way of the world now. I know that it sucks for a prominent player to leave especially within the conference but it happens. It hasn’t happened to FSU yet in soccer but in basketball Matthew Cleveland left for Miami (a blood rival). We have to accept the new reality.

In Yuna’s specific case; she has been fine. She has been a starter for most of the season but has come off the bench for the last couple of games. It goes back to what I referred to earlier about the lack of a consistent lineup. Yuna has been part of the roster shuffle.

And lastly you are now in Year 4 of the Brian Pensky era.  How happy are you with his hire, given that he had to replace a legend in Mark Krikorian?

The short answer is that I am pretty happy with what Pensky has done so far with the program. However, there are two easy arguments to make – one for and one against - regarding the Pensky era.

The argument for Pensky is pretty easy to make – look at the results. He is in his fourth year and has three straight ACC titles, three straight #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, two trips to the College Cup and a national championship where he coached a dominant team that many feel is one of the best teams of all time.

The argument against Pensky is also easy to make. He did all that with Mark Krikorian’s players and what have you done for me lately. FSU was upset at home in the second round and the Noles currently have two losses and three draws even though the team appears to be really talented.

I tend to give more credence to the argument for Pensky because the results in the last couple of years speak for themselves (except for one game against Vanderbilt). Although this season has been a bit rocky it is not over and this team is talented enough to catch fire at any time. We will see if they can as we enter the postseason.

Well, the postseason awaits both teams and Virginia, despite a three-game mini slump, is poised to make the ACC tournament. Maybe we'll meet again soon.

Note: Check back later and I'll link to my responses at Tomahawk Nation.