Welp, the United Soccer Coaches certainly value our talent over our results, so far. Listen, sports happen. Soccer happens - many strategies to keep superior teams within reach.
But a top 5 team doesn't have draws against Uof and Holy Cross. The good news is that at 3-1-2, we've only been beaten once. That's not to be dismissed by any means as winning can be hard. Our wins have come against the 79th (Penn State), 193rd (Loyola (Md.)) and 73rd (BC) ranked teams by RPI.
Our current RPI sits at 37 against the 47th ranked SOS. Uof (77th) and Holy Cross (143) are vastly inferior teams and we gave up two goals to each of them in draws.
Again, the caveat here of our national title winning team last year was slow out of the gates as well, sitting at 3-2-1 after 6 games. They finished 15-1-2 the rest of the season.
It's not panic time, but I'd like to see something. And what better time than against a Wake Forest program that began the season as a pre-season top 15 team, but has been even slower out of the gates (2-2-3). Quick sidenote, that one loss in the last 18 games last year? At Wake Forest.
Since 2015, Wake Forest (142) and Clemson (129) rank first and third nationally in total wins. Meanwhile, while off to the 2-2-3 start, the Demon Deacons lead the country in shots per game (20.6) , and total shots (144). Also top five in shots on goal (58), but have only scored on nine of those - and one was a PK.
Hopefully that inefficiency continues. Remarkably, we've been really good at not giving up shots - just 7.7 per game. However, opponents have scored on roughly one out of every seven SOG. For reference, Stanford (No. 1 in country and our lone defeat) is giving up one goal per nine shots on goal. I think we can improve here, especially given that the Tigers and Andema gave up just one goal on 15 SOG in the NCAA tournament last year.
Wake's Babacar Niang and Cooper Flax have combined for 50 (!!) shots this season, scoring six of their nine goals. Keeper Trace Alphin is giving up 1.43 goals a game and has just one shutout, which came against Radford, and gave up three goals against Gardner-Webb. Alphin was giving up just .9 goals per game last year.
I fully expect a battle on Friday - neither team is 'right', yet. Have to capitalize on our opportunities. So, let's chat about James Kelly - one of our most opportunistic players this season. The junior from Gastonia, NC has played in just 15 games with two starts over three years.
He has scored two goals this season on just nine shots, but amazingly five of his nine shots have been on goal - a .556 percentage, second-highest on the team behind Meinhard. Now, sure, most came against Loyola (Md.), but he scored on his lone shot against Holy Cross on Monday to put us up 2-1.
And, no pressure, Mr. Kelly, but the last two player highlights had a goal (Trimnal vs. HC) and an assist (Gerbet vs. BC).
Go Tigers! Beat Wake!
Login to view embedded media
