nortx9

I watched 3 series this fall. The current team is pretty good, pitching is above average for club team level and they seemed fairly deep in arms. Saw 5 or 6 different guys pitch and all did well. Defense was good, had two good, mobile catchers. I understand they practice quite a bit in-season. Hitting was decent, however this fall it seemed everyone's (UNT and competition) hitting was behind the pitchers' levels. They schedule clubs like Nebraska, SMU, Rice, so they do play large schools with large student talent pools to draw from. All and all, they seem to be good guys, and seem to enjoy the games. Commitment level seems high for the current bunch. The team submits and estimated budget for the school year that must be approved, and usually covers most of the fees and expenses as I understand it. I know the student-coach, if you can't find his contact info through the rec program at the school, PM me and I'll try to get you hooked up with him. Might have a hat or two left over if the rosters allow. The games I saw were at Mac park.

Absolutely! First of all Game one, USA played us to a tie at USA. Went ahead 2-0 and then came back to tie us 3-3. They did a lot of things to disrupt our game. Second game, we do not match up well against either team, and both are very physical. FIU gave everyone fits this year, including our 1-0 win at home. WKU we do not match up well against period, in spite of our 4-3 win. Gotta get out of the first one, in order to get through to the second one, and then Denver should be waiting for us by virtue of most likely two very lopsided wins. We will need three of our very best games this whole year to get through.

Can't, but should !!!.....Should have won the conf undefeated/untied in my humble opinion. Harken back to pre-season threads, I said then we had some real issues developing.... Anyway, hope we can put on a similar run to last year tourney, 'bout all we can hope for at this time..... that and a little help from the other underdogs.....

If you mean multi-bid to the NCAA......unlikely. Nothing says that we could not have an at large award to the tourney runner up if warranted, but it has been so long since that happened, I can't remember when. NCAA would rather see an SEC team not win a game in their conf tourney (or Big East) and put them in before even considering SBC runner-up team.

Don't forget the other thing too, eh?

We need the Victory Pound to start showing up again!!! No coincidence the all best around performance of the year was vs ETSU when the Victory Pound was loud and proud. Can I get a holler out to da 'Pound for a cameo during the home stand starting Oct 17th through end of Conf tourney?

Actually, we are playing some of our worst soccer of the year right now.....we are just doing enough to get by. Until sunday, we had allowed an avg of 2 goals per game since conference started, and key players are going long stretches without any significant impact on the game. ULM was a complete butt-whipping in all phases. FIU has given all teams fits this year in spite of their record, so that game I actually think was a better effort. The two prior conference game wins could easily have gone the other way, save for a few critical breaks. We are not in sync offensively in spite of scoring three goals in two conf games. In my very humble opinion, we should have posted at least 6 goals vs. ULM, five vs LaLa, 5 vs FLA and 2-3 vs. FIU. Problem is in finishing and ball movement. We are not running the offense the way Hedlund wants it (per his media interviews), and I think that is why the key offensive players numbers are down. They are working against themselves and the team. We do have young players, but Denver, WKU, MTSU all are starting very young players. In this sport, young players are in vogue, their fitness level, competitive game skills, speed and quickness are very often higher than returning Jr or Sr players, due to the excessive summer club seasons they are still playing. "Young" should be an advantage in this sport. Last thing and this one I think is very important. We have multiple player injuries, some nagging, some severe. I count 3 severe, and 5 with nagging or missed game injuries. Most have come from flagrant foul circumstances. On the La roadtrip alone we took nearly 40 fouls and only handed out 8. We have one yellow card this season, for mouthing. We must begin to step up to a physical style of play. We cannot finish healthy this year at this rate. We have got to start pounding the opposition when field position is not critical. It is affecting our offensive play, like it or not. They will not back off until we dish it back. We do not play well on the road, we must win the next two on the road...then we have a chance to run the table at home.

Hmmmmmm........

Been away for a while, felt like extending this ..... These are just the kind of let downs we can ill afford to have if we expect to win the conference and move to the post season. This conference is much tougher this year than in years past. No more laughers this year. This game we WERE outhustled, particularly in the midfield, and finishing was poor despite the number of shots (Some of those seventeen shots killed the grass they were rolling so slow... . ) Hedlund must have thought so too, and made lineup changes to try to improve those areas, and it seems to have helped over last two games. Just because the scoreboard or the paper says we outshot someone, if we lost a game we cannot let our Mean Green Pride color the result. It is what it is. We lost to an unranked regional team, our team effort was weak, our momentum was temporarily derailed. (also reminded me of the Grambling debacle two years ago, that probably cost us an at-large NCAA berth). The team that showed up for ETSU was much better and crisp. ETSU is by far a better team than UTSA. We had a much better effort, one we need to sustain. The last two sunday games after hard fought Friday night games have been less than stellar. Conditioning is the issue, we are not quite there yet (we do have some players not at full speed due to nagging injury). I think Lamar was a sleeper game too, although we finally controlled the game in second half. We outshot them tremendously in that game too, but took a long time to ice the game. We must work this out now so sunday day games are not a factor in our results.

Exactly. Played tired and lazy. I thought the defense looked good though. UTSA was not a team to be taken lightly, they are hungry and have recruited well for such a young program. They played physical and we did not rise to match the intensity. We just got out-hustled I thought. Offense was very slow to react, no one consistently moving without the ball, we had chances and muffed them. Just looked tired on offense. I do think a little more conditioning may be in order. Got to get more out of the bench too so we can stay fresh. ETSU will be a tough game, we need to start quick and keep moving.

Did anyone have trouble with the Verizon channel? We got no telecast and DVR apparently recorded nothing either....

Certainly wish her the best. Great player. K will miss!

Awesome! Any chance we can get a live feed or tape delay on road trippers? This will be very cool!

Hmmmmmm.......

Time's up..... On top of the loss of Woods, in the following days, Jim Zakel resigned his position as asst women's soccer coach just prior to players reporting to camp. Apparently was not openly announced for several weeks. I still cannot discuss the details of what I know surrounding that, probably not in best interest of this year's program, but while this may seem somewhat of a regular occurence in NCAA soccer and not such a big deal to some readers, Jim was a fantastic guy, good coach, and in my opinion, veeeerrrry instrumental in the recent recruiting success we have enjoyed with high calibre local players. I believe he would have preferred to continue in his role, given an improved set of circumstances. UNT Athletics will miss his contributions. Opinions only here folks, but he will be really missed on the recruiting trail. I personally think it was a huge loss, hope i'm wrong there. Jim has now decided to leave the coaching business altogether and has entered the business world, I really wish him best of luck. He was not willing to discuss the details of his resignation. He is like the fourth or fifth asst or Jr. Asst to leave the program is the last 4 years, and probably the best recruiting asst of the 4. This was Jim's 2nd stop at UNT. New coaches have been hired, and appear to be meshing very well with the players as I hear it, so that is the good news. Team looks really good and seem to have put this behind them. My reluctance to want to discuss this openly was, and is out of respect for the program, the team and their new season, and Jim. I'm happy to see the immediate impact has been minimal. GO MEAN GREEN!

The referee crew was absolutely horrible. Linesmen were wrong all day for both teams and the center ref refused to overrule. It was not mentioned here that in the first half we also had a goal off of a corner played into goal on a header that was "saved" by the defender on the post. She was clearly inside the goal and the ball was too. Ball bounced off defender and back into play and was cleared away. Several 2nd half breakaways were disallowed by the poor offside reads from the line crew, which could have yielded even more opportunities. Combined with continued difficulty in finishing quality chances, the score was much closer than could have been. We need some payback on OU, lost last year on a late goal after dominating first half and missing many easy chances to go up by multiple goals. Hope we come out motivated to win the first half this time and force them to play from behind.

SBC released the Pre-season Poll- UNT picked to finish 2nd, Denver first........Juett and Cleveland named to first team All SBC Preseason Team...... Juett was picked as the SBC Preseason Player of the Year. Story on Soccer homepage. Also, I attended the Tech game this past weekend. Could have claimed a win or a loss, was well played and both teams deserved a better final score. UNT displayed a very aggressive attack all game, and a very strong defensive effort from the back, particularly when Tech had momentum in the match. UNT Defenders rescued two loose balls inches off the goal line. Team appears to have great depth, particularly in the defensive backs and mids. Welcome back to Lundsford and Lackore from knee injuries. It was fantastic to see them on the field again. Reminder the Green and White alumni game is this Sat night 8/23......

Love to, wish I did not know this, but it is true and not a rumor..... but I can't do it, it has not been announced .... will blow my cover, I'd never have any inside scoop again, may not anyway with this development. But, it has created some suspense and drama for this part of the board...... give it a few more days, if it has not come out by then, I'll drop dime.

That will be a good test. They have a much better coach this year, so I expect more from them. We should have beat them last year at OU but did not put away the multiple chances in first half and got burned on a late breakaway in the 2nd half. I really believe we have ample talent, the freshmen have been great players at the club level and should fit right in. It is the distractions and frustrations we need to have pass quickly so we can get focused. I'm amped about the Tech scrimmage next weekend, that will also be a good test, they have good talent from DFW club circuit, and surprised with a better than expected showing last year in Big 12 play. They may be better than OU this year. At home, I think we can beat OU this year in spite of the recent developments.....

Extremely disappointed I guess is appropriate to describe how I feel.

Gonna have to judge that one yourself...from my perspective at this time of year, it is really bad..... eye of the beholder too I guess......... sorry, I just can't let go with it yet until it is announced...

More drama on the way.....heads up.......Someone else needs to report this one when it leaks...... I'm back quiet on this next one.......

Very true Joe, and almost legally blind in one eye I believe. She could not 'head' the ball due to concern of additional injury. That could be part of it, but I also heard from connected folks that she wanted to transfer schools, in part because she had a specific major in mind not offered at UNT. Not sure if that was the primary reason, and not sure if she intends to play soccer elsewhere .

Well, not sure and not sure it matters why since she is gone. Maybe was just not happy with school or unrelated issues. The coaches I'm sure were blindsided, did not hear any rumors during the spring that she might leave. Players seemed to like her well. Hedlund was always very complimentary of her, and seemed to be building the 2008 season promos with her in mind (see SBC prospectus for 2008 soccer season on SBC site). This one is NOT on the coaches as far as it appears. I do believe that we will be surprised at the scoring talent we still have and their scoring abilities. We should still win the SBC in my opinion.