Lady Soccer 2015

[BlueK]

I don't get it. Why all the love for Santa Clara. We got no seed, they got a 4 seed. Which, incidentally is the same seed they would have received in a WCC tourney if there had been one.

Santa Clara has a win vs. a #1 seed. They beat Stanford and we lost to them. On BYU's side the best win is vs. #18 Cal, which is nice, but that's about all BYU has on the resume besides winning the conference. The committee rewards tougher schedules. We're all BYU fans, but if you understand what the committee likes to base these decisions on and look objectively, SCU actually does have a slightly stronger overall resume.

In conference it's really almost the same. They tied each other and both lost to USF. BYU finished higher because SCU also tied St. Mary's. Here are the rpi's of the teams SCU and BYU played. It's close, but the main difference is the committee wants to reward a stronger non-conference schedule. SCU played more good teams and BYU played more teams ranked below 100. Also, the tie vs. Cal Poly really hurts BYU.

Only the top 4 teams are seeded. After that the committee gives home games to the next highest set of teams and then only cares about matching up the unseeded teams in a way that makes sense for travel. They don't care about giving the top 4 seeds the easiest possible opponent in the second round.

For BYU it also comes down to that one weekend of losing to USF and tying Santa Clara. BYU had a 1-0 lead at USF. No excuses. They blew it and should not have lost. They should have won both those games. But had they at least beaten USF we're not even having this discussion and BYU is a seeded team. They were capable but just had a bad weekend. Fortunately they got the wakeup call and have played great since. They're fully capable of beating Stanford.

SCU vs rpi 1-25:
L vs. #2 Penn State
W vs. #5 Stanford
L vs. #10 Notre Dame
L vs. #18 California

BYU vs. rpi 1-25:
L vs. #5 Stanford
W vs. #18 California

SCU vs. rpi 26-50:
L vs. #27 Arizona
W vs. #44 Northwestern
W vs. #50 Oklahoma

BYU vs. rpi 26-50:
W vs. #43 Long Beach State
W vs. #45 Nebraska

SCU vs. rpi 51-100:
W vs. #69 Kansas

BYU vs. rpi 51-100:
Tie vs. #96 Cal Poly

SCU vs. rpi 101+
W vs. #101 UC Davis
W vs. #119 CS Northridge
W vs. #190 UC Irvine

BYU vs. rpi 101+
W vs. #102 Utah
W vs. #118 Oregon State
W vs. #153 UNLV
W vs. #155 Colorado
W vs. #197 Utah State

[BlueK]

Congratulations to Nadia Gomes! WCC player of the year! Several others were named to the all-conference team.

With Gomes playing out of her mind right now and Ashley Hatch coming back, I'm very excited for the NCAA tournament.

[SkystheLimit]

My two cents regarding seeding: I'm upset over BYU's seeding. BYU has a higher RPI than Santa Clara. Santa Clara was 4th in conference. BYU won the conference title. BYU had an overall better record, was ranked higher, tied Santa Clara in conference play, and ended the season with some of their strongest wins. I think we were robbed. I hope they use this as motivation.

As to Ashley Hatch's return, I am cautiously optimistic. She potential provides even more firepower. However, she has only practiced with the team for two weeks when Round 1 gets here. I'm glad to have her back and hope she is hungry and makes a difference. If nothing else, she is one more great striker they have to guard.

[SkystheLimit]

Congratulations to BYU on their 1-0 win over UVU. UVU was surprisingly good. Now we move on to the rematch with Stanford. We are good enough to beat Stanford if we bring our A game. Hopefully, Hatch can get her mojo back and along with Gomes, can bring some great fire power. Unfortunately, it looks like we may have lost Madeiros who has been such an important part of our team, in fact, scoring the winning goal today. I hope she is okay. The 2nd-round game us Thursday at 7:00pm. I hope it will be televised on the PAC-12 Channel.

[SkystheLimit]

Apparently, Madeiros' injury was just a cramp. Thank goodness! Hers a Deseret News article on the game:

BYU women's soccer: BYU blanks UVU 1-0 to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865641566/?user=app" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BlueK]

Congratulations to BYU on their 1-0 win over UVU. UVU was surprisingly good. Now we move on to the rematch with Stanford. We are good enough to beat Stanford if we bring our A game. Hopefully, Hatch can get her mojo back and along with Gomes, can bring some great fire power. Unfortunately, it looks like we may have lost Madeiros who has been such an important part of our team, in fact, scoring the winning goal today. I hope she is okay. The 2nd-round game us Thursday at 7:00pm. I hope it will be televised on the PAC-12 Channel.

I think a big part of the advantage a #1 seed has besides just being a really good team, is the mystique that comes with it. BYU has already played there and realized in the second half that they're good enough to play with them. The mystique advantage Stanford may have otherwise had is gone. Plus, another thing some of the players and Coach Rockwood have been saying is that BYU has changed since the last time the teams played. i don't know how much that will make a difference, but you would think it can help some if in fact it means BYU will be more familiar with what Stanford is doing than the other way around.

[BlueK]

I think you can make a pretty good argument that Stanford got a terrible draw considering they're a #1 seed. They have to play BYU first which is good enough to have been seeded, plus who already played them tough once this year, and has their best player back after missing most of the season. Then after that if they win they get either Arizona from their own conference or another team they already played, Santa Clara. But that's what happens when you only seed 4 teams per region. Ultimately you just have to show up and play through it. They get to play at home until the final four, so still hard to complain.

[SkystheLimit]

Sigh...so it ends. Our ladies played them tough and stayed right with them. Unfortunately, one critical mistake did them in. I will miss watching our Medford native, Sarah Chambers-Gardner play and do, as her dad calls it, the "Chambers flop." It's disappointing to see it end this way and so early. They had so much potential to make it farther had they not gotten such a lousy seed. But they played hard, for the most part. Until next season. I can't wait to see who we sign.

[hawkwing]

Rough seed. Good year the Cougs, but just wasn't meant to be.

[BlueK]

The good news is BYU gets basically all their best players back for next year, with only two seniors. Next year's team will have the last two WCC players of the year on it (Ashley Hatch and Nadia Gomes).