I’m deeply ashamed.
I should be posting the writeup of last weekend’s 2-1 win over Orlando here.
Instead all I can offer is an apology.
Like a fool, I trusted that I would be able to review a replay of the ION broadcast, so I failed to set the DVR. No copy on my home screen, then. I was soooo sure that I could catch the stream on NWSL+ within a couple of days of the match, but no. Apparently the league doesn’t replay the ION matches, so nothing there, either.
I got nothin’.
Which is too bad, because last weekend was kind of an intriguing match. First, a whole lot of nothing, to an extent because I suspect Coach Vilahamn sent the troops out with one mission; stop Barbara Banda! Well, they did…but at what cost?
Then, close to the hour mark, in quick succession;
1) an utterly improbable 58th minute Deyna Castellanos shross that chipped Anna Moorhouse (remember in the prediction game thread we discussed what complete rubbish Moorhouse’s season has been? Yeah, that. I recall telling the friend with whom I was watching the match; “Does almost nothing of note for an hour and then stonks a goal? The most Castellanos match evah..!“) to put the home side up a goal…for a whopping five minutes, before…
2) …a combination of slack backline play and a poorly-timed/poorly-executed goalkeeper dive allowed Orlando’s Ovaille to level the match again.
Here’s how it ended up:
See the second green ball? That’s the evening suddenly becoming magic with Caiya Hanks’ Cinderella Moment.
Subbed on in the 88th minute, presumably just to get some brief match minutes coming right off the DL, Hanks worked the ball towards the goal, deep in second-half injury time, teed up another hopeful effort, and…
...boom.
Two-one, three points, second consecutive win, and one of the most adorable mom-daughter moments in recent Thorns history.
That said…remember how we were kind of fussing about how the Thorns were playing ahead of their cG/xG-against numbers and, worryingly, how those tended to regress to the mean?
Mmmmm. Yeah, that.
Throw in Sophia Wilson having her worst outing in a long time – note that the second “best” xG good/great shot is an 89th Wilson miss? Gigi’s mom got stoned on a 1v0 breakaway into the box three minutes earlier, too. Tough evening out for Wilson, and for almost all of the Thorns attackers.
Altogether the Thorns starting forward and AMs – Wilson, Pietra Tordin, and Marie Muller, managed only five shots, put only two on frame, and scored no goals. If you add Castellanos as an ACM you end up with eight shots, three on goal, and a goal.
I had to throw up this, because Carlisle-sensei made a funny:
So, heartwarming? Win?
Yes.
Does it bury many of the questions about this squad – attacking organization, midfield cohesion, defensive sturdiness – we’ve had all season?
No.
But it was a win, much-needed, and let’s just take that and enjoy it for the moment, because sufficient to the day is the evil thereof, and we’ve got Denver coming in on Saturday…
So, again; I apologize deeply for failing to catch this one. I’ve already set the DVR, though, so I’ll be back next week with a genuine match report. Promise!
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Thanks John for all the ones you do. It sucks that there has been no place to watch a replay. I wanted to watch it again, relaxed and untroubled by the outcome.
This game was weird because it seemed when watching it that it would and maybe should have been be a loss and yet it was a win. I was hoping to see your PMRs because I felt during the game that Deyna was having a pretty good game and then she scored. Wow!
I was also pretty impressed with the performance of Perry and Obaze on Banda, but I felt that perhaps their attention to Banda may have left others open. That is when I prefer your jaundiced eye and the reality of the PMRs.
This weekend the defense had better be similarly lucky or solid and very wary of crosses, that seems to be Sonis and Yaz Ryan’s specialty.
In all honesty I didn’t see anyone in black looking terrific other than the midfield/backline doing a pretty good job of putting a collar on Banda. Not awful, but nothing particularly standout-ish, either.
That Castellanos goal is probably something like 0.02xG; in other words almost indistinguishable from random chance. Watching the highlights it’s obvious that Moorhouse does an awful job; first completely misjudges it and then somehow stumbles uselessly backwards as it flies over her head. So good for Castellanos, and for the squad, but that’s more or less like hitting a bullet with a bullet. It’s completely random chance.
Hanks’ goal, though, is legit (other than the Pride backline not closing her down). Moorhouse is full stretch, and Hanks just puts the ball right where it needs to be. Well done, young padawan!
This is the Castellanos experience at this point, isn’t it? She does very little connective or defensive work, so when one of her low-percentage shots goes in she looks like a magician and otherwise she’s fairly invisible unless she’s turning it over trying to dribble through a crowd. She did very little in the game yesterday, which is about what I expect. I don’t know that anyone should be starting over her with Moultrie’s knee blown, but it’s one of the big reasons I suspect we’ll see a lot of mid block from the Thorns for the rest of the season with Wilson/Hanks/Weaver/Tordin playing into space as our main attack
FWIW…I followed ABell’s link to screen the match, and at the half? Castellanos’ PMR is +3/-4 compared to Wilson’s +10/-3 and Tordin’s +5/-1. Muller is +5/-6 but mostly for defensive actions (four of her pluses, and all the minuses…)
Well, that is what I was afraid of. My recency bias was Deyna had a pretty good game. But, based on those results it was only slightly better than what we have been seeing. What we have been seeing is the reason we probably will not see her next year. However, I will give her credit for that goal, because that is something I think she is genuinely good at and I am really happy that she had that moment.
Credit where it’s due; after the goal Castellanos went on a tear. At the time she scored she was sitting on a +5/-4. In the following 20-odd minutes she put up a +5/-0 to finish +10/-4.
So not so much a “good match” as “a pretty meh hour followed by a terrific 20 minutes “ which is also very Castellanos. If she could have put together a full 90 – or even a full hour – like her twenty final minutes? She’d be a lock.
And…she served up a promising lob. I’ll give that.
But go watch the replay. Moorhouse is a complete clown show. If she isn’t she turns that ball over the bar or wide of her post 90+% of the time.
That wasn’t Hanks, who beat Moorhouse far post full stretch. Castellanos goal was very like her preseason goal in Indio; 75-90% on the keeper.
Happy for her, and for the squad. But I don’t see any part of that match that suggests the FO is mistaken in releasing her.
Overall I thought Deyna looked much more functional than she had in a while, though I’d just recently pointed out to my kids how she can be easily disposed and can be lazy at counterpressing when she scored that absolute screamer…. She did fade as the game went on, but maybe she won’t be so bad as she gets in game shape?
Hanks, on the other hand—she looked dangerous from the moment she came on, so it was amazing to see her get that goal…
Hi John! Someone in the STF comment section left this link for the game. Regardless of if you wanna add to this write up or just watch for your own pleasure(?) I thought I’d pass the comment and link along… I kinda recall links being wonky to post here but I’ll try anyways!
They said: “Starts at about hour 2:15. Majestic channel is always my fallback for hard to find games.”
https://rumble.com/v7e82eo-nwsl-racing-louisville-vs-boston-legacy.html?e9s=src_v1_cbl%2Csrc_v1_upp_a
Thanks! Yes, I do want to review this match; I think it was dicier than we think of it just because of all the Hanks Happiness. And the happiness IS good…but I’d like to see if it was as close as I remember thinking it was at halftime.
I def think it was dicier also, regardless of feel-good game-winning golazos. I’m curious about the PMR’s- did you end up doing those for this match?
No problem about the lack of write-up. I know it’s a lot of work to do them, and I’m always happy to see them rather than being disappointed when you can’t do one for whatever reason. As always, thanks for the ones you *can* do.
This game felt a bit like reversion to the mean to me. I mean, it feels like we were lucky early in the season, winning more than we should based on xG difference, and then it evened out. Since the break, though, it feels like we’ve been especially *unlucky*; we’re a better team than our record showed in that stretch. Yes we got lucky this game – someone on STF said the xGs for our two goals were 0.02 and 0.05, respectively – but in the long run the bad luck should be balanced out by some good luck, and I think some of that happened here.
Also I’d give Castellanos a bit more credit. Judging by the loft on her goal, that was exactly the shot she was trying for, and she absolutely nailed it. It fits Castellanos’s skill set – she has very good feet, which I think is why a succession of coaches have tried to make her work in their teams. Her areas of deficiency are work rate and physicality, neither of which was in play on the goal. And I think most goalkeepers in the NWSL fail to stop that one. It was right below the bar and in the back half of the goal, hard to get to if the keeper is (correctly) positioned close to the near post.
Also, great fun to watch the Hanks show. May she long keep growing!