Insider on Carolina-Hopkins
North Carolina at Johns Hopkins
Homewood Field, Balt.
Saturday, 2 p.m.
TV: WMAR-2, ESPNU
Radio: WVIE
Records: Tar Heels 6-2, Blue Jays 3-3
Tickets: $10 reserved, $7 general admission.
Parking: $5-10 in various lots around the stadium. Some free street parking, too.
Game-within-the-game: UNC junior GK Grant Zimmerman (7.95 GAA, .608 save percentage) against Johns Hopkins's best shooters: Senior MFs Paul Rabil (10 goals, 7 assists) and Stephen Peyser (9 goals) and senior A Kevin Huntley (16 goals).
Why That Matchup Is Important: North Carolina's defensive midfield had played well until a 13-8 loss to Maryland on Saturday. Maryland midfielders scored nine goals; prior to that, opposing midfielders had scored 14 goals in seven games against the Tar Heels.
Being a little short in the defensive midfield is not a good place to be against Rabil, Peyser and Michael Kimmel (4,8). The other thing the Tar Heels have to do is keep Huntley away from the middle of the field. Huntley is very good at varying the location of his shots; TFBO2F calls him "lightning," as in he never hits the same spot twice.
When he gets into the middle of the field and has the entire cage at which to shoot, he becomes very difficult to stop.
Insider: Dick Long
Long coached Rabil at DeMatha. He provides TFBO2F with an insight to what Rabil is like and how the three-game losing streak may be affecting him. Long also is TFBO2F's Navy Insider. He will be introduced formally in that role tomorrow.
Paul Rabil is the best player in the country.In the NCAA championship game last year he had 6 points as a midfielder, meaning he shared time on the field and was able to generate this degree of offense. That was an unbelievable performance.
Being Hopkins' captain this year I am sure he takes these past three OT losses personally. Knowing Paul, he puts the pressure solely on himself. Being so talented he can take over a game. But in my opinion, his strength has always been letting the game come to him.Tough to do, when everyone is keying on you and knows your every move. But my advice to Paul and all the Blue Jays would be to loosen up and be patient. You guys are that good! OT losses are such a fine line but for Hopkins all the pieces are there. Just have fun, be patient and good things will happen. That's my two cents, anyway.
By Christian Swezey |
March 26, 2008; 12:54 PM ET
| Category:
Johns Hopkins
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Next: Game Plan Leading to the Weekend
Posted by: Timbosky | March 26, 2008 7:55 PM
Hey Christian. Great to see the new blog. I'll probably be seeing you at a Georgetown game or two - I'm doing stats for them intermittently this season.
I saw you on WPL talking about this blog - great pub!
- Anthony Wilson (former American SID)
Posted by: Incredulous | March 26, 2008 10:06 PM
Timbosky makes some good points, but except for Bratton his list includes only attackmen - and their job is to score score score. What Rabil adds to a game is more than just goals, he is a smart player that can succeed in all situations. If he doesn't have the most goals, he makes his mark on other parts of the field. And this is the true indication of a good player, and perhaps the country's best. Bratton is a fantastic player and the fact that Rabil was defending him only proves his versatility and Long's point.
Posted by: beatarmy4466 | March 27, 2008 1:15 PM
Timbosky makes some good points, but except for Bratton his list includes only attackmen - and their job is to score score score. What Rabil adds to a game is more than just goals, he is a smart player that can succeed in all situations. If he doesn't have the most goals, he makes his mark on other parts of the field. And this is the true indication of a good player, and perhaps the country's best. Bratton is a fantastic player and the fact that Rabil was defending him only proves his versatility and Long's point.
Posted by: beatarmy4466 | March 27, 2008 1:15 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Dick Long has been Paul Rabil's coach, but does he really think he's "the best player in the country"? I've seen every Hopkin's game this year and I can't remember a game when Rabil was even the "best player on the field." Against Albany and Princeton, Huntley outshone him with 8 goals. It was Boyle's turn to outshine Rabil against UMBC with more goals while taking half the shots Rabil took. Rabil was shut out against Hofstra. Both Syracuse's Leveille (3g and 3a) and Huntley's 4 tallies bested Rabil's 1 goal against SU. And against UVa, when Shamel Bratton's assisting pass just beat Rabil's slide on the shot that ended the game, it hung Shamel's star a little higher than Rabil's--they each had 3 and 1 but UVa won on that watershed play when Shamel was just a tad better than Rabil. So is Rabil "the country's best", really? He has to be the best on the field first.