One really tough non-conference game at Santa Clara and that's about it. BYU on the road could be an obstacle and Ohio State is at home. The SEC slate will be average with no South Carolina on the schedule. With an expected elite squad this year I had hoped Coach G would have scheduled a bit tougher for RPI purposes, but last year seemed to work out fine when I thought it was a really weak schedule. The expectations will be very high for 2019.

HiddenAg2 said:

---

One really tough non-conference game at Santa Clara and that's about it. BYU on the road could be an obstacle and Ohio State is at home. The SEC slate will be average with no South Carolina on the schedule. With an expected elite squad this year I had hoped Coach G would have scheduled a bit tougher for RPI purposes, but last year seemed to work out fine when I thought it was a really weak schedule. The expectations will be very high for 2019.

---

I'm not expecting an elite squad this year.

That is a really weak home schedule. Not that we have much control over the SEC games but we get neither of the top 2 SEC from last year or Florida or USCe. We played 1 of those 4 at home last year. We haven't played UF at home since 2014?

We played Florida at home 2 years ago. Remember Kendall Ritchie?
I figured we would be making a trip to California to return Santa Clara coming here last year, plus we have 2 players from northern California. Will be a tougher start than last year in Hawaii.
4 of our non-conference opponents were in the NCAA tournament last year: Santa Clara, ACC, OSU and BYU, and 6 of our SEC opponents were there. I like the addition of Ohio State to the schedule, but we last played an ACC team in 2016. We were supposed to play PAC-12 team Oregon in 2017 but they canceled due to Harvey.
This schedule came out really late. I wonder if G was talking with teams.
Disappointed that we are not going to Knoxville because we really need to prove that we can beat them.
Season starts in 91 days in California!

You think I would remember... I guess we get them at home next year.

redd38 said:

---

HiddenAg2 said:

---

One really tough non-conference game at Santa Clara and that's about it. BYU on the road could be an obstacle and Ohio State is at home. The SEC slate will be average with no South Carolina on the schedule. With an expected elite squad this year I had hoped Coach G would have scheduled a bit tougher for RPI purposes, but last year seemed to work out fine when I thought it was a really weak schedule. The expectations will be very high for 2019.

---

I'm not expecting an elite squad this year.

---

I would agree that midfield is a concern as far as being elite, but is there a better forward tandem in the country than Zeimer/Watt? Both national team regulars. I guess the defense can be shaky at times as well but the lineup is very solid with good depth as well. This will be Coach G's best team since 2014 on paper.

Watt is elite, no doubt, so I feel a bit bad for her that her senior year is a rebuilding year. Zeimer needs to start scoring a whole bunch of goals if she's going to be part of the best forward tandem in the country. And as you said, midfield and defense are far from elite.

It'll be a good year, should be fun to watch Watt (especially if she decides to attack the goal more), but I don't expect the team to fall into the elite category

I think the Ziemer that Hidden was referring to is Taylor, the transfer from Virginia. I can see us playing 4 on the back line just because none of our keepers has played even 1 second in a regular season game. I think we have lots of depth, so much that I wouldn't mind seeing us play 2 teams at forward and midfield, where we would play team 2 for say the last 10 minutes of the first half and the middle 10 minutes of the second half. I don't think it will happen but it would be interesting.
The player I'm rooting for the most is Jenna Byers.

Pepperdine can be pretty tough.

mullokmotx said:

---

I think the Ziemer that Hidden was referring to is Taylor, the transfer from Virginia.

---

Ooooh, that makes more sense, I forgot about her. However she's not exactly lighting up the scoreboard either, so the comment works for either one.

Yes, I was referring to Taylor, not her sister. I think the roster is pretty stacked right now. Also, I don't think she is even on campus yet? She wasn't in any Spring games. I don't know her scoring results from Europe last season but she was an elite player at Virginia.

Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see. I don't believe this is a rebuilding year at all. That was last season.

She only scored 4 goals in her last season at Virginia. If THAT'S what you're calling "elite" then I can see how you'd consider our team elite. I have a much higher bar for "elite" though.

Taylor Ziemer

Career Stats

2017 SEASON: Sophomore (UVA)

Competed in all 23 matches, making the start in 22
Named ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week (8/28)
Scored four goals and added a team-leading six assists for 14 points
Three of her six assists came on game-winning goals
Assisted on game-winning goals vs. Liberty (8/27), Richmond (9/3) and Saint Francis (11/11)
Scored at No. 2 West Virginia (8/24), No. 1 UCLA (9/7), at East Carolina (9/17) and at Pitt (10/1)

2016 SEASON: Freshman (UVA)

Started 15-of-22 matches played
Made her first start in the season-opening match at Liberty (8/19)
Scored eight goals and added two assists on the season
Hit two game-winning goals: vs. Pitt (10/6) and NC State (10/20)
Also recorded multiple-goal games vs. Pitt and NC State
Turned in two assists in that match vs. the Panthers (10/6)
Played a season-high 65 minutes at #20 Notre Dame (10/9)

PREP & CLUB:

Two-time Gatorade Player of the Year (2014-15, 2015-16) in California
Member of the US U18 WNT
87 goals and 48 assists for her prep career
Played club soccer for Santa Rosa United
NSCAA Youth All-American

PERSONAL:

Taylor Marie Ziemer
Daughter of Marcus and Trisha Ziemer

Taylor was a 5-star prospect and was considered one of the rising stars in the ACC when she left Virginia. She will have a big impact on our offensive attack with Watt in tandem. They will be one of the best 1-2 punches at forward in the nation.

HiddenAg2 said:

---

Taylor was a 5-star prospect and was considered one of the rising stars in the ACC when she left Virginia. She will have a big impact on our offensive attack with Watt in tandem. They will be one of the best 1-2 punches at forward in the nation.

---

Based on what? Maybe she'll be great, but there's nothing from the last 3 years that back that up. She didn't make the ACC All Freshman team her first year, she didn't make First, Second, or Third team her second year.

I'm not trying to put her down but I'm not sure why you're trying to over-hype her, I guess based on what she did in high school. But high school's been over for awhile.

I'd be pumped if we got 8 goals from her, that would be a big help to the team. But she'd need like 15 goals to be part of an elite tandem. If she gets 15 goals I'll gladly admit I was wrong.

Looking at the team Taylor currently plays for in Europe, her stats are 6 goals and 4 assists through 25 official games. You can watch some team highlights on Youtube if you search ADO Den Haag or click the link She is playing a 6 in this game and still scores, so her stat line may reflect more midfield numbers than forward.

Also, Chris Henderson has the Aggies in the top 10 for hardest overall schedules and top 15 for overall hardest non-conference schedules. I'm sure they will drop a little lower because a little under half (100) of the schedules are published, but that does say a lot about who Coach G has scheduled.

Chris Henderson is still working on his toughest schedule list. We helped put Santa Clara, Pepperdine and Ohio State on the toughest non-conference schedule list.