Sharks vs Freeze Analysis: SoNo’s Experience and Continuity Pay Dividends
SoNo: Under the Radar No More
For my money, no NSL team flew lower under the radar in the offseason more than the SoNo Sharks. All they did was go 2-0 in the regular season and retained the entire core that got them there. And yet, the discussion in the women’s division centered around the expansion teams and the defending champion Philadelphia Freedom. After last weekend, make no mistake about it: the SoNo Sharks have proven themselves a force to be reckoned with after cruising to a 4-0 win.
The story of this match was the discrepancy between the continuity and experience of SoNo versus the novice Seattle Freeze. SoNo retaining Margot Prow and Lucia Bautista in the offseason may have raised some eyebrows just looking at the world rankings. But, these two showed why the NSL format doesn’t care about rankings in a vacuum. Prow (World #72) was second in the match with 1.79 points per minute, and Lucia Bautista (outside the top 100) had stretches where she looked like a top 50 player in the world (at least)! Want to take a guess who led both teams in points per minute in the 2nd period? Lucia Bautista. SoNo got unbelievable squash out of these two because they had a command over the NSL format and they were calm under pressure. SoNo’s headliner, Salma Hany, played lights out as well, scoring nearly two points per minute for the match.
It’ll be hard to argue against the Philadelphia Freedom as the best team in the league when they’re at full strength. But, SoNo proved they belong in the conversation.
Learning Curve for Seattle
To their credit, Seattle grew into the match and eventually kept the third period close. But, there was definitely a learning curve. In particular, I want to touch on how they handled the minutes of Hannah Craig and Nada Abbas. In the first period, Abbas was clearly moving slow, but she played the most minutes out of everyone for Seattle (8), and only scored four points in that time. Hannah Craig, on the other hand, scored nine points in six minutes, a team high.
Then in the second period, the clearly tired Abbas played 17 of the 20 possible minutes. Her play improved considerably, but she clearly didn’t have the fitness levels to carry the team for a whole period. Mariam Metwally came in essentially just for the Seattle power play. Hannah Craig didn’t feature at all.
In the third period, Seattle took a hard pivot from Abbas and emphasized Craig and Metwally. They lost, but only by two points. Seattle very well could have forced a shootout, and who knows what would have happened from there?
To me, it seemed like Seattle got too fixated on the rankings of their players and didn’t get a feel for how the match was going until it was too late. Hannah Craig was good! She scored the most points per minute for Seattle in Period 1, and she was arguably their best defensive player in Period 3. The fact that she didn’t play at all in Period 2 was a head scratcher.
Moving forward, I trust Seattle to adjust and learn from their mistakes. But, this match put the value of NSL experience and roster continuity on full display. Hats off to SoNo on an emphatic victory that put the NSL on notice.
