Jessie Fleming

[Forgedias]

Jessie Fleming is studying Engineering. I don't know what field she is focusing on since last year was her freshman year but that is where she is studying. 

[CanadianTraveller]

I support whatever Jessie chooses, and I'm proud that she chose a great school and athletic department like UCLA. Couple of misconceptions I'd like to address:

1. 1st year engineering washes out 25% - 40% of its students on principle. Having a 4-year semi-guaranteed ride with extensive tutoring support is tremendously valuable, and that CAN'T be deferred. (Can't play sport after turning pro, hence no access to the academic benefits an athlete receives.)

1a) I forgot half of the math from the last year of high school within 5 years of University. Some posters minimized the VERY BIG challenge of going into engineering school after being away from academics for 15 years. To be honest, I'd suggest someone take Grade 12 math/science all over again before diving into the deep end of a competitive 1st year program.

2. There is a night-and-day difference between being a full-time year-round pro athlete with no allowance for part-time studies, and being a 9 month a year student and 3 month a year athlete where the two schedules are closely synchronized by superiors (Assistant Deans and Associate Athletic Directors) and all parties have a vested interest in the athlete's success on and off the field (since neither can't happen without the other). Thinking Jessie could attend Imperial College in Engineering as an undergrad while being a starting player at an English club is a joke, because the club doesn't care about and will never make allowances for full-time study. Taking some courses, or maybe starting a degree with minimal co-reqs, is an option for the right student. Studying engineering as a hobby doesn't come close to fitting.

3. Maybe you missed the starting and average salary for a successful engineer from a major school. Jessie MIGHT make $100K a year if she can be the star (not just a starter) of a club. For a few years. Wish our Canadian women were richly sponsored here at home, but we know that's not the case for all but a handful (across all sports). Jessie won't get much (any?) sponsorship in Europe for many years to come. Upon graduation, Jessie STARTS at $100K and ramps up to $150K (all CAD). Soccer is financially a hobby, not a career, if she successfully gets her P.Eng.

3a) If she wants a career in the U.S., there is tremendous added value in a U.S. degree. Foolish perhaps, but that's the way it is. OTOH she might wish she went to UT or UBC (or even U of A) if she wants to work in Canada, as her UCLA degree won't get her any favours 10 years from now on this side of the border. Hopefully her sporting career will open doors in Canada after retirement.

4. I'm a little surprised that Jessie was permitted to take engineering, but she has a little bit of company. If any sport fits well, it's soccer. UCLA is on the quarter system, so classes run Sep. 22 - Dec. 9; season is Aug. 15 - Dec. 1. That leaves three quarters for study, although taking restricted classes in the fall quarter must have been a disaster for a 1st year.

4a) A student athlete's ability to choose their own major and prioritize their studies is inversely proportional to their coach's unreasonable demands to win at all costs. In football and men's basketball, those demands are often at maximum; student's studies forcefully minimized during competition quarters and certain majors questioned. After that, it varies. I am comfortable saying that almost all UCLA "Olympic sport" programs warn students to take classes that are easier than what they could otherwise handle due to the 40-50 hours committed to sport each week in season, and the difficulty in trying to catch up by taking a heavy course load out of season; but generally coaches allow the student to take what they want. Acceptance probably varies depending upon the stress each program is under to succeed in the short-term. If Jill was still there I doubt it would be an issue. Don't know how Amanda and Sam handle challenging studies. Smart woman like Jessie would have declared her major during recruitment, which may (or may not) have ended interest from certain colleges.

I assume last quarter went well for Jessie if she's over in Europe for the first week of Spring Quarter. And regardless of how things turn out, let's give her credit for taking an incredibly difficult path in life. Turning pro would have been the easy way out, albeit more challenging for her football development. I would like to say that Herdman doesn't respect this based upon his comment, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was wishing for a scenario that will never exist.

[rkomar]

I went through Engineering a few decades ago and it was brutal time-wise.  However, Fleming strikes me as the kind of person who can thrive both athletically and scholastically, and it wouldn't surprise me if she was a great success at both.

[tc-in-bc]

"  UCLA freshman soccer player and U.S. Women's National Team starter Mal Pugh has left school to pursue professional soccer opportunities. "

http://www.uclabruins.com/news/2017/4/17/womens-soccer-mal-pugh-departs-ucla-to-turn-pro.aspx

[Forgedias]

It would seem Mallory Pugh is being offered money which is why she is leaving College. 

Here is an article on Sports Illustrated from Grant Wahl who covers women soccer. https://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/04/18/mallory-pugh-portland-thorns-nwsl-washington-spirit-france-uswnt

Both Nike and Adidas want to sign her and have her play in the United States but there is a system in place for allocating national team players in the NWSL which came into effect last year when Pugh was ready to choose between College and the NWSL. It allowed clubs to be on a list to get players when they become available and sign them first or they could by pass them and allow the team under them take their shot. 

Pugh last year chose to play in College but this 180 turnaround means that there is some money on the table to go pro. From what I hear, Portland's spot on the allocation list expired and now Washington is on top of the list. 

From what the article states, Pugh only wants to play in Portland but Washington has the top spot and they are not budging in moving down the list. If both teams can't work out a deal then Pugh might be forced to play in France or England where several of her National team mates already play. But that would effect the size of her contract with either Nike or Adidas who would want her playing in the United States. 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Forgedias

[Forgedias]

Putting a reminder that the season starts this Friday for college. UCLA will start their non-conference slate against San Diego State. Its highly doubtful there will be a stream available for this match but if I find one I will put it here for everyone. 

http://www.uclabruins.com/news/2017/8/17/womens-soccer-ucla-begins-2017-season-this-weekend.aspx

This is a synopsis of the match and further information on the players on the roster. On regards about Jessie Fleming.

- Nominated for MAC Herman Trophy watch list. Its the highest award for Women's soccer and UCLA noted that Jessie Fleming was only one of 2 freshman players to make the NSCAA AllAmerica honors and the only 4th Bruin in their entire history to do it as a freshman. 

Jessie Fleming is also ranked 4th among all players this season behind 3 seniors on the Topdrawers Soccer webite. Where they list their top 100. Here is the link. 

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-national-top-100/women

In the article, it states that Jessie Fleming made the 2017 preseason team. This is the link to that list. 

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2017-preseason-womens-di-best-xi-revealed_aid42221

[Forgedias]

Link for the San Diego State game is available. Here it is. Game starts at 7pm Pacific time, they are currently doing a replay of the UCLA-USC game. 

http://i4atv.info/ggwpforum/?page=p12losa

There won't be a link for Long Beach since its played at Long Beach. 

Edited August 19, 2017 by Forgedias

[Forgedias]

Final score 5-1 UCLA defeats San Diego State. Jessie Fleming would finish the game with a goal and one assist. The goal was a spectacular goal. 

Some changes in the line up from last season. Haillie Mace who was the center back pairing starter for UCLA last year moves to center forward. Karina Rodriguez the sister of Annika Rodriguez started as center back and paired with regular center back Kaiya McCullough. I think Kennedy Faulknor who is actually capped with the senior Canadian national team was available, she would have been the automatic starter. But she may be dealing with some injuries or was unavailable yet. 

I think with everyone here there will be great relief that Jessie Fleming is now entrenched as the central midfielder for UCLA. She holds the 10 spot. Annika Rodriguez who for a time, played the 10 role for UCLA last year was slowly supplanted by Fleming as she showed her quality constantly in the previous campaign. She was moved to the flanks and actually had her number changed from 13 to 7 to illustrate this. Fleming is also now the new Captain for the UCLA squad. This is her team. 

The commentators were looking at the UCLA formation and it looked like UCLA came out in a 4-3-3 which is telling since UCLA normally runs a 4-4-2 formation with a diamond midfield. We'll see if UCLA stays to this formation over the season. 

The game:

With the new formation and rookies coming in. UCLA started with 2 freshman on the pitch. Karina Rodriguez and Delanie Sheehan. Sheehan was a forward, Mace was central and Sunny Dunphy played the left flank. Fleming played underneath, Annika Rodriguez started right wing midfielder but shifted left later on. The back line had McCullough and Karina Rodriguez and Cerda and Zoey Goralski who is the right fullback. The wing defenders did get subbed in and out with new players. So it looked like Coach Amanda Cromwell was still working on the starters for her roster because lots of players got time on the pitch.

Because of the history of the 4-4-2 formation that UCLA ran. Both their previous forwards graduated and those positions were completely open for the taking. Which is why this game saw a lot of players get subbed in to see if they can take the role for their own. 

The game would start off with UCLA having more possession then San Diego but not much more. What was happening was the players in front for UCLA were going direct and trying to force scoring chances. And for the first 20 minutes, Jessie Fleming took very few touches of the ball. Annika Rodriguez was constantly holding onto the ball and even though Fleming was opening herself up for distribution, Rodriguez was trying to constantly push the ball to the end line and try to either cross in or make an attack. The problem was, these were not working frequently resulting in a turn over. Its when substitutions came in that UCLA started playing the ball and creating more passing lanes for each other. Viviana Villacorta was a good example. Kept the ball at her feet and preferred to build out slowly and dribbled through some pressure tackles. The first goal would happen in the first half, with Sheehan getting a cross into the box and Hailie Mace then finishing the ball with a volley into goal. The first half would end 1-0 but Amanda Cromwell wasn't happy with what she saw. She talked in her half time interview that she wants to see more patience and possession and passing from her team. 

The second half was a different story with more focus on keeping the ball and not taking half chances. Fleming would get onto a cross that was going to no blue shirt until a blur of a player charged in and leaped into the air and volleyed the ball in. The ball was 2 or 3 feet still in the air and Fleming still hit it with her foot. I was going onto my screen, "was that Fleming?" Fleming was completely airborne and did sort of a split in the air to get her foot onto the ball to volley it into the net. Really great goal by Fleming. 

About 10 minutes later, Fleming holding onto the ball, waited for Gorlaski to make a run and then fed her a perfectly weighted ball and allowed Goralski to go to the end line and send a cross in and Julia Hernadez would score off a header. Fleming would pick up a secondary assist here. Around the 70th minute, Fleming was subbed off and allowed to rest. UCLA would score 2 more goals, but not with any of the fluid transitions that happen when Fleming is creating on the attack. One of the goals is from a corner kick that San Diego didn't clear even though they out numbered UCLA in the box. Another was from a penalty kick that Hernadez took. Probably would of been taken by Fleming if she was still on the pitch at that time. Hernadez actually got 3 chances on the goal. Her first shot was saved by the keeper, the rebound came back to Hernadez who actually whiffed on her second shot completely missing the ball and then with her third attempt she scored. If San Diego played that better, they would of stopped those extra chances. 

So to recap. Good things happen when Fleming has the ball, but her team needs to look to give her the ball more. But there are a lot of new faces on the squad so I'm sure more work at getting the team chemistry will be a work in progress for the team. Still they did score 5 goals against a team that made it to the NCAA tournament last year. 


 

Edited August 19, 2017 by Forgedias

[Forgedias]

Here is the high light of the goal scored by Jessie Fleming. 
 

 

[tc-in-bc]

A spectacular goal!  Fleming leapt forward, met the ball,  maybe close to 5 feet above the ground and put it in with a volley!  That was some real  hang time she had there:  Air- Fleming !

[Forgedias]

Highlight recap for the game. 
 

 

Shorter clip with more focus on UCLA. Has a better look at Fleming's goal and the full build up that lead to Fleming's assist. You can see her waiting for Goralski's run and then passing the ball to her. 
 

 

Interview with Jessie Fleming.
 

 

[Forgedias]

19 minutes ago, tc-in-bc said:

A spectacular goal!  Fleming leapt forward, met the ball,  maybe close to 5 feet above the ground and put it in with a volley!  That was some real  hang time she had there:  Air- Fleming !

It's even better when you realize that Jessie saw the keeper coming to block her shot and she chipped the ball over her while she was in the air. Kind of blows your mind away how football smart Jessie is. 

[rkomar]

I was trying to remember who that goal reminded me of, and it finally came to me: Thierry Henry.  I hope that it's more than a passing resemblance.

[Forgedias]

This is a live youtube stream, found it real late. Long Beach vs UCLA
 

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by Forgedias

[Forgedias]

That Youtube link I gave should be available on that website to view the game. 

UCLA beats Long Beach 5-1

Goals:
UCLA: 3' Jessie Fleming (2nd) 23', 69' Delanie Sheehan (1st, 2nd) 75' Mackenzie Cerda (1st) 84th Julia Hernadez (3rd)
Long Beach: 48' Katie Pingel

Jessie Fleming would also pick up 2 assists this game giving her 3 total so far this season.

I was listening to this via Internet radio and it was hard to listen to, the commentators looked like they were using this as tools to learn for school. So it was hard to actually figure out where the action was. I ended up looking around and found this Youtube link from a forum. 

UCLA came out in their traditional 4-4-2 formation. This time, Ashley Sanchez the number 1 recruit in the nation this year started and played. She wasn't available on Friday. Sanchez more then showed why she has this top billing, she constantly dribbling and trying to beat defenders but what I really liked seeing from her is her focus on trying to connect to her midfield when she needed support. Something I have a problem with Annika Rodriguez who doesn't do this enough. Lots of hold up, waiting for players to provide her options and passing instead of trying to force runs when they were not there.

Fleming would start the scoring 3 minutes into the game on a through ball that allowed Fleming to go clear past the defenders and she easily slotted the ball into goal beating the keeper. The next goal came late in the first half where Fleming picked up the primary assist on freeing Sheehan for a 1v1 and the keeper almost made the stop but the ball rebounded off her into goal. 

In the second half, Jessie Fleming would sit for the first 20 minutes. It was then that Long Beach would put more pressure on UCLA and create a scoring chance which they would score on. The pitch at Long Beach was very rough, if you watch the video, you can see pits on the grass and alot of it looked torn up. UCLA couldn't string much possession without Fleming on the pitch. Ashley Sanchez was still making defenders look silly with her dribbling and she was very active in defending the ball and trying to keep it away from Long Beach. 

By the time Fleming got on the pitch, the score would be 3-1 but with Fleming on, she acted like a conduit for her offense and kept the ball and continued to put pressure in the attacking zone. In one sequence Annika Rodriguez tried to drive into the box and dribbled against 3 defenders and gave up the ball. Something that I am pretty critical of since good defenses won't make that move easy. Fleming on the other hand got the ball soon after and just waited for Cerda to make her run and then fed her the ball and Cerda was in on a 1v1 against the Long Beach keeper. Cerda only had the far post and she took it and scored. Fleming would get another primary assist on that goal. Annika Rodriguez would do another charge into the box, but this time she would beat her defender and then curl around at the end line feeding the ball to Hernadez for another goal. It worked but not sure if she would be so focused on trying to force runs when the difficulty of success is so high. 

On the whole good night for Jessie Fleming, could of gained another assist, but the last goal, annika Rodriguez had the ball while she drove to the by line and Fleming wasn't rewarded for that assist. 

Edited August 21, 2017 by Forgedias

[Jamaicanadian]

I think Kennedy Faulknor who is actually capped with the senior Canadian national team was available, she would have been the automatic starter. But she may be dealing with some injuries or was unavailable yet. 

Apparently she wasn't available for the first game (or the first two exhibition matches) as she was in camp with the U20's. She was on the bench for last nights game tho.  Flemming is a joy to watch!! 

 

[Forgedias]

WWC Movement posted the San Diego State game on youtube. Here is the link if anyone missed this game. 
 

 

[Forgedias]

Jessie Fleming picks up several awards this week. 

The Pac12 Muscle Milk Athlete of the week honors. 

http://www.uclabruins.com/news/2017/8/22/womens-soccer-fleming-named-ucla-muscle-milk-athlete-of-week.aspx?path=wsoc

Top Drawer player of the week honors.

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/tds-womens-team-of-the-week:-aug-21_aid42303

[Forgedias]

Next game with be at the home campus at UCLA on Thursday and same on Sunday. So both will be broadcast on the Pac12 network. 7:05 pm PT Thursday and 5:35 pm PT on Sunday (Edit)

The link is the same one I gave out for the San Diego State game. Here is the link.

http://i4atv.info/ggwpforum/?page=p12losa

They have a preview of both matches at their website. Here is the link.

http://www.uclabruins.com/news/2017/8/23/womens-soccer-no-7-ucla-set-for-pair-of-home-matches.aspx?path=wsoc

Edited August 24, 2017 by Forgedias

[rkomar]

Thanks Forgedias!  I appreciate your notifications and links.

[Vic]

Thought it was a pretty funny handle so checked... the "Pac12 Muscle Milk Athlete of the week" is actually the UCLA Athlete of the Week.

There are three Canadians on the Top Drawer team of the week, all from within about 100 miles in Southern Ontario.

 

[Forgedias]

UCLA wins 4-2 over Santa Clara

 

UCLA: Hailie Mace (2nd, 3rd, 4th) Annika Rodriguez (1st)
Santa Clara: Julie Doyle, Kelsey Turnbow
 

You could say that defense wasn't the emphasis today. A lot of header goals, goals that were played poorly by the defense and honestly Santa Clara could of given UCLA a much harder time if they could of kept their press up all game. Which they couldn't.

Santa Clara forced a lot of disjointed plays from UCLA by pressing them early and got an early goal. UCLA would then score then next 3 goals in turn but I wasn't happy with what I was seeing. Annika Rodriguez not once in the entire first half every tried connecting with Jessie Fleming which was frustrating to see. There was one point where Rodriguez was near the touch line and Fleming was in the middle of the pitch, she opened herself up for a passing option but Rodriguez elected to launch a cross over the other side of the field. Thereby ignore Fleming which made me ask Why? She has the middle of the pitch, Fleming can switch the field and force the defense to commit to her there by creating space for her flanks. 

And then Rodriguez is pretty much to blame for the second Santa Clara goal. Fleming who wasn't getting passes from Rodriguez was sending balls to Rodriguez and she sent a through ball to Rodriguez getting her into the box. Rodriguez had a defender to beat and wanted to try to beat her and while she tried to dribble through another defender would join in and force a turn over, Santa Clara then launched a long ball forward sending a counter that would out man the UCLA defense and the defense would play that counter poorly and Santa Clara would score. 

Ashley Sanchez on the other hand played superbly. She may be a forward but she plays like a midfielder. She has vision and ability to dribble at defenders which she used all game long. She didn't force situations like Rodriguez did and because of her creativity, she actually set up team mates. Her 2 assists today, one of them a through ball to Rodriguez and a spot kick that Mace headed it for one of her 3 goals today. 

Fleming didn't get as many touches in the first half as I wanted, in the second half, Rodriguez didn't start it and that allowed Fleming a lot more touches, but Fleming was more concerned about defending then attacking. You could see how she moved around off the ball and was always more concerned about tracking back then attacking. 

So no points for Fleming today which is disappointing but UCLA did beat a very good squad in Santa Clara who regularly make the NCAA tournament. 

[rkomar]

There's so much talent on the UCLA team this year that I can see Fleming playing more of a supporting role when the score allows it.  She really doesn't have to do it all anymore, and can leave more of the play in the capable hands of her teammates.  There are so many top notch freshmen and sophomores playing on this 7th ranked team.  How good are they going to be in another year or two?  I was a bit bummed back when Pugh decided to go pro instead of play for UCLA, but I'm thinking that it's not that big of a deal anymore.

Last year, Forgedias was suggesting that the team would play more of a possession style game around Fleming rather than the direct game they played at the beginning of the season.  Watching today, the style then and now is like night and day.  I'm as much impressed by the coaches as by anybody on the side.

Edited August 25, 2017 by rkomar

[Forgedias]

10 hours ago, rkomar said:

There's so much talent on the UCLA team this year that I can see Fleming playing more of a supporting role when the score allows it.  She really doesn't have to do it all anymore, and can leave more of the play in the capable hands of her teammates.  There are so many top notch freshmen and sophomores playing on this 7th ranked team.  How good are they going to be in another year or two?  I was a bit bummed back when Pugh decided to go pro instead of play for UCLA, but I'm thinking that it's not that big of a deal anymore.

Last year, Forgedias was suggesting that the team would play more of a possession style game around Fleming rather than the direct game they played at the beginning of the season.  Watching today, the style then and now is like night and day.  I'm as much impressed by the coaches as by anybody on the side.

 

I can agree with that. I just want the players around Fleming to give the ball to her more so she can play make for everyone around her. Because Fleming has amazing vision. Ashley Sanchez was constantly getting touches and creating for other players but Fleming got so few touches in the first half. 

In the second when Rodriguez was sitting for the beginning of it. Fleming got a lot of touches but Fleming did something that I admire and am a bit frustrated with. She was thinking defensively. If she passed the ball off, she would either create space and open herself for an option pass. Or she would either track defensively and mark forwards or play like a holding midfielder and play deeper in her own half. 

Something I do admire knowing that Fleming is thinking for the team and UCLA were up by 2 goals. But I want Fleming to put the pedal to the medal and add more goals. But I do admire her willingness to put the team ahead of her. 

[Vic]

20% of teams makes the tournament.

http://www.uclabruins.com/news/2017/8/25/womens-soccer-mace-first-half-hat-trick-leads-ucla-to-4-2-win.aspx

Too bad Santa Clara had weak goalkeeping, might have stole points.