Re: First goal of the season prediction thread.

by fozziewozzie on Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:23 pm

geez,
i know that elli has earned her spot on the u-20 team. i'm sorry, i'm still not sold. i like her far better in the midfield outside. an i still like other outside fullbacks u of p has. i'm not an expert, granted, but i know what i like.
an i wish i hadn't recycled all my u of p media guides just in the last few months, an i hate to disagree with you geez [really i do], but i am pretty sure melissa played outside right back regardless of the formation. after tiff, she was my favorite player.
but i'm sure i'm sure that i am wrong because you are the guru of this forumn. not a slight to you geez, but i believe that i am probably as strong headed as you are.

go pilots!! that's what joins us together!!!

by Purplegeezer on Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:50 pm

fozziewozzie wrote:
an i wish i hadn't recycled all my u of p media guides just in the last few months, an i hate to disagree with you geez [really i do], but i am pretty sure melissa played outside right back regardless of the formation. after tiff, she was my favorite player.
but i'm sure i'm sure that i am wrong because you are the guru of this forumn. not a slight to you geez, but i believe that i am probably as strong headed as you are.
go pilots!! that's what joins us together!!!

Ahh but I have documentation!

Yeah, OK, It's the Oregonian, but the article calls her a sweeper. That's the position I played in the stone ages before they put air in the balls.

It's in the center of the field. Pretty much the last position before that bloke with the gloves who screams all the time. Good thing I'm partially deaf.

(I made the reference bold)

The Oregonian
Sports NU dream ends in Portland
Abby Haight

Issue date: 12/2/96 Section: Sports

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Nebraska's perfect soccer season
ended Sunday, but not without a fight.
Kim Stiles' 6-yard goal in the 57th minute lifted
Portland to a 1-0 victory over the Cornhuskers before a
crowd of 3,960 at Merlo Field in Portland in the NCAA
Tournament quarterfinals.
Portland (19-0-2) advanced to play Notre Dame in a
national semifinal Friday in Santa Clara, Calif. North
Carolina and Santa Clara will meet in the other semifinal.
Meanwhile, Nebraska (23-1) can only go home, knowing
that it nearly shocked the college soccer community, falling
one game short of the Final Four in its first-ever
postseason appearance.
Sunday, it was Portland's great skill that carried the
Pilots past previously unbeaten Nebraska.
Nebraska's offense went on the attack early while the
Pilots -- who lost to Notre Dame in the national
championship game last season -- struggled to find a rhythm.
At one point, a miscue by Portland's defenders allowed the
ball to roll unchallenged toward the UP goal, but Nebraska
wasn't quick enough to take advantage of the mistake.
The fifth-ranked Huskers pushed Portland back with six
shots in the first half, most coming in the opening 20
minutes.
"We were in it several times," NU Coach John Walker
said. "We usually do a much better job of finishing."
The Pilots awoke midway through the first half, taking
control of the ball and looking to midfielders Justi
Baumgardt and Holly Pierce, both of whom took two shots in
the first 45 minutes.
Nebraska had its best chance on a booming shot by
Sharolta Nonen that ricocheted off the crossbar. But UP's
defenders, led by sweeper Melissa Ribaudo, swarmed the ball
and rarely let a Husker breach the penalty box.
Portland took control in the second half, nearly
scoring in the 52nd minute when Tara Koleski was stopped by
Stephanie Vacek after Husker goalkeeper Becky Hornbacher had
been drawn away from the goal.
NU wasn't as lucky moments later.
Pilot forward Regina Holan dribbled around a defender
and crossed the ball to Stiles, who was caught in a crowd of
Huskers about six yards from the goal. Stiles nudged the
ball toward the goal and rolled it into the net for her
second goal of the season.
"I think there was a definite letdown on our side,"
Nebraska midfielder Kari Uppinghouse said. "Coming back from
the goal was really hard for us."
Portland finished with 13 shots to NU's eight.
Hornbacher and UP's Cheryl Loveless each had three saves and
Loveless recorded her 13th shutout of the season.
Nebraska returns all but one player next season.
"Nobody expected us to get this far," said Kim Ratliff,
NU's only senior and the first in the history of the
three-year program. "We have been able to prove that we are
a good program, that we are on the rise."

Great names, huh? here's a picture from wikipedia of where different players played on the field
Note the sweeper (SW)

by FANatic on Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:06 am

Auto Pilot wrote:

I think Ellie has the speed but I wonder if she is inclined to play defense/attacking defender?

As a freshman last season, I watched Elli play OM and was very impressed with her speed and natural gifts, but I thought she had things she needed to work. (i.e.: Looking to pass the ball more quickly and not holding onto it for so long. I didn't really notice her defensive ability.)

Then along came spring of this year and I watched her up close and personal, as she was playing left OM right in front of me in a scrimmage against another school.

I was, quite simply, astonished by her play. She not only had vastly improved her passing and overall offensive game, but she was playing incredible, energizer bunny-type defense against any and all players caught in her web. She was constantly attcking the person with the ball, tipping it away, stealing it and creating headaches for anyone who dared try to advance the ball againt her.

I have not yet seen Elli play outside back, but it is this tenacity and relentlessness that I saw last
April that I believe led her to be put in an OB position on the U20 team. I have no doubt whatsoever that she can handle the OB position for the Pilots as a tenacious defender as well as a speed demon and great passer to the middle coming forward up the sideline on her trademark runs.

by DaTruRochin on Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:14 pm

3 minutes in.... Wow....

by purple haze on Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:02 am

For the record (at least from my unoffical game notes): the season's first goal was by Foxhoeven on a Megan Rapinoe assist about 2.5 minutes into the game.

Starting lineup, which played the whole first half and till the 58th minute intact:
Forwards: Enyeart Foxhoeven
Mids: Reed M Rapinoe Winters Burke
Backs: Sweeney, McCluskie, Olivier, Tsao
GK: Davis

Subs were Kelley for Olivier, Chandhoke for Burke, Rachael Rapinoe for Foxhoeven.

So: 4 frehmen started, with 2 in the center defense; scant substitution despite 9 subs suited; all U20 players played the full 90.

by FANatic on Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:27 am

Some good observations, p. haze. I was kind of surprised we started four freshmen. Especially the two at center back.

I thought for a first collegiate game, starting in front of 5,000 people, they all fared pretty well. The quick first goal was the mark of a good opportunistic team. Also, after the Ducks scored late, we pounced on them for another quick goal.

Again, I thought that was a good sign as we seemed to pick up our intensity all over the field after they scored. We made a quick statement that we don't want a close game, where a break here or there might lead to a loss, or...ugh...a tie. Very Happy

by UPSoccerFanatic on Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:19 pm

Since I was out of the country for two weeks, I didn't get to make my guess. There are so many posts, I don't want to read them all. Did anyone win the prize by guessing Foxhoven?

by Purplegeezer on Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:44 pm

UP wanderer was the first to guess Foxhoven.

He also guessed Charney Burke in the same post.

I'm going to be really generous and assume that Burke was the fall-back if Foxhoven didn't score, which wasn't expressly disallowed in the organizing rules.

But he owes us all a beer. drunken

by Purplegeezer on Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:16 pm

Earlier in this thread, I talked about remembering Melissa Ribaudo playing as the sweeper the middle of the three back formation we used to play before the current 4 back system. fozziewozzie corrected me very politely (not once using the actual words "doddering senile old fool") with the information that Melissa was, in fact, one of a long line of outside defenders in that formation.

Well, that wasn't my recollection, so I decided to see if I could find any mention of where she played. Since the UP archives don't exist any more before 2001,

I looked in the Oregonian archives, and there it was, plain as day – an Abby Haigt article about Ribaudo in the 1996 Nebraska playoff game, and Abby called her a sweeper. Armed with the full article, and with the addition of a nice diagram of the different positions on the field, I bombarded fozzie with the whole nine yards of data, and settled down for a nice nap.

Well, as it happens, regardless of the nice diagrams and all it was completely wrong.

I got it wrong, and so did Abby.

A former player on those teams wrote me (using a couple of the words I said fozzie was too kind to use) and told me that Melissa was indeed an outside back, and that the center defender was in different years Tia Sharpe and Sara Charles. As soon as she did, it of course clicked and I knew she was right. Just to add to the humiliation, a couple people came up to me during the game and again used some of those same words. (doesn't UP work on extending your vocabulary?)

So, Fozziewozzie you were right, and I was wrong.

Forgive me?

by FANatic on Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:01 am

You #$%?&$$!!!!!!!

Poor Fozzie - having to put up with you!!!

by DaTruRochin on Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:03 am

But I will give you this Geez... It was a nice diagram... Very Happy

by Purplegeezer on Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:41 am

FANatic wrote:You #$%?&$$!!!!!!!

here you go...

using that language I was talking about. Why do I get the exact same reaction every time?

by DaTruRochin on Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:50 am

Kids don't respect their elders these days... I blame the hormones in the milk

by aleppiek on Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:01 am

Geez, now you just need to be wrong about 3,000 more times to balance out the other times you were correct.

by Purplegeezer on Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:13 am

I warned you guys in a previous thread where I said to watch out - that only 50% of what I said was true and it was your job to figure out which 50%

So - you guys were slacking ---- yeah, THAT's it......

First goal of the season prediction thread.