Next year

We know who is leaving, we THINK we know where the holes will be, but do we have any idea of what we will look like?

Redshirts: Megan Sweeney & Rachael Rapinoe were going to apply. Korie was not sure if she would apply. Discussion elsewhere on this forum indicated Megan Rapinoe might be eligible for a 2nd redshirt (which surprised me) but that she likely would not request it. Any updates on any of these?

National team commitments: Do we having any current or incoming players who are likely to miss next season to allow them to play on a select team?

Is Hailee willing to live in Kelsey’s shadow for 2 more years, especially after Kelsey's grand performance against UCLA?

A healthy Megan Rapinoe should give us both some attitude and another powerful leg up front. Michelle has the wheels and the leg. Sophie has a strong leg also, but will she remain up front? Will Rachael?

Megan Sweeney & Korie will likely fill spots in back. Will Jessica stay back there?

There is a very lengthy topic elsewhere on this forum that lists our expected incoming frosh. How will they fit in? A high HS ranking doesn’t necessarily guarantee college success.

Lots of room for conjectures and predictions

uprookie,
from the recruitment thread from people i preceive to be very in touch with the program, i'm not worried. we have some very fine recruits coming in, an i for one am very excitied!

UPWSRookie - Great questions. Great thread you've started. Let me give it a shot, and I'm sure the real knowledgeable heavyweights will be adding to this thread soon. (If not, I'll bonk them on the head.)

Redshirts: Megan Sweeney, Rachael and Korie are definitely redshirting. I spoke with Korie a while back and she told me that she was probably going to redshirt unless Emily or Kelli were unavailable. If that happened Korie would have played and lost the redshirt. She seemed excited about the possibility of redshirting, because it might give her the opportunity to start for two years at center back. The season being over, count Korie as a redshirt.

Megan Rapinoe, of course, already redshirted her freshman year here, so she would have been only a junior this year with Rachael being a senior. So - Rachael will definitely be a RS senior in 2008. And sister Megan will catch up with Rachael, also becoming a RS senior. The one twist in the RS topic, is that Megan technically could apply for a medical RS after her senior season and would I believe be eligible for a fourth year of soccer in a period of time of six years.

Many believe Megan has bigger fish to fry playing on the national team and possibly professionally in the new women's league set to begin in 2009 (at last word), than coming back to UP for a sixth year of college. Bottom line, both options are open to Megan. Bet, however, that next season will be her last, unless she has a difficult year for whatever reason and has lost value in the soccer universe. In that scenario, which I hope never happens to her, she could opt for a sixth year here to bring her value back up to where it is now.

National team commitments: Sophie, of course, is a starter on the Canadian Senior Women's National Team. She should play in the Olympics in China next August. That means she will miss probably all of August pre-season training with the team, and depending on our 2008 schedule, might miss the first game or two, or she may not miss any games. Since she has 15 games under her belt with the Pilots, and gets along incredibly with her teammates, it won't be as bad for her missing training next summer and re-joining the team in progress as it was for her first this year as she was playing her first ever games as a Pilot.

We have several players returning next year as well as new high school recruits who are on U.S. youth national teams. However, I have no knowledge whether there are any tournaments sceduled in conflict with August training or the regular season. Others will fill in those gaps for you.

Good question about Hailee living in Kelsey's shadow. Only Hailee knows the answer to that question. I do know that Garrett believes that Hailee is Kelsey's equal; she is just too green right now, but I'm telling you she'll be blossoming in the next year or so. Hope she stays. She's training under bill Irwin, considered one of the top goalkeeper coaches in the world. I can say with certainty that no one is guaranteed a starting spot on the team. They'll battle in August, and if Hailee is the better keeper, she'll start. Period. Kendra learned that this year.

That's all I can do for now, UPWSRookie. I need to sleeeeppppppppp................

FANatic wrote:I can say with certainty that no one is guaranteed a starting spot on the team.

Well said, Fanatic..."Earn the right to play."

From what I remember from some of the recruiting threads, we should see some freshman defenders coming in next year. That doesn't mean they'll necessarily play on the back line, but there may be some competition with current players for those starting spots that are being vacated by Michaelson, Cronkrite and Lopez.

2008 Pilot Recruits (will be freshmen next season): I believe we know of five, and Geezer says there will be a sixth. (Others like Geezer and Stonehouse should have a better feeling for how they might fit in.)

1) Halley Kreminski - Midfielder is reputed to be best player in Idaho this year. Don't know much about her. (Anyone can Google these names. I simply haven't the time or energy right now.)

2) Charney Burk - California attacking midfieder. One of our top recruits. Great get by the program. She previously has played on the U-16 youth national team and is currently listed on the U-17 roster. Probable first year starter. I am guessing she will play outside mid if Megan is at the AMF spot for one last season. Then, I believe she is seen as Wozzie's replacement. Insiders compare her to Tiffany Milbrett. Top flight recruit should play lots of minutes her freshman year with the potential to take over the team after Megan is through. (Conjecture on my part).

3) Danielle Foxhoven - Attacking mid/striker from Colorado. Another top flight recruit who has played on youth national teams with Elli Reed. Parade All-American as high school junior. Two time Player of the Year in Colorado as a sophomore and junior. Like Charney Burk, she will find minutes her freshman year. She is too good not to play. Getting top flight recruits like Danielle and Charney just might address our need for more quality depth.

*****A relative just arrived at my front door from back East. I will talk about recruits 4 and 5 hopefully later this evening.

I'm imagining a team with Enyeart and Rachael (and/or Chandhoke) up front, Schmidt, Megan, and Reed in the middle w/ Winters behind them, and Tsao, Olivier, Nicholson, and Sweeney in back, with Kelsey in goal. If any of the other freshmen can beat out this group, more power to 'em.

Oooohhh! Nice line-up, harryb. That's not only a good group, but leaves plenty of quality depth coming off the bench.

Just a question or two: (1) Do you have Megan as your AMF? That leaves Sophie on the left wing in Budge's spot. Is that the best place for her? Is she fast enough streaking down the sideline?

(2) Starting Olivier at center back, (a good possibility, by the way), assumes she beats out veterans Kristen Kelly, Sara Jackman and 2008 recruit Kassandra McCluskie. Olivier should be a tremendous center back. And I would give her a very good chance to start, if not in the first game of the season, then later in the season after she gets some college-level experience. But I can say the Pilots brain trust has not predestined this. Every position is up for grabs. As always. (Garrett just lets the players compete in August for the eleven starting spots, and he will go with the eleven best players he sees at that time, regardless of reputation or previous experience.)

Sorry for rambling on, harryb. Yours is one heckuva line-up and just might be right on!!! (Again, it leaves us with great quality depth off the bench, and we do need to continue to address that. We are also due for a season free of injuries to key players and national team call-ups!)

Continuing my post from last night, we have two other verbal commits to mention:

4) Michelle Olivier - Center back from Georgia. First recruit from the deep South, I believe, for the Pilots. One of the most highly sought after center backs in the nation, the 5'9" Olivier should replace Emily's size and ability with her sheer natural talent. This is a big-time get for the program. She is on the U-17 youth national team and will bring instant credibility to the pitch. If she doesn't start right out of the box, she should get plenty of minutes in her freshman season.

5) Kassandra McCluskie - Midfielder/defender from Arizona. Can play all five defensive positions. (Holding mid, center back, outside back). Versatile player like Sara Jackman and Keelin Winters. Don't know too much about Kassi except that she is supposed to be a 'Kari Evans' type player. Should be fun to watch 'cause I love Kari's game and heart!

Geezer says there is a sixth recruit that we haven't discovered yet. If anyone has any clues to the mysterious Ms. X, or wishes to add something to the five recruits I have described on this thread thus far, please do!

All of your lineups have Megan In the middle.

I thought Garrett was quoted as saying he doubted that Megan would return next year. Did he mean the year after?

I'm confused.

Well, I wonder if someone could elighten me on how exactly it is that we know these recruits are coming? I cannot find anything on Google about public declarations save for Kassandra McCluskie and Halley Kremenski, I think. I do not doubt the accuracy of the comments . . .just wondering as to the source? BTW, shouldn't SoccerBuzz begin putting up these names sometime in December?

I am pretty sure that Smith's comment about Rapinoe concerned her not coming back after her senior year--in other words, that she would be here next year but was not seeking a medical resdshirt year in addition to the redshirt year she already took.

FANatic, you raise some good questions. An alternate defense, if we don't want to start freshmen (right away) might be Keelin Winters at central defense with Korie, and have Sara Jackman as holding mid. I don't know enough about Kristen Kelly to guess where she might fit. A good midfield might have Megan and Elli on the wings, and Sophie replacing Wozzie. Of course it's all speculation. Garrett will play whoever's best in August. But trying to guess is half the fun.

Well, I wonder if someone could elighten me on how exactly it is that we know these recruits are coming? I cannot find anything on Google about public declarations save for Kassandra McCluskie and Halley Kremenski, I think. I do not doubt the accuracy of the comments . . .just wondering as to the source? BTW, shouldn't SoccerBuzz begin putting up these names sometime in December?

well, They all have been on the web. some in picture, some in articles.

I didn't bookmark them all, but here, for instance, is how we found out about Kreminski
http://www.idahostatesman.com/highschoolsports/story/186881.html

So far it's been 5 for 2008 and 3 for 2009 that have been found.

ya gotta look.

Ah, I have looked and I can detect no public indications of commitments other than as I indicated. Your response might be more meaningful if it had basis in fact--there do not appear to be public declarations regarding Burk, Foxhoven, nor Oliver.

wrv,

you may have trouble finding them because you aren't looking in the right places. Some sites don't come up on google right away because they have little traffic or you need to subscribe to the site. Or you might not be asking te right questions of the search engine.

Here's a site Google just gave me when I typed in Olivier Portland:



rise magazine

seems pretty clear....

Oh, and don't use Buzz magazine as your guiding source. they didn't have the 2007 recruits up until a month after they were declared on Portlandpilots.com

Thanks. By my standards that is pretty clear. You are a resource Geezer. I have indeed looked but to no avail other than as indicated with regard to McCluskie and Kreminski.