What do you know?

Side note...
I am much more of a Pilot basketball afficianado personally, haha probably played one too many soccer games growing up and it makes me too nervous to actually watch the games, but I absolutely love how in depth and technical all of you soccer fanatics get... Its pretty much fantastic and gets me through the dreary days (well even the sunny days now that i look out the window)

Kudos from a soccer fan to all you soccer fanatics that make every day that much more interesting... on and FANatic... you have the most beautiful posts of anyone on this entire site, way to use all the colors and emoticons there are to offer ....

I've noticed it too, Rochin. I think it's soccer fans in general, since of all the blogs I read the soccer ones (UnProfessional Foul and That's On Point) are the most consistently funny and fanatical. They make me laugh even though I'm usually trying to figure out what they're talking about. One of the best things about soccer is how passionate the fans, especially Pilot fans, are.

KFTC wrote:I guess it all lies in what your definition of "Olympic Team" is, because the UP media lists Xausa, Rhode, Winters as members of the Olympic Team, which by definition is the U-23 men's national teams. Even if the Canadian team didn't qualify, they were still members of the Candadian Olympic Team squad that attempted to qualify. Winters, I believe, was an alternate for Sydney and still traveled down there; his "Olympic" jersey is hanging in the Chiles Center, I think, next to Michelle French's. And I know you probably don't believe me, but Casagrande was an alternate for Sydney as well. She may be listed on the FIFA site, but if you go through and actually click on the match reports, she's not listed as a starter or accredited substitute.

Absolutely there are all sorts of different ways to look at it-- that's why I asked the question the way I did, which was:

Can you name all the Pilot soccer players (men and women) who have been in the Olympic games?

That would seem to leave out the Canadians, because Canada was never in the games during the careers in question. fifa.com shows 16 teams in the games for the men, and Canada wasn't one of them. I'm pretty sure the only way Canadians got to the venues was as tourists.

As to Casagrande, French, and Winters... well, Rats fifa isn't very consistent, is it?


I'm perfectly willing to include Brian, though, if the definition includes the alternates. If FIFA can't keep it straight, what hope do we have?
Some years they don't list the alternates at all.

If you want to include players who have been on teams trying to qualify, that opens things up to a whole lot more people.

Holly Pierce (Ireland)- Reggie, as I said- The Canadians, including Christine, Sophie, Wanda, Elsa, The men aready mentioned.....
Susanna Heikari as FANatic mentioned....tons more, too there was even another Finn who signed a letter of intent and left when Susanna did without having played a game.

I don't know how you'd track them all down......


Actually.. that might be question #3


NAH! too hard.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:I've noticed it too, Rochin. I think it's soccer fans in general, since of all the blogs I read the soccer ones (UnProfessional Foul and That's On Point) are the most consistently funny and fanatical. They make me laugh even though I'm usually trying to figure out what they're talking about. One of the best things about soccer is how passionate the fans, especially Pilot fans, are.

Well, soccer isn't the only sport. I first got into sports when New York still had the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants in town. Baseball was king. All anybody ever did was talk about the teams like this. Except those discussions include the millions of stats that fanatic baseball guys remember.

Can you remember the very first regular season lineup for the Mets? Who had the best batting average that year (such as it was)? Who hit the first home run ever for them? Who was on base when he did it? Who got their first triple play?

I can, and I haven't really watched baseball much in 40 years.

Now, where did I put my keys? drat!

Why thank you, DaTruRochin ! It's nice to be recognized in this way.

I can say one thing: I do take a lot of time with my posts. Sometimes too much time. Just kind of a perfectionist, I guess.

Thanks again for the mention.

I think I can take a stab at why the UP Soccer Fan is soooo passionate....especially the usual suspects blogging here on Women's Soccer.

The reason is quite simple and obvious to me.... 2 National Championships!!

Let's face it....the soccer program has been the marquee sport on campus ...and the lynch pin to putting UP on the map! Success breeds success. It fuels the program. No doubt the program has become renowned nationwide. The Pilots can attract and recruit the best young...up and coming talent. Its no longer unusual to see the rosters full of world-class players. When you have a program that can field quality soccer teams year after year....the passionate fans will follow and fill the stands....OR state their opinions and pour their hearts out about futbol on Pilot Nation!

I guarantee...if the Basketball program takes off and starts making its own mark on the National stage....there'll be sooo many basketball fans coming out from the woodwork! You'll see more and more hits on this website and the Rose Garden will have to be seriously considered for home games. Chiles will no longer be large enough to accommodate the masses of "passionate" UP B-Ball fans!

GO PILOTS!!!

it's not just the championships. That's just the icing.

There were fans 15 years ago that were this passionate. All those heartbreakers in the playoffs in the '90's made us MORE passionate. I've been sitting next to the same crazies since Tiff roamed the bluff. everyone is pretty much in the same seats, too. There weren't as many as now, but they were there.

Basketball could do the same thing. Lord knows - they've got the heartbreaker part out of the way....

Is there going to be a 3rd challenge, geezer? (Not that I have a chance in holy {bleep} at getting the answers correct. But it's good brain exercise, which is healthy for old {Bleeps} like us).

OK, FANatic. Here's an easy one.

In 2005 the pilots were only the second NCAA team in history to get through an entire season without a loss (N. Carolina has done it a bunch of times.) . Before that, regular season undefeated Pilot teams lost some heartbreaker games in the playoffs.

Can you name the Pilot teams that made it through the regular season without a loss? (men and women)

Bonus points if you can tell us who they lost to in the playoffs. double bonus for the scores.

Finally...one I have a chance at!

For the women - that's easy. 1995 & 1996. (The '95 loss happened because of one of the biggest referee gaffs in the history of sport! I'm sure glad I wasn't following the team then. That had to have been one of the most painful AND infuriating "losses" of all time. I can't even imagine how it must have felt to the team to get beaten by the referee in the national title game. There should be an asterisk by Notre Dame's name on the historical list!)

Then to lose to Notre Dame again by one goal in the semi's in '96? Including '94, that's 3 straight seasons you make the college cup semi's, only to lose to the same team by one goal? With the bogus title game loss sandwiched in the middle in '95? Going unbeaten in '95 and '96 before those losses to the same team?

Ouch!!! Ooch!!! Each!!! WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!

Haven't a clue about the men. Don't have a media guide for them!

Calling all fans who were around and followed the team through the mid 90's!!! Love to hear your recollections and how you felt at the time. (Please don't make me cry!!!)

Can you give us some scores?

There is one more Pilot undefeated regular season, and it's on the men's side. It should be easy even if you weren't a UP fan back then. That season woke up the NCAA that UP was someplace special for soccer, and helped define the program for years to come.

Repercussions persist to this day.

Anybody?

1995 was 0-1 in OT. 1996 was 2-3.

For the men, I'll guess 1988.

Care to explain the repercussions?

FANatic wrote:1995 was 0-1 in OT. 1996 was 2-3.

For the men, I'll guess 1988.

Care to explain the repercussions?

!988 is right. The Pilots Men's team shocked the NCAA with an undefeated run through the playoffs until they met Indiana in the semis and lost 1-0. Indiana went on to win the Championship in their next game.

The repercussionss? Well, first off, it was the first time that anybody around thought that the (then) smallest school in NCAA had a real shot at winning it all. It took another 14 years, and it happened to be the Women's team that did it, but the possibility was first revealed that year.

Another repercussion? Clive got Harry Merlo and the administration believing that the way UP could do it again and again was if they went at it in a first class manner. Fans started supporting the program, The construction of Merlo started the next year, and it was In 1990 that both teams started playing at Merlo Field.

The next year was also the first year that Clive coached both the men's and women's programs and set the model for the way both teams are run today.

Lastly, one of the mainstays of the team in that era was none other than Garrett Smith. They also had Scott Benedetti and Rob Baarts. Casey Keller was a frosh Phenom, and others, but Garrett was the rock of the defensive line. His career ran from 1986-89, (he was team MVP in 86) and he was all conference each year. He Came back after a pro career in '92 to help with the Women's team , and the UP women have been to the tournament every year but one since.


That team defined UP soccer.

Hey FANatic,

You don't have to if it upsets you too much, but can you describe what happened in 95 for those of us who weren't watching back then? Sorry if I got you riled up, I just remember hearing something about it a long time ago.

PurplePrideTrumpet - Nothing to be sorry about, brother! You never riled me up.

My post yesterday, (about 5 posts up), was in response to a Pilots history challenge issued to me by Purplegeezer. I actually requested the challenge and he responded by giving me what he termed an
"easy one". (Of course, easy to geezer is like "rocket science"to me)!

I think I got most of the challenge right. But when I spoke of the "difficult" time the mid-90's must have been, I was just guessing because I didn't become a full-fledged Pilot nut until just about the 1999 season. I had seen a few matches in 1997 and 1998, lucky to have seen Pilot greats Justi Baumgart and Angela Harrison, among others. But, I never saw or even knew about '94, '95, and '96. I got that info mainly from reading media guides, and hearing a few comments from fans who did actually "live" the experience.

(Note: PPT, FANatic is often absurd, over-the-top, sarcastic and not always to be taken seriously. I, too, would like to hear from Pilots old-timers like Purplegeezer, KFTC, Stonehouse and others [STOP: WILL SOME OF YOU OTHER OLD-TIMERS PLEASE POST ON QUESTIONS LIKE THESE? - THEY WOULD REALLY BE VALUED!!!!!] as to what it really felt like to experience that period of Pilots soccer history. My comment above about not making me cry is about as serious as Groucho Marx was, during a routine!!!)