new blog on 955thegame.com

there's a new blog on 955thegame.com about portland sports, the first entry is on the womens soccer season specifically the weekend against UCLA and USC

http://955thegame.com/Multimedia/Blogs/tabid/81/BlogID/6/Default.aspx

Thanks, pp13!

This blog is actually one of many blogs on "955thegame". It is actually a UP Pilots Sports blog.

So maybe it's worth bookmarking and checking, from time to time.

I like reading about the Pilots everywhere; the more the better. But I am a little concerned they are talking about UCLA USC before the Oregon game. The Ducks are no pushovers. Didn't they come in number 2 in the Pac 10 a couple years ago. Anyway I don't know much about them as I am not from the Oregon area (obviously). I just believe Sun Tzu had it right when he wrote in the 6th century.

If you know the enemy and know
yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If
you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you
will also suffer a defeat.If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in
every battle.

I was thinking of Sun Tzu too, I had a coach who loved his sayings.

Coaches are pretty conservative, so he liked to go with-

He wins his battles by making no mistakes.
Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty
of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is
already defeated.
Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into
a position which makes defeat impossible, and does
not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.

But for the sheer entertainment of it, what I'm hoping for is something more like -

The onrush of a conquering force is like the bursting
of pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep.

It cannot be stopped.

Auto-

Rest assured that Oregon will not be overlooked. If there is one thing that I have seen over the past few years, is that Garrett seems to keep the girls focused on the task at hand. I am not sure in any game I have watched over the last 4 years, that the Pilots have taken an opponent lightly. I think this year is especially true, as for the young players an opening victory would be a huge step in gaining the confidence necessary for them to make the impact needed.

Auto,

I'd agree with other posts that the Oregon squad is not being overlooked. This has become something of a heated rivalry. I believe in 2005 Portland put up 6 goals at Pape Field in Eugene, which was a record for most goals scored at that venue. The Ducks didn't score at all.

And then a year or two ago the Ducks were grousing about the roughness of a spring scrimmage against Portland that they felt was unnecessary. At their next regular season meeting, the Pilots shut them out. (I think that scrimmage may have been the one where the Oregon goalkeeper, who has retired due to injuries, broke her arm.)

Oregon will bring noisy fans to Merlo this Saturday, and I think along with this being the first game of the season and a match against a PAC-10 team, that will be motivation enough to not overlook the Ducks.

AP - I totally agree with aleppiek and pms268.

I watched a spring scrimmage the Pilots played against, I think, Washington State in 2007. I sat on the first row of the West grandstands, just a few feet from the pitch. I was completely blown away by the constant - 90 minutes, for crying out loud - attacking by EVERY Pilot who played that game.

I think WSU was somewhat caught off guard, as I gathered by their general nonchalance it was just a meaningless spring scrimmage to them. They seemed to be playing in cement shoes compared to us. The final score was totally lopsided, as were shots taken , etc..

My main point is this: I swear the Pilots were playing with the same exact intensity as they had played in the previous year's NCAA Tournament!!! I don't think in the 45 years or so that I have watched all kinds of different sports and teams, I had even remotely seen anything like this. (And that includes championship or great teams from every sport I've followed.)

It was at this point, even though I had seen both our National Championship teams, that I realized - in my ten years or so following the team - that this program had something really special. Something that would translate into national title contenders EVERY year. (As long as they continued recruiting great players with high character that fit the Pilot profile, of course.)

I can say this with all due confidence: The Pilots will play 90 minutes of attacking soccer against Oregon, and they will at no point in this match, even think about UCLA/USC. (If I had the financial resources, I would bet $1,000 on this. I'm not at all guaranteeing a win. Anything can and will happen in a soccer match. What I am guaranteeing is that they will come out with guns blazing this Saturday night, with no regard what-so-ever for any future matches.) That's it. I'm too tired to ramble on any longer.

pms268 wrote:Auto,

I'd agree with other posts that the Oregon squad is not being overlooked. This has become something of a heated rivalry. I believe in 2005 Portland put up 6 goals at Pape Field in Eugene, which was a record for most goals scored at that venue. The Ducks didn't score at all.

And then a year or two ago the Ducks were grousing about the roughness of a spring scrimmage against Portland that they felt was unnecessary. At their next regular season meeting, the Pilots shut them out. (I think that scrimmage may have been the one where the Oregon goalkeeper, who has retired due to injuries, broke her arm.)

There's a little edgyness in the rivalry now, too. I think that will ensure UP won't slack.

Oregon trash talked last year that UP somehow conspired to keep them out of the tournament the year before because we were scared of them. Instead of concentrating on what they need to do as a team, they looked for excuses elsewhere. Then they got it handed to them.

1) It's been pretty well established that we have NO pull with selection or seeding. If we did - would we go on the road every year? Would we get shafted in favor of Stanford by a "mistake"?

b) Oregon did itself in by losing to many games to low seeded team out of conference - simple as that. They did place ok in conference, but not well enough to cover for their failure out of conference.

iii) Scared of Oregon? yeah, we'd much rather play away at altitude than home in front of a Merlo crowd.

Sheesh...

Purplegeezer wrote:
Oregon trash talked last year that UP somehow conspired to keep them out of the tournament the year before because we were scared of them.

I'd forgotten about that, Geezer. You're right.

Frankly, I always get up for this game--more than for some. I lived in Eugene for eight years, just moving back to the metro area this spring. If you live there, you can't escape the conversations on how great the Ducks are and how no one gives them any respect (this isn't just in football, either.) It's a little on the arrogant side. The year the soccer team was shut out of the tournament, even the local sports talk guys who have very little use for soccer, jumped on the bandwagon of what an outrage it was.

Portland went through the same thing in the early 90s. What they did was go back to work the next season and prove they belonged in the tournament, which is what they did in 1992. The Ducks followed up their disappointment with a 8-8-4 season.

That being said, I do think that Tara Erickson is a great coach for that team. She has at least got them being competitive, though they are picked to finish 7th in the PAC-10 this year.

The complete coaches poll is out for the pac10, and the interesting thing is that Stanford is picked to win it.


coaches poll

Here it is in short

2008 Pac-10 Women's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Stanford (6) 76
2. UCLA (3) 73
3. USC (1) 70
4. California 57
5. Arizona State 44
6. Washington State 44
7. Oregon 29
8. Washington 25
9. Arizona 21
10. Oregon State 11


WOW! no respect for the National Champs.

I decided to look up last years post on the Ducks trash talking about the year before.

Here it is, courtesy of ninjapizza:
Register Guard

and the thread it was in:
Any Duck fans out there?

I got a little annoyed all over again reading it.

I bet they know who Sophie Scott is, though.