UP vs Colgate

Early game today at 11:00am in Seattle at final Pilots match of 2008 Husky/Nike Invitational.

Hope lots of you spend some time in the chatbox during the match. It's lots of fun as we react to GameTracker and hopefully lots of Pilots goals!

Remember, for Chatbox, go to home page, and it is at bottom left of the page.

UP vs Colgate GAMETRACKER
LET'S GO PILOTS! ROLL OVER COLGATE!

First shot by Danielle! Blocked... Game has begun!!!

2 -0 Pilots!!! 14 minutes into match. Danielle five yard header off Megan R. feed. MIchelle E. PK goal after Colgate foul.

Pilots line up has reverted to earlier personnel with Davis in goal; Tsao, Olivier, Nicholson, Sweeney; Winters, Burk, Reed, Rapinoe; Fpxhoven and Enyeart up front.

This is the way they started the season except Nicholson is in for McCluskie.

Pilots are 3-0 ahead after 22 minutes. Expect to see many Pilots subs in remaining 60 minutes as happened on Friday.

Note that Pilots got another PK. That's two refs I pre-approve for next time we play UCLA!

4-0 as Kendra scores 2 minutes after entering game.. Header off feed from Elli.

Interesting sub: Kristen Kelly in for Keelin I assume at Holding Mid.

Don't think Sophie has played.

Well, Jackman came in for Foxhoven too, so not sure how they might be lined up now. Jackman usually plays the holding mid. Maybe Kendra's forward and ... oh who knows!

4-0 at the half.

Keelin scores in 73rd minute. Think she's playing striker. 5-0 Pilots!!!

Keelin's goal was from the top of box, 12 yards out.. Assist Elli Reed.

Forthe record, final score: UP 6- Colgate 0. Foxhoeven scores her frst college hat trick. 14 goals in 2 games, both shutouts. Can we say "momentum" heading into next weekend's games!

It was another uneven contest Up in Seattle which would have been even more so, but the amount of experimentation going on was pretty amazing. I' venture that everyone who wasn't healthy played some, and some of the folks who we will depend on come playoff time saw lots of action.

Some notable combinations and random notes.

You Probably didn't get this from the Box score, but when Sara Jackman came in it was as a striker, paired first with Enyeart then Foxhoven, then with Winters.

Later she was the AMF, with Kelly as the holding mid, Winters up top, for a short span Sophie was also a striker with Keelin, which made it 4 holding mids on the field at the same time.I listened to an Anson Dorance podcast earlier this year where he talked about recruiting strikers and converting them to defenders. It seems like Garrett is experimenting with the reverse method.

Danielle is really breaking out, if you can't tell from the box score... on her last score she got a nice pass and had two defenders and the keeper to beat from about 35 yards out. She was so aggressive with the ball at her feet you could sense she'd do it before the play developed, and she-took all three on and beat them cleanly.

There were so many different combinations out there today I honestly couldn't keep track of where players were playing, but they had no problem with it. Players did well wherever the were placed. At one point, Sweeney and Nelson played outside with Reed and Tsao in front of them.Four different players played central defender (Olivier, Nicholson, Kelly, and McCluskie).



The only place I remember Sophie playing this weekend was up top and a little bit in the midfield. I think our ideas about her helping in the defense aren't shared by Garrett.

The interesting thing about the weekend is that no matter what combination was out there, UP was still able to carry the game to the other team. I think this weekend said a lot about the expectations for the team and the talent level on it. If the rest of D1 thought the first weekend was just tough defense or a fluke, this ought to wake them up about what to expect.

Finally, a great weekend for the Pilots in terms of all the new players gaining experience. A couple of them got their first chances and really showed they can hold their own and then some, most notably Emma - she had a great weekend.

I won't say much about the regulars. Whenever they were out there in their normal positions they were head and shoulders above their competition-- but we expected that.

For those of you following the discussion about the PK that was called on the keeper taking down Michelle, It probably only satisfied one of the "D's" that are supposedly required, but was still the correct call.Michll took on the keeper in the box and shotdirectly into the keeper.

On te rebound, the keeper, another defender, and Michelle all tried for control, at which point the keeper went down. As Michelle jumped over her moving away from the goal, the keeper tripped her and a foul was called.

Michelle was moving away frm the goal, there was no control, and there were two, possibly three defenders contesting the ball.

The clear trip in the box trumped it all.

wrv wrote:No mystery there:

http://gohuskies.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/090708aac.html

Just a little surprised at the defensive MVP, but I suspose it would have been unsportsman like to give Pilots all of the awards, or not . . .

Go Pilots!

You have to understand that no Pilot played a single position for more than about 20 minutes, and I'll bet the awards panel couldn't keep track. (the exception being Reed, but she also played a lot of outside Mid.) Kelsey was out of the question. she mostly filed her nails...

I also think they felt uncomfortable awarding the defensive award to a Huskie, because they didn't really look all that strong on D and switched a lot.

But a team that let in 10 goals in two games can't really lay claim to a defensive award, IMO.



Two Huskies to watch for their game with us:

Melissa Beal, a former Oregon POY is a real striker. Her two goals were very authoritative. She has often played hurt and is again this year so is playing limited minutes (about 15 per half). If she ever get totally healthy, watch out.

The Huskies center Mid, Veronica Perez, can also make things happen.

I think we can conclude that referees exercise, whether justified or not, wide discretion in deciding when a foul in the penalty area will be called and no amount of dissection of the Laws of the Game or Memos from the USSF will conclusive explain why some fouls get called and others do not.

I think this wide discrepancies between the judgment of referees lies at the base of the Pilot Coaches philosophy not to depend on decisions of the referee to help you win. But rather to focus on creating and finishing your chances without leaving any room for error.

The Geez has summed it up pretty well. The Pilots were clearly dominant and Garrett tried lots of combos, so many that it's impossible to remember what they all were. As long as I've been watching the Pilots play, I've never seen anything like it. I'm sure part of it is in prep for the NCAA Tournament.

Here are some notes of things that might not have been apparent from Gametracker and from the game write-up.

First, Elli Reed had a fantastic two games. Although Foxhoven got the MVP, Elli made a huge contribution to the demolition of the two opposing teams. She took the ball wide, around the opposing defenders, to the baseline, and then crossed to the middle countless times. She is so fit that she had both teams' right defenders absolutely exhausted by the end of the games and still was going strong. Geez, do you agree?

Second, Kendra played really well in both games (notwithstanding that she's fighting a sore hamstring). According to the box score for the Colgate game, she played only 16 minutes, but I don't believe it. I think she had a lot more time than that.

Third, regarding Enyeart's pk, I think that the 4 Ds have to do with when the ref should give the fouling player a red card. In this particular case, the GK didn't just trip Enyeart. She reached up with her hand and grabbed Enyeart's ankle as she jumped over the keeper to get to the ball. The 4Ds weren't met, so no exclusion (or even card, which I felt was an error) for the keeper. But yes, for a pk.

You all are correct that Keelin was playing forward when she scored her goal. So far, about 30 minutes for Keelin at forward and 2 goals. Although she looks much more comfortable and better at holding mid, she definitely can play at forward, too, and if she plays there more will get more comfortable. She came very close to another goal today with a diving header off another Reed cross.

In thinking about what the general offensive alignment was this weekend, I'm not sure I would call it a 4-4-2. I think I'd call it a hidden 3-5-2. I say this because it seems like although there nominally are two central defenders and two outside defenders, one of the outside defenders virtually always is swinging up as is her counterpart outside mid, with the defense rotating around. So, a lot of the time we have the two forwards plus an outside mid at the forward end of the attack, the other outside mid plus the central attacking mid plus the "same-side" outside defender in the mid-field to front area of the attack, and the holding mid in the middle, with the remaining three defenders swinging around accordingly to provide an appropriately balanced 3-defender alignment. It drives the opposing teams nuts because it can happen with the attack coming from either the right or the left.

I wouldn't assume Garrett has ruled out Sophie at a defensive slot such as holding mid, although I too wondered about her not having played there yet. Garrett may not be playing her there because she has lots of experience as a defender. I think he's trying to find out if anyone else can replace Keelin there. I think that partly accounts for his having Keelin spend some time as a forward. I'd guess his default is Sophie at holding mid, if no one else works out.

GO PILOTS!

I stayed to watch the first half of the UW/Kennesaw State game because I wanted to see family friend frosh UW attaching mid Kate Deines play, plus I coached UW attacker Melissa Beal in HS tennis for a year. UW won 2-0, with Beal scoring the first goal. Deines started and played well. And Jesuit graduate, frosh keeper Kari Davidson played in goal for UW, her first game. Although UW is not great this year, they are improved from prior years and are a decent team. It was interesting to see a relatively close game with UW after the Pilots' demolition of Kennesaw State. Are the Pilots better than we have realized?

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:
First, Elli Reed had a fantastic two games. Although Foxhoven got the MVP, Elli made a huge contribution to the demolition of the two opposing teams. She took the ball wide, around the opposing defenders, to the baseline, and then crossed to the middle countless times. She is so fit that she had both teams' right defenders absolutely exhausted by the end of the games and still was going strong. Geez, do you agree?

I stayed to watch the first half of the UW/Kennesaw State game because I wanted to see family friend frosh UW attaching mid Kate Deines play, plus I coached UW attacker Melissa Beal in HS tennis for a year. UW won 2-0, with Beal scoring the first goal. Deines started and played well. And Jesuit graduate, frosh keeper Kari Davidson played in goal for UW, her first game. Although UW is not great this year, they are improved from prior years and are a decent team. It was interesting to see a relatively close game with UW after the Pilots' demolition of Kennesaw State. Are the Pilots better than we have realized?

No question Ellie had some fantastic games. I don't think she ever lost a challenge, and ran at and around her opposites like she was playing Crack the whip or some other game than soccer. She not only tired her opponents, she tired out their subs and the defenders backing up those players, too.
She played like a combination of French and Lopez, with the energy of Queeny. It was amazing.

UW was, I thought, a lot better than the last 3 years or so, and a bit better than the other two teams. We'll get another chance to see them in our tournament before we play them, but I think it's pretty safe to say we'll beat them.


And a local note:
Missy Beal's high school freshman little sister Megan played her first round-robin pre season for St. Mary's yesterday as a striker along side Elinore Priest. They each scored a goal.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:

In thinking about what the general offensive alignment was this weekend, I'm not sure I would call it a 4-4-2. I think I'd call it a hidden 3-5-2. I say this because it seems like although there nominally are two central defenders and two outside defenders, one of the outside defenders virtually always is swinging up as is her counterpart outside mid, with the defense rotating around. So, a lot of the time we have the two forwards plus an outside mid at the forward end of the attack, the other outside mid plus the central attacking mid plus the "same-side" outside defender in the mid-field to front area of the attack, and the holding mid in the middle, with the remaining three defenders swinging around accordingly to provide an appropriately balanced 3-defender alignment. It drives the opposing teams nuts because it can happen with the attack coming from either the right or the left.

UPSF - I have seen two games thus far this year: Oregon and UCLA. I noticed the Pilots doing this in both those games, (I think both, but definitely UCLA), and I was surprised because I don't think I've seen them use anything but the 4-4-2 in my time watching them.

I thought it was a great tactic. It seemed to fuel our offense a bit more, while not taking anything away from the defense. (As long as all the defenders are awake and alert at all times.) If it's new this season, I think it's a nice new twist to our attack.

I think they are still playing the 4-4-2, but UP is really aggressive with it so that the outside D's really push up. UP really does give opponents trouble with that. They did it up the left side a lot in the past. The difference this year is that we can do it up both sides now. One wag next to me asked if we were playing a 4-4-3. I assured him that wasn't the case. There was one stint in the first where Michelle Olivier was at the midfield stripe watching the whole rest of the team (including both wings and McCluskie - she had pushed the ball forward) pushed up around the opponents 18 yard line.

It may be a new definition of packing the box.



I did notice that when Jackman and Kelly were mids together, they played more side-by-side than in a diamond formation we are used to. That added to the confusion about what they were doing.

Interesting to hear from those of you who saw these games. Appreciate your insight.

I had noticed that in the midst of a very busy and somewhat confusing substitution rotation in both games Elli Reed played the full game both times! Given the role she plays that is a huge statement about her fitness. I'm guessing she will sleep well tonight.

AS some of you speculated I'd wager that the varied patterns have a lot to do with the fact that Garrett expects to have to replace three top players come playoff time. The challenge became greater when Rachel went down because that raises the possibility of needing Sophie to play forward thus leaving the holding mid unfilled. Or someone else needs to step up as forward if Sophie plays in midfield.

So this weekend he got to see Emma Nelson in action which offers the possibility of jessica tsao moving further forward; and he could try out Kristen Kelly and Sara Jackman in some other positions. He also had plenty of time to play Kassi McC, and Korie N to continue the auditions for Michelle O's partner.

It was a great opportunity to try things out given that UP was up 3-0 after 20 minutes in both games.

Just a little surprised at the defensive MVP, but I suspose it would have been unsportsman like to give Pilots all of the awards, or not . . .

Actually, considering the pilot total domination on defense they should have picked someone to hang the DMVP on. Its actually a common occurence for the winning team in a tourney to pick up the MVP awards but I suspect there might be a little Pilot envy brewing up in Wash.

Auto Pilot wrote:

Just a little surprised at the defensive MVP, but I suspose it would have been unsportsman like to give Pilots all of the awards, or not . . .

Actually, considering the pilot total domination on defense they should have picked someone to hang the DMVP on. Its actually a common occurence for the winning team in a tourney to pick up the MVP awards but I suspect there might be a little Pilot envy brewing up in Wash.

I've been thinking about this a bit. Elli did play some outside mid, but she played enough outside defender and played it so well, there really isn't a good reason she didn't get the award. Truth be known, the way UP has been interchanging those two positions, there isn't much difference between them anyway.

I noticed McCluskie playing way forward against USC as well... seems that we are adapting