SCU @ Pilots - 11/02/2008

Jenny Laponte

Yes..only a frosh...but...with U-14 to U-17 National Team experience. That explains a lot! We'll have to keep an eye on Jenny.

For those who have Dish Network, I just noticed that they are re-broadcasting the game at 9:30 pm tonight. Now I wish I had DVR to be able to see some of those great plays over and over.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

When the Rapinoes came over after the match both were so grateful ohhh_yeahh would do that for them (he made the signs; we just held them). Rachael actually said, "This means the world to me."

Well, the Pilots mean the world to me. So, thank you.

i love it... in the first minute you can clearly hear "we always win four to nil" on the espnu broadcast...

still uploading photos but i have to share my new favorite pilots photo...

Jessica Tsao--

All of last year and the beginning of this season, I always had the "uh oh" nervous reaction when Tsao got the ball. Wow! what a difference a season can make. A very dangerous soccer weapon is entering into the evolution of potential greatness. Remember where our last great 'attack style' defender ended up?

And she's only a sophomore. When I see her come down the wing from her spot in the back I say, "uh oh" too.

Agreed...Jessica should make the All WCC First Team this year!

GO PILOTS!!!

Let's hear from the players:

Megan's postgame interview

Rachael's interview

just finished watching the match... i am not convinced that a penalty kick should of been called... i am also not convinced that megan rapinoe or korie nicholson deserved yellow cards... the goals by rapinoe and enyeart were top class...

http://flickr.com/photos/41639453@N00/sets/72157608613633453/ 91 photos in set...

Boaz Herzog" article for tomorrow is up.
Oregonlive

And he Trib put together a pretty disjointed piece.
Tribune

Classic.

It looks like you had a very busy day.....

Wonderful game yesterday in so many ways.

Trounced the old rivals 4-0 in the usual physical battle against Santa Clara, who lacked nothing in commitment and aggression.
Fabulous goal from Megan R.
Feisty performance all around.

I like the switch of Megan R to left midfield; Charney to attacking mid; and Sara to right. Brings out the best in Charney who has skills in opening up tight spots and retains possession well. Sara on the right allows more chances for Jessica to come forward (3 assists yesterday). Wide left opens up all kinds of possibilities for Megan R to run at the defense. And I like the defensive balance of Megan and Megan on one side, and Sara and Jessica on the other side better than the previous line ups.

Sophie and Megan R are playing huge right now. Michelle O is very tidy at holding mid, and Kassi and Korie will cause us some nervous moments but will not lack for physical commitment!

Anxious moment yesterday after sloppy pass back to Kelsey (from Korie) that ended up with Kelsey on the ground for several minutes. Hailee's heart had to be working overtime until KD was up and moving.

After the non-amigas line up had put the Pilots up 2-0, we got a glimpse of how good this team could be if we had the amigas for the rest of the season. A good team got even better when Michelle E, Keelin and Elli were out there. For the rest of this year we will not see them again (unless you are in San Diego next weekend) but we have so much to look forward to next season. We'll miss Megan R, and Korie. But the add back of the amigas, another year of experience for the team which is almost all freshmen and sophs, and the arrival of Cloee C and the incoming freshmen will be an overall step up.

Fingers crossed for a win in San Diego and two home games the following weekend.

MJ, I agree completely on the switch of Burk and M Rapinoe. Megan's vertical range Sunday was remarkable. She was literally all over the field, from goal line to goal line. I think this is one of her true strengths and one that she was never able to unleash when boxed in the middle between the forwards and the holding mid.

Charney is still a frosh, but her skill set looks ideally suited to the attacking mid slot. She didn't seem to take advantage of the space on the outside the way that Megan and Elli do. Her quick foot skills and crisp short passes will serve her well in the middle. Her short career reminds me a bit of Angie Woznuk, who never became the star we knew she could be until she got in the attacking mid position. It will be fun to watch Charney grow into that role over the next 3 years!

I am excited after seeing the game yesterday and watching my recording of the game. The team looks great! However, I am a little concerned with our speed with Sarah as an outside mid and Charney as the attacking mid. The defenders were able to beat them to the ball on a number of occasions and it also seemed that they had to resort to passing the ball back too much as defenders were right on them. I think that is why we saw Megan all over the field. She was doing it all by playing attacking and outside mid positions. Danielle also looked a step behind on the attack. I feel that speed is going to be increasingly important as we head into playoffs and play teams with their faster defenders. Otherwise, just a great game defensively, beautiful assists, amazing finishes, and a wonderful tribute to the seniors with a special moment of having Rachel come into the game.

Wow... very good point, UPreveler. I hadn't really thought about it, but you are correct - Michelle and Elli can dominate games with their speed (Michelle's goal yesterday was all speed), and without the the team does sometimes seem a bit behind in the sprint bursts. However, I think they are well-conditioned enough that they maintain the speed they do have throughout the game. Definitely something to keep an eye on though.

But really... now's not the time to nitpick. What a great win yesterday!

Agreed Stonehouse. Enjoy this victory as it was one of the best all around games they have played. They seem to be on the road to peaking at the right time. Only time will tell, but they have surprised me all season playing beyond their years against very good teams.

Would anyone happen to have a copy of this game they could send to me? The video feed was unavailable and I'd like to see the game whose match report got me a little choked up.

ninjapizza wrote:Would anyone happen to have a copy of this game they could send to me? The video feed was unavailable and I'd like to see the game whose match report got me a little choked up.

+1 i have it on dvr but i do not have any way to get it on dvd...

Thanks ohh-yeah for the great photo of the Three Amigas. It's a classic.

Ninja ESPNU (channel 614 direct tve in my region socal) will re rebroadcasting the game at 11:00 am (pacific coast time) so if you know someone who gets the ESPNU channel you have another shot at watching or getting a recording of the game. I don't have a recorder on my box or I would make one for you. Good luck. It was a game truly worth watching if you can manage it.

Auto Pilot wrote:Ninja ESPNU (channel 614 direct tve in my region socal) will re rebroadcasting the game at 11:00 am (pacific coast time) so if you know someone who gets the ESPNU channel you have another shot at watching or getting a recording of the game. I don't have a recorder on my box or I would make one for you. Good luck. It was a game truly worth watching if you can manage it.

11AM on what day?

The earlier point about speed is interesting. That's one thing you can't coach: players are quick or not. I'd argue that Charney - who is not as fast as Megan R - is better suited to the attacking mid slot rather than wide, precisely because she is not as fast.

It's true that Sara and others are not as fast as Elli and Michelle E - but very few players are. Elli and Michelle are not available so we do the best we can with who we have.

The Pilots offensive game is not dependent upon running speed, although that's great to have. They play a lot of one- and two-touch possession ball, where the goal is to have the ball do the work. I'm fine with moving the ball from side to side -and backwards - if that is the key to keeping possession.

Sorry to leave that part out. Its this thursday. ESPNU at 10:00 am pacific.

I think we are heading into the territory of lots of parity. We have our line-up. I agree with Garrett's assessment of Megan's move to the outside when he was interviewed at halftime. He just laughed and said pretty much it doesn't really matter where you line up Megan R. she is just going to be all over the field. He thought putting her outside would give her a little more room to operate.

I guess he was right because where she scored her goal was directly in front of the goalmouth off a quick darting move to the inside.

I think we have the midfield to match anyone. Its going to come down to getting a goal and not giving any up. I don't expect any more 4-0 games. Unless we play another team that is still playing with a 3 back line. If we do then expect to see Jessica racking up some more assists on the overlapping run.

I agree with you on the parity issue, AP. It wasn't many years ago that UNC and Notre Dame never lost (except to each other) and the teams just below them (including UP, Santa Clara, Penn State, Florida State) almost never lost to anyone else either. Last year was wild with upsets all over the place. This year less so, but even this year UCLA got tied by Brown (Brown???) and an injury-depleted SCU team.

Speaking of Santa Clara, how do you all think this year will affect their recruiting? It looks like they've got a large group coming in next year with a few high fliers, but anyone who saw Sunday's match would not have found a lot to be excited about. What do you think? Will they be able to rebuild into national contenders?