Our other Championship team

Elli Reed really turned it up today. I haven't seen the WC matches since the first one (where she came on late and got an immediate caution), but I've never seen her play so confidently as a one-on-one defender. She also made excellent decisions today. I hope this all carries over to Merlo next year!

I predict you will see these players bring a new level of from this experience. Remember Sophie saying how the college game seems slower after playing internationally. This translates to the poise, vision and maturity we saw from her this year. Congratuations to Team USA and our Pilots who made us proud today.

U-20's, all of them, especially the Pilots, well done. The beautiful game.

Does anyone know when the UP players will be returning? It would be nice to have a welcoming committee at the airport.

espn went to a poker game soon as the under 20's World Cup game was over.Gala tv a Spanish channel continued to show the post game award ceremonies.It was a wonderful celebration,with trophies for individuals and medals for the teams.Miss Winters accepted the fair play trophy of the tournament as captain of the team .It was great to see; smiles all around.

Haha so espn did a write up of all the players that played in the championship game... Something's fishy... but WHAT??

Keelin Winters, 5 -- Although Winters did well to set up Leroux for the first goal of the game, she seemed a bit slow to anticipate in the first half. The UNC midfielder disappeared for long stretches of the game, but still contributed to the attack and assisted in the team's overall defensive efforts.

Boo! This thread needs photos. I am glad I am here to help out.

Just the touch we needed.

Apparently a game winning assist on a perfect pass to Leroux and eventual complete domination of the midfield isn't enough.

UNC midfielders aren't what they used to be, I guess....

That write-up was written by Lindsey Dolich, the sole women's soccer writer for ESPN. She's not the most discerning soccer mind, in my opinion, and has a habit of regurgitating press releases for features. Just another reason I miss Canales.

Does anyone know anything about Christine Nairn? She is evidently a U18. She does not have a college listed by her name, which I guess makes sense since she is a U18, but I also can't find her listed anywhere on the web site list of committed high school players. She would look good in purple.

Thanks for the great pics, BW.

Don't forget, we get to see four of the U-20s on August 28 at Merlo when we play Cal: our three and Alex Morgan.

Alex had a great tournament, being awarded the Adidas Silver Ball as 2nd best player in the event. Her goal was pretty amazing, beating a couple of PRK's on a nice run and blasting a shot from distance with her left foot. It will be fun to see her defended by Elli and the other Pilot back line in the game on the 28th.

Just curious...does Alex remind anyone else of Mia Hamm? (By the way, I understand that she didn't take up the sport of soccer until she was 13 years-old.)

fan from afar wrote:Does anyone know anything about Christine Nairn? She is evidently a U18. She does not have a college listed by her name, which I guess makes sense since she is a U18, but I also can't find her listed anywhere on the web site list of committed high school players. She would look good in purple.

Thanks for the great pics, BW.

Penn State.

I believe she delayed admittance to Penn State for a semester to concentrate on the u20's. That way she can still have all her eligibility and still retain the 1 year of national team exemption to the 5 year clock.


http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/nairn_christine00.html

fan from afar wrote:Does anyone know anything about Christine Nairn? She is evidently a U18. She does not have a college listed by her name, which I guess makes sense since she is a U18, but I also can't find her listed anywhere on the web site list of committed high school players. She would look good in purple.

Nairn was a frosh redshirt for Penn State this year. GK Alyssa Naeher also is a Penn State player, but she followed the same path this year as our U20s. Penn State also lost a player to the Canadian U20s.

From the CentreDaily Times:
Penn State’s Alyssa Naeher was named the tournament best goalkeeper. Future Nittany Lion Christine Nairn also earned a start in the final. Naeher and Nairn are now the only Nittany Lions to have ever won a World Cup. Nairn has delayed enrollment.

Penn State will be locked and loaded next year, same with Boston College, if BC cant make noise next year with the talent that fills their roster something is off.

Welcome Penn State/UP Fan. It's good to have perspectives from other schools, as FSUfan and others are so helpfully providing.

Am a PSU grad living in the Portland area for several years. Have seen more Pilots matches than Penn State by about 40-2. So the Pilots are my adopted team and a great one to have!!!

fan from afar wrote:

Nairn was a frosh redshirt for Penn State this year. GK Alyssa Naeher also is a Penn State player, but she followed the same path this year as our U20s. Penn State also lost a player to the Canadian U20s.

Actually Naeher was a different story than our U-20s. I was looking into how she could have made the NSCAA first team when competing for the U-20 which put our players out of consideration. Naeher played over 20 games before heading down south. Her stats were'nt particularly impressive but the fact was that she played a a high profile East Coast school, played almost the entire season and was the U-20 starting keeper was enough to plug her into the top spot.

I though the NSCAA keeper selections were horrible. Think who was left out. Ultimate UNC NCAA champion Anna Rodenboroug/Ashyn Harris.

Runner up Kelsey Lysander, Ashley Thompson UCLA who killed all the gk's in the division in goals against average and goals allowed. As much as I am not a fan of UCLA you have to give her props for making the most out of the one season she got to start at UCLA

Stanford's Kira Maker was another very very good GK that was snubbed.

Goals Against Average

1 Ashley Thompson, UCLA Sr. 25 2185 2315 6 0.247
2 Kira Maker, Stanford So. 25 2177 2270 8 0.331
3 Kelsey Davis, Portland Jr. 22 1989 1989 9 0.407
4 Libby Stout, Western Ky. Fr. 20 1902 2024 9 0.426
5 Kristin Russell, St. John's (N.Y.) Fr. 18 1630 1823 8 0.442
6 Kelsey Lysander, Notre Dame Jr. 27 2241 2451 11 0.442
7 Lindsey Dare, Minnesota Sr. 26 2378 2378 12 0.454

Save Percentage

1 Ashley Thompson, UCLA Sr. 25 82 6 2185 2315 0.932
2 Libby Stout, Western Ky. Fr. 20 110 9 1902 2024 0.924
3 Kristin Russell, St. John's (N.Y.) Fr. 18 78 8 1630 1823 0.907
4 McKinzie Olson, BYU Fr. 19 68 9 1610 2189 0.883
5 Alexa Arsenault, Bowling Green So. 22 113 15 1979 2071 0.883
6 Kelsey Kearney, UNC Greensboro Fr. 19 63 9 1682 2155 0.875
7 Mallori Lofton-Malachi, South Fla. Jr. 18 116 17 1734 1734 0.872

Goals Allowed Season Total

1 Ashley Thompson, UCLA Sr. 25 2185 2315 6
2 Kira Maker, Stanford So. 25 2177 2270 8
3 Kelsey Davis, Portland Jr. 22 1989 9
4 Libby Stout, Western Ky. Fr. 20 9
5 Kristin Russell, St. John's (N.Y.) 20 Fr. 8

Look who is at the top in every catagory. Undisputed best goalkeeper this year Ashley Thompson. Not a mention in either first second or third team.

First Team

K, Alyssa Naeher*, Jr., Penn State, Seymour, Calif. She was the U-20 keeper did an outstanding job for them. Was she really the best keeper in DI college?

Second Team

K, Erin Guthrie, Jr., Rutgers, Sparta, N.J. Erin Guthrie, Rutgers Jr. 22(GP) 14(goals against) 0.619 (goals against average) Someone mentioned on this board that she looked good in shorts. She must have looked really good in shorts.

Third Team

K, Jill Mastroianni, Fr., Boston College, Durham, Conn. Jillian Mastroianni, Boston College Fr. 22(GP) 17 (goals against) 0.793 (goals against average).

I can conslusively say the West Coast got the shaft in these selections. Tell me truly are any of these three better than; starting from the south in no particular order; Britteny Cameron USD, Ashley Thompson UCLA, Kristen Olsen USC, Kira Maker Stanford, or Kelsey Davis Portland.

All this is not to mention schools outside of the North/East, Kelsey Lysander Notre Dame, Anna Rodenborough/Ashlyn Harris UNC, Florida State, Mckenzie Olson BYU, Dianne Pfenninger Texas, Lindsay Dare Minnesota, this list goes on.

While interesting, I don't think goal keeping stats do a very good job describing the ability of a keeper. So much of what the keeper has to face is dependent on the team's defense.

Look at Portland. While the Pilots happen to have great keepers, how many shutouts did they earn while barely having to touch the ball?

runner girl wrote:While interesting, I don't think goal keeping stats do a very good job describing the ability of a keeper. So much of what the keeper has to face is dependent on the team's defense.

Look at Portland. While the Pilots happen to have great keepers, how many shutouts did they earn while barely having to touch the ball?

What you say about the Pilot keepers is true. That is why Kelsey was rated in goals against and not on save percentage. She was not even rated in that category because she was forced to make so few. However, if you look at all the stats that are available Ashley Thompson got the complete shaft from the NSCAA. Too bad for her because it was her first and last year to play.

Yes, I guess my point is just that the "best" keeper is very subjective, just as most positions are in a game like soccer.
There aren't really statistics available to say how beautifully Angie Woznuk controlled the midfield, or how Natalie Budge's work rate contributed to the team's success, etc.
I think you have to actually see teams play other good teams to really see how good the players are, how they contribute.
That's why, like you guys are saying, I wonder how they pick these things sometimes.

USA! USA! Great result for the U-20s. Keelin will be a monster in the middle for the Pilots next season with leadership, offense, defense, everything ... .

I was thinking she will be more of a monster haha. I am with you PH.