Rating Freshman Performance Thus Far

Obviously Elli Reed has been a welcome and skilled addition to the Pilots offense.She will impact this year's version and probably do so for 4 years to come. For my money the surprise, perhaps, and the one performing above expectation is Keelin Winters, who played tough and skilled during her time on the turf. She is skilled both offensively and defensively. Sara Jackman has certainly held her own--I have seen too little of DeYoung to have an opinion, same with Kelly. Tsao has looked good at times and soemtimes challenged by the college game. Any thoughts?

It's pretty clear these are all quality players. they'll fit in fine, eventually.

Certainly, in the first game, Tsao had the most trouble, but she also was up against one of Fla State;s best players, who was big and fast. Tsao had the most trouble with the big part. She held her position against OSU, but that wasn't so much a challenge.

I think as she got used to D1 pace, she got better. She also did better when she was at outside mid, and Scifo went to the back.

It's pretty early-- there's still a lot of game in which to sort this all out.

Yes. Agreed. Thank you Coach Smith!! He and his staff has certainly delivered a class of recruits that we can be very proud of.

Elli Reed, Sara Jackman and Keelin Winters have proven to be OUTSTANDING PLAYERS. They are the source of my misery in trying to predict the Pilot's starting lineup when Megan, Sophie and Stephanie return. Its very difficult for me to leave them off it.

These 3 freshmen (in particular) are ALL confident on the ball....play fearlessly....and are aggressive. I see a lot of maturity in their games!! They've all stepped right in and look very confortable out there on a D1 pitch! Usually...its easy to spot the freshmen playing in their first collegiate games. But, I must say...with Elli, Sara and Keelin...I saw seasoned players who were not intimidated by the level of play.

But then again...I think its come to be expected that the UP Soccer Program would be a magnet for these type of players. Players who have ODP, National and International game experience on thier resumes. Ex. Christine, Lindsey, Megan, Angie and Steph.
Many bring with them World Class performances to Merlo at the get go!

GO PILOTS!

Agreed. Elli Reed is just bursting with potential... the way she makes runs down the side and utilizes her speed, and how confident she is... it's awesome to watch. I do think that she is maybe relying on some old tricks a little bit too much that worked in HS but won't in college, i.e. always trying to juke/dribble around defenders (Kendra Chandhoke went through the same thing at the beginning of her freshman year) and sometimes hesitates with the ball too much, but I think she will learn to play a bit faster and will eventually become one of the Pilot greats. You can just see it.

And how about Keelin Winters playing up front! WOW! She totally blew me away with how she performed up there, and how solid she has been in the middle. I like her toughness and her size and she seems to be a smart player too.

I actually haven't paid too much attention to Jackman when she's been out there, but from what I remember she is totally solid... hasn't made any mistakes, plays pretty calmly.

Tsao did struggle early on in the FSU game, but as the game progressed I thought she improved quite a bit and actually made some key defensive plays at the end of the game. I think she definitely has the skill to be a marking back for several years, and she did look good on the wing as well.

Hats off to Coach Smith and his staff for sure!

Also... I heard that there were some recruits at Merlo on Saturday night. Hmmm... think they might like to come play at UP after a game like that with that kind of crowd and atmosphere?

I think you're right Stonehouse. I noticed the potential recruits too!

The one I thought I recognized was Teresa Noyola. She happens to be the 2007 HS Parade All-America player of the year! Do you have a source to confirm?

She'd be a nice blue-chip recruit for the Pilots. I think the FSU game...and particularly Pilot Nation support...sold her on the University of Portland and making Merlo / Charles field her first choice to play soccer!!

I know we are all dieing to share what we know, or think we know, about recruiting. There were several recruits on campus.

But the NCAA has regulations we need to keep in mind.

It's OK to say you saw some recruits, (I think) it's also OK (again--I think) to report something you saw in the media that a recruit may have said.

It's not OK to say who the recruits were that you saw on campus or what they might have said, or what you may have heard from a person at the university about an individual possibly comming here.

The NCAA has recruiting rules that prevent a school or booster from publicizing those things. Like it or not, when you joined this site, the NCAA considers you a booster for life.

It's a privacy issue to protect young kids.

I noticed the Santa Clara Fans site has a sticky about this issue, and maybe GU does, too. Maybe we should have one. The NCAA website has some literature for schools and recruits about this stuff.

With the growth of the site, it is a good time to refresh us on NCAA rules. I will put that together soon as a sticky.

I dont think there is any problem mentioning what was seen in public. We can talk all we want about who we saw there... the rules are more regarding direct interaction with potential and current student athletes.

The university wont say who is making official visits and when, but there is nothing wrong with a fan and/or a "Representative of Athletic Interest" saying who was seen at the game. Now, reporting what someone overheard them say, may be entering some grey area....

From the UP web site: http://www.portlandpilots.com/compliance.asp

Glad you're on top of it, Pilotnut,

We don't want to have the next Sinclair declared ineligible, do we?

I agree, good to see your on top of it PNut. But I am also curious if those recruits witnessed by our brethen will be revealed here? Stonehouse, any comments on potential recruits you might have observed at the game? Thanks if you feel you can respond to the question fully and thanks anyway if you can't or if you don't know of any present.

It's definitely good to bring this kind of stuff up... but really we are safe as long as we 1) have absolutely NO contact with potential student athletes and their families, coaches, etc. and 2) are safe and smart with whatever "inside" info we may think we have from players, friends, etc. There's no sense in potentially getting the school in hot water.

But we definitely are not in trouble saying that we saw recruits or even mentioning names... the internet is full of message boards drooling over high school players - just check the GU boards or really any other football or basketball board.

Back to the subject at hand... I truly have no inside info at all. All I heard was that some recruits were at the game, which is definitely a fortuitous thing because it was such an incredible night!

When I checked back in this evening....Whoa!!

I was cognizant of compliance rules before I posted the name. But its always good to be reminded of what's okay and what's not. It was surprising though how much activity I stirred up. I apologize for setting off alarms!

This group is a very knowlegeable bunch and are on top of anything that might be deemed to be questionable. Thanks to everyone for that.

I'll take a yellow card for what happened tonight!

I plan on becoming very familiar with what is ok and what isnt.... and believe me, anything close to being questionable will instantly be zapped off the site.

Carry on....