Spring game versus OSU

The Pilots enjoyed a great spring day with a 3-0 scrimmage win over the Beavers. They scores two in the first half and added another in the 2nd. Pilots started with a lineup of Davis in goal; Tsao, Sweeney Kreminski and Reed across the backline; Olivier, Enyeart, Winters and Burke at midfield; and Foxhoeven and Schmidt up top. From the opening kickoff they strung together about 8 passes before teh bBeavers even touchedthe ball. A beautiful through pass from Reed set up Foxhoeven for a nice close-in goal. Schmidt wrapped up the first-half scoring. The Beavers did get off some good shots but didn't put enough of them on frame. Olivier played the holding midfield role with the other three mids rotating and switiching from side to side -- sometimes Enyeart in the center, sometimes attacking up the left with Reed ( a scary prospect for the OS defense). More of the Pilots offense seemed to go up the left side. The second half gave all the other subs except DeYoung a chance to play. Jacka went in up top, Kelly joined the back line, Jackman came on at left mid, and Chandhoke played right mid. The Piltos added a goal when either Chandhoke or Kreminski (I couldn't track which) took advantage of a miskick by the keeper to knock one in.

Ah, spring soccer. A bit sloppy, not much at stake, just a warm day under the sun at Merlo.

Kreminski scored the third.

Noticeably absent from the pitch were Kassi McClusky (she won't play until late into next season because of her back surgery, but she was on the sidelines cheering the team mates on) and Emma Nelson is recovering from some sort of leg injury. She was reported to be in a soft cast last week, but was unencumbered today.

Kassi was sporting a black and white back brace, with a few small purple velcro straps in front. She told the sideline fans she was setting a new fashion trend.

One of the positives was seeing Kendra back from her injury and showing some flashes of the exciting things she can do.

Since this is spring and I've been admonished in the past for being critical of student athletes I will limit myself to commenting on the positives:

Megan S played 90 minutes at center defense and did well.

Elli R played about 60 minutes at left d and looked great. She appears to have added some upper body strength. She got forward a lot and made the opening goal for Dani F with a finely weighted pass into the box.

Michelle O and Keelin won everything that came anywhere near them.

Kendra came on and played with confidence and aggression.

Dani F took her goal well and showed more ability to hold the ball. She and Sophie looked very good together.

Plenty of time before the real action in the fall but one observation some of us were pondering yesterday ... UP starting line up could include:

Kelsey Davis: Jessica Tsao, Michelle Olivier, Cloee Colohan, Elli Reed; with Keelin Winters as holding midfield. That's as strong a defense as we've seen in a while and a great platform to play off. If you have some arrangement of Charney Burk, Michelle Enyeart, Kendra Chandhoke, Danielle Foxhoven, and Sophie Schmidt in front of them then that's a good team.

If anyone on the current roster or among the incoming freshman class can displace one of that team that's even better.

Well, we had a little snow here in Central New York last night, so I truly hate all you guys who got to go see the Pilot women over the weekend on a beautiful day. I hope it hails there for the next game!!

It sounds like they did well. I think Harry has the starting lineup exactly right - The top 11 seem obvious with Kassie out. I wonder if she will redshirt?

Please keep up the good reports for us out-of-towners.

It was a great day for weather and Pilot watchers. I really like this core group of players and look forward to next fall. I hope the Penn State rematch can be worked out. PSU seems to have some good incoming players. Would be a fun match to watch.

During the game I heard UP players calling out things to Mo. It took me a while to figure out they were referring to Michelle Oliver.

My nephew with the fancy camera tried his hand at taking pictures at a soccer game on Saturday. I have 73 photos of the women's game I'd like to put in here. What is the best way - I need step by step instructions if possible. Thanks!

Enyeart seemed to make things happen whenever she got the ball. Her speed and ball handling set her apart from the rest.

I like Olivier better in the backline than in midfield. That’s not to knock her midfield play; I think she is more effective in the back line.

Enyeart is called “Meesch” phonetically, short for Michelle. While Olivier is called Mo, her initials. I picked up on “Mo” from hearing Davis call out commands. Davis was also giving guidance to Halley in her transition to the back line.

Being a fan of Kendra, I thought she looked effective and made good things happen when she got the ball.

I, too, thought that Elli looked bigger.

A_Fan wrote:My nephew with the fancy camera tried his hand at taking pictures at a soccer game on Saturday. I have 73 photos of the women's game I'd like to put in here. What is the best way - I need step by step instructions if possible. Thanks!

Perhaps the easiest way is to use a photosharing site like Flickr and link to it.

You first need to create an account (a one step process if you have a Yahoo ID)

then just click on the links you are given to upload. you will be prompted with a selection window for files on your computer.

A_Fan wrote:My nephew with the fancy camera tried his hand at taking pictures at a soccer game on Saturday. I have 73 photos of the women's game I'd like to put in here. What is the best way - I need step by step instructions if possible. Thanks!

send a Private Message to Ohhh Yeah he puts his flikckr galleries up here often.

OK, I put the photos on my photo website. Here is the link:
http://public.fotki.com/jeffsbro/

Go to the UP Women's Soccer folder. The password is: pilots

I don't have titles on them yet.

I wasn't sure why Megan Sweeney played the whole match at center back.

But when I read Geezer's post above that Kassi won't play until late into next season, it made total sense. Megan did a great job at center back I thought. She looked pumped and motivated. If they are unsure about Kristen Kelly at all, and Halley may be a question mark there, it sure looked like Megan could back up Cloee and Mo next season.

Of course, we won't know for sure who will be backing up our two highly-regarded center backs until August.