Pilots vs Ducks

Just back from Eugene. Man! It's nice to actually be able to watch some soccer again..

First, the trip down and back was great. The bus had food, beer, scantily clad dancers on the way down, and a family bio of sorts on the way back. All in all, a very civilized way to travel, arranged by Jim Kuffner. Thanks, Jim!

the announce crowd was 1279, which they said was a record for opening day. A bit less than half of those were Pilot fans, including some former luminaries. Christine, Tiffeny, and Emily Michaelson were all there, and I'm sure others were as well.
We also had some non-playing luminaries, like Stonehouse and PilotPoser.


It was a good game. U of O was pretty good tonight. It seems like each time we see them, they get better. They are going to give some PAC10 teams something to think about. Against Portland, they conceded the offensive end as soon as they lost possession and packed the midfield, which made it hard to really get anything going. Smart strategy, probably though up by somebody who knows Portland pretty well.

UP took a little while to settle in, and probably didn't play their best for pretty substantial period. They just looked like they were getting to know each other. The short game in the midfield wasn't always working. and we actually played a bit over the top of the midfield more than I like to see. It seemed Cloee, particularly went over the top a bit early in her first start, but settled down after a few minutes. Kendra, Michelle, and Elli all played well, but it looks like they need to find each other a little better. That will come.

That said, there were some spots where we looked REALLY dangerous, and a couple of them connected. Michelle had 3 or 4 runs that got behind the defense and were a step shy of beating the keeper to the ball, Danni and Sophie had some chances in close, and there were threats from all over.

The defense had a couple of slip-ups, but those of you who didn't make the trip down will have fun watching Keelin and the back 4.
There just aren't going to be a lot of goals scored on this bunch this year. as soon as the central defenders learn each other a little better, we'll be fine. Cloee was great in her first start. A couple time she ran down their speedy forwards. The central defense is set for the next few years with Cloee, Michelle, and Kassi.

Lots of action on Kenda and Jessica's side of the field, we seemed to push up that side a lot and so did Oregon. Jessica starred, in my opinon, and I thought Kendra was a lot more Physical this game than she has been in the past. she was winning balls and creating problems. I peeked at the box score, and Sophie's goal shows Tsao with the assist. That play was actually started by some nice work in the corner from Kendra.

the second goal was a nice through ball from Sophie we have come to expect to Michelle, and a great flash of speed on the finish. That goal was encouraging because it was a direct result of an increase in intensity by the UP players in the midfield that knocked the ducks on their heels. there were actually several chances in that span.

The third goal was a nice start to Kendall's career. She came in at about 70 minutes, and after a little bit of a tentative start she showed why she was Oregon POY twice. From the top left side of the box she took a nice shot heading far post which deflected off a defender and went near post. The keeper had no chance.


the other freshman that played was Taylor Brooke, who only got the last 5 minutes or so, but she looked scrappy and won some balls on the right side midfield.


A good start. We have things to work on, but there aren't really going to be any deficiencies in this group. We can match up with anyone. We just have to play together a little better.


Oh yeah, Kelsey started, played the full 90 and looked strong. Breath a sigh that we have two keepers who can go.

Thanks for the writeup. I ended up missing the whole $&%^#$ game because it started at 5:30 instead of the advertised 7:00.

Good road win for the Pilots against a tough and improving Ducks team.

Kelsey is obviously recovered from her summer of tribulations and played the full 90 minutes. Made a couple of good saves and was very solid.

As expected Jessica, Michelle O and Cloee (making her debut) were three of the four defenders. Megan Sweeney played on the left. Overall the back four played well. Ducks got off a few more shots than the d would have liked.

Keelin anchored midfield, with Kendra wide right and Elli wide left. Michelle E was at the point of the diamond. Sophie and Danielle up front, although there was frequent rotation among these two and Michelle E.

Ducks were very well organized and played tough defense. Dropped all 11 behind the ball when Pilots had possession putting very little pressure on back four when they had the ball. Meant that Olivier and Colohan had lots of touches and plenty of time on the ball. Also meant that midfielders were very tightly covered and it was hard for Pilots to play their preferred style of short passing. As Geezaldinho said this led to more long balls over the top than usual but, IMHO, this is what you have to do when the d plays that way. You have to mix in some long passes to keep them honest.

As always with August games, Pilots were a little rusty and timing of one- and two-touch ball was not quite there on occasion; there were instances of promising passes going astray because the intended recipient zigged when the passer was playing for a zag. A couple of good chances went for nought because the shooter was not quite as deadly as we might expect a couple of weeks from now.

I was impressed with the patience that the Pilots showed. They played their game and looked for the openings. For some reason we did not see many overlapping runs by the outside defenders - probably a function of the Ducks defensive positioning and a little caution by Jessica and Megan.

Solid debut from Cloee. I'm looking forward to seeing the Olivier-Colohan relationship blossom. I'd like to see them both willing to push forward with the ball at their feet when the defense gives them that option.

Pilots seemed to spend twice as much time probing on the right - but more of the promising looks came via the left and Elli. Having said that the opening goal came via excellent work and combination between Jessica and Kendra - finished with authority by Sophie.

Sophie was player of the game for me. She looks fit and strong and played the whole 90 minutes. She held the ball up well. Scored the winner and made the second. Tackled and chased. And she is a great target up front.

Kendall Johnson came on for about 30 minutest the end. It will be interesting to see how good she is. Certainly ran and passed well. Third goal was a crisply hit left foot shot from her that was headed for the right corner when a defender stuck out a leg and pushed it to the left of center which took the keeper completely out of the play. Happy to see Kendall credited with the goal but it could easily have been an OG.

Overall a good first game. Expect to see some improvement and a little more sharpness on Friday in the home opener against Cal.

And as for the ancillary features:

It was great to see so many Pilots fans there. We're happy to help the Ducks set a new record for opening game. Best fans in college soccer. Made more noise than the home fans.

Concessions need some work. For a 7pm kick off when you have to drive 2 hours to get there it would have been nice to have a real food option apart from mediocre hot dog. And my girls tell me that the popcorn was way below Merlo standards. We are spoilt by what is on offer at the Clive Charles Mecca for Top Notch Soccer.

And what's up with the announcer dude calling out the throw ins and rambling on about who is or might take the corners. Drop it, man.

fan from afar wrote:Thanks for the writeup. I ended up missing the whole $&%^#$ game because it started at 5:30 instead of the advertised 7:00.

Where were you? it started at 7:00 PM, maybe a couple minutes early. We were getting off the bus during the National Anthem, (traffic around Portland, they are paving).

Geezaldinho wrote:

fan from afar wrote:Thanks for the writeup. I ended up missing the whole $&%^#$ game because it started at 5:30 instead of the advertised 7:00.

Where were you? it started at 7:00 PM, maybe a couple minutes early. We were getting off the bus during the National Anthem, (traffic around Portland, they are paving).

No kidding - I could not get the video to work, and then I saw something on their site that listed the game at 5:30, so I figured I couldn't get it to work because the game was over. Did anyone get the video to work? I guess it would be good to know so I know what I did wrong, and also so I can get REALLY mad.

You didn't try at 7:00 Eastern, did you?

That'd be 4:00 Pacific...

The Live Stats were all screwed up. They also mentioned an audio broadcast, but that didn't work either.

Perhaps Oregon's entire multimedia aparatus is all wet and rusty. Better fix it for Ducks Football!!!

Anyone who saw the match, please give us your take on the new 2009 Pilots.

Geez and 'arry did a great job of painting a picture for me of the game last night, and how individual players performed.

But it's always nice to read other's thoughts as well.

Thanks.

FANatic, I had similar issues with Live Stats... The only thing on that stupid system that seemed to work was the Snickers ad that popped up every 5 minutes. If it wasn't for a potentially broken foot I would have been stomping around the house, I instead had to settle for shaking my fists like an angry toddler in a high chair (Although my language was probably a bit more, er, colorful than a toddlers...)

Geezaldinho wrote:You didn't try at 7:00 Eastern, did you?

That'd be 4:00 Pacific...

Hey, man - I'm hurt - Momma didn't raise no genius, but Poppa didn't raise no dope, either.

I tuned in at 10:00, MY TIME. It took the better part of a half hour to figure out how to turn off my popup blocker and to download some updates I needed (as I said, no genius here), I still couldn't get the live video feed, I tried the updater thing (nothing), and then I saw the 5:30 start time somewhere on that site and figured I just missed the game. I did enjoy the Snickers ad, numerous times - that really helped settle my temper. What a mess. I feel a little better after seeing DTR's post. Misery loves company.

Anyway - it sounds like we are off to an OK start, but not real sharp yet. As my daughter has said, the more-demanding possession style of play UP uses almost guarantees we will look much better later in the year, more so than teams that play a direct style. It is probably better that we play some relatively easier teams now and the tougher ones a little later. Everyone will improve as the season progresses, but UP more so than most.

fan from afar wrote:
Hey, man - I'm hurt - Momma didn't raise no genius, but Poppa didn't raise no dope, either.

I tuned in at 10:00, MY TIME. It took the better part of a half hour to figure out how to turn off my popup blocker and to download some updates I needed (as I said, no genius here), I still couldn't get the live video feed, I tried the updater thing (nothing), and then I saw the 5:30 start time somewhere on that site and figured I just missed the game. I did enjoy the Snickers ad, numerous times - that really helped settle my temper. What a mess. I feel a little better after seeing DTR's post. Misery loves company.

Anyway - it sounds like we are off to an OK start, but not real sharp yet. As my daughter has said, the more-demanding possession style of play UP uses almost guarantees we will look much better later in the year, more so than teams that play a direct style. It is probably better that we play some relatively easier teams now and the tougher ones a little later. Everyone will improve as the season progresses, but UP more so than most.

Easy big fella - just askin'

I think you are right about the learning curve, but last year shows that the curve is pretty steep most of the time. It's usually no more than a game or two.

now I have to go find a snicker bar....

The one thing I saw I had concerns about was that the Ducks brought the ball down their right side a number of times (our left side defense) and got the ball around the end line for a cross. And, they won a number of corner kicks there, too.

Any chance we could see Elli back there, with Kendall at left mid? Or, when Kassi comes back, could we see her back there?

One thing not mentioned so far is the Kelsey made one great save early in the first half. Oregon shot that some of us were thinking, "Goal, Oregon leads 1-0" and Kelsey went parallel to her right to knock it away.

Cloee looked very good at stopping Oregon from moving the ball forward and very good in the air. The only critique we had was that early on, she tended to want to get the ball out of there and booted it forward, but not to one our our players. Later on, she seemed to settle down. With Cloee, Michelle O, and Keelin blocking up the middle, it was very hard for Oregon to do anything in that area.

Kendall started a little tentatively, but seemed go warm up and get into the flow as she spent more time in the game. From her shot that deflected in, she obviously has a rifle left foot shot. She also made a really excellent through pass to Sophie. It will be interesting to see how she progresses through the season. If she improves, especially getting used to the speed of play, she could be even more of an asset to the team than I expected or hoped. It looked to me that she also needs to get a little better feel for where she should be playing on defense. I thought she got a little too far across the field a couple of times.

Those were the two I got a good look at.

Yeah Kendall started a little unsure of herself. at one point she won a ball and turned upfield leisurely, only to get caught by a backtracking forward. I think the "oh, these guys play quicker than prep" lightbulb went off and she didn't make that mistake again.

The score was a quality strike. I was lined up with it. it would have gone in whether she hit a defender or not.

Just a few thoughts...

That was the best effort I've seen from an Oregon team. We spent the night in Eugene and took a look at the write-up in the RG this morning. Soccer made the front page of the sports section. That's rare. Both sides pretty complimentary. Garrett did tell Tara Erickson that the Ducks can cause a lot of problems in the PAC-10 if they play this season like they did on Saturday.

The Portland defense is more intense than years past, or at least it sure appeared that way. Looks like players may have been doing strength training over the summer because they weren't getting knocked off the ball much.

Loved watching Cloee. She's calm, confident and usually in the right place when she needs to be. She's got a gait that's reminiscent of Emily Michaelson.

I think it was mentioned earlier, but Kendra seems to be playing a little more physical.

The crisp timing and offense will come over the next several weeks.

Did the RG have more than this in print?
http://www.examiner.com/x-20142-Portland-Pilots-Examiner~y2009m8d23-Portland-Pilots-womens-soccer-wins-opener

It looks like the reporter was a bit conflicted about the shot total as well.

From the RG article:

Portland will face yet another Pac-10 opponent on Friday, Aug. 28, when the California Bruins come to Merlot Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Cal Bruins? at Merlot Field? And the author went to UP (per his bio?!)

PilotNut wrote:From the RG article:

Portland will face yet another Pac-10 opponent on Friday, Aug. 28, when the California Bruins come to Merlot Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Cal Bruins? at Merlot Field? And the author went to UP (per his bio?!)

Haha.

Well, OK, he was a PHYSICS major. Spelling isn't much of a requirement.

And Bruins, Golden Bears, pretty much the same thing to me, too.

He's written a couple of nice articles. Everybody has early season jitters.

I literally just typed the same message Geez... I should use my Moderator tools and credit myself...

DaTruRochaldo wrote:I literally just typed the same message Geez... I should use my Moderator tools and credit myself...

Yeah, but did you come up with this?



and it occurs to me he has a Duck editor.

I took a camera along and snapped some pics... I apologize for the lack of game action photos, I have no talent as a photographer and those ladies were moving fast out there. Where's ohh_yeah when you need him?


Riding in style. Unfortunately we hit traffic there and back, making for the longest drives to and from Eugene in my life.


Wally showed up to give out some high-fives, but he didn't come to the game with us. I was disappointed. He's not too scary in person.


The view from the back of the bus. You know all ya'll are jealous... only the cool kids sit in the back.


Pape Field, with the big Autzen Stadium 'O' as a backdrop.


A meeting of the two athletic directors... Belotti sat above a mass of Pilot fans all game.

A decent showing for the Pilots. Typical early season jitters. Lots of giveaways due to nerves as well as a still undefined starting roster. We may see a couple of changes in the starting lineup for next weeks home opener.

There is still a seasons journey ahead to get into championship form. Lots of great talent does not always make a great team. Chances are good we will be seeing a completely different team this coming Friday. Am I seeing a team leader this year to replace Rapinoe?

Here's some more...


Celebrating Michelle's goal early in the second half.


The Pilot faithful celebrating goal #2. Extra points for naming all the Pilot Nation posters you can see in this pic!


Ah, Eugene. The shirt said it all.


After the game... I guess those are some famous Pilots! (Rachael Rapinoe, Tiffeny Milbrett, and Christine Sinclair.)


Thanking the fans in purple...

Great pics, Stoney. The pic of the two AD's is classic. I'll pick ours in a cage fight.

I think here are leaders all over that team. Keelin, Michelle O., and Sophie are calming influences wherever they are. I'm trying to think of the las time I saw a post player as calm under fire and Sophie. Jessica also has a sphere of influence around her that exudes confidence to those around her.

The team's offense will go a lot like Enyeart goes. when she and a couple others (Elli, Kendra, etc) turned up the heat at the start of the second half, the results were near instant.