Washington State

Coach Smith is live on KGW8 right now.

That was great! thanks for the heads-up

I didn't take notes, but he said: Foxhoven, Enyeart and Schmidt are his big three; recruiting is not getting any easier, as more schools put money into women's soccer; he looks for the WCC to be in the top 3 of conferences; gave some love to the men's team as well for their strong play this weekend.

ktinpurple wrote:Poor Taylor... tripped in front of an open goal.

Geezaldinho wrote:
Her eyes got so big they unbalanced her and she fell over...

I was thinking she may have been trying for a diving header, realizing she couldn't catch up to the ball on foot.

Oh, on the live feed it looked like she tripped

Nah, it was definitely a Ren moment when she saw the cross get by the keeper.

Turf-toed!

No worries Taylor..it happens to the best. I saw Megan Rapinoe (during a WPS Game)...literally whiff-one on a attack right in front of the goalie. She fell flat on her rear-end. She just shrugged her shoulders and smiled...was good humored about it. It'll come Taylor...

GO PILOTS!!!

A couple of observations about the WSU game ...

WSU seemed determined not to let us attack from the flanks. When a Pilot would take the ball down one side or the other, they had two (and sometimes three) players defending.

Our passing seemed off today. Certain WSU was aggressive, but we also had plenty of unforced passing errors. Not our 'A' game today--nice to get a 'W'.

I also have liked what I've seen of Taylor, today's "whoops" notwithstanding. Lots of energy, good ball skill, fun to watch.

eProf wrote:A couple of observations about the WSU game ...

WSU seemed determined not to let us attack from the flanks. When a Pilot would take the ball down one side or the other, they had two (and sometimes three) players defending.

Our passing seemed off today. Certain WSU was aggressive, but we also had plenty of unforced passing errors. Not our 'A' game today--nice to get a 'W'.

I also have liked what I've seen of Taylor, today's "whoops" notwithstanding. Lots of energy, good ball skill, fun to watch.

I think the comment about WSU defending the flanks was a great observation. It was too often 1 vs. 2, and usually with a 3rd cover defender. Conversely, even on the computer screen I could see the central mids (especially Sophie) open around mid-field and looking for the ball with a passing lane there and still not getting it from the outside players, ESPECIALLY from our left outside players. My view is very limited, and maybe you guys who were there and could see the whole field have a different take, but the outside-inside-outside ball movement that was so noticeable in previous years does not seem to be there. We're not playing through the central mids enough. We're not putting Michelle into dangerous situations often enough, and playing through the central mids might be a way to do that.

I am glad to hear Garrett was upset. I couldn't tell if the effort was there (I thought it probably was, but hard to tell on the computer), and we are obviously winning and have a great record, but I don't think THIS team with all these great players is playing close to their potential yet, AS A TEAM.

Phantom - I remember the incident with Meghan R. fanning on the shot. She has such a great attitude towards the game, just enjoying the humor in the situation - a sure sign of real self-confidence.

Geezer - you are my hero. Where do you find these pictures?

My guess was that the hurry off the field after the game was because the players were going to be signing autographs for fans in the Chiles Center after the game...?

tamservo wrote:My guess was that the hurry off the field after the game was because the players were going to be signing autographs for fans in the Chiles Center after the game...?

I wasn't there, so I may be way off the mark here. But it seems like they sign autographs after other games yet I have never seen them skip their cross-field jog and crowd salute. Could Coach have instead wanted to *talk* to the girls while the game was still fresh in their minds, before they signed autographs?

Yes, the goal that slipped away. Post game observation was that WSU’s game plan seemed to be to keep attacking and going down the left side. A take on the game is that our defense needs to be solid from the outside mid clear down the line to the back line. WSU seemed to know (of course they had more than a week to analyze us) they were not going to get anywhere down the right side with Kendra’s, Jessica’s and Michelle O’s presence, but it did not seem to hold true for our left side last night. The other thing noted was that we kept distributing the ball more to the left side via the goal kicks, the back line distribution, and the distribution from Keelin and Sophie. This may have aided WSU’s game plan even more. Very happy we came away with a win. I give credit to Kelsey for making a great save.

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:

tamservo wrote:My guess was that the hurry off the field after the game was because the players were going to be signing autographs for fans in the Chiles Center after the game...?

I wasn't there, so I may be way off the mark here. But it seems like they sign autographs after other games yet I have never seen them skip their cross-field jog and crowd salute. Could Coach have instead wanted to *talk* to the girls while the game was still fresh in their minds, before they signed autographs?

I was at the autograph session after the game, and the number of kids there to gather signatures on their posters was massive. From the southwest interior corner of Chiles Center where the autograph tables were set up, the line of kids stretched all the way to the northeast interior corner of the Center.

I have no idea whether that's the reason or not.

My wife commented to Michelle Enyeart that it was pretty rough out there. Mich's response was, "Yeah, it was really fun" delivered in a way it was clear she really did mean it was fun.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:From the southwest interior corner of Chiles Center...

UPSF, I wasn't aware that domes had corners

GUPhantom wrote:Anyone have any clue as to what ticked Garrett off? He huddled everyone on the bench during the last few minutes of a game. Very very unusual for him. And then...with the game over...he had the team SKIP the end of game salute!

GO PILOTS!!!

I have a hunch that Garrett was ticked because this was the 2nd time in 3 games that the Pilots didn't close out a the game with authority. This happened against OSU when the Pilots dominated at the beginning of the game, but then let the Beavers gain confidence until they became a legitimate threat in the 2nd half. Then, just 9 days later, the girls had WSU down by 2 goals but let them back into the game with the Dallstream goal and some sloppy defensive play in the final minutes. I think that Garrett wanted to make the point that the team can't expect to beat the higher caliber opponents with that kind of play.

I believe that you it right on the money with your observation!

This game was so like the OSU game, except that the Cougars were much stronger on the attack and even outshot the Pilots. This looked and felt like a playoff match right down to the very physical play, the tight score and the evenly matched teams going all-out. Extremely fun to watch. Pilots at this stage are really good but not invulnerable.

A few notes: Still no Kassie M. in the lineup ... wondering if she will redshirt this season. Taylor Brooke is a winner -- just love her energy and drive. Kendra has become a tower of strength on headers. The observation that WSU cut off the outside attack is right on; even so, Kendra and Kendall and others sent in quite a few dangerous crosses. Sophie definitely is not touching the ball as often as she did when at the forward spot.

I was in the line of kids at the Chiles Center after the match and waited patiently to get the Pilots’ signatures on the team picture. I’d say I was the oldest kid there except that my friend, who was also in line, has me by a couple of years.

I asked Chloe about her situation. She said her stress fracture is in her femur. Current projection is that she will be back in a couple of weeks.

Then I worked my way over to Kassi. I had talked with her at the Husky Invitational in Seattle. At that time she was anticipating that she would begin to practice the week after the Texas trip. And I think we collectively have been eagerly watching for her when the Pilots have taken to the field for their warm-ups for the subsequent games. On Sunday she said that things haven’t progressed as expected and now she doesn’t know when she will return. They want to be safe rather than sorry.

When I got to Sophie, I said she needs to handle to ball more. She had a sad expression and said she knows that.

Keelin was not at the autograph tables. Perhaps her aches & pains from the game required immediate attention.

And for my two cents worth, I enjoyed seeing Halley as a midfielder on Friday. Looked very Keelin-like. And she has the size to handle the body contact that seems to come with that position.

Lastly, I agree with the several posts that have commented on Kendra’s continued positive performance on both sides of the ball and all over the field.

WSU hightlights are on youtube. It looks like they missed Danielle's first goal.

Amazing number of bodies on the grass in these highlights, which truly reflects the kind of game it was.

And only one card was issued? Curious.

DaTruRochin wrote:And only one card was issued? Curious.

You would think a clip from behind to the heels would merit a card, but it didn't.

And it wasn't the only one.

Haha maybe the ref didn't feel like doing paperwork... I mean typically the women's game is a little less, shall we say, confrontational than the men's, but everyone has a breaking point when it comes to absorbing fouls and whatnot... I'm glad nothing serious happened.

an the one card that was issued, that player was darn lucky she didnt get a 2nd one towards the waning minutes of the game. certainly deserved it.

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet....I think that it was a sign of Garrett's confidence in former Tigard star, Kristen Kelly, to sub her into the game in the 78th minute when the game was still very much on the line. She came in not long after Dallstream's goal had made it a one goal game and there still 12 minutes of tense soccer left to be played. I thought it unusual that she went in as left mid although her normal position is center back. I noticed Garrett gave her some instructions before sending her onto the field and I was thinking at the time that he probably told her to play the position defensively in order to preserve the one goal lead. I thought wrong, though, because she didn't hesitate to go forward and even got off a shot on goal.