SCU game, or Never, EVER underestimate Santa Clara

Slick-

I believe "lackluster' is a fitting word to use in describing the performance of the team. A team playing against a 'formidable' opponent does not condone the numerous ball giveaways. The majority of the giveaways were unforced errors; simply passing it to the other team or clearing it into oblivion creating a 50/ 50 ball.

What rank is Santa Clara? 24? (or are they out of the top 25 now?)

Is it possible that there are 23 teams better out there than Santa Clara?

Don't let the 'formidable opponent' thing get in the way here. They are ranked 24 for a reason. My understanding of a formidable opponent, at this point is a team in the top 10.

Santa Clara has a great program and great history. If they were a great team this year they would be in the top 10, let alone 20.

Trenchcoat

Santa Clara's RPI is 14 right now.

I didn't get a chance to see the game, but I will say this... just looking at the stats and talking with those that did watch the game... I've got to say that this team hasn't played very many *great* games against top-25 opponents.

Maybe it's totally unfair to have such a high standard, but I just think back to the game at UW, the WSU and OSU games at home, A&M (obviously), and now at SCU... I think Miami was ranked too (is that right?) and that game was close all the way til the end. Portland looked terrific against Cal, which was ranked, but I think they have fallen off quite a bit since that point. Can't debate the results (6-1 in those games) though... wins are wins.

But I don't think there's anything to be concerned about... I would definitely say this team has been tested (though you could argue that they haven't played any of the truly elite teams yet) and has come out with an incredible record, the highest-scoring offense in the country, and one of the stingiest defenses. And all of this without the starting two center backs for a good portion of that time. And a big rivalry game like Santa Clara, on the road in a place we haven't won in 12 years... I'll take a 1-0 win, even if we did get outshot.

Still, the point remains... this team still has room for improvement and can use this game as a learning experience. The good news is that if we take care of USD and the RPI and NCAA smile on us, we won't have to play another true road game the rest of this season!

Which team had the most and best scoring chances? Pilots. Which team scored? Pilots. Which team shut out the other? Pilots. I'd call it doing enough to win a must-win road game. I thought the game was tense without being particularly thrilling for some long stretches when neither team could do much and nothing decisive was happening. But then one or the other would press the attack and liven things up. I agree there were too many giveaway passes, so there will be work during practice this week. The fact that the Pilots can play less than a stellar game and win shows they have power yet to unleash. I bet they'll show it Friday night.

Dudes

This was a road game against our main conference rivals.

After losing to us their RPI is #14.

A win, on the road, against #14 is a good win.

Were there some errant passes - yes. SCU was up for teh game and chased everything. Were there some defensive lapses - yes. UP is missing the two starting central defenders from the beginning of the season. Megan and Kristen have filled in well.

But count the real chances on goal: not just shots on goal. Santa Clara had one - late in the second half, and maybe one that Kelsey dived to save in the first half. That was her only real save.

UP had the one Michelle scored, Dani hit the bar from the free kick, Dani was one on one with the GK, Kendra had an open header that she put wide. And there were a couple of other chances too.

I'm usually quick to see the shortcomings of this team but having watched the game I don't agree that it was a lacklustre performance.

Amen, Harry. Let's check the big won-loss board and note that Pilots are the only team left with just one loss; only Stanford is still perfect. If road games were easy, no one would care about home field advantage. But they ain't, and they do. The Santa Clara game was playoff-level soccer right down to the one-goal difference and the short bench used by Pilots.

I wonder if we will see Pilots backline players coming back healthy this season. The status of Cloee, Michelle O. and Kassie is a large question mark for a team that has answered most every other question so far.

purple haze wrote:If road games were easy, no one would care about home field advantage. But they ain't, and they do.

Well said!

Perspective people.... you can't just look at one game.


The greatest Pilot team of all time got tied in conference by Pepperdine 1-1 (RPI in the 30's), and got FOUR shutouts in conference. The average margin of victory was 2.14 goals. The biggest scoring day in conference was a 5-0 game. We beat Santa Clara AT HOME by a 3-1 score. they were 17-5-1 that year.


Out of conference we beat PSU by only 3-0 and PACIFIC by 2-0



This year we have 5 shutouts with one game to go, and that includes Santa Clara, which we didn't shut out in 2005 at home. This year We beat them away, which we all know is very hard (Sinclair never did it) . they are 12-6-1 this year and they will get at least 3 more wins before it's done.


Our average margin this go-round is 4.14 goals. We scored 8 goals one game and it was a shutout. We did that giving a lot of players experience.


We used to like just winning games. I guess things have changed.

We did beat Stanford 3-0 in 2005. we will do it again.

Geezaldinho wrote:We used to like just winning games. I guess things have changed.

(Hanging head in shame)... You're making me feel like an overbearing Little League dad!

Nah... this season has as fun as any since 2005. Just like chicks dig the long ball, I dig the high scoring! Or something like that.

Anyway, like I said, I'm not concerned... and I'm especially confident if we get to play four playoff games at Merlo. Just mildly pointing out that improvements can always be made...

I'd really like to see Enyeart's goal against Santa Clara again. Any techsters out there able to capture the moment and post?

A_Fan wrote:From the PSU website:

"The tournament semifinals will begin Nov. 6 at 1:30 p.m., with seed No. 3 versus seed No. 2 and the second semifinal will begin at 4 p.m., with the No. 4 team versus the host Vikings. After a day of rest Saturday, the winner of both matches will square off for a automatic berth for the NCAA Tournament at 11 a.m. All matches will be played at PCC - Rock Creek."

I just found this on the Timbers board. You could make a day of it Friday:

The Portland State women’s soccer team won the Big Sky Conference tournament over the weekend and earned the right to host the Big Sky Conference tournament this Friday and Sunday. The winner of the tournament will advance to the NCAA tournament. We are trying to get as many people out to PCC Rock Creek on Friday for the Viking’s semifinal match vs. NAU.

They wanted to see if we could get some Army members interested in coming out for the match. Because the game is being played at PCC Rock Creek, PSU is providing two busses to take people from the Peter W. Stott Center to PCC Rock Creek and back. There will be Free Pizza [!] on the bus. Admission is Free to the tournament for everybody!!!

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

The Portland State women’s soccer team won the Big Sky Conference tournament over the weekend and earned the right to host the Big Sky Conference tournament this Friday and Sunday.

Do they get another auto-bid if they win it this weekend too??

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:Do they get another auto-bid if they win it this weekend too??

And would they count as 2 teams within the radius to allow us to host?

PilotNut wrote:And would they count as 2 teams within the radius to allow us to host?

Don't be silly! They're in the same conference!

My take: Of SCU'a starting eleven, eight have been members of youth national teams and many of the other players had been in national team pools. They are very good athletes, quick and skilled. Jerry Smith did his homework. Enyeart was man-marked by Reynolds (U23 Nat team). SCU packed the box leaving us no room to work, cut down the passing lanes preventing Foxhoven from receiving the ball, and pretty much shut down our service from the wings. They bunkered but then attacked in numbers. The difference was our finishing a rebound and they mised finishing one of theirs. Portland need to figure out how to beat a bunkered team We have struggled with this the last few years. This is when your mids and defenders need to start taking those outside shots. Remember Stephanie Cox getting the game winner against St' Mary's two years ago?! Someone will have to step out of the box to cover these shots and you create more space. Pilots need to recognize this and also how to break a man marking situation. Everyone has to step up and take responsibility for creating, scoring and defending!

Good analysis, Ace. One indicator that we are playing a tough opponent is that our outside backs (Jess and Elli) are not as willing to go forward on overlapping runs. Because of this, there are fewer crosses coming in from the corners.

I agree with ace regarding the desirability of the mids and defenders taking outside shots against bunkered defenses like Santa Clara employed. There is space outside the 18 and we can take advantage -- consider Sophie's shot that Michelle rebounded, for example. Even if the shots miss they can create havoc on the rebounds, as long as they are not too high or wide. It is a good way of penetrating when the through balls are cut-off.

Sophie, Dani, and Charney have rocket launchers. I sometimes wish that they'd take the shot rather than make that extra pass, but that's easy for me to say when I'm sitting in the stands.

Don't forget Elli's looping shots that earned her a hat trick a few years ago and Michelle's lazer in the playoffs against tennesse. Common Kelsie. Let's see what you got !

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

The Portland State women’s soccer team won the Big Sky Conference tournament over the weekend and earned the right to host the Big Sky Conference tournament this Friday and Sunday.

Do they get another auto-bid if they win it this weekend too??

Hey, all I do is copy and paste. It was on the internet so it must be true.

I agree Poopdeck.

I have seen a number of opportunities to unleash shots where the choice was made to pass it in favor of a potential better opportunity.

Now, more than ever, when bunkering down occurs, it's a good time for the green light to illuminate for the gifted shooters to let it go!

It worked very well last game.

I finally got around to watching the game on my DVR today.

Clearly SCU is a level or two above some recent opponents. When on the attack they were able to string togehter passes, spread out the Pilots, and create some opportunities.

In the second half especially they were careful to get several defenders back and it resulted in fewer close in chances for the Pilots as well as a handful of blocked shots. Some of the long range shots might be blocked but if you take a chance every now and then you could end up with something like the Pilots' goal, where there's a deflection or rebound.

As for the broadcast, the one WTH moment was late in the first half, when Kendra sent a ball into the box and the camera stayed with a close up of her watching where the ball went. Uh, it's somewhere in the penalty area, so it would be nice to see where it is...

I actually thought the interviews were fine and it was nice to hear from Sinclair, Milbrett, and Chastain, but you're going to have to interrupt them because it's soccer and things are always happening. It's tough to do an interview during a soccer game. I think it would have been interesting to have one or two of them in booth as analysts instead. Could have done without the Mondoturf sales pitch, naturally.

At least FSC "gets" soccer and does not insist on the utter abomination of TV timeouts in a soccer game. We're on the World Wide Leader tomorrow night, so be prepared. A few minutes in the booth with a guy talking up his turf in exchange for no commercials during the game is a trade I would make any day.