2010 season

26 on the roster! Is that the biggest ever?

I noticed that the roster lists Hailee, Cloee, and Kendra as redshirt junior, freshman, and senior respectively, but simply lists Kassi as a junior. That suggests to me that Kassi did not seek a redshirt for last year.

4 more years of cloee - great!!

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:I noticed that the roster lists Hailee, Cloee, and Kendra as redshirt junior, freshman, and senior respectively, but simply lists Kassi as a junior. That suggests to me that Kassi did not seek a redshirt for last year.

Kassi played in 8 games including the tournament against UCLA, which killed any redshirt she might have sought. you have to not play in the second half of the season and not more than 30% of the schedule.
Hailee didn't step on the field last year in 2008, so she could redshirt even without an injury.
Kendra already took a redshirt year and is only a couple courses from graduation, I think.

Cloee met the requirements for a medical redshirt by only playing in 5? games, all at the start of the season. If she had played one or two more, I don't think she could redshirt.

Four more years of Cloee indeed.

Great news about Cloee.

One thing I've been wondering is where Elli and Kendall will play. I think the Pilots' post on Facebook answers that question: Elli will play left D and Kendall will play left M. Of course, that all could change, but it's how they did it last year and I think it's the better formation.

A huge question is who will play right mid, with Kendra out for the initial part of the season.

Another question is who will play forward with Dani. The early suggestion is Halley, but I think there are other possibilities. In fact, I think there's even a possibility Kendall will play forward.

If the players get and stay healthy, this is going to be an interesting year for the coaching staff.

26 on the roster for 2010? That's fantastic! Remember the lean, injury-plagued season when Garrett had only 3-4 subs available?

The key point about this year's team is the quality and the depth of experience of the players behind the starters. Front to back...the team is rich with talent. We have many players that are interchangeable and flexible enough to play outside of their (natural?) positions. Today, its easy to understand how a youth national team pool player like Charney had to consider transferring. The team roster is heavy with MF talent and I can see how she would be chomping at the bit for some PT. It's a hard fact to accept that you may not be a starter and have to sit even with the credentials she has. The first comment Garrett made to the 2005 team..."leave your ego at the door". Similar circumstances here....I think he's assembled a team that has the substance to push us past our quarterfinal jinx and into the College Cup!

GO PILOTS!!!

I agree with UPSF on the interest with Kendall and Elli after Kendall's spell on d with the U20s. Maybe it won't matter which of them lines up at the back and which in midfield. Expect them both to go forward and great to know they both have strong ability on defense. Anyone playing wide right against the Pilots is in for a busy 90 minutes.

Another thread for the whole season is not so much how well the freshmen do this year (because hopefully barring injuries they won't play a huge amount) but how they are setting up for next year when they will need to replace Elli, Keelin, Sophie, Jessica and Kendra. Which is a big challenge. Both outside defenders and the heart of the midfield, if not the team.

Plenty to watch for.

Harry notes the very special senior talent on this team. Here's wishing all of them a season to remember.

Harry Redknapp wrote:I agree with UPSF on the interest with Kendall and Elli after Kendall's spell on d with the U20s. Maybe it won't matter which of them lines up at the back and which in midfield. Expect them both to go forward and great to know they both have strong ability on defense. Anyone playing wide right against the Pilots is in for a busy 90 minutes.

I think that will turn out to be the case. They seem to be completely interchangable, and as Harry said, will make for a long day for the other team's right outside players.

And nobody can out run them when they are covering back. It's great to have speed on the field; that was one thing that set Michelle E apart. Blazing fast. In my time only Lindsey Huie could compare for pace on the ball.

As always, some very interesting and insightful thoughts and comments from the people of the PILOT NATION.

I personally would find it interesting to see how the following combination of players would affect the performance/production of the overall team:

Kendall Johnson at forward. Kendall is big, strong, very fast and quick, and possesses good ball handeling skills and a strong shot with either foot. Along with Sophie, she may be one of the most versatile athletes on the team. Her SKILL SET and EXPERIENCE could also help Danielle continue to be a prolific goal producer.

Elli Reed at left mid. Ellie is fast, offensive oriented, and has great field vision. She can also run all day long(most likely as a result of being a cross-country star in high school). And if memory serves me adequatly, she started out at UP as a left mid and has played that positon on the U23 National Team. It could be that left-mid is the best fit for her SKILL SET and EXPERIENCE.

Molly Kliler at left outside back. Molly is big, fast, quick to the ball and is a natural left footer. She also plays with an edge (much like Melissa Ribaudo whom, I have been told, coached Molly for a time somewhere down in the Sacramento Valley). Molly's PHYSICAL STYLE of PLAY may come in handy against the more aggressive teams UP will face this season (like Stanford, Texas A&M, Santa Clara, and potentially UCLA). A little well timed aggression sometimes forces the opposition to play a little more cautiously.

I guess I have no opinion on Molly since I haven't really seen her play, but it's an intriguing idea. I would be hesitant, though, because Elli and Kendall are so good where they are now. They will be extremely tough on opponents, playing together on the left.

In the two games I saw last year, I was hugely impressed by Kendra's speed and skills. I thought at the time she could be an effective partner for Danielle up front this year (as UPSF suggested above), AND, should that happen, there seem to be a lot of GREAT possibilities for replacing Kendra on the right, but I wonder if her injury will rule out any chance of her playing up front.

Dear FFAF,

You may be right. Sometimes making too many changes at once causes too much stress to the system. And you are definately correct, both Kendell and Elli are gamers. I was just thinking that having someone up front (who has a some experience with the Pilot way) would be beneficial for Dannie and allow her to continue her goal scoring ways.

Also, I noticed in the games last year against Washington State, Texas A&M, Santa Clara and UCLA the Pilots back line appeared to be playing on their heals somewhat (however, Kelsey Davis saved the day), but then again they did not have Cloee in there. She certainly plays tough.

Either way, it will be interesting to watch how things unfold this season. Only 11 more days until opening day.

Go Pilots!

My guess is that first crack at playing up front goes to Haliie (and Elinor P)and the incoming frehsmen who have experience up front. Amanda Frisbie is 5'8" so has the size to be a target.

Both Kendall and Elli have the speed to get forward from the back and also to cover effectively.

I liked the glimpses we got of Molly K last year but would be reluctant to break up the potentially rock solid foursome of Jessica, Cloee, Michelle, and Elli.

[quote="Harry Redknapp"....I liked the glimpses we got of Molly K last year but would be reluctant to break up the potentially rock solid foursome of Jessica, Cloee, Michelle, and Elli.[/quote]

Not to speak of Kassi!

Now that you speak of it..... I liked the way Kassi got in more than one player's face last year in the UCLA game.

I am a big believer in having defensive players that can get physical (not dirty or illegal) if it is required. And with teams like Stanford, Santa Clara and UCLA (i.e. most top tier California teams) it is usually required.

We saw that last year at Santa Clara & UCLA.

And the year before at Stanford. Luckily we had Megan Rapino (my kind of player) - she could/can dish it out as well as take it. Not to mention Kelsey Davis (who made about 100 saves that game).

get ready for halley kreminski to break out this year...

I'd be delighted to see Hallie breakout this year. She improved a huge amount between FR and SO years. If she can continue that progress she could be good this year. Speculation in my seating area is that she did not get the same coaching and club experience living in Idaho as others might have done in SoCal or Portland or Denver Area; so may be a late bloomer.

She has the size and physicality to be a great partner for Dani. If she can continue to develop the touch and the control and the sense of space then ....

Here's an interesting tidbit about possible game attendance:

Some Penn State parents are planning on coming out to watch the Penn State games here -- v UW on Friday (9/10) and v the Pilots on Sunday (9/12). I'd been emailing back and forth with the mom and suggested she check with Penn State to see if they had a block of tickets for PSU fans and, if not, suggested they order tickets on line fairly soon. They want 6 tickets together. They checked with the PSU athletic department, which said PSU parents are on their own in terms of getting tickets. Having heard from my parent friends, however, that I had advised them to get tickets pretty soon, the PSU athletic department called the Pilots' athletic department and were told that if PSU fans want tickets, they'd better get them ASAP. (They were able to get tickets via Ticketmaster yesterday.)

It could simply be pre-game hype, but it sounds like ticket sales, at least for that weekend's games, are going really well.

The local Penn State Club sent a notice to the Alumni in the Portland/Vancouver Area to let them know about the matches in September. I have not heard how much interest there was in alumni attending. I will be very conflicted for the Pilots vs PSU match... I may just root for both teams, one in one half, one in the other.

Penn State/UP Fan wrote:The local Penn State Club sent a notice to the Alumni in the Portland/Vancouver Area to let them know about the matches in September. I have not heard how much interest there was in alumni attending. I will be very conflicted for ther Pilots vs PSU match... I may just root for both teams, one in one half, one in the other.

Better pick Portland in the second...

Speaking of sold out weekends, I've had messages that a few aTm fans will be making the trip up. I was thinking of getting them blotto on some Pliny, but one of them asked if they could get Shiner up here (no, make that Hell no)

Geez... I may just take that approach as I believe the Pilots will win! My prediction right now.