2010 Preseason polls

Geezaldinho wrote:Portlandpilots.com isn't far behind Graham. There was more typing involved.

This time you get to guess the order of finish in the WCC and UP's four All Conference first team selections.

http://www.portlandpilots.com/news/2010/8/11/WSOC_0811103507.aspx

Got the first four right; had the last four scrambled.

I find it odd that there are only ten players on the preseason all-conference team. Did someone get a red card and get taken off the list?

As for the Mac Herman list I love Kendra, I really do, but there is no way she is ahead of Keelin for that list. None. Nada. Rien.

It was a surprise to me too. I was thinking maybe Kendall.

Is anyone else surprised that UNC has only 2 on the list this year? Did they lose most of their key players from last year?

SoreKnees wrote:Is anyone else surprised that UNC has only 2 on the list this year? Did they lose most of their key players from last year?

7, possibly 8 of their starters graduated or left school.

Geezaldinho wrote:7, possibly 8 of their starters graduated or left school.

And yet they are ranked #1? Either they have an unbelievable depth of talent or someone's not paying attention...

Back to the earlier comment by Guest that Ivy League "schools are designed pretty much by and for the east coast rich and famous": As a native Portlander of humble origins I'm proud to be a Columbia graduate, and like many in my class of '73 was the first in my family to graduate from college. CU made a big effort to bring in the students it wanted, regardless of family status, geographic location or means. Commitment to a diverse student body should be a primary goal of any top school.

I am so exited about this year's pre-season...especially the matches against Wisconsin, Rutgers, Penn St, Texas A&M, Cal, and (double especially) Stanford ....all well thought of soccer teams.

I don't recall last year's pre-season was as being as demanding.

Does the PN congregation think UP's coaching staff designed a more challanging pre-season to better prepare their team for the rigorous demands of the post-season.

With no disrespect to the likes of Gonzaga, LMU, USD, St Mary's and USF (all outstanding schools), I have at times thought that playing in the WCC** places UP in a "big fish in a small pond" situation. (**Except for Santa Clara of course).

I can't help but think this is difficult situation to overcome when the team reaches the post-season.

Any thoughts from the PN?

Actually, I think I may have answered my own question (forgive me, but I am very new to UP Women's Soccer).

Essentially, UP the women's soccer program is somewhat of an anomoly, isn't it? I mean, how many colleges with the size and name recogniton of UP have a Div 1 athletic program with the reputation and credentials of UP's Women's soccer?

I can't think of any!

It shows just how creative and willful Clive Charles was. (I wish I would have been around here to see his creation unfold. It must have been amazing.)

Welcome aboard, John. I think you will have a great time if you stay with the Pilots.

It's a good question and I would say that the only other school with the combination of an academic profile similar to Portland and a soccer program of Portland's caliber is Santa Clara. When you add in how many good men our soccer program has produced I'd say Portland stands alone.

Clive was truly an amazing figure in Portland sports history. He is revered as a legend by two distinct sets of supporters. That gives me an excuse to post this, from the outside the suites at PGE Park:

TopDrawer has Portland ranked #8. The ranking is on a page linked from the article. With the great recruiting last 2 years BC has had, I would also expect to see them do well.
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-soccer-archives/nid-14798/Stanford-atop-preseason-Tournament-64-Ranking

Purple Pride Trumpet,

Thank you for jump starting my brain.....

Relative to small colleges (student body enrollments) with high ranked athletic programs.... I now remember that in my day (a long, long time ago).... Santa Clara had one of the top teams in baseball and Univ of San Francisco had a highly rated basketball team (with Bill Cartwright and especially Bill Russell).

In today's world, Univ of Portand of course has a highly rated women's soccer team and men's XC team and Mercyhurst College (Erie, PA) has the #1 Team in Women's Hockey (way to go Mercyhurst)!

I see some folks writing about the "pre-season" when referring to non-conference games. But all these games against teams from outside the WCC are part of "the season." "Post-season" is of course the NCAA tournament once the season's games are finished. My point being this: There are no meaningless games, no friendlies, no exhibitions. All are crucial. All count toward the season record that will determine how high the Pilots are seeded.

Purple Haze,

You hit the nail right on the head. EVERY GAME COUNTS.

But with that said, I think UP’s coaching staff has set up a ‘non-conference’ schedule (against some top ranked opponents) that will help the team get a better post season seed and to GO ALL THE WAY.

I also expect to see some changes from last year’s season (as already indicated by Garrett Smith):

More offensive production against the higher ranked teams. Last year against Texas A&M, Washington St, SCU, and UCLA the Pilots got out shot on average by a factor of two to one (9 to 18). I expect this season that won’t happen. The offense will be much more productive.

A much stronger, much more aggressive defense against the higher ranked teams. I have read that the defensive output last year was hindered by injuries and this year (God willing) that will change. But no offense (excuse the pun), injuries are a part of the game. Regardless, this year I expect the defense to perform much better, regardless of who is playing (and UP has a bunch of good defenders to choose from). The coaching staff will find the right combination of defenders to limit the competition’s offensive production (scoring and SHOOTING).

As far as goalie is concerned, UP has some very good goalies to pick from this year. The coaching staff will sort out who will get the most play time.

Let the games begin. Go Pilots!

Uncle John wrote:

More offensive production against the higher ranked teams. Last year against Texas A&M, Washington St, SCU, and UCLA the Pilots got out shot on average by a factor of two to one (9 to 18). I expect this season that won’t happen. The offense will be much more productive.

A much stronger, much more aggressive defense against the higher ranked teams. I have read that the defensive output last year was hindered by injuries and this year (God willing) that will change. But no offense (excuse the pun), injuries are a part of the game. Regardless, this year I expect the defense to perform much better, regardless of who is playing (and UP has a bunch of good defenders to choose from). The coaching staff will find the right combination of defenders to limit the competition’s offensive production (scoring and SHOOTING).

As far as goalie is concerned, UP has some very good goalies to pick from this year. The coaching staff will sort out who will get the most play time.

Let the games begin. Go Pilots!

I read this and I get the impression you think UP needs vast improvement in scoring and defense.

Let's be clear, UP lead the nation in scoring last year. They also lead the nation in scoring defense, if you exclude teams with RPI's over 150 or so. They also had the best scoring efficiency of any team in the nation, and Danielle Foxhoven had the best shot efficiency of any player.they do that not by spraying shots, but by working hard to serve forwards up at the penalty spot or closer. Other teams don't for the most part do that, certainly not as well. UP's 83 total goals was even better than the 2005 Superteam.
It's true that production goes down against the best teams, but that is why those teams are good.


UP had what I would call one bad defensive game last year, and that was right after we lost two starters in central defense. TAMU exploited that, to their credit, but UP figured out how to deal with that and last years's total was only 7 goals during the regular season. That' 4 goals not counting TAMU. 3 of those goals by opponents came when the starters were on the bench and the game was in garbage time. One was a game changer.

This year, don't just count shots. See where teams are taking them from, and see whether those shots do anything against the starting team. The WSU game is a prime example. Of 16 shots listed in the play-by play, 14 were listed as"top of the box" That's an automated phrase, and I recall almost all their attempts were from well outside, including some slow rollers to Kelsey. Two were listed as "far right wing". Even their lone score was a very long shot. Dahlstream is a great player and she connected on one against the reserves, but i'd just as soon all our opponents shot from out there.

I think you will see more players going forward, but it has to be done intelligently. If it's not done well, you may see more goals at the expense of poorer defense. Everyone remembers we won two championships with Christine scoring. What they forgot is that both of those years we had the best defense in the nation. In 2002, they only allowed 7 goals during the season and 1 goal in the entire tournament excluding PK's against Stanford ( then ranked #1). In 2005, they allowed only 3 for the entire tournament, excluding PK's against Penn State. They shut out the three top ranked teams.

That will be the real key. If they don't score on you, they can't beat you.

Geez:

I think you may have gotten the wrong impression from my last input.

With regards to going TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME this year.....

Do I think VAST improvements need to be made...... NO.

Do I think SOME improvements need to be made.....ABSOLUTELY.

Do I think improvements will be made this year by the coaching staff and players.....I HAVE NO DOUBT.

The TEAM wants to get past the quarter finals this year more than anyone.

I know they were not happy with their performance against UCLA last year (nor were they happy with their performance against Santa Clara).

They want to stick it to both these teams this year and I think they will.

With regards to the championship season in 2005, that was a great season and a great team but I think the girls on THIS TEAM want to win their own championship.... this year.

Go Pilots!

The biggest improvement we need to make is to get the #1 seed so we don't get refs who are on a first name basis with the opposition.

That, and stay healthy. That was the biggest difference between the Championship years and the most recent ones.

Geez,

Agreed. Playing Socal teams in Socal is never fun.

As far as staying healthy, you know as well as I..... sometimes you have to have luck on your side.

And speaking of good defense in 2005. I don't know if you traveled to Palo Alto in 2008 to see the quarterfinal game against Stanford, but my daughter and I went to that game and were absolutely amazed by Megan Rapino. What a gamer she was that night (on both sides of the field)! Mind blowing talent.

I have a good feeling about getting to the "big game" this year.

I hope for the girl's sake they do.

Here's another.

8 ACC and 4 Pac10 teams in the top 25

Soccer America Women's Preseason Top 25
RANK/TEAM (2009 RECORD)
1. Stanford (25-1-0)
2. North Carolina (23-3-1)
3. Portland (21-2-0)
4. Notre Dame (21-4-1)
5. UCLA (21-3-1)
6. Boston College (18-4-2)
7. Virginia (10-6-6)
8. Texas A&M (15-7-3)
9. Florida State (19-5-1)
10. Santa Clara (14-7-2)
11. Penn State (13-6-2)
12. Maryland (14-6-2)
13. Florida (16-6-2)
14. BYU (18-4-2)
15. Wake Forest (16-6-2)
16. Wisconsin (10-6-5)
17. Virginia Tech (16-8-0)
18. Memphis (16-7-0)
19. Oklahoma State (15-7-2)
20. USC (12-6-3)
21. Dayton (16-1-6)
22. Marquette (15-5-3)
23. South Carolina (19-4-2)
24. Duke (8-9-4)
25. California (11-9-1)

It looks like they just went by last year's won/loss record.

Except Duke. Would this be the first team in the top 25 with a losing record?


No love for OSU or USD.

I read Cal (14,24 or 25) beat Fresno St (221) 2 to 1 in an exhibition game.

(Cal's women's soccer team is like a box of chocolates, you never know what yer go'in to get.)

Geezaldinho wrote:It looks like they just went by last year's won/loss record.

Except Duke. Would this be the first team in the top 25 with a losing record?

I thought only Notre Dame football got that kind of treatment.

Topdrawer came out with his selections for the top 20 players in the WCC.

Keelin Winters- " a player so nice, he named her twice"

She's both #10 and #15 in his list. Does that count as 6, or 7 UP selections?

I figure he must be making up for not having her on his list of top recruits, then having her captain the u20 World Cup winners and have her be selected as the best player on that team by Tony Diccico.

Soccer America shows Portland remaining #3. No significant changes in the polls. Too early and too few matches.
http://www.socceramerica.com/article/39374/soccer-america-womens-top-25.html

Pilots stay at #5 in the NSCAA Poll
http://nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=1224