SMU / Oklahoma St.

It looks as though this is travel partner games for SMU & Okie St. with us & Oregon. Last year the SMU game was a scoring feast for the Pilots, so hopefully we will see that again at Merlo. I will be interested in the Oregon v. Oklahoma St. game, as Oregon won their game against Boise St. 2 nil and outshot them 20 - 7 and Oklahoma St. beat their in-state Rival Oklahoma 1 nil. Should be a fun weekend.

Especially with Boise St. beating PSU 2-1 on Sunday.

Can anyone tell me for sure that Friday's game will be available to watch later, as was last Friday's game? That way, this easterner can go to bed at a decent hour Friday. I don't want to take a chance on missing it, though.

fan from afar wrote:Can anyone tell me for sure that Friday's game will be available to watch later, as was last Friday's game? That way, this easterner can go to bed at a decent hour Friday. I don't want to take a chance on missing it, though.

All the games on Game Central should be on demand after.

As a check, we'll see if the men's exhibition with OSU tonight is On Demand tomorrow.

How can you sleep, though?

Good point - I should probably just watch the game rather than keeping my wife up, tossing and turning in anticipation of watching the game the following day.

Another question - I am going to be in Seattle for the games the following weekend (and in Portland the weekend after). Should I be ordering tickets now for Seattle?

fan from afar wrote:.... Another question - I am going to be in Seattle for the games the following weekend (and in Portland the weekend after). Should I be ordering tickets now for Seattle?

My wife and I have gone to the games in Seattle for a number of years and never have ordered rickets in advance. We've always just bought them at the gate, with no problems. We're doing the same this year.

On the other hand, the home games the following weekend definitely are "buy tickets ASAP" if you haven't already.

Thanks - We already have Merlo tickets - we figured Penn State game would be a sellout - and I'll get the Seattle tickets at the door. I can hardly wait to see the "new" Merlo.

Yeah, since UP is the early game, UP fans get there before the UW fans. We get the best seats, too.

i've never seen it sold out, though there were an awful lot of people for Christine's first game anywhere near Portland.

Probably more of us UP fans there than UW fans?

Oklahoma St Northwest trip write up.
http://www.okstate.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/082510aaa.html

Yes, FFA there are almost always more Pilot fans than Husky fans.

A_Fan wrote:Yes, FFA there are almost always more Pilot fans than Husky fans.

Aw...

Not all those people wearing purple are Pilot fans

Just noticed the OK St site mentions free Video for their match with the Pilots.
For Sunday's contest at Portland, fans can access free live video and audio at the following link:
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/up.portal.

However all the ones wearing Pilot gear are!

Focus on tonight's game.

The Pilots play what Texas folks say will be a much improved SMU team over what we played In Dallas last year. They have a good bunch of recruits, some of who come from the same championship club Amanda came from. I don't think we can expect a repeat of the 6-0 pasting they took from us last year. Their issue will be if they can get their young team playing to UP's level. I'm sure the effort will be there.

SMU has beaten us once in the history of the two team's matches. That was the first meeting in 1991, when they beat us 2-1 at Merlo. In 1994, UP won 5-3 in overtime on a neutral field, back when overtimes weren't sudden victory, and in 1995, UP came away with a 4-2 win, also on neutral ground.
The last meeting, of course, was last year's 6-0 win.

This is one the Pilots should win, but the offense needs to get unleashed la bit. If that happens, it could be a great way to set up for the rest of the season.

GO PILOTS

I'd really like to see SMU get the ball out of their own end with regularity - both to see our defense tested a bit more (in person, where we can get a good long look at it), and also to see how the pilots do in transition back into SMUs end. We're missing Mich. E., I'd like to see what our breakout looks like.

Final score: Portland 2, SMU 0!

There was a lot less probing and a lot more attacking thrust tonight. A bunch of shots blocked by the 20 or so (18 after the red card) blue stockings in the box. The fullbacks were very aggressive pushing up and both they and the outside mids were not bashful about cutting inside against the grain rather than taking it into the corner for the cross.

Despite the fact that we only scored two, I'm a lot more optimistic about the team's offense off this performance than last week's.

Sunday should be more of a test!

OK State beat the Ducks 1-0 tonight.

Oklahoma State's 1-0 win over Oregon was in double overtime. Oklahoma State scored the winning goal at the 104 minute mark. The stats were pretty even, with Oklahoma State having a slight edge.

Of particular interest, Oklahoma State's starting forward Treadwell and an Oregon player apparently got into a fight, and both were ejected with red cards. So, Treadwell will not be playing on Sunday.

SoreKnees wrote:There was a lot less probing and a lot more attacking thrust tonight. A bunch of shots blocked by the 20 or so (18 after the red card) blue stockings in the box. The fullbacks were very aggressive pushing up and both they and the outside mids were not bashful about cutting inside against the grain rather than taking it into the corner for the cross.

Despite the fact that we only scored two, I'm a lot more optimistic about the team's offense off this performance than last week's.

Sunday should be more of a test!

Yes, I liked tonight's offensive performance. And Foxhoven celebrating in front of the students is class. Once she gets open on goal she's a clinical finisher. Capelle came on for Kreminsky at the half and had a few good looks. I really like the movement on her shot.

There was a stretch in the second half where SMU was able to get through to the Pilot goal for some decent chances but the defense was able to tighten up. I like the idea of changes like Kelly for Olivier and Jackman for Winters in order to keep the key starters rested as both subs did fine out there.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:Oklahoma State's 1-0 win over Oregon was in double overtime. Oklahoma State scored the winning goal at the 104 minute mark. The stats were pretty even, with Oklahoma State having a slight edge.

Of particular interest, Oklahoma State's starting forward Treadwell and an Oregon player apparently got into a fight, and both were ejected with red cards. So, Treadwell will not be playing on Sunday.

KATU just showed the fight in Eugene. The OK state player reached back and grabbed hair/ponytail, the Ducks player retaliated. Apparently hair pulling is now the mode.

I think we have found our running mate up front with Dani. Michaela looked to me like the 'spark' we have been looking for, an I have been a huge fan of Halley's since she arrived on campus!
Seeing Taylor start at the outside right mid was pleasing, and keeping in mind previous posts where it was stated, 'it wasnt my shot to take', my impression was that Taylor could have taken more advantage of her defender and created dangerous opportunities.
Cruz looked much more comfortable an at ease in the game tonight. Are the freshman jitters over? I believe she scored the first goal tonight off of a Dani free kick, but i could be wrong.
Lastly, while I am still some what confused over Erin starting in goal over Haillee [is Haillee still injured?], personally I would like to see Erin be more aggressive an assertive! There were two instances tonight, in my opinion, that Erin acted on her instincts and then second guessed herself. Both times nearly lead to goals for SMU. Gratefully, late in the game it seemed like Erin started to trust her instincts, first punching out a corner kick, an second, coming out for a long ball an INTIATING the contact with the offensive player. After seeing that I feel more confident with Erin.
Over all, after two games, I am liking the progression so far. As long as our girls keep getting better and better, I'm happy!

here's the video of the Oklahoma State - Oregon game from KVAL showing the fracas and the winning goal.

(click the picture)


Both players were ejected.

I completely agree with Fozzie about Michaela. After seeing only two games (couldn't tell much about the 2nd game), I am becoming more and more convinced we need that speed and spark up front. This team is almost unbelievably solid through the lineup, and on the bench - potential all-stars starting almost everywhere - but there is no Michelle/Meghan/Christine to CREATE the goals. In the two games I have seen, there were no (zero, nada) goals EARNED off the normal run of play. Sophie's goal was off a rebound the keeper probably should have held. Michaela's was off a restart, and Danielle's was playing a man up. These were all goals scored as a result of continual offensive pressure against lesser teams - sooner or later, we'll get a goal. However, against Stanford, UCLA etc, we won't have that continual offensive pressure. We need someone who can CREATE a goal after the team gets her the ball in a dangerous spot. I think we are getting the ball to people in dangerous spots EXTREMELY well over the two games (there's that all-star lineup), but no goals from all those opportunities. Michaela is no Michelle, at least not yet, but she may be the closest we have right now, at least until Kendra hopefully gets back at full speed. I was VERY impressed by the quick turn-and-shoot Michaela had that went just left. She seems to be the only attacker that can do that - CREATE a shot from a dangerous position.

Admittedly, two games is not much to go on, but that's the way it looks to me right now. We may be in for lots of 1-0 type games where bad luck could lose a game for us. Let's hope the Oklahoma State game proves me wrong.