Piots v. the Golden Bear and the Tree

Biggest week of the year. If UP wins both , it seems a #1 seed is guaranteed even if we lose a game later. If we lose one, it will be a bit harder and winning out will be crucial to our goals, but we could still get a #1 seed if we lost one.

Stanford plays Hawaii (RPI ~#200) on Thursday to play their reserves early and get an extra day's rest before they play us, while we play Cal (currently at #14) on Friday. It's a huge compliment, really. It shows they are nervous about us. CAL beat Hawaii 8-1, so if Stanford needs an extra day, they must think we can beat them. And for them to schedule that big a cupcake must mean they think it's worth the RPI hit. This will be their second 200+ team this year.

First things first. CAL is a good team, but vulnerable, as is shown by their last two games. But they can't be taken lightly. They are probably itching for payback after last year's 4-0 debacle. if ever we needed a breakout game, this is it.

Do your research folks.

Agree. One note: we too are playing Thursday, not Friday. Thursday at 3 pm versus California; Saturday at 7 pm versus Stanford.

Ah yes, the Pious Piots... my favorite team!

CAL coach Neil Mcguire will be on the CAL coaches corner tonight on KNEW 910AM

http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/092010aaa.html

The show is 6:00- 7:00 PM and the live feed is at http://910knew.com/pages/listenlive.html

The US Women's National Team has a camp beginning tomorrow in Georgia, in anticipation of the last two WNT tune-up games, against China, before the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament. The China games are October 2 at the new Kennesaw State soccer complex in Kennesaw, GA, and October 6 at PPL Park in Chester, PA. The CONCACAF qualifying tournament is October 28-November 9.

The preliminary squad for the camp and the two China games has call-ups for 30 players, some of whom are not immediately available due to the WPS playoffs. There will be a roster of 18 players for each of the China games. The ultimate CONCACAF roster will have 20 players.

Two college players are on the call-up list, Alex Morgan of Cal and Sydney Leroux of UCLA. If they both are at the camp from its start tomorrow through the second China game on October 6, then they will miss the following games:

Morgan (Cal): 9/23 Portland; 10/2 St. Mary's

Leroux (UCLA): 9/24 San Diego; 9/26 Santa Clara; 10/1 Pepperdine

I don't know whether this means Morgan and Leroux actually will miss these games. According to the USWNT Blog, however, they indeed will be in Georgia tomorrow for the start of the camp: http://www.ussoccer.com/Social/WNT-Blog.aspx?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&UID=d64c9a0e-f4da-40cf-ab0a-d80aab1b0a00&plckPostId=Blog:d64c9a0e-f4da-40cf-ab0a-d80aab1b0a00Post:58ea2cbc-e40b-4f55-a72c-9230a7750bd6&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

Hmmm...well, in all honesty the Pac-10 teams can probably afford more RPI hits and misses than the rest of the country since they play in arguably the toughest conference. To me, it sounds like smart scheduling on Stanford's part...taking some extra rest before playing us. But, it's Stanford... It's quite likely to have just as much to do with academics as athletics. I wouldn't read too much into it.

onetouchfutbol wrote:Hmmm...well, in all honesty the Pac-10 teams can probably afford more RPI hits and misses than the rest of the country since they play in arguably the toughest conference. To me, it sounds like smart scheduling on Stanford's part...taking some extra rest before playing us. But, it's Stanford... It's quite likely to have just as much to do with academics as athletics. I wouldn't read too much into it.

actually. the PAC10 is in fourth place right now, behind the ACC (of course), the BIG12, and the WCC in winning % so far.

The WCC is even with the PAC10 so far this year at 2-2-1 but the majority of games are still to come. Last year, the WCC had a winning record against the PAC10, helped no doubt by UP's 5-1 record against them


UP had more wins against the PAC10 than the ACC even played last year against them.

How about this quote from the Cal website: "The game between the Golden Bears (5-0-3) and the Pilots (9-0-0), which is the highlight of the nonconference schedule for Cal, kicks off at 3 p.m. at Berkeley's Edwards Stadium and is free to attend." Free is a very good price.
http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/092110aad.html

Here are the results so far for Cal:

W 2-1 vs. Fresno St.
W 2-1 vs. Loyola Marymount
T 2-2 vs. UC Irvine
T 0-0 (2 OT) vs. (12)Santa Clara
W 4-1 vs. Rice
W 8-1 vs. Hawaii
W 6-0 vs. Long Beach St.
W 1-0 vs. San Francisco
T 1-1 vs. Pacific

I'd love to go see the Pilots play for free, but the cost of getting to San Francisco is considerably more than what I pay to get into Merlo. What does Vegas say about our odds against Stanford?

According to the US WNT Blog, Alex Morgan (Cal) and Sydney Leroux (UCLA) definitely are at the US WNT camp in Georgia this week: http://www.ussoccer.com/Social/WNT-Blog.aspx You have to read down a couple of entries to see that the two are at the camp. So, unless they are flying back for Thursday's (Morgan) and this weekend's (Leroux) games, Morgan will not be playing for Cal and Leroux will not be playing for UCLA.

UCLA plays San Diego on Friday and Santa Clara on Sunday. I believe the Pilots are Cal's only game this weekend. I feel really, really bad for UCLA.

Wait,

Did I read that right? The WNT is having a camp with 13 players? What's the point of that?

How are you going to compare players and how are players going to compete for a spot if most of them aren't in camp?

Total waste.

UPSF, I somehow doubt your sincerity about feeling "really, really bad for UCLA"

I'd rather have the Pilots play the full-strength Cal with Morgan, but that's the way it goes for top teams blessed with top players worthy of WNT consideration. Pilots have been there before without their world-class stars. You gotta play with those you've got.

US WNT is starting camp with 13 since others still have commitments. They are expecting more to join them in Atlanta.

karanicole wrote:US WNT is starting camp with 13 since others still have commitments. They are expecting more to join them in Atlanta.

Yes, they have commitments to their teams. The only difference is that FIFA gives professional teams protection from interference with those commitments except near qualification periods but doesn't extend that to College commitments.

I kinda thought LeRoux and Morgan had commitments to their college teams as well. They are on scholarship, aren't they? And I assume they do have classes to go to, and they are in the middle of a college season.

If you are going to ask players to forego their commitments, it should at least be for a reason that is good for the National team and enhances the athlete's prospects. It is a two way street.

This camp does neither until those other players get into camp. They should have waited. This shows no respect for what these players are trying to accomplish where they are now. It just provides a paycheck for staff who wouldn't get paid without this camp.

Now you have players not being evaluated along side the people they are trying to displace and college teams without their star players with big games coming up where they actually could have shown what they can do.

Morgan, for instance, could be playing in a game that matters against 8 players who have played for YNT's or a full National team, something there aren't enough players in the WNT camp for her to do.

Leroux could show she is an impact player against two very good teams, something she has been a little slow in doing for most games so far this season.

right now they are doing Beep and Sparq tests - something they could do where they were or before the season. I'm sure they already have results on file.

total waste.

Oregon live Article on match with Stanford...
http://www.oregonlive.com/pilots/index.ssf/2010/09/stanford_presents_toughest_tes.html
Both defenses are very stingy...