LMU/Pepperdine Games

I was going to say the same thing SK. I think Kendra will be back soon, although I fear that she won't be full form by playoff time.

At one point in the LMU game Kendra got up and jogged to the touch line and back, as Pilots usually do before subbing into the match. But then she sat down; perhaps she was just staying warm on a chilly night. Kendall's injury must have been far less severe than Kendra's. Having Kendall at full strength is crucial ... getting Kendra back would be inspirational.

Good call about Cruz settling in up top. She has speed -- the team should exploit it. The team's young talent across the board is proving valuable this season and gaining experience needed for the post-season.

Looks like I'm first to weigh in with a report on the Pepperdine game. First half: ugh.

Pilots went 30 minutes or more before getting a shot on goal and had only 2 in the half, same as the Waves. Not that Pilots didn't threaten, but they didn't get a shot for the longest time. That was their worst half of the season that I've seen. 0-0 at the break.

Much of the crowd was displeased by a ref who swallowed her whistle according to the grumbling critics behind me in section B.

Pilots felt the absence of Sophie -- Ellen Parker started and was replaced by Kreminski; later M. Cruz was there, to be replaced by Kristen Kelly. 4 attacking mids in one game -- have we ever seen this sub pattern?

Second half the Pilots turned it up a notch as they so often do. Foxhoven took a long run up the middle with the ball and put it away for only goal. Nice! But the result was in doubt as the Waves clanged one off the post and later sent one off the top of the crossbar with about 10 seconds left -- not the way you want to end a game allowing a shot like that. The final 4 minutes were too tense with the Waves asserting themselves and the Pilots back on their heels.

Gorgeous October day, a win, a shutout, and a question about who can grab and claim the attacking mid role till Sophie returns.

Kendall is a wearing a soft sleeve on her knee, which provides some support. Kendra is wearing a brace that is hinged and contains hard stuff.

Kendall can play in the sleeve; Kendra cannot play in the brace.

Again, to be 100% clear, I hope to be proven wrong because I love watching Kendra play.

Talked with Kendra's dad before the game today. She was set to play on Friday if the score had been higher and hoped to do so today--with the brace on. She is practicing full speed with full contact and feels ready to go 10 months after her ACL surgery.

I never actually heard what Kendall's injury was, but it couldn't have been as serious as Kendra's ACL for her to return so quickly.

Kendall's grandparents came from Bend to watch the game and were sitting behind me. I asked if Kendall was 100% and her grandmother said that she was not & that she was just a step behind.

Pepperdine had speed and the Pilots lacked aggression and hustle.

Pepperdine applied pressure all over the fields, even to our deep backs while they were still behind the midfield stripe. That pressure obviously affected our passing game, enough so that there were many long balls. I hesitate to call them over-the-top passes because I think most of the long balls were an attempt to get the ball out of the area rather than to connect with a specific teammate. Whether the long balls were part of the game plan or responses by the individual players I don’t know.

The Oregonian report mentions some of the difficulties facing the Pilots. While the Waves had a bit more rest, having played on Friday afternoon rather than on Friday evening as we did, I don’t think it justified comments about the difference in freshness of the teams (Pilots showed “fatigue from having played and defeated Loyola Marymount 2-0 Friday”; Pilots “were often a step slower than the rested and frisky Waves”). The Waves had a rough match on Friday; they lost to Gonzaga and showed fatigue at the end of that match per a report elsewhere on this forum. Admittedly they would be more up for UP than for Gonzaga and maybe got caught looking ahead to the UP game.

I was impressed with the overall skill level of Pepperdine. Especially by #26, Michelle Pao. She plays wide rear defender. She is very fast, a strong defender, and showed some excellent ball-handling skills when she moved the ball forward, especially when she got in the attacking zone. And she is only a frosh!

And lastly, I was pleased to hear that Kendra is waiting in the wings. She has been one of my favorites since she arrived and I really miss watching her play.

I agree with UPWSR's comments. I think the explanation in the Oregonian this morning helps, regarding mid-terms last week, the campus empty, and so on. Every year, at this time, the Pilots have a couple of crummy games, so I guess we've just had them. I've also wondered if it relates to where they are in their conditioning program, which is designed for them to peak during the NCAA Tournament.

Regarding the "kick it deep to the other end" that we saw, it started pretty early in the game and my sense was that it was part of the game plan. Why, I don't know.

Harry, you would have hated the game but loved Dani's goal!

Pepperdine write-up of the game. Sounds like their coach was very impressed with his team's effort.

From Pepperdine web site.

UPWomenSoccerRookie wrote:Pepperdine write-up of the game. Sounds like their coach was very impressed with his team's effort.

From Pepperdine web site.

I pretty much agree with everything Tim Ward had to say.
It was a great effort from Pepperdine,and not the best effort from UP.


One thing I will say is that Danielle's effort on her goal was a brilliant effort, and worthy of any of the memorable attempts in the last few years.

Geezaldinho wrote:

UPWomenSoccerRookie wrote:Pepperdine write-up of the game. Sounds like their coach was very impressed with his team's effort.

From Pepperdine web site.

I pretty much agree with everything Tim Ward had to say.
It was a great effort from Pepperdine,and not the best effort from UP.


One thing I will say is that Danielle's effort on her goal was a brilliant effort, and worthy of any of the memorable attempts in the last few years.

I thought Danielle put in a very good performance yesterday, especially compared to the overall team.

Danielle's goal is featured in a video clip on the TopDrawer site in article about weekend wrap up.
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-soccer-archives/nid-17669/Oregon-State-challenging-Stanford-in-Pac-10
Nice to see her get the notice.

Nice strike!!! I was yelling for Danielle to do her little samba dance...haven't seen it in awhile!

GO PILOTS!!!

We can all thank Stonehouse for leaving to take a phone call about 30 seconds before Dani's nice little individual effort, way to take one for the team!

It was nice to be back at Merlo for the first time in a while, I can't really add much to what has already been mentioned. My only things might be the lack of extended good possession and Sophie's absence are no way unrelated, that's a pretty big piece to take out of the game, especially connecting the back to the strikers. (I think another week of practice and a few more games will do wonders to help bridge that gap a bit.)

Also, Kendall had moments of her old self, but you could tell she was still holding back in a few spots. While the RB #26 for Pepp. had a pretty nice game (she kind of reflected the general scrap/hustle that defined the rest of the Waves' play, as has been mentioned), methinks a healthy Kendall would have taught her a thing or two...

My thoughts on the game; The pilots may have been looking past the Waves towards the two big games this weekend. Pepperdine has a better team than most people expect and really step it up for the bigger games. They beat UCLA (HOOOORAH) yet lost to the Zags. They came out fired up. In the 1st half their mids forced the play towards the Pilots last 3rd. 2nd half was Pilots playing with more and better possession. I thought Michelle and Kristen did an excellent job in the AM spot. I can hardly wait until Kendra returns. The best part was another WIN.

I wont comment on th LMU game as it was a kind of reunion for me an several friends; all fans but none regulars. I really couldnt watch the game as I usually or would like to.

For the Pepperdine game...sigh! A person sitting next to me I think described the girls play best...they were heavy-footed. Whether that was because they were tired from mid-terms, looking ahead to san diego an santa clara or whatever, the description fit.

There are a lot of times I feel like Im totally out of touch with what I am seeing on the field because nobody else seems to notice. The Pepperdine game, with about 5-6 minutes left in the 1st half the girls played their best offensively all game. I believe Frisbie an Cruz were up top; Keelin was the attacking mid an Halley was the d mid. In my ever so humble opinion [really!], that was the best the offense looked since Sophie left . As much as we love Keelin as the d mid, she is equally dynamic at the attacking mid!! I think that's why we went into the half with 2 shots on goal beause Keelin got free an took them!

I have often wondered how Keelin would fare as an attacking mid, and I agree that she got things spiced up a little when she moved up. She is a very conservative player as a holding mid, rarely pushing the ball forward, almost always looking for an outside player, usually back a little to an outside defender. She is usually spot on with her passes, getting the ball right where the outside player needs it. Anyway, that's the nature of the position, whereas the attacking mid needs to push things forward more, either with penetrating passes or carrying the ball. I think maybe that's what the conversation between coach and Ellen might have been about, trying to get her to attack more, with confidence.

I always thought Keelin has the ability and skills, and probably the mindset, to do those attacking mid things very well, given the chance, but with Sophie playing, we just don't need it from Keelin. Now, you might see more of her there.

I have been waiting to see if someone else noticed the big offensive pickup in the last 20 min of the Pepperdine match. Thanks fozziewozzie for mentioning. I believe we had cruz and frisbie up front, taylor and bridges at outside mids, and keelin at attacking mid. Liked their work together - then again subs do bring fresh legs.

I think Keelin might be able to push up more as well (even from the holding position) considering that for the first time all season her back line is getting to full strength. I would imagine she was playing a more conservative mid role as our center backs were kind of in rotating make-shift mode due to injuries and whatnot.

At Friday's game, something happened to the sound system for the National Anthem, so the audience...first from the grandstand, and then a bar later from the student side...everyone began to sing the anthem...way cool.

Maybe some day the Pilots can get this girl to sing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLYkFJQ5-jk

Or, maybe the Pilots could get this group -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETrr-XHBjE


No PA system needed

fozziewozzie wrote:
There are a lot of times I feel like Im totally out of touch with what I am seeing on the field because nobody else seems to notice. The Pepperdine game, with about 5-6 minutes left in the 1st half the girls played their best offensively all game. I believe Frisbie an Cruz were up top; Keelin was the attacking mid an Halley was the d mid. In my ever so humble opinion [really!], that was the best the offense looked since Sophie left . As much as we love Keelin as the d mid, she is equally dynamic at the attacking mid!! I think that's why we went into the half with 2 shots on goal beause Keelin got free an took them!

I actually thought this was one of the good periods of the game for the Pilots and made me think we could eventually break through Pepperdine's pressure at least once.

As I mentioned bout the LMU game I had several co-workers with me so I couldn't watch the game as i normally do. They are newbie's for the most part to U of P. One thing I told them is that of the players on this theam that may eventually play for the US National team are #1 Clohee, #2 Keelin; an after watching Keelin as the attacking mid, I think her future is even brighter!

How healthy are we? Olivier? Kendall -she looked like she was favoring her leg. And with Kendra back this weekend (which is great) we all will be keeping our fingers crossed. Anyone know why Parker left the game early Sunday? Or Bridges? Her, Cruz, and Halley really picked it up as a previous poster noted.

I didn't think Parker had a good first half, and I think I heard or read somewhere that Garrett had a talk with her as she came out, or after she came out. I posted earlier that I am GUESSING he might have been talking to her about being more assertive. Anyway, that is my "maybe" opinion about why she came out.

I REALLY, REALLY hope you're right about Kendra playing this weekend.