UP vs BYU on BYUtv 10/6

I guess you are expecting more from a team decimated by graduation and injuries than I am.

Great goal by MC.

golaso wrote:

A_Fan wrote:I am not sure what game you are watching. After the first ten minutes they have been playing pretty well.

your thoughts for after the first 10 minutes can't be the same...please tell me they're not...this is really UP soccer??? no

First half was a little shaky, I agree with you there. As the second half went on they got better at keeping possession. All night they looked a step too slow to the ball though. BYU was playing like one of those old Pilot teams, but this is what we have this year. You all know this by now.

I'm going to close with something positive: Hailee would have won us a point if the game was 90 minutes. What a great effort tonight.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Or live on FSC. But then you have to deal with FSC's announcers and production values.

Good old FSC didn't let me down. Close-up shots of players after the ball is gone (who needs to follow the ball?), announcers who talk too much, and misspelled player names.

How about that HD though? Oh wait...

I thought the team showed a lot of heart and spirit. I diidn't think they played as tentative as they have earlier this season.

Hailee looked great.

Remember, Kendall, Cloe, and Kassi are out with injuries. Those are three upper classmen and NT players. That's tough.

It's unlikely that the Pilots will even earn an invite to the playoffs. After 12 matches, I think there's enough data to make that assessment. Only 4 shots? The truth hurts. I can take a loss. But, I can't take how the Pilots are losing this season. Seattle U? Boston? Irvine? Northridge? They're okay teams. But C'mon....mano a mano....we shouldn't be losing to these teams? 1 time? Ok...an Exception! 2 times...Hmmm? 3 times...WTH?

It makes no sense at all?

The rate of deterioration of our once notorious offensive prowess? No amount of coaching, practice, formation changes...will turn the season around. It 's just not there this season. So Puzzling? So Disheartening?

I am surprised at how surprised some people are at these losses. Good grief!! Look at the player losses from last years team - Ellie, Jessica, Keelin, Sophie, Cloee and Kendall are all NT-quality players. THAT'S 6 OF THE TEN STARTERS FROM LAST YEAR!!! Kassie also didn't play, and I don't think Cruz played (not sure about that - WONDERFUL announcers). That leaves MO and the two attackers from last year's starters, plus Taylor playing a different position. This was going to be a tough year even before all the injuries, especially through the midfield. Add in the injuries, and we have lots of untested rookies playing lots of minutes, having to be thrown in probably before they are really ready. I was as thoroughly disappointed as anyone at the lack of "Portland-type" possession soccer against BYU, but some of you need to take a deep breath and then exhale. This is not surprising. It's a down year - it happens. Soccer Joy is correct - enjoy what you have. Enjoy watching things turn around. Enjoy watching the young players improve and develop.

I think this same type of thing happened with the 1999 team, which was the last time the Pilots weren't ranked. One of the, ahem, more seasoned supporters might want to correct me on that though. From what I know of Pilot history, there were lots of freshmen who were thrown to the wolves in '99 and the team struggled. And whatever happened to that class?

I think we all expected that this might be a "rebuilding year." The problem I see is that we don't seem to have the pieces in place to rebuild. If this was a team with a bunch of first- and second-year players who look very promising but still raw, I'd be excited about watching them grow into a great team over the next two years. But the stars of this team so far are Dani, Hailey, MO, Taylor, Kassi, and Chloe, most of whom will be gone soon.

Sadly, I must admit that I don't think the Pilots will have a truly competitive team anytime in the next few years and, with the increasing prominence of women's soccer at big-time universities, they may never reach that level again.

It's been a great run over the last two decades, but I'm afraid we're all going to have to scale back our expectations for the foreseeable future.

I'm just looking at this as "one game at a time," knowing every single game is going to be a struggle. If they make it into the NCAA Tournament, great! If they don't, I'll be the same fan I've always been.

I have no problem with taking this as a tough rebuilding year as the players gain experience and develop. The biggest problem that I do have is seeing such a drop-off from previous years in player reaction to the ball, failing to even contest 50/50 balls, making U-10 level passes to players 10 yards away so that most (yes most) get intercepted. I understand all the arguments about injuries and youth, but those do not explain these deficiencies. I will still be there yelling encouragement with hopes that this will turn around but seeing even seasoned players making these mistakes leaves me very puzzled about where this team is headed. I am also puzzled with the veterans in this forum who seem to be ignoring these issues. Open your eyes to what is actually happening. You don't need to be a senior or NT player to make sharp passes, to contest possession, to pass to a team mate rather than the opponent. Too often when a player does make the extra effort to regain possession, she just ends up giving it back with her pass. If it wasn't for the never-ending energy and charge of Micaela, Dani and Hailey, this year would be even more ugly. Just my honest view of things so far. Let's hope that the extra time to prepare for next Friday will see some vast improvement in these basic areas of the game.

Just to follow up on Fan from Afar's mention of players graduated from last year's team let's not forget Kristen Kelly and Kendra Chandhoke. Two veterans who not only came off the bench and played wonderfully, but who could also start and do a fine job. The current team just doesn't have that experience.

you guys are not making sense at all. yes we lost good players, but we lost good players every season. thats what makes good PROGRAMS. think of all the players who have come through UP, even lately. sinc, both rapinoes, huey, budge, enyeart...the list goes on and on. every season we had freshmen come in, start at the beginning of the season and we all sat on the sidelines with raised eye brows wondering what would happen. most of the time, we were extremely worried about who would fill the shoes of the great players before them. great programs are great programs because of their ability to find talent to replace lost talent. its very simple. the girls are not losing because of what they lost. they're losing because of what they don't have. UP has always been able to find players who they could put in and start the first game of the season and everyone knew she was a player...everyone knew that she was going to be a 4 year starter. the truth of the matter is, they don't have any of those players anymore. they don't have a girl who will take over the game. at all.
many things need to improve, and the first is recruiting. good luck recruiting with this season though. portland was appealing because of wins and fans. the number of fans is already dwindling.
this is not just a down year. if you think it is, i'm not going to argue with you, we will just have to wait and see.
this is time to really worry, because what you had is no more

That's the underlying point of the problem this season. Take the NT players and injured players out of the picture for the moment. The core and supporting members of what's left of the team cannot hold itself up this season. STILL...these core members should be talented enough...collectively and individually (man for man).... to beat...if not at very least...compete against lesser skilled opponents. Historically, many of our 2nd tier Pilots could be starting on "other" teams, correct? What's alarming is this season's 2nd tier team are being overwhelmed by the likes of Seattle U?

I'm a Pilot fan first and foremost...forever one. I fully believe UP still has the foundation and reputation to get the blue-chip recruits. But yes, patience will be tested. Next season, looks even less promising. It's going to take a few cycles of classes\seasons before we might see a rise back to a Top 10 team.

GO PILOTS!!!

Regardless of the experience level of these players, I still have a high level of concern for the way that they too often play at the level of decent high school players. I would expect that any player recruited by UP would not have to learn to challenge aggressively every ball and then make a firm pass to the open team mate. These ladies just do not do those basic things and that is what is the most alarming thing. You do not have to be a senior to make a decent pass! Or to react to the ball at least as quickly as the other teams all seem to be able to do!

golaso wrote:.... the number of fans is already dwindling. ....

Although the number of fans is lower this year than last, not by a lot. Average home attendance after 6 home games last year was 3411. This year after 6 games it's 3144. Last year, the first 6 games included what I would call three marquee games: Oklahoma State, Penn State, and Texas A&M. This year, the first 6 have included what I would call two marquee games: Florida State and Stanford (I wouldn't call USC a marquee game).

Personally, I really enjoyed watching the game. True, BYU had a LOT more shots on goal than the Pilots, but your Goalie was terrific! If it wasn't for her, the game wouldn't have gone into overtime.

Abeille wrote:Personally, I really enjoyed watching the game. True, BYU had a LOT more shots on goal than the Pilots, but your Goalie was terrific! If it wasn't for her, the game wouldn't have gone into overtime.

Thanks for visiting and come back again. And, thanks for putting up with all our angst.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:

Abeille wrote:Personally, I really enjoyed watching the game. True, BYU had a LOT more shots on goal than the Pilots, but your Goalie was terrific! If it wasn't for her, the game wouldn't have gone into overtime.

Thanks for visiting and come back again. And, thanks for putting up with all our angst.

Angst after a loss? Perfectly normal for football fans.

The players seem to be okay. Micaela was guest capo at the men's game tonight. Couldn't see her but you could hear her.

SoreKnees wrote:I think we all expected that this might be a "rebuilding year." The problem I see is that we don't seem to have the pieces in place to rebuild. If this was a team with a bunch of first- and second-year players who look very promising but still raw, I'd be excited about watching them grow into a great team over the next two years. But the stars of this team so far are Dani, Hailey, MO, Taylor, Kassi, and Chloe, most of whom will be gone soon.

Sadly, I must admit that I don't think the Pilots will have a truly competitive team anytime in the next few years and, with the increasing prominence of women's soccer at big-time universities, they may never reach that level again.

It's been a great run over the last two decades, but I'm afraid we're all going to have to scale back our expectations for the foreseeable future.

This is a very glass half full forecast. I´d like to think that our fans are hopeful enough that we can endure one bad season. Look on the bright side: at least this team won´t break our hearts in the quarter finals of the tourney this year after showing a lot of promise. The stars on this team are underachieving a bit, and we still have been able to do some remarkable recruiting lately. I really don´t see this let down lasting very long. But, it would be nice to see the school get on a little winning streak before the end of the season so that the seniors could impart a little bit of their wisdom to the younger players...

We´re sleeping giants right now, and other teams are afraid that we are going to wake up.

ejjqb wrote:I have no problem with taking this as a tough rebuilding year as the players gain experience and develop. The biggest problem that I do have is seeing such a drop-off from previous years in player reaction to the ball, failing to even contest 50/50 balls, making U-10 level passes to players 10 yards away so that most (yes most) get intercepted. I understand all the arguments about injuries and youth, but those do not explain these deficiencies. I will still be there yelling encouragement with hopes that this will turn around but seeing even seasoned players making these mistakes leaves me very puzzled about where this team is headed. I am also puzzled with the veterans in this forum who seem to be ignoring these issues. Open your eyes to what is actually happening. You don't need to be a senior or NT player to make sharp passes, to contest possession, to pass to a team mate rather than the opponent. Too often when a player does make the extra effort to regain possession, she just ends up giving it back with her pass. If it wasn't for the never-ending energy and charge of Micaela, Dani and Hailey, this year would be even more ugly. Just my honest view of things so far. Let's hope that the extra time to prepare for next Friday will see some vast improvement in these basic areas of the game.

Because the drop off is in things so basic to Pilots' soccer, contesting 50/50, sharp passing, aggressive play, I continue to believe that we will see turn around. I think another way to look at the problem is we are not playing like a team.

As for the young players I am very hopeful.
I think Sippel is great.
I expect McKluskie to fill her sisters shoes.
Kurle was a phenom in HS, I am sure she will find a way to fit in here.
Colohan and Bridges are sophomores and great players.
A little time and experience and the others will impress too.

I don't know who is being tested more this year, the team or the fans, but this fan will be cheering in the rain Friday night.