Pilots vs St Marys

The annoounced crowd of 4,500 or so at Merlo on a gorgeous, warm afternoon saw plenty of scoring as the Pilots broke out of the doldrums with 7 goals against the Gaels. A downside: St Marys answered with 3 of their own, including one in the last minute. A win is a win, and scoring so many goals may build the team's confidence.

We saw a bit of history: Kaila Camelli scored her first UP goal and turned it into a hat trick before she was done. How many players have done that? She showed a top gear that I hadn't seen from her yet -- just great to see her tear up the defence. Four other Pilots scored and Halley must have recovered from her head-cracking injury Friday because she played and did well. Hailee played keeper the first half, giving up one goal, and Erin took over for the second, stopping a PK with a perfect dive to her right.

On the bench with injuries and did not play: Emma and Taylor, plus of course Kassi and Kendall.

The only thing that bums me out about Pilots soccer this season is that I will miss Friday's Santa Clara game.

Who were those girls?

Yeah -- suddenly the goal scorers came out of their slumber. St Marys is now 9-5-2 so no slouch of a team. I'm looking at the St Mary's site and it says the score was 7-4 with TWO goasl scored by SMU in the final minute including a PK ... by then I was out on the practice field heading to my car ... what a weird finish.

It was 7-4. In the last minutes Micaela had a breakaway and was grabbed by her jersey. Should have been a DOGSO red card or at MINIMUM a yellow for the grab and possibly a PK besides for continuation into the box. By not calling it, Referee Allen Chapman signalled that considered the game over. side judge Desi Miller burried his flag as well. St. Mary's then scored twice in the last minute.



The second PK was totally bogus, considering he refused the Jersey grab card.

Looked like a reasonably shoulder challenge and dive.

Recall the hip check in the box last year that was refused by the CR.


First game this year where it looked like the players have a collective vision as to what to do in the last third, and UP owned the midfield for a change.

And they didn't look overtrained to me.

Capelle had a fantastic game today. Used her speed to open up the defense and create chances for the rest of the team. Don't let the scoreline fool you--the defense did fine today, especially considering it was a makeshift unit as usual this year.

Feels good to see a game like that again, and good timing going into next Friday.

From way out here in the east, I have some reaction to today's game. I think I saw what a bright future might look like for Pilot soccer, and I would be interested in hearing whether you locals who see the girls in person (and therefore can see the entire game/field) agree with all these:

1- Kurle looked to me like the real thing, in spite of her awful pass that led to the first goal. I can see her eventually replacing Keelin.

2- Capelle and Camelli could be a dynamite combination up top - speed and a knack for getting the ball into the net. I saw little evidence of them playing off each other, but that could hopefully come.

3- Parker seemed to be growing into the central position a little more - a little more aggressive, a little more physical, playing the ball forward a little more. Still a ways to go, though, but improving.

4- It's good Cloee is only a soph - if we are to do well, she has to be in there. She is the glue for the defense. Things get very shaky when she isn't playing.

5- The goalie position seems to be in good hands for the forseeable future.

6- Lorielle seems like a clone of her sis - the same strengths, and weaknesses. They both break up attacks consistently, are super aggressive, deliver great entry passes, and occasionally hurt the team by getting beat - an absolute no-no for central defenders.

It also appears to me that the team is not getting as much as one would hope from the seniors. MO is a solid defender, but she may lead the team in passes to the other team, and Danielle has missed some good scoring opportunities. From watching on TV and the computer, I can't really tell if they are providing good leadership.

Finally, next years class looks pretty ordinary, but the one after looks very good. It could be a peak year when this year's sophs are seniors and that class comes in, although - it's always a questionable projection with injuries, redshirting, players improving (or not).

Geezaldinho wrote:It was 7-4. In the last minutes Micaela had a breakaway and was grabbed by her jersey. Should have been a DOGSO red card or at MINIMUM a yellow for the grab and possibly a PK besides for continuation into the box. By not calling it, Referee Allen Chapman signalled that considered the game over. side judge Desi Miller burried his flag as well. St. Mary's then scored twice in the last minute.

From the screen cap DOGSO might have been a tough sell with the second defender there. But definitely a foul.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

Geezaldinho wrote:It was 7-4. In the last minutes Micaela had a breakaway and was grabbed by her jersey. Should have been a DOGSO red card or at MINIMUM a yellow for the grab and possibly a PK besides for continuation into the box. By not calling it, Referee Allen Chapman signalled that considered the game over. side judge Desi Miller burried his flag as well. St. Mary's then scored twice in the last minute.

From the screen cap DOGSO might have been a tough sell with the second defender there. But definitely a foul.

that's why I qualified it, but Micaela is faster than both of those players, and had the whole field to her right and still would have been in scoring position. the only way that second player catches her is because she was held. the first defender also clips her heel a little.

The ON DEMAND video is up, if you want to see it in all its glory. the hold ended before the box, so the PK isn't justified on watching it again, but there is no question on the card the refs fell asleep on.


Chapman's whole game management at the end is pretty suspect.

right after Chapman gave Leahy a yellow, he decided this tackle from behind on Kurley wasn't a foul at all, again swallowing his whistle.

fan from afar wrote:

It also appears to me that the team is not getting as much as one would hope from the seniors. MO is a solid defender, but she may lead the team in passes to the other team, and Danielle has missed some good scoring opportunities. From watching on TV and the computer, I can't really tell if they are providing good leadership.

well, the seniors haven't had much support from the undeclassmen, really until this game when several stepped up. MO is having a great year all over the back, and has been our best defender all over the back line filling in for other injured players. At the BYU game she was really almost the only one.

And Dani has been asked to do a lot, and has the best composure under pressure of any of them. I have been flabbergasted to see her defending in our box. a player with her skills shouldn't have to be tracking back that far covering for other players. they should be getting her touches in the opponents final third

she did it several times at BYU and against USD.

I agree with A-Fan, "Where dd these girls come from?". I haven't seen this much energy all year. And Geez, you are correct - these girls did not play like they have been over-trained.

Either there was magic in the air today in Portland or maybe the girls have been sand-bagging it !?!

I hope the magic continues through Friday. Santa Clara always plays UP with bite. UP needs to be prepared to give it back (especially) this year. One needs to play with an attitude when one plays a bay area team;there will lots of trash talk, grabbing, and hooking.

Think of Megan Rapineo or Sophie Schmidt if you want to know how to play bay area teams.

"Step on my toe, I'll chop off your foot."

I think the real reason Geezer wants us all to watch the game replay is so we can see his walk on role at halftime before the screen goes static.

Missed the game yesterday... has the ON DEMAND video already been taken down, or am I not looking in the right place?

It looks like they removed it from the Demand tab.

But there is this...

Those were some really nice goals - all assisted, I think. Lorielle's header/assist on the corner was outstanding, and I think I remember she created another good chance on another corner.

In basketball, a scorer in a shooting slump often just needs to see a shot go through the net (free throw, layup) to break out of it. Let's hope this scoring binge gets the team out of a scoring slump that's really been going on since Michelle got hurt two seasons ago (REALLY, REALLY BAD memory there).

It was a great win. And so much fun watching all those goals.

This was the first game in a long time where we looked faster than the opponent. At every position.

I thought StM's D looked a little weak and their goalie very weak. The highlight reel seems to confirm.

Brooke played great D Friday on the back line, but on Sunday our back line seemed very thin to me. Little McCluskie is great, improving quickly.

Strong win for a fast improving team who will hopefully be healthy soon.

Dan No Yell wrote:

I thought StM's D looked a little weak and their goalie very weak. The highlight reel seems to confirm.

Watch the highlight reels from the 2002 or 2005 seasons. everyone we played looked weak, even in the championship 2005 game when UP took four shots on All American Val Henderson and made her look like she couldn't stop anything low and to her left.

Thats what good teams playing together do.

Their goalie had one unquestionable weakness that had nothing to do with how we played - she had no pop in her leg. Her goal kicks were awful and led to some of our goals. It reminded me of coaching very young kids when the other teams goal kicks were our best offense.

fan from afar wrote:Their goalie had one unquestionable weakness that had nothing to do with how we played - she had no pop in her leg. Her goal kicks were awful and led to some of our goals. It reminded me of coaching very young kids when the other teams goal kicks were our best offense.

She had a better leg than USD's keeper.

I didn't see that game, but I find that hard to believe. This keeper had some goal kicks that I don't think made it halfway to midfield. And, a few of her goal kicks were brought down by our attackers maybe 30 yards out. At least it seemed that way on the computer. I will defer to your judgement since I didn't see the USD game, but really? Was she that bad? Was she a one-legged keeper? Maybe kicking with a wooden leg?

fan from afar wrote:I didn't see that game, but I find that hard to believe. This keeper had some goal kicks that I don't think made it halfway to midfield. And, a few of her goal kicks were brought down by our attackers maybe 30 yards out. At least it seemed that way on the computer. I will defer to your judgement since I didn't see the USD game, but really? Was she that bad? Was she a one-legged keeper? Maybe kicking with a wooden leg?

You are exaggerating. she never had a 30 yard kick or punt. Merlo is 120 yards long, whenever the video comes back up, i'll challenge you to show me one case where she didn't make the midfield circle. that's 44 yards.

Not only did she have a better leg than the USD keeper, she had a better leg than the BYU keeper. If you didn't burn your copy of that game, watch it again with that in mind. it didn't help us in either game. what won possessions in the midfield is that we anticipated much better than we have all year. the players anticipated, they didn't sit back and react.

this is women's soccer. the ability to put the ball over midfield is actually not as common as you would think. We had a keeper in the mid 90's who was an All American and I'll bet never did it. the joke was that we would bet whether she would get it out of the 18 yard box on a fly. It actually wasn't that bad, but she never put it past the mid line. Hailie has a better leg than most, and she doesn't do it every time.

teams cope with it and play through it. if the ball is short, you win the header and get it upfield. i really can't think of a time where it was the deciding factor in a game. if our attackers gained possession, it was because they challenged better and the defenders didn't play to their keeper, just as is the case 10 yards further up field. We also won because for once we had multiple players in the box for the crosses.

i'm not buying that we won because their keeper's leg sucked. they were 9-4-2 this year coming into Merlo, including a win over UC Irvine, a team we couldn't beat the same week, and took our next opponent to overtime. they have 5 shutouts and held 5 teams to 1 goal this year.

Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the game - I don't know how to do that. At best, I am moderately computer literate - at best. I would love to go back and look again, because I would swear that the keeper had at least a couple of kicks well short of the circle and right to one of our players, in the middle of the field. I agree completely that her goal kicks were not the deciding factor, but I thought they contributed to at least a few of the goals.

Your joke about getting a goal kick over the 18 on the fly really does remind me of my days coaching little kids. I dreaded our goal kicks - much better to give up a corner. Even at the high school level, I had a (substitute) goalie (girls) who didn't do much better then clearing the 18, so I had to have a defender take goal kicks, which can leave you in trouble offsides-wise.

[quote="Geezaldinho"]

fan from afar wrote: what won possessions in the midfield is that we anticipated much better than we have all year. the players anticipated, they didn't sit back and react.

This is so true.

On the other hand I thought the StM's keeper was off her game. I thought she had a lot of terrible kicks. Maybe I am spoiled from watching DeYoung, LaFontaine-Kussmann and Solo.

Speaking of keepers, I was really impressed by Stanford's. She never hurried or panicked when the ball came to her with an attacker charging. She always had a teammate on the other side she passed to quickly and cleanly.