Santa Clara

Ok, who has the lowdown?

I've watched a couple of games on SCU site this year. I say watched because they have no announcer.

The action will be back and forth and SCU does not play possession ball. Then I'll learn the SCU is up something like 3-0 and I wonder how?

I wasn't impressed by what I saw, but their record speaks for itself. They do have hell of a GK though.

Expect a battle.

one way to look at it is common opponents, of which there are several


..........SCU........UP..

OSU....T 1-1.....W 2-1
Irvine..T 1-1......L 1-3
Stan....L-0-2......L 0-2
WSU...W 1-0.....W 1-0
SDSU..W 5-0.....L 0-1
SMC....W 2-0....W 7-4
BYU....T 1-1......L 1-2

total 3-1-3 ....3-4-0

they are undefeated in the last 7 games and won 6 of them and held the other team scoreless in 6.

But I think if we play like Sunday we win. if we play like at BYU we get creamed.

Let's hope that after a couple of days off for Fall break, the team comes back rested and ready to continue to play the way they did on Sunday.

Graham Hays provides a nice preview for the match and the teams including a name for the rivalry: The Bucket List Derby.

He touched on SCU senior class's climb from 4-11-4 in 2008 to 9-1-5 thus far and UP's postseason chances (on the bubble even over .500).

I have appreciated Hayes for his work on Women's soccer over the years, especially teams in the west. You might remember him from his articles on the Drum Squad, and Kelsey Davis' work with the team for the Ronald McDonald House.
He also wrote an article yesterday about Foxhoven's legacy on and off the field including Equipment Across Continents which gives used gear from local clubs and donations from companies to those in need.

Hopefully the Pilots can build off the cathartic win and the alumni (invited to join the Squad in front of Villa at 7:30) can blend with the young Drum Squad to provide an epic soundtrack for this battle!

anyone got a link where you can watch espnu

Well, it was entertaining.

I thought we had exhausted all the possible ways to lose a game.

Geezaldinho wrote:Well, it was entertaining.

I thought we had exhausted all the possible ways to lose a game.

Well that's football for you.

Plenty of people here are ready to jump off the Bluff so I'm not going to mention the negatives. I'm sure you all saw what I did.

Finally we got Colohan and Olivier able to play together in central defense. They looked solid as ever.

Capelle just keeps going and going and I love watching her. And that finish was wonderful.

I know there was some questions about the seniors but tonight their work rate was exemplary. Foxhoven was dropping way deep to pick up the ball and get it forward and all Olivier did was challenge for everything coming her way which she's done the whole time she's been at Portland.

Oh well. On to the next one.

There were plenty of opportunities. One of the cameramen on the SCU bench side for the second half said he had trouble focusing on the Portland side because the Pilots kept pressuring the SCU goal.

I agree with PPT on the defensive effort by the Colohan-Olivier pairing. Also great to see Parker and Kurle making some agressive moves.

I happened to run into Capelle after the match and commented I wasn't sure what happened during that finish. She said wasn't sure the goalie did either since [Henninger] seemed to be standing still. Tip of the cap to Henninger for holding up to the barrage even if her right leg was troubling her.

Other interesting moments include a possible Eli Reed sighting and the crew and Women's XC team outspell the Men's basketball and possibly other Women's XC members for the Halftime entertainment to honor the conference's "REPRESENT Week". Apparently some of the guys misheard steep as step and forgot the second "e." A slightly entertaining moment occurred before the match, when one of the student-athletes chastised the Drum Squad for their efforts at Santa Clara player.

Hopefully this week has been enough of a boost to carry them through the back half of the schedule.

Pepperdine will be fun to watch...on Game Tracker. Another reason to be blessed with a free video setup that seems to be getting better by the season.

Onto the Hilltop and the second half of conference play!

Without attempting to incite the faithful, there are questions regarding on field performance.

Should Dani be taking the penalty kicks or was last night an aberration?

Is Kurle yet up to the level of play necessary to maintain her position on the field? Sipple and Kreminski would not be so turnover prone in my opinion.

Olivier, Colohan and Cappelle are the on field leaders of this team.

Still the team is improving. Let's hope they finish this season on a high note.

Kreminski was error free last night.

In response to wrv, I have seen Dani miss three PKs this year and every one has been to the left. I believe she has missed one or two others in the last couple of years. She just does not look comfortable out there anymore, the key to success with those kicks. Of course, we are all aware of the many more notable players who have had trouble with that shot.

Kurle has improved from where she was several weeks ago, especially playing stronger on the player with the ball. You would expect her to be stronger in the air considering her height and hopefully that will be learned. She needs to take a lesson from Taylor, one of the shortest Pilots but the most consistent and powerful in the air. Kurle still needs to look for the forward pass rather than dumping so much back and then make the passes to the wings with conviction so they don't have to wait so long to advance the ball or watch it being picked off by a quick, anticipating defender.

Agree about the leaders on the field. This was the best game that I have seen Olivier play in her four years. She was everywhere and kept the ball in play to teammates most of the time.

Also the best game by far that I have seen from Parker. She was aggressive, made her presence felt by the Broncos at times. Just wish she had seen Dani totally free to her left when she tried forcing a pass to Cappelle on the right on a 3 on 2 in the first half. Dani needs more chances in the box than she's getting.

For the group around me, the big mystery was why Brooke and Bridges were playing so far back when the Pilots had the ball and the Broncos wings were 20 yards up field. Any pass to them did nothing to advance the ball and, especially with Taylor's speed, took away any chance she had of receiving the pass close enough to do any damage.

All in all, lots of exciting moments but one very frustrating game to watch, especially with the missed PKs.

It almost seems like this is just a season that is not to be - the soccer gods are just not smiling on Portland. Nevertheless, it seems to me the team is vastly improved over just a few weeks ago.

The biggest thing is we look much more dangerous in the offensive third. Possession is also much better, although there are still some occasional poor passing that you hardly ever saw in years past. It could have been a 3-0 Pilot win, easily, although to be fair, they did hit the various goal bars twice. Both of their scores were off errors - the first by our keeper too far off her line, the second by the player marking the girl who scored. Attacking down the sides was effective for us. It seems coach is stressing that rather than playing through the middle, as we did last year (with Keelin and Sophie). It REALLY helps having Taylor back in there so that MO can go back to central D where she belongs. She and Cloee are excellent together. Taylor seems to be getting more confident as outside defender and is coming forward more, although sometimes it seems like she is being dragged up into the attack.

The team looks much better - they're just not winning, yet.

I agree about Parker - as I said before, she is gradually becoming more aggressive and forceful. I also agree about the outside D's seeming to be too far back, and too reluctant to come up and join the attack. It's hard to see what is really happening on the TV, though.

A fun game and my Octoberfest sausage was ace. But why didn't you guys tell me the game was at 8? You expect me to read my ticket?

I thought we were better than the Broncos at every position.
It coulda/shoulda been 3-1 Portland. The Broncos second goal was beautiful.

In past years I used to say that Brooke need to work on her height. Now I say Brooke sure has improved her height.

wrv wrote:Without attempting to incite the faithful, there are questions regarding on field performance.

Should Dani be taking the penalty kicks or was last night an aberration?

Is Kurle yet up to the level of play necessary to maintain her position on the field? Sipple and Kreminski would not be so turnover prone in my opinion.

Olivier, Colohan and Cappelle are the on field leaders of this team.

Still the team is improving. Let's hope they finish this season on a high note.

I wasn't going to mention Foxhoven, but since you brought it up...
She is playing great and covering the whole field, playing great D and no doubt providing senior leadership to a young team.
But her foot does not have the zing it did in the past. I am sure she, coach and teammates are all aware of that. Her smarts, hustle and leadership make her the number one go to player. Much to my frustration at times. Anyway, that's the way I see it.

Again, I assume that coach had a reason for playing Kurle over Sipple and Kreminski.
Another frustration of mine is we get no injury reports. This is due to another frustration, there is no local press asking the coach what the injury situation is then reporting to us.
Kurle is greatly improved and is better back than forward.

I agree with field leaders also Foxhoven.

At this point I just hope they finish the season healthy.
I have learned a lot about the games watching loses. Things I never noticed when they were winning. I am sure they are learning a lot too, and next year we will have a battle hardened and ready team.

Really though, if a reporter did ask about the injury situation the answer would probably be a "We don't discuss injuries" a la Chip Kelly. I don't really have a problem with them keeping that stuff under wraps anyway.

Regarding injuries, looking at the box score for the San Francisco game, Sarah Bridges did not play after the first half. Lorielle came in, so she, Cloee, and Michelle O all were playing at the same time. I'm guessing that MO played left defender. In some way or another, it also seems significant that Hailee (not Hallie) came on as a field player for about 8 minutes.

Malloy Leahy was not listed for either game and was not on the bench on Friday - not even in street clothes?