Pilot Women Pre-Season

A little early (39 days) to be predicting anything, but College Sports Madness has already penciled in the Pilots as a post-season tournament team. They offer a description of the team that we all pretty much know and also mention the not-so-excellent season last year.

Check their comments out at: http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/4354

How long 'til practice starts? Can't be too long with some teams having Exh. games on Aug 10th.

The first game of the year is one day earlier than last year, so we just have to count back one day for the first day of practice. I have a vague recollection that it was AUG 4th last year, so... The Third?

I'm checking the 2012 roster on the site right now, and there are just eighteen players listed. Are there going to be any new additions before the season starts? Because, wow, that's a very thin roster if the numbers stay the same.

You should have been here this Spring when we needed to put one of the keepers in the field to put 11 on the pitch (won every match).

That's small, but not unhead of at UP, where 20-22 is considered "normal". We rostered 20 last year , and that included 3 keepers and listed Kendall Johnson on the rolls, who was out for the season with an ACL. The biggest roster I can think of in recent years was a couple of years ago with 23, and UP won 2 championships with 22 with a couple of those players out with injuries for the year.

Its the same size as the one that went to the College Cup in 1997 and played UNC to four overtimes.

Pre-Season final rankings for recruiting for 2012 from All White Kit:

-This is the last update for this season unless I’ve missed something drastic, as I’ve checked data for every DI club through a few days ago. As a rite of passage, Florida State will inevitably have one or two surprises come August, which would likely bump them up further.

-For those wondering if Summer Green joining UNC early had any effect on the final rankings, the answer is no. But the margin between North Carolina and Notre Dame would be much, much smaller had she not joined this season.

Teams 26-100 after the jump + rankings by conference…

1. North Carolina
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Lindsey Horan, F, FR, Golden, Colorado

2. Notre Dame
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Cari Roccaro, F/M/D, FR, East Islip, New York

3. UCLA
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Taylor Smith, F, FR, Fort Worth, Texas

4. Virginia
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Makenzy Doniak, F, FR, Chino Hills, California

5. Santa Clara
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Andi Tostanoski, GK, FR, Colorado Springs, Colorado

6. Maryland
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Ashley Spivey, M, FR, Sparrows Point, Maryland

7. Boston College
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Alexa Gaul, GK, SR, Naperville, Illinois (Transfer from Texas)

8. Stanford
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Laura Liedle, D, FR, San Diego, California

9. USC
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Caroline Stanley, GK, SO, Kansas City, Missouri (Transfer from Missouri)

10. Texas
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Abby Smith, GK, FR, Dallas, Texas

11. Washington
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Isabel Farrell, M, FR, Bellevue, Washington

12. Cal
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Nina Frausing Pedersen, D, JR, Silkeborg, Denmark (Transfer from Texas)

13. Alabama
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Shelby Church, GK, JR, Orinda, California (Transfer from USC)

14. Wisconsin
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Diamond Simpson, M/F, FR, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

15. Miami (FL)
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Tina Romagnuolo, M, SR, Stouffville, Ontario, Canada (Transfer from Syracuse)

16. Kentucky
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Courtney Raetzman, M, FR, Elk Grove Village, Illinois

17. Florida State
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Rachel Price, D, FR, Melbourne Beach, Florida

18. Kansas
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Cassie Dickerson, D, SR, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Transfer from Ohio State)

19. UCF
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Sophie Howard, D, FR, Hanau, Germany

20. Virginia Tech
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Ashley Meier, M, FR, Strongsville, Ohio

21. Duke
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Cassie Pecht, M, FR, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

22. Texas Tech
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Janine Beckie, F, FR, Highlands Ranch, Colorado

23. BYU
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Cloee Colohan, D/M, JR, West Point, Utah (Transfer from Portland)

24. Arizona State
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Nina Brueggemann, D, FR, Hamburg, Germany

25. LSU
PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Fernanda Pina, F/M, FR, Puebla, Mexico

56. Portland

All White Kit has also determined that Portland's recruit ranking in the WCC for 2012 is 4th best.

Maybe I don't understand this all to well, but I am noticing that after one "bad" season (but, what amounts to very good compared to most schools) we are dropped like we went out of fashion compared to some of these other schools.

Don't underestimate AWK's Chris Henderson. The question for the Pilots this year will be whether they can continue to prove that a well coached team can outperform 20 high school All Americans.

TOP DRAWER SOCCER is previewing ten programs...starting with UNC, Duke, UCLA, Texas A&M, and Portland.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/10-comments-on-womens-college-soccer_aid24586