2013 Fall Season

http://www.portlandpilots.com/schedule.aspx?path=wsoc

No tournament in Seattle?

Well, they didn't play in ours last year, and they didn't play us.

I like that we are having two double headers with the men (Sept 13 and 15)

and that we will have 25 home games. The men have been playing on the road a majority of the time in the non-conf. season the last few years. this will be w welcome change.

see you at Stanford .. and Moraga..

A BS poster notes an apparent conflict.

hykos1045, post: 27798715, member: 169482 wrote:Apparent conflict:

Missouri is at Portland 9/15/13, per Portland schedule.
Missouri is vs. UMass (at College Station TX) 9/15/13, per UMass schedule.

It will be interesting to see what Mizzou thinks.

PAC 12 Networks released their TV schedule.  No Pilot games on TV, but I always like to see what's on, when there is no Pilot game or no Pilot coverage of a game.

http://pac-12.com/Sports/SoccerW/Schedule.aspx

One mystery solved ( maybe). This weekend I wrote to Mizzou's coach and pointed out to him that UMass and UP both had Mizzou on their schedule for 9/15.

Today, they announced a tentative schedule. Sorry UMass, you lost.

http://www.mutigers.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/miss-w-soccer-sched.html

PurpleGeezer wrote:One mystery solved ( maybe). This weekend I wrote to Mizzou's coach and pointed out to him that UMass and UP both had Mizzou on their schedule for 9/15.

Today, they announced a tentative schedule. Sorry UMass, you lost.

http://www.mutigers.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/miss-w-soccer-sched.html

It's crazy how the women's soccer scheduling process works, at least for some schools. I've sent similar communications to couple of schools over the past few years to get them to clean up their schedules, since I prepare an advance master schedule for my RPI purposes. (nc-soccer also prepares an advance schedule, as you know. I do my own advance schedule and then cross-vet our schedules as we go through the season to be sure both of us have the correct games, game locations, etc.)

Got my flex pass tickets in the mail today. Season no far away now.

The rich get richer...and the poor get children.

No. 1 scorer transfers to Stanford
Article Written by ESNN
Published: July 8, 2013
COMMENT

Taylor Uhl, the nation’s leading scorer last season while playing for the University of Minnesota women’s soccer team, has transferred to Stanford and be immediately eligible to play this fall.

As a sophomore in 2012, Uhl scored 21 goals and had 9 assists for a national-best 51 points while leading the Golden Gophers to an 11-7-2 record and a berth in the Big Ten Conference tournament. Uhl scored or assisted on 68 percent of the team’s 44 goals and was named an NSCAA third-team All-American.

On Monday, the last of the paperwork was completed, including the receipt of a waiver from Minnesota that allow Uhl to be immediately eligible. Unlike football, basketball, and ice hockey, there is a one-time transfer exception. This means that if an institution has no objection, the student-athlete does not have to sit out a year.

“It was a huge need for us,” Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said. “We’ve been looking for a goal-scorer and a prominent forward, and she’s one of the best in the country. We’re really excited that she’s coming to Stanford.”

At Stanford, she’ll join a frontline that returns all three starters, including its top two scorers -- fifth-year senior Courtney Verloo (10 goals, 11 assists) and junior Chioma Ubogagu (5 goals, 11 assists), an All-Pac-12 first team selection. The Cardinal finished 21-2-1, reached its fifth consecutive NCAA College Cup and won its fourth consecutive Pac-12 title.

“I expect to come in and earn my spot and earn respect,” Uhl said.

Uhl is a 5-foot-9 forward from Eden Prairie, Minn., and was a four-year letterwinner in basketball and soccer, and also earned three in lacrosse and one in track at Eden Prairie High. She was the Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year for soccer and was spotted by Ratcliffe at a regional tournament and contacted by the Cardinal coach, but already was too far along in the recruiting process and signed with the Gophers without visiting Stanford.

But Uhl, a biomedical engineering major at Minnesota, reconsidered and asked for a release from her scholarship in mid-April.

“Stanford is obviously a top academic and athletic school,” Uhl said. “That was something I was looking for.”

On the day that her release went through and she was allowed to contact other schools, Uhl e-mailed Ratcliffe.

“I remembered her straightaway and I contacted her immediately,” Ratcliffe said. “Once I got the release in hand, I e-mailed her as quickly as I could. I always remembered, I always liked her, and I followed her through her career at Minnesota. She’s had a phenomenal first couple of years and we’re hoping her last two will be even better.”

This time, Tayor and her parents, David and JoEllen, made the trip, which clinched the deal.

“I loved the campus and the atmosphere,” Uhl said. “It was, honestly, too good to be true in my mind."

It also almost seemed too good to be true for Ratcliffe, who had been seeking a high-scoring forward since the graduation of 2011 Soccer America Player of the Year Lindsay Taylor.

“It’s very important in the game,” Ratcliffe said. “You can have a good team, but if you don’t have natural goal-scorers, that can prevent you from competing for a national championship.”

In two seasons with the Golden Gophers, she scored 36 goals and passed for 13 assists. In addition to her All-America honor last year, she was named NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region, and to the All-Big Ten first team and Big Ten All-Academic team.

At Stanford, her role will not change.

“My role is to score goals,” Uhl said. “I feel I can get behind the defense for breakaways and use my speed to my advantage. I know how to put the ball into the back of the net. The goals may not always be pretty, but that doesn’t really matter.”

Ratcliffe described Uhl as “a dynamic, powerful forward. Hopefully, she’ll be similar to (Stanford national players of the year) Christen Press, Kelley O’Hara, and Lindsay Taylor, who were scoring 20 goals or more in a season.

“She’s fast, skillful, and, most importantly, she scores goals, which is like gold.”

Uhl prides herself on her composure in front of the net.

“For me, everything slows down,” Uhl said. “For others, it speeds up and they tend to panic. The mental aspect is such an important part of scoring goals.”

Uhl already has completed the spring semester at Minnesota and is spending the summer playing for the Ottawa Fury of the semi-pro W-League. She has never played with anyone on the Stanford team, but has gotten support since announcing her transfer on Twitter, including a “Welcome to the team! So stoked!” response from goalkeeper Emily Oliver.

“I’m happy we’re getting a second chance,” Ratcliffe said. “Not many times in life you can say get a second chance. And this is a second chance for me to coach her and a second chance for her to come to Stanford.”

Uhl, who will major in bio engineering at Stanford, will join her new teammates in reporting to fall camp on August 6 and will first introduce herself to Stanford fans at a home scrimmage on Aug. 17 against Grand Canyon. The Cardinal opens the season in earnest on Aug. 23 at Boston College and officially opens its home season on Aug. 31 (7 p.m.) against Portland.

“Taylor’s a fantastic person,” Ratcliffe said. “She’s going to be a great fit for Stanford, both academically and athletically.”

Good for Ms. Uhl.

I would think (most) anyone who had a chance to major in bio engineering at Stanford would leap at the opportunity....there isn't really a better program in the country....and they play great soccer.

Not to mention the weather might be slightly better than the Twin Cities....

But much harder to see Garrison Keeler live.

A_Fan wrote:But much harder to see Garrison Keeler live.

HA, well played. Proximity to Lake Woebegone is assuredly the #1 priority on any teenage student athlete's list of desirable program traits...

Hillsboro Tribune article on Emily Sippel implies that confidence in her from the Pilot staff is high. A nice article overall.

http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/index.ssf/2013/06/soccer_westview_graduate_emily.html

game on.......

Danica Evans is on the Top Drawer list of Top Freshmen for 2013.

Top Drawer Divison I Preseason Womens Best

Is practice starting this week.

I see on nc-soccer site that some teams have exhibition games this coming Friday. Won't be long before we're enjoying those warm evenings at Merlo.

This years blogger is Lorielle. Post 1 is here:

http://portlandpilots.com/news/2013/8/12/WSOC_0812132710.aspx

I had no idea she could claim a Canadian passport.

Pilots Picked Second in the WCC; Cruz, Frisbie Land Preseason All-Conference Honors



SAN BRUNO, Calif. --- The Portland Pilots women’s soccer team was picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference, while seniors Michelle Cruz and Amanda Frisbie have been selected to the 2013 preseason all-conference team in a poll of the WCC’s 10 head coaches. Frisbie earned All-WCC First Team honors as a junior last fall, while Cruz landed on the all-conference second team.



Santa Clara was selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2013 WCC Title after capturing all nine possible first place votes and 81 overall points in the poll. The WCC placed four teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament.



The Pilots enter the 2013 season with high expectations as 16 letterwinners and nine starters return from a team that reached the second round of the 2012 NCAA Playoffs. The Pilots have advanced to at least the second round of the NCAA playoffs for 13 straight years and Portland has secured a playoff berth during 20 of the past 21 seasons.



Frisbie led the league in goals (12) and points (33) and tied for the lead in assists (9) last season. The native of McKinney, Texas, also had team-best three game-winners and scored four goals during a 5-0 win over Fresno State, becoming the 16th player in program history to net four goals in a game. Frisbie was named the league’s Player of the Month for October last fall after registering five goals and two assists during the month.



Cruz, along with Frisbie, was one of three players to start all 21 games for the Pilots last season. She was second on team with six assists and 16 points, third with five goals and had one game-winner. Cruz, who originally hails from Thousand Oaks, Calif., was named CollegeSoccer360.com Primetime Performer after scoring two goals during win over Pepperdine and notching the game-winner against LMU. She also scored equalizer against Washington State during the First Round of NCAA playoffs to help send the match to PK’s.



Portland's freshman class has been ranked as the fifth best recruiting class in the nation and is headlined by U-20 National Team Member Allison Wetherington and U-18 National Team players Danica Evans and Ellie Boon.



Portland received 68 points in the poll, while BYU was selected to finish third with 67 points. Pepperdine garnered 57 points in the survey and San Diego earned 51 points to finish fifth. The Toreros were followed by Loyola Marymount (38 points), San Francisco (29 points) and Saint Mary’s (26 points), with Gonzaga (22 points) and WCC newcomer Pacific (10 points) rounding out the survey.



The Pilots open the season at home against Marquette on Friday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. at Merlo Field. Portland will also host Portland State in an exhibition match this Saturday night at 7 p.m.



2013 WEST COAST CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL

Team (First Place Votes), Points

1. Santa Clara (9), 81

2. Portland (1), 68

3. BYU, 67

4. Pepperdine, 57

5. San Diego, 51

6. Loyola Marymount, 38

7. San Francisco, 29

8. Saint Mary’s, 26

9. Gonzaga, 22

10. Pacific, 10



2013 PRESEASON ALL-WEST COAST CONFERENCE TEAM

Player, School, Yr., Pos.

Cloee Colohan, BYU, Sr., M

Michelle Cruz, Portland, Sr., M/D

Amanda Frisbie, Portland, Sr., F

Sofia Huerta , Santa Clara, Jr., F

Julie Johnston, Santa Clara, Sr., M

Rachel Manning, BYU, Sr., M

Michele Murphy, BYU, So., F/M

Meghan O’Rourke, San Diego, Jr., D

Erica Owens, BYU, Sr., GK

Michelle Pao, Pepperdine, Sr., D/M

Lynn Williams, Pepperdine, Jr., F

Fourth to first is quite a jump for SCU. Weren't they picked first last year?

http://instagram.com/p/dBEISASj1s/
Downing is in the senior photo. Will we only have one GK next year, a freshman? Downing is listed as a rs-jr.

That means Downing is a Jr. athletically, who has used her Redshirt year (two years ago). Unless she opts not to play, she will be back next season.