Santa Clara -- Thursday 11/7

According to this morning's Oregonian and the UP website, the Pilots game against Santa Clara at Merlo Field on Thursday November 7 will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

Set your DVRs now....see you at the game.

Article in the Portland Tribune about this game...

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/200021-soccer-as-usual-a-lot-riding-on-pilots-santa-clara

Thanks for posting.

The Pilots will wrap up their WCC schedule Sunday at home against San Francisco, 7 p.m. wrote:

This might be true, I will go Saturday before 2:30 just to be sure.

Dan No Yell wrote:This might be true, I will go Saturday before 2:30 just to be sure.

Good idea!   Heckuva weekend on the Bluff…note the unusual game times:
 
Thursday:
 
SCU @ Women’s Soccer @ 8pm (Nationally on ESPNU)
 
Friday:
 
Eastern Washington @ Women’s Basketball @ 5:15pm
UC Davis @ Men’s Basketball @ 7:30pm
 
Saturday:
 
USF @ Women’s Soccer @ 2:30pm

Um, I guess I wasn't paying attention....
 
Went online to scout SCU and found they've outscored their opponents 20-2 in the last 3 games...yikes.  
 
I'm sure Erin is aware of that....

No. 12 Pilots to Host No. 8 Santa Clara in WCC Showdown on ESPNU on Thursday Night

On the web: http://www.portlandpilots.com/news/2013/11/4/WSOC_1104133429.aspx

Video preview with soundbites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXDTX0O9_xU&hd=1

Weekend video trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTUeldMd3uQ&hd=1

#12 PORTLAND PILOTS (14-2-1, 6-1-0 WCC)

vs. #8 SANTA CLARA BRONCOS (13-3-1, 7-0-0 WCC)

Date: Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013

Location: Portland, Ore.

Kick-off: 8:00 p.m.

Pitch: Merlo Field (4,892)

TV: ESPNU

Online: ESPN3.com & Watch ESPN

Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com

POR vs. SCU

Overall Series: 14-15-3

Here: 8-5-1

There: 4-10-2

Neutral: 2-0-0

Last: POR 2, @SCU 2 (2ot) - Nov. 1, 2012

#12 PORTLAND PILOTS (14-2-1, 6-1-0 WCC)

vs. SAN FRANCISCO DONS (6-8-4, 1-4-2 WCC)

Date: Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013

Location: Portland, Ore.

Kick-off: 2:30 p.m.

Pitch: Merlo Field (4,892)

Live Video: PilotsVideo.com

Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com

POR vs. USF

Overall Series: 25-0-1

Here: 12-0-1

There: 12-0-0

Neutral: 1-0-0

Last: @POR 5, USF 0 - Nov. 3, 2012

THIS WEEK

• The No. 12 Pilots will play first-place and eighth-ranked Santa Clara on Thursday night at 8 p.m. at Merlo Field in front of a national television audience on ESPNU; the game will also be streamed live on ESPN3.com and through the Watch ESPN app.

• Portland then concludes the regular season on Saturday against San Francisco at 2:30 p.m. at Merlo Field; UP will honor its seven seniors with a ceremony prior to kickoff.

THE RIVALRY

• Portland-Santa Clara has grown into quite the rivalry over the years as one of these two schools has either won outright or shared a portion the WCC title 19 times out of the 20 years the conference has competed in women’s soccer.

• Portland and Santa Clara also claim the league’s only national titles in the sport, with UP winning in 2002 and 2005 and Santa Clara winning the crown in 2001.

• In 2002, the Pilots defeated the Broncos 2-1 in double overtime in the national championship to win the school’s first NCAA crown.

• UP has won five of the past eight meetings with Santa Clara and the two teams played to a 2-2 draw last year at Santa Clara.

ABOUT THE PILOTS

• The Pilots have won 11 of their last 12 games and have allowed just one goal during the run of play against WCC foes, which came during a 1-0 loss to BYU on Oct. 26 at Merlo Field.

• That loss to BYU snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Pilots, which was the longest for the program since also winning 10 in a row in 2010.

• The crowd of 5,011 fans at the BYU game marked the sixth largest crowd in UP women’s soccer history at Merlo Field; a school-record 1,768 students were also present.

• Two of Portland’s four goals allowed against WCC opponents have come on PK’s (at Pepperdine and at Saint Mary’s), while another came on an own-goal (vs. Gonzaga).

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/9931993/ncaa-women-soccer-power-rankings-loud-proud-portland

Dan No Yell wrote:http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/9931993/ncaa-women-soccer-power-rankings-loud-proud-portland

You've got to love Graham!

Being part of the “Spirit Fraternity," Upsilon Omega Pi in the 60’s, we thought we were pretty loud and provided good entertainment……we didn’t even come close to what the Villa Maria “Villans” provide in the way of atmosphere today…..good article.

Does anyone know what channel this is on Comcast????? Thanks....Ed

estplnr wrote:Does anyone know what channel this is on Comcast????? Thanks....Ed

Well, it really depends on what city you live in.
 
In the Portland/Vancouver area I get ESPNU on 411 and 727 (HD).  I believe you have to subscribe to the "Digital Preferred" package to receive it.
 
The game is shown at 8 PM PST and is repeated at 1 AM PST.  Hope that helps.

It will also be available online at WatchESPN, though I believe only to those whose internet providers pony up to ESPN. You'll just have to give it a shot:

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/

The nice thing, though, is that they make replays available with no restrictions.

ESPNU  is on ch. 208 on DirectTV.

They also show a replay at 1:00AM Fri.

Thanks DoubleDipper

I'm excited. Ready to get wet and cheer.
I have a knot in my stomach after reading up on Santa Clara's web site.
The back line will need to be perfect for 90.

The Broncos have scored 20 goals in their last three games after scoring nine each against San Francisco and Pepperdine and two against LMU. It is the most goals in a three game stretch for Santa Clara since Oct. 9-14, 2001 when the team scored 21 goals with a 6-1 win vs. Fresno State, a 5-0 win vs. San Francisco and a 10-0 win at Gonzaga. "We've had some great scorers here but to have 20 goals in a three-game span is very tough to do," said Smith. "We knew we had good goal scoring potential and we said before the season we would be able to score goals. The players have to stay disciplined because we're not scoring big numbers of goals every time we're out there. As coaches we hope the team will have the maturity and discipline to stay in the moment and not get ahead of ourselves." With a big trip to a tough place to play coming up, Smith knows that the team has to stay focused on the present and can't ride the good feelings that come with scoring so many goals. "In sports we get ahead of ourselves all the time," continued Smith. "We live up to a couple things in our program and one is good offense wins championships. The other one we stay committed to is that you're only as good as your next game. I think we're a little guilty of going into the LMU game and shooting from everywhere thinking everything was going to go in. Hopefully we learned a valuable lesson coming off another game where we scored nine goals." Santa Clara has outscored opponents 50-16 and a whopping 29-3 in conference action. The 50 goals lead the WCC by 16 and rank the Broncos third nationally. They are also tied for first in the WCC with 33 assists. The Broncos are nearly doubling-up opponents in shots 322-181 and 159-92 in shots on goal. They are dominating both halves, outscoring teams 26-8 in the first half and 23-7 in the second half. Santa Clara has nine shutouts on the season, tied for the conference-lead, and the 0.94 GAA is third in conference. The Broncos' offense is led by a trio with double-digit goals scored. Julie Johnston leads the WCC with 12 goals, six assists and 30 points. Johnston has scored four game-winners in 2013. Morgan Marlborough is third in the conference with 11 goals and has five assists, good for 27 points that puts her second in the WCC. Sofia Huerta has scored 10 goals, fourth in the conference, and added five assists for 25 points that ties her for third in the conference. Freshman Jordan Jesolva has found the back of the net five times and added two assists. Eight other Broncos have scored at least one goal while seven others have at least one assist. Andi Tostanoski has a 0.95 GAA while making 74 saves. Tostanoski has a .831 save percentage, tops in the WCC, and has picked up six solo shutouts. wrote:

One bright spot is that early in the season SC had a hard time playing great teams in front of large crowds.
Ready to see our great team play with a large home and tv crowd.

So that ESPN article by Graham Hays implies that a 3-way tie would end up in tiebreaker scenarios (which I read elsewhere Portland can't win), but the ESPNU announcers it would be a flat-out 3-way co-championship. They are apparently going to talk about that at the half.

Edit: I understand now: The tiebreaker will determine the automatic seed, but they will still be co-champs.

PILOT'S WIN 3-1     

great job by the ESPN crew on the telecast.
could not make game    boo hoo

For those who missed the game or who can't sleep at night ESPN Watch will re-air the game tomorrow(Friday) at 1PM PST . To watch go to ESPN Watch select the upcoming tab and select the game.


http://espn.go.com/watchespn/

EDIT -  The time is 1AM PST not 1 PM PST. About an hour and twenty minutes from now.

Best game I've seen from the Pilots for a few years. Showed SCU how to play possession soccer. The frosh showed maturity beyond their years. This moves UP into #16 ARPI and in good position for seed.

Still smiling.

That's about as complete a game as I have seen this Pilot team play all year, and just at the right time. They showed they can do this several times this year, most notably the first half against Wake, but there was no letup coming out of the half this time.

Great game to watch, Santa Clara is a very good team, but UP was better all across the board this time.

Geezaldinho wrote:Great game to watch, Santa Clara is a very good team, but UP was better all across the board this time.

Totally agree, Geez.  
 
I really, really liked SCU's players....strong and physical, and usually able to score at will....but tonight UP was without a doubt the superior TEAM!
 
If I remember the rules on such things, if there is a 3-way tie for first in the WCC (BYU, SCU, UP)...SCU will win the automatic bid based on number of goals scored in league play....is that right?
 
(Disappointed at the number of no-show fans tonight....if they stayed home to watch the Ducks and Cardinal on TV....they were probably disappointed too.   )

Um.. There was another game across town as well.

The auto bid doesn't mean a lot. Yes, SCU will get it if the three teams in out Saturday.

But I think UP gets the tiebreaker against SCU if they are compared against SCU for a seed.

Right now UP is 16, SCU is 15 in the adjusted RPI, but We win the head to head, common opponents, and wins of top 25 teams comparisons.

Both teams are very closet to being seeded.

WOW!
Kurle played the best I have ever seen her play.
McClusky was a monster.
Everyone gave it everything.

Did anyone see the foul that lead to the PK?
Does anyone know why the one goal was waved off?
I saw that play well and saw no offsides or fouling.

I broke my vow not to yell at the refs. Lots of fun yelling at them, but except for a few mystery calls I thought they did a good job. To be honest, I only question the mystery calls because they didn't go my way.

We played great for 90 minutes.
Santa Clara folded, in the 2nd half of the second, under the bright lights of Merlo Field and ESPN.

I'm hoping to see everyone play on Saturday.

Portland next concludes the regular season against San Francisco on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Merlo Field. UP will celebrate senior day on Saturday and the Pilots will honor Sarah Bridges, Kaila Cameli, Micaela Capelle, Michelle Cruz, Erin Dees, Nichole Downing, Amanda Frisbie and Ellen Parker with a pre-game ceremony. wrote:

Downing?