Michelle vs "Marta"

Couldn't resist that topic heading. As I was bumbling around the net tonight, I came up with something I've just got to share with you all. This is kind of inspired by the fact that so far this postseason, the national All-America teams that have been announced have completely overlooked Michelle Enyeart.

I believe there are other national honors yet to come, but the NCSAA and Soccer America Magazine have completely ignored Michelle. (On another thread about Soccer America's choices, fozziewozzie and I have had a nice little discussion about this.)

So...without further ado, check out this :

http://uspresswire.com/search/keywords/Michelle%20Enyeart

Seems as if last July, Michelle and the U.S. Women's U-20 National team, made it to the final of the 2007 Pan American Games against none other that the Brazilian Senior Women's National Team. There are six pictures of Michelle on the webpage. The top four pictures are against Brazil. Click on the individaul picture to enlarge it and reveal a short explanation of the shot. In two of those pictures Michelle is going fearlessly head-to-head against possibly the greatest women's soccer player of all time - at least Pele seems to think so - the incomparable "Marta" !!!

That Michelle was even on the same pitch with the player who after 2008 might be joining Major League Soccer's L.A. Galaxy, or possibly another (yes, she'd be the first and only woman) MLS club, speaks volumes about the respect that Michelle has with National Team Coaches and international competition.

Fanatic,

I did a little research of my own. Following are the stats for the forwards named 1st, 2nd, and 3rd team all americans by the NSCAA,
1st Team
Brittan Bock, Notre Dame, 16 goals, 4 assists for 36 points.
Lauren Cheney, UCLA, 23 goals, 11 assists for 57 points.
Parrissa Eyoroken, Purdue, 12 goals, 6 assists for 30 points.
Kerri Hanks, Notre Dame, 26 goals, 14 assists for 66 points.
Mami Yamaguchi, Florida State, 24 goals, 18 assists for 66 points.

2nd Team
Annie Lowry, James Madison, 10 goals, 6 assists for 26 points.
Kelley O'Hara, Stanford, 9 goals 5 assists for 23 points.
Carrie Patterson, Georgia, 13 goals, 6 assists for 32 points.
Katie Schoepfer, Penn State, 15 goals, 5 assists for 35 points.

3rd Team
Ashley Brooks, West Virginia, 15 goals, 8 assists for 38 points.
Katie Larkin, BYU, 15 goals, 5 assists for 35 points.
Ashlee Pistorius, Texas, 25 goals, 9 assists for 59 points.
Claire Simmeck, William & Mary, 17 goals, 0 assists, for 34 points.

Michelle had 12 goals and 15 assists for 39 points.

As you can see only 4 of the 13 named as All Americans outscored her. If it's not about scoring, what is it? How many of those teams went farther in the NCAA tournament than Portland? Which of those forwards were on the Pan Am team and how many were called into the full women's national camp? Apparently, none of the other coachs watched any of Portland's televised games where they could have seen "The Goal" vs San Diego, "The Steal" vs Colorado or "The Bullet" against Tennessee. Just thinking of those highlights makes me want to replay them so I think I will.

Thanks, bluffer, for the research and the work that went with it. It's very interesting.

I've not been very impressed with the various publications' and NSCAA's rankings this year and more recently have not been impressed with their All American selections. I think almost all of them have trouble dealing with the fact that the center of gravity for NCAA Division I women's soccer is in the West Region and that it is there in a very big and dominating way. It shows up in their spreading their All America selections around the country when a great proportion of them should be from the West.

I'll also say here, given Kelley O'Hara from Stanford's selection to the 2nd team despite significantly lesser stats than Michelle's, that I thought as the season progressed that Stanford was over-rated. Want to know one of the main probable reasons? Of Stanford's non-Pac 10 games, it played 8 against non-West region teams. Stanford's apparently figured out that the strength is in the West and that good West region teams that play most of their games against other teams from the West get dissed by the RPI as well as by the polls, so if you want to get a high RPI and high rankings from the polls, you should play as many non-conference games as possible against teams from other regions.

well, here's a team Michelle made--SoccerBuzz West team:

http://soccerbuzz.com/2007awards/west/allregionals.htm

That may not be as high an accolade as she deserves but it is some recognition; perhaps there is more to come. BTW, Stephanie and Angie also made the team.

There are 3 from UCLA and 3 from Portland on the team. San Diego and Santa Clara have one each.

Go Pilots!

On that same site for West region all stars,
Keelin made the 2nd team
Sophie made the 3rd team
Elli, Sophie, & Keelin made the All Frosh