2017 Season

I kinda thought we'd be seeing a report on the North Carolina St. game here by now.

It would appear the Pilots put up a pretty good fight against the ranked Wolfpack.  I'd heard they were in the final 16 last year and returned all 11 starters.

One can't expect perfection so early in the season. NC State dominated UP but did a terrible job of finishing. The Pilots' offense, which amounted to 3 shots, was anemic. If things don't improve fast, we might be looking at a 1-3 record by next week and staring down into the abyss.

NC State played a typical East Coast game, very physical and swarming on defense. The Pilots had more than 80% (my estimate) of their passes intercepted. Three Pilots appeared to have put on several pounds from last year and were slower. I saw a lot of casual jogging during the game, so I am hoping they all get into game shape soon. Keep in mind all of this is just an opinion based on what I saw.

Regardless of everyone's opinions of what they are seeing, I think we can all agree that this is not the Pilot soccer we expect. We are surely committing more resources to women's soccer than every other school in the conference except maybe BYU and Santa Clara.

Have to agree this is not Pilot soccer compared to many years of watching them. Hard to understand the inability to pass to a Pilot who is open, the apparent lack of composure with the ball, the lack of hustle, taking three stutter steps before trying a shot or a pass, waiting until the defender is one step away before deciding to make the obvious pass and then trying to pass through the defender anyway, players on top of players with the ball, running to a teammate with the ball rather than moving to space to receive the pass, dribbling into two or three defenders rather than pass to the open teammate, coasting to the free ball and allowing the defender to get there first or to the point of panic once on the ball. These have all become the norm of women's Pilot soccer for three years now and one has to wonder if this is how they are coached. They all have high accolades out of high school, so what has happened since? The men's team is so dynamic now and the women's is just not at all.

With the Pilots' loss to NC State, they now have dropped out of the Top 60 in my updated full season simulation (each week, I substitute actual results for simulated results) and have become unlikely for the NCAA Tournament.  The simulated bracket still has them as a possible at large selection from among the teams that are outside the Top 60 and that may get back into the Top 60, but even if they get back in, their prospects are more dim.  (They'd have to get back into the Top 60 even to be considered for a selection.)

I should add a note about the simulations. At this early stage of the season, I assign teams ARPI ratings based on an historic average for the team. I could assign ratings based on teams' historic ARPI trends, but I don't because overall using trended ratings would not come as close to year-end ratings as using average ratings. A result of this is that some teams that are trending in a particular direction end up with unrepresentative average ratings where trended ratings would be more representative. This could include the U of P women's team.

Marginally related to the season: the Timbers Army repped UP in their Tifo last night at the match in Seattle: Picture

I watched the Baylor game and here are my quick thoughts:

We played something that reminded me of Pilot soccer, which I appreciated. In the first half, I thought we looked pretty dangerous. It's a unfortunate we couldn't convert some of those shots to goals. I dislike that the difference in the end was that penalty in the box. It was the right call but it was a weak call, in my opinion. This game and the Florida game give me for hope for the season but it's hard to feel too excited when I know we used to wipe the floor with a team like Baylor.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:we used to wipe the floor with a team like Baylor.

Yup. The Pilots were slow to every ball for most of the match and beaten for speed on both attack and defense. But Baylor had no technical skill at all. The good Pilot teams were able to work the ball around teams like this at will and score 5 goals. Not this one.

The storied Pilot women's program is now about the level of the lower-tier WCC teams. Sad betrayal of the magnificent (but waning) support. That might be my last women's match until there is a staffing chance that restores my optimism.

SoreKnees wrote:

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:we used to wipe the floor with a team like Baylor.

Yup. The Pilots were slow to every ball for most of the match and beaten for speed on both attack and defense. But Baylor had no technical skill at all. The good Pilot teams were able to work the ball around teams like this at will and score 5 goals. Not this one.

The storied Pilot women's program is now about the level of the lower-tier WCC teams. Sad betrayal of the magnificent (but waning) support. That might be my last women's match until there is a staffing chance that restores my optimism.

QFT

After Chris Henderson predicted SCU would finish third in the WCC and UP ninth on AllWhiteKit, these were two posted comments:

Jules:
How does one explain Portland’s fall in recruitment while Santa Clara continues to do well?

FDChief:
I think the simplest explanation is “Garrett Smith isn’t Clive Charles”.

The UP program is increasingly looking like the product of one man’s technical/tactical skills as well as his personal charm and recruiting abilities. I’m unaware of whether UP lost anyone else from Charles’ tenure, but I’m guessing that Smith inherited at least some of his contacts…and yet the recruiting has dried up.

So the unfortunate conclusion has to be that whatever qualities Smith has (and I know nothing about the man personally) he lacks whatever it was that made Charles so well regarded and, as such, such a magnet for quality players.

The great success of the women's soccer program was a reflection of Clive Charles. The two national championships also were a result of having a once-in-a-lifetime kind of player: Ms. Sinclair.

The men's soccer program had a similar downward slide as the women are facing now. Now that there is new, fresh leadership in the men's program, it is heading upward again. I think we can learn some lessons from the experience of the men's program.

Went to today's game and there is only one word for the Pilots play. Wow. And I don't mean that in a good way.

A_Fan wrote:Went to today's game and there is only one word for the Pilots play.  Wow.  And I don't mean that in a good way.

Today was not a good day for our gals. Giving up possession by clearing the ball, even when not under pressure. Many mis-hit passes. Not having vision to see an open teammate in a dangerous position. Tentative when taking shots. Tentative when going after free balls.

They played a lot better on Friday, but ended up with the same result.

If I'm counting right, they have scored only one goal in the last seven games--and that was an own goal.

ehk21 wrote:

The men's soccer program had a similar downward slide as the women are facing now. Now that there is new, fresh leadership in the men's program, it is heading upward again. I think we can learn some lessons from the experience of the men's program.

The men didnt win this weekend either. It's a bit early to gauge program trends. Let's see if they make the tournament, but they are digging a whole that would require back to back WCC titles to dig out of.

Then may have already lost an at large bid.

Geezaldinho wrote:

ehk21 wrote:

The men's soccer program had a similar downward slide as the women are facing now. Now that there is new, fresh leadership in the men's program, it is heading upward again. I think we can learn some lessons from the experience of the men's program.

The men didnt win this weekend either. It's a bit early to gauge program trends. Let's see if they make the tournament, but they are digging a whole that would require back to back WCC titles to dig out of.

Then may have already lost an at large bid.

Geez, in the likely event the women's team fails to win the WCC as their only way into the tournament, would you be opposed to a staff change?

Admittedly I don't know a lot about soccer, but the Pilots looked pretty good to me in the second half before the PK clinched it in the final seconds.  It was my first game of the season, so I don't have anything to compare last night's game to.

It was a pretty raucous crowd of UP fans at the LMU game last night, and our efforts were rewarded by the great efforts of our classmates as they overcame the Lions in double-overtime.  After a few of us witnessed UP's overtime loss last week to USF, it was nice to see UP finally win an overtime game in either men's or women's soccer.

Player of the match IMO was senior GK Rachel Lusby, but it was also nice to see senior Ariel Viera finally get her first goal of the season before freshman Tayrn Ries from Ridgefield got the first goal of her career in double-OT.

As I mentioned in the men's soccer forum, having been at USD and LMU on successive nights, we should all appreciate the wonderful grass surface at Merlo....

We all knew that Ariel could score goals after she ended up second all time to Tiffany Milbrett for goals by an Oregon high schooler. It's good to see her in a scoring position finally. Maybe this will be the first of several in these final weeks.

As for the field, the folks at Merlo seem to have learned from the EPL procedures for field care as it has been its best ever the last two years. Watering the field just before each half as they do in the UK helps to keep the grass in place though it must be disconcerting to visitors when the sprinklers come on while they are on the pitch. Torero staduim, really a football field, wasn't too bad this time compared to a women's game a few years back when it was all chewed up from a football game the night before and all the loose sod was still on the field. Ugliest game I ever watched for bouncing balls.

Kevin White, the field manager for UP athletics, won the 2016 "Field of the Year" national award for his work at Merlo Field. This is awarded by the professional organization for field managers, so it comes from his peers - always the best honor.

http://portlandpilots.com/news/2016/12/14/general-white-awarded-2016-field-of-the-year-award-for-merlo-field.aspx

A little damp and windy at Merlo last night, but those few of us who endured the conditions were treated to the best game of the year for the Pilots. The first 15 minutes or so was a sight to behold, a real flurry of action around the Gonzaga goal.. The Pilots dominated the first half. While Gonzaga was more aggressive in the second half, the Pilots held their own. Looking forward to Thursday's game.

And we maintained our 0-loss streak to Gonzaga. At least that is what I interpreted from the last Portside.

The game was clearly a matter of who had the wind. The wind favored the Pilots in the first half when they did dominate for about thirty minutes and the Zags in the second half when they had the better of it though not by a lot. Rachel Lusby has to be the hero of the game with a couple of saves that she made late as Gonzaga pushed very hard to tie it up, especially in the final seconds. It was almost amusing to see her first kick of the second half when the wind nearly blew it right back to her. Not the most pleasant conditions for anyone, fans or players. It was great to see Ellie Walker get her first goal, a winner.

A_Fan wrote:A little damp and windy at Merlo last night, but those few of us who endured the conditions were treated to the best game of the year for the Pilots.  

Haha, yeah it was a little damp, and probably the most miserable weather in which I've ever witnessed a soccer match, and I used to go to Premier Division game regularly when we lived in England.

But yes, it was one of the better games even though those last few minutes seemed an eternity when GU kept getting a foot behind the ball only to be repelled by the backline and GK Rachel Lusby.

Two weeks in a row a freshman from Vancouver has scored their first goal and it was a game winner!! Congratulations to Taryn Ries and Ellie Walker.  As someone pointed out in an earlier post, Walker has been very solid all season long....

It sure would be great to see lots of folks supporting the ladies tonight as they go for their third win in a row. The weather will be so much better than their last game so no excuses.