2018 Season

Sound Voltex wrote:Told me he will be out for at least a week, I believe, due to a rolled ankle or some ankle injury.

Looks like he came back early with Rey as the opposing team strikes first in the first half and the Pilots can't answer (again).

I know we're a second half team and the WCC is a tough conference and all but (I mean this in a real nice way) can we not keep doing this?

After going down 2-0 on a PK, the Pilots do answer back in the second half, but no miracle in Negoesco Stadium as the Pilots undefeated streak is ended by the Dons of all teams 2-1. Barring a season-ending miracle, based on what I saw tonight, I don't feel confident in chances of hosting tournament games or St. Mary's and the conference title.

Some other random notes for those who might've been focused on the Women's game:
- There was heavy fog throughout the game make hard to distinguish teams, forcing the Pilots to change their tops from away dark purple to home white in the second half. Commentators mentioned that Pilots initially requested USF do it but got it turned against them as USF remained in dark green.
- There was a lot of atypical clock stoppage/resets, not just for injury, but things like goal kicks/yellow cards/fouls, making the commentators very confused and giving the stream clock people a headache.
- Commentators suggesting Portland doing an amount of flopping near the end, and why they get a lot of penalties called for them.


Non-serious note: So far I'm 0-2-1 when watching Pilots teams on stream post-moving to Seattle (and didn't watch the women's game tonight which they won). Maybe I should stop tuning in for awhile. Obviously causing some bad vuju.

Outstanding performance last night at Santa Clara. The Pilots moved the ball around very well and created chances while denying Santa Clara space in the midfield and stifling any attempts in our defensive end.

It seems to me like last night was the "we can score and win without Benji" coming-out party. When a team has a player who is as much of a threat as Michel is (when healthy), they naturally orient their attack around him. When he is not available, they often struggle. We have seen this earlier in the year when Benji has been either injured or double-teamed by the opponents. Last night, they seemed to move beyond this and were really effective. The two goals were scored by our budding super-star freshman midfielders. What a delight it will be to watch them get even better in the next few years!

We still have our two toughest conference games ahead, against the pre-season favorite and the current leader. But if they play as they did last night, I'm cautiously optimistic. And if they were to win both, they would win the league, matching St. Mary's on record and winning head-to-head.

SoreKnees wrote:We still have our two toughest conference games ahead, against the pre-season favorite and the current leader. But if they play as they did last night, I'm cautiously optimistic. And if they were to win both, they would win the league, matching St. Mary's on record and winning head-to-head.

The loss at USF on Friday obviously puts the pressure on UP to win the final two games after the team’s RPI plummeted to #29, down from #16 last week.

Thanks for doing the math, SoreKnees, you’re correct, two wins for UP wraps up the WCC Championship….but it could be a tall order.

#8 SMC (4-0-1) plays at GU on Sunday before coming Portland the following week, while #48 UOP (3-2-0) faces #29 UP (3-1-1) at home this coming Saturday night before traveling to Spokane. GU is #183, and is 0-5-0 in WCC play.

It could be a great showdown at Merlo Field on November 10th when the Pilots host the Gaels...let's hope it is!

UP @ UOP.

Was an evenly matched first half with nobody finding answers. Understandable.

Then in the second half, the Pilots finally broke the drought thanks to Arteaga.
Then the Tigers answered back with their first goal.
Then one minute later they answered with another by the same guy.
Then one minute later they answered with another by the same guy.

3 goals given up in 3 minutes all by the same guy. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH THIS TEAM

Arteaga provided one answer, but nobody could find a second answer before the clock hit 90 minutes.

And that I believe nixes any chance of a WCC championship.

Even if UP won next week and Gonzaga somehow pulled off an upset of UOP, Gaels would be 4-1-1. They still would have 1 less loss than us and would break the tie (I think. I'm not 100% sure how tiebreakers work). Best case would be tied-2nd, worst case is 5th if we lose and USF and USD win their games. Conference will either go to Pacific or St. Mary's. Pray for at-large again I guess.

2-2 on the WCC road this year. Which is one better than last year I guess, but that's not saying much considering the wins were against last place Gonzaga and next to last place Santa Clara.

A few random comments on a very disappointing match.

1. The defense has been a little ropy all year. They have tended to concede early goals and goals in bunches (at Seattle early on, for example). Lionel Mills was missing yesterday. Is he the senior glue that has kept the defense together? Clearly center back must be a recruiting priority.

2. Did the lack of away games during the non-conference season cost us in the away conference games? The only scheduled away match turned out to be a neutral site game in front of an empty stadium, so we haven't had to deal with an opponent's fans or stadium until the conference season started. And from the video feeds, it looked like playing conditions in some of those places were less than ideal. Playing on Merlo and practicing on beautifully manicured practice pitches doesn't prepare one for the bobbles and bounces that happen on poor-quality grass fields. (Maybe they should practice at Columbia Park a couple of times?) Of course, we would not likely have been undefeated if we had played some of those tough teams away. Hard to tell which way that cuts when it comes to an NCAA berth. I assume that next year we will have lots of away games against some of the same sides.

3. This is a good side when Michel and Ortiz are not contributing, but a very good side when both of them are on their game. We haven't had both in good form since September. They do a lot on their own, of course, but their presence also makes space for others, which makes Magana-Rivera, Soares, Pereira, Dixon, Hendel, etc. more of a threat.

4. I've said it before, but the midfield pair of Tracey and Arteaga and going to be such fun to watch if they stay, and stay healthy. (I just added "Arteaga" to my MS dictionary because I have a feeling I'm going to be typing it a lot...)

5. We'll miss the seniors, of course, but next year's squad has the potential to take a step up from this year if a comparable recruiting class joins and if everyone else is back and fit. While it's frustrating to have our NCAA hopes clouded, I'm sure that we all like this a lot better than the last few Irwin years when we were struggling to stay out of the WCC cellar at this point in the season.

Thanks for your analysis and perspective SoreKnees, I always look forward to your posts as a way of learning more about the game....

"Clouded" is certainly a way to describe UP's postseason chances now, and I'm afraid those clouds are dark and full of ice at this point as UP has dropped to #39 in the RPI, and trails #10 SMC and #33 UOP in that category while trailing those two schools and USF in the WCC standings.

Winning the WCC two years ago and rising to national prominence this season has certainly raised UP's profile and has raised hope, and even expectations, from the fans.  Sure, we'll be disappointed if the season ends a lot quicker than we thought it would, but I've enjoyed the entertainment UP soccer has brought (men's and women's) and look forward to the 2019 season and beyond....it will be interesting to what next year's schedule and lineup will look like.

But first, let’s get out and support our team on Senior Night against SMC next Saturday!

Helluva shot by SMC off the dead ball for the 1-0 win.  I've viewed the tape of the "offside" that caused UP's goal to be called back, maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can verify they were actually offside...I can't see it!

The Pilots shouldn't be hanging their heads, they played a good game and had a very good season.

I'm told the Pilots at #36 RPI (SMC is #8 and UOP #34) have little chance of making the postseason, but without doing the math of automatic bids and who is in or out, I'm confident UP will travel somewhere for at least one more game...it would be fitting considering the successful season they enjoyed before injuries derailed their late season run.

We should know more on Monday...

https://twitter.com/i/status/1061484738035118080

DoubleDipper wrote:I've viewed the tape of the "offside" that caused UP's goal to be called back, maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can verify they were actually offside...I can't see it!

I wasn't there last night, but watching the video it looks like the ref is indicating a push rather than offsides. I watched it several times, and I sure don't see much... best guess I have is that he called it on Drew Boyd (#24) for obstruction at the :03 mark (and :30 on the replay) on this video: https://twitter.com/PortlandPilots/status/1061484738035118080

Really, really tough call for pretty darn minimal contact.

Very disappointing end to the season. The foul that gave SMC the free kick on which they scored was ridiculous, as was the foul that disallowed the Pilots goal.

Virtually impossible to get in the tournament now, but will know today.

bobtcat2 wrote:Virtually impossible to get in the tournament now, but will know today.

Projections are showing #36 UP OUT, while #35 Wright St. is in....

Good Luck today boys! recent history shows that at least 2 teams from the outside of the RPI bubble make it in. No reason why that shouldnt be us this year. Some great wins against some top teams (syracuse, Washington, OregonState, Coastal Carolina) Only thing that hurts is our strength of schedule and the amount of home games. Go Pilots Go!

According to this list created by a Reddit user, Pilot men's soccer's average attendance this last season puts them in the top 150 most attended soccer teams (on average) in North America (including Liga MX, MLS, NWSL, etc.).

https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/auaojw/north_america_top_150_attendance_average_rankings/

Great find

They came in at 137, just ahead of the Timbers T2

Portland Timbers are 22 

Portland Thorns are 34, ahead of six MLS teams and 3 Liga MX teams.

Surprising to me is that several Mexico Liga MX femenil teams are on the list.

Geezaldinho wrote:Great find

They came in at 137, just ahead of the Timbers T2

Portland Timbers are 22 

Portland Thorns are 34, ahead of six MLS teams and 3 Liga MX teams.

Surprising to me is that several Mexico Liga MX femenil teams are on the list.

UP men are 10th in NCAA D1 men's attendance. There are three NCAA D1 women's programs with greater attendance: TA&M, So. Carolina, and BYU.

up7587 wrote:UP men are 10th in NCAA D1 men's attendance.  There are three NCAA D1 women's programs with greater attendance: TA&M, So. Carolina, and BYU.

I cannot speak to TAMU and BYU's attendances, but I can to South Carolina's.

Our attendance numbers are inflated by students who attend to receive loyalty points for football tickets. They leave the game by halftime. UofSC is probably one of the only SEC schools to not charge students for football season tickets, but they instead have to apply for a ticket to each game through a lottery system. Students with more "loyalty points" have a better shot at tickets. They earn loyalty points by attending other sport teams events (soccer, volleyball, softball, beach volleyball, tennis, swimming, etc.) or donating to the athletic department (how many current UP students are Pilot Club members? I'd bet none). Most students leave before halftime.

Long story short: people here only attend soccer games because they care about football. UP doesn't have that kind of opportunity. We just have an honest passion for our teams.

We really do have something special in Portland between us, the Timbers, and Thorns. Drawing above an Liga MX team is quite the accomplishment to me.

The attendance figures at TAMU are also due in large part to the loyalty point system for a shot at pointy football tickets.