UP Women VS U-23 Predictions?

I know someone has a prediction, I am going for the 2-1 Pilots Victory!

U.S. U-23 WNT Training Camp Roster
April 17-23, 2008
Portland, Oregon

GOALKEEPERS ( 3 ): Cori Alexander (Portland), Joanna Haig (Louisville), Jaimel Johnson (Tennessee);
DEFENDERS ( 7 ): Marisa Abegg (Stanford), Carrie Dew (Notre Dame), Nikki Krzysik (Virginia), Shelley Lyle (Florida), Bekcy Sauerbrunn (Virginia), Brittany Taylor (Connecticut), Elise Weber (Notre Dame);
MIDFIELDERS ( 6 ): Yael Averbuch (North Carolina), Kiki Bosio (Santa Clara), Tina DiMartino (UCLA), Katy Frierson (Birmingham United), Brittany Klein (Santa Clara), Lindsey Ozimek (Charlotte);
FORWARDS ( 8 ): Kendra Chandhoke (Portland), Elizabeth Eng (Connecticut), Libby Guess (North Carolina), Kerri Hanks (Notre Dame), Katie Larkin (BYU), Allison Mallams (Marquette), Ella Masar (Illinois), Katie Schoepfer (Penn State).



my prediction is 3-3 draw...

goals from yael averbuch (2) and kerri hanks for the u-23s and sophie schimdt, michelle enyeart, and elli reed for the pilots...

Wow, your prediction is far more specific than I expected. the U-23's are pretty loaded offensively. I am excited to see Enyeart's development, and how she does against top notch defenders. Hope for some fireworks though!

Oh man... seeing Cristina DiMartino's name on the roster makes me nervous. She always gives UP fits... I would expect her to score or at least set up a goal.

For UP, I expect Enyeart to get a goal some way or some how... she seems to have elevated her game to the point where she can make it happen at any time.

It looks like we may get a bit of rain between now and game time, gotta think that plays to our advantage.

Wouldn't it be great to see Michelle going one on one with Corey?

Given the amount of injuries many of the Pilots are still nursing this spring and the goalkeeping and defensive juggernaut Biggin's assembled with the Nats, I wouldn't be surprised to see UP lose this one. We've all seen Cori have phenomenal games at Merlo and watched Jaimel Johnson have a stellar game against UP last November (even though Tenn. lost, you have to give credit to her for her outstanding play during that game), so I'm thinking the goal is going to be a tough nut to crack tonight for the Pilots.

Anyone have a record book handy.... how many times has Cori been scored on at Merlo Field? I would venture a guess to say "Not very many".

Pilot Nut, how many times has Cori faced Enyeart at Merlo field? I gotta think that Enyeart and Co have enough offense to break through once or twice. I am more concerned with our ability to keep them out of our net.

I didnt mean my comment to be specific to tonight; more of just a general trivia question... about her career.

But I agree with you in being most concerned about stopping their attacks tonight.

Pilot,

Well I guess today at work isn't so busy... 22 goals against at home during Cori's 4 years, as many as 2 of those may have been on Ruth. So she has given up a few at the friendly confines.

Ordinarily I would give this one to the U-23s ...BUT...they are playing at Merlo which is a whole nother story. Anything can happen. I expect both sides to be game. GO Pilots

7-1?

Yeeeouch. I went out with some friends tonight, but I did not toss enough back to take that final result... Did they just let the U-23s take shots at the keeper for half an hour there?

The Pilots were beaten up tonight!! Ouch!!!

Oh Man! That midfield line of Yael Averbuch (UNC), Brittany Klein (Santa Clara), Tina DiMartino (UCLA) and Kiki Bosio (Santa Clara) were BRUTAL and DEADLY!!! I especially thought the "smallest" players (Klein and DiMartino) of the U-23s had the "biggest" game. Definitely very effective field generals and awesome futbol players.

Michelle Enyeart was outstanding!! I know for sure now after comparing her level of play in this game that she has a very good chance of making the Senior Team some day. She was tough on the very strong U-23 backline of Marisa Abegg (Stanford), Nikki Krzysik (Virginia) and Becky Sauerbrunn (Virginia). Sophie, Keelin and Ellie also very competitive and challenging!! They worked hard to keep the Pilots in it. But...we were just outmatched and outmanned tonight. Our 11 versus their 11? Our Pilots are a solid team....but the U-23s are just more mature and talented front to back...an all-star group for sure!

GO PILOTS!!!

What a beautiful night it turned out to be. It was dumping as we arrived to the field and then all of sudden it all cleared away.

The Pilots were just out classed tonight. The U-23s played an absolute beautiful match. I was rooting for the Pilots but it was so fun watching the Nats carve up all of the space. Hailee did not have a good match at all. She can not lay all of the blame on her defense. She was poorly positioned several times. Michelle was the star of the match for the Pilots.







We saw this a bunch.




Jessica Tsao Scores A Goal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUFJ2f-97gc


This guy coached a great match.

Ok,

So, I was delusional yesterday... Its amazing what a group that talented can do together. I thought the biggest difference between the 2 teams was the physicality level. We got outmuscled all over the field. I disagree with the evaluation of Hailee, she played a great game in my opinion considering. It could easily have been a LOT worse that 7-1, yes she was out of position at times, but I cannot blame her when she has 5-6 capable scorers in her defensive third, a lot of times you can get away with being out of position, that being said, she made a few fantastic saves.

After it became apparent that the Pilots were not going to win the game, it was a pleasure to watch a well coached and immensely talented team play the game. Great passing, fast feet, unerring instincts.

I agree aleppiek, their physicality level was on a different level that the Pilots as a team. It may have been a little closer finish had the seniors played, but I think it wise that the staff let the players who will be returning next season play the whole game (with the late exception of Scifo entering for Jacka).

Ohhh_yeah...Thanks for posting the pics! My daughter will love seeing them. Stupid dad...forgot to charge the camera's battery yesterday.

We LOVE our Pilots..but yes...there should be NO emotional disappointment or shame in the outcome yesterday! The level of futbol talent compiled on both sides was fabulous to watch. Though the match was one-sided...it was a SHOWCASE, wasn't it?? I enjoyed every minute.

Oh...welcome back Sophie! It was good to finally see you in a spring game!

Before the game started, I told my daughter that the Pilots might have a slim chance of beating the U-23s. That one reason being that the National team does not spend as much "team time" together as the Pilots.

Well...SCRATCH THAT!!!

They had some innate chemistry...(especially the starting 11)...and played very well together!

Anyone know how to get the U-23s practice schedule while they're in town? I was thinking it'd be fun to catch a session.

By the way...saw Angie, Christine and Tiffeny there too last night. The Pilots could've used them on the pitch but...moral support is also just as important. Anyone see the newlywed Steph?

GO PILOTS!!!

No shame in last night's game. A UP team playing without all this year's seniors (Lopez (Cox!), Woznuk, Budge, Cronkrite, Michaelson, and Scifo (who came on for few minutes at the end); and neither of the Rapinoes) played against what was, in effect, a current and recent college all-star team. Imagine playing against a squad of Angie's and Stephanie's: the best couple of players from the top 10 teams in country. The U23 team had speed, strength, and skill. And - unlike some US teams of recent past - played thoughtful possession soccer, kept the ball on the ground - no hit it up to Abby W and hope she pushes people out of the way.

For those of us who have admired the apparent step up in the games of Michelle E, Keelin W, and Elli R. Now we can see hpow that happens: they spent the winter playing with the U20 squad and got used to the pace and quality of game at that level. No surpise that the three of them, and Sophie S (with her international experience) were among the few UP players who could keep up with the game. I mean no disrespect to the other UP players - but this was a game at another level completely from UW, Seattle Pacific etc. I'm proud of the fact that none of them quit and played their best until the final whistle despite getting thumped.

Highlights for me:

Keelin Winters winning header after header; in several cases despite 5"11" Yael Averbuch pushing her all over the place. If the ball is in the air in the vicinity of KW she gets it.

Michelle Enyeart: Several times she took on the defense for speed and beat them; there were just too many of them and they were all good players. ME is fast!

Hailee De Young: made several good saves (10 in all). With the flow of traffic coming he way and having to pick the ball out of the net 7 times, it would have been easy to get discouraged. She kept playing. Her defense will usually be stronger, and will probably never have to face that array of talent again.

The Pilots experienced a clinic in relentless soccer last night. Pick any power tool metaphor you want -- buzz saw, grinder, chipper/shredder -- they ran into one in the form of the U-23 team. I loved the chance to see college all-stars in action, especially Corey A. doing her traditional shutout work at Merlo. Tina Demartino was awesome and reminds me of what the Pilots are missing without Angie. Averbuch scoring from 30 yards out was quite a sight. The Pilots won't face such a high level of well-coached talent come fall. The U-23s were disciplined, spread out, shared the, exploited every seam in the young Pilot defense and put on a great show of ballhandling and shooting.

Chalk it up to a lesson that only makes the Pilots better.

i agree that hailee was very good in net. unfortunately, i didnt dress as well as i thought i did for the weather so i left after the first half. of the three goals hailee gave up; the 1st, you could have told the keeper that yael was going to shoot an from where an i doubt any keeper in the world would have made a save. it was an incredible shot!! the second was a defensive miscommunication which resultd on a one v one, those odds aren't even 50/50. the 3rd goal i really felt for hailee, she was sooo upset because she did initially make a great save, but just couldn't hold the ball an it trickled acrossed the goal line. having said that, i saw hailee make some incredible saves, including another one v one which she just stonewalled the u-23 player. granted i didn't see the second half, but bill irwin said in the oregonian that the score would have been much more lop-sided if not for hailee.

while i love our girls, i am almost giddy for our incoming frosh to arrive!!

Did anyone catch Ellie's spectacular...really really spectacular defensive play?

It occurred right in front of me...2nd half. One of the most athletic feats I've seen in Merlo. That's saying a lot considering what I've seen on that pitch previously. Basically it left me aghast...mouth wide open!! Hopefully, I can describe it accurately!

Gosh..I hope I'm not the only one who noticed it??

Ellie was trying to cover a U-23 forward...who was streaking along the sidelines at a full-on sprint!! Ellie was beat...the forward had a big head start and was eating up free space. I'd say there was about a 5 ft lead on the forward's part....with Ellie charging hard to mark her. A U-23 player who had the ball noticed her teammate's advantage and kicked a nice lob (over Ellie) to her. The forward was "wide open" and would've had a for-sure breakaway one-on-one chance against Hailee!

It looked like Ellie had NO CHANCE on the play. The forward was far ahead of her and the ball was high enough that there was no way for Ellie to get her head on it.

So what happened? Well...remember the "miracle" centerfield catch by Willie Mays? Ellie somehow lept into the air (remember...she's in a full sprint now) and literally....I kid you not.....caught the ball...a lob coming from behind her back...WITH HER FEET!!! She laid the ball down softly and turned the offensive attack back!!! .....IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!!!


I'm going to personally bestow the "say-hey-kid" nickname to Ellie!!

...WOW!! WOW!! WOW!!...What a PLAY!!!

GO PILOTS!!!

can anyone tell me who may have been any of the three recruits i saw at the game. #1 was a gal that had a hoodie on that on the front said, "2007 metro league champions". on the back said "bridges" which of course i took as her last name. she seemed very comfortable in this enviroment.

one of the other gals i noticed in the group was an asian/american gal from what i overheard was named "emma". she was meet by another gal, apparently a current student at u of p encouraging her to come to the bluff.

the last gal was pretty tall an mostly red headed. she seemed to be pretty close an/or comfortable being with the asian/american gal.

i would be very surprised if someone out there didn't know the names of these gals.

The 2007 Metro League champs appear to have been Jesuit, from checking the 2007 women's soccer schedule on their website, so it seems safe to assume that the girl you saw was from Jesuit. If the hoodie had green and gold, that would confirm Jesuit. They don't post their roster, so I don't know who she was. Maybe a google researcher can figure it out.

I love all the speculation about possible recruits because 1) it shows how much folks care about the team; 2) it's impossible to prove WHO the recruits are, so imaginations run wild; and 3) it sends Pilot Nation into a frenzy that sets up awesome hoaxes (not that a hoax is my style). Who's to say that 2007 metro League champions jacket didn't come from somewhere other than Portland?

On another note, the box score for U-23 game shows that it was #19 Lindsay Ozimek who went down with what looked like bad leg injury in the 2nd half. I'm no doctor (and don't play one on TV) but it looked eerily like Megan R's ACL injury. Ozimek fell with no contact and was very upset and in pain even after the game, and crutches were brought to the bench for her. She'd gone in to replace Averbuch and in turn was replaced by Keri Hanks. Hope her injury is not serious.