USD vs. Portland for the WCC Title!

Well, it looks like it will come down to the final game November 8th no matter what happens this weekend for USD up in Spokane. While Portland is clearly a level above USD on paper, I am thinking it could be upset city for USD since the 8th will be senior night and the team will be fired up.

These final two games are huge for San Diego as they set the tempo for a run in the post-season for the Toreros potentially. I think if USD is going to upset Portland they need to "survive" the blistering attack from the Pilots over the first 20 minutes. That has been the problem for most teams that face the Pilots. Best of luck till November 8th! Feel free to visit our website at www.ToreroNation.com!

GOUSD

A little premature. First, we need to beat Santa Clara, which we don't take for granted. Take care of business, week by week!

Yeah, it's Santa Clara first. See you in two weeks.

You might want to rethink the 20 minute game plan, though. This year UP has 50 goals, only half of which were in the first stanza. Likewise, the corner kick ratio is exactly balanced over the two halves.
Shots are down in the second half, to 46%, but some games were closed out by then.

At any rate, it should be a great game.We hope to send our World Cup players on their way in a good mood.

Looks like we both have business to attend to before we can have this discussion. Don't over look the Zags and, as stated above, we need to focus on our long time rival Santa Clara.

Having said that I am looking forward to the game as I am planing on driving down.

Yeah, there's a lot that can happen in 90 minutes. Both teams are TWO matches away from winning the league.

I'm just having trouble waiting for Santa Clara.

Well, USD beat Gonzaga 3-2 today but read below on how it would have panned out prior to today's game.

From usdtoreros.com: "San Diego is currently tied for first place in the West Coast Conference standings with No. 3 University of Portland at 5-0-0. Next Saturday Nov. 8, Portland comes to Torero Stadium in a match that will determine the WCC championship. Here are the scenarios for USD to win its first WCC Championship. If USD wins on this Friday against Gonzaga, and Portland wins as well, a tie or win against Portland next Saturday gives USD at least a share of the WCC championship. But if the Toreros lose this Friday against Gonzaga and Portland wins, the Toreros would need to beat Portland next Saturday to win a share of the WCC Championship. And finally, if both Portland and USD lose this Friday, a USD win or tie next Saturday will give the Toreros at least a share of the championship."

So really, with both teams being 5-0-0 prior to this weekend, it really didn't matter what happened this weekend. For example if USD had lost this weekend but beaten Portland on the 8th USD would be champions on the tie breaker due to having the head to head advantage even with both teams being 6-1. And vice versa for Portland if they lost to Santa Clara.

Anywho, San Diego is fired up and ready to attempt to win its first WCC crown ever. Best of luck against the Broncos...

Fair enough. But going undefeated in the conference still matters to us and the team because the Pilots want as high a seed as possible to increase their chances of playing at home. You might be aware this has been something of an important issue to Pilot fans...

Hey no worries. Portland is the 800 lb gorilla of the conference. Just as it is a big deal for you - this would be a first for San Diego. So it is equally as big - best of luck against SCU.

Thanks. I know they're down this year but it's still Santa Clara, and they have some great history too. But the more good teams in the conference the better.

Here's to at least two teams representing the WCC well in the tournament!

Good analysis of the WCC title situation gousd (hey I think your handle is just a trick to make us type that jk). Its may help you to know why we are fixated on Santa Clara. One of the preseason goals of the team was to bring a no shots/no goals mentality to each game at a time. We have adopted the goal as a mantra on this board. So while we are very aware of our situation with respect to the WCC title, you won't find anyone really focused on our game with USD until after the Santa Clara game.

By the way congratuations on a great season for the Torreros. It only adds to reputation of the already strong WCC.

OK, its time to revive this thread. I checked the USD site and the press release says we will be playing in Torero Stadium. The seating chart shows it is a football field and USD has an active Men's football team. Anybody know what the condition of the field is at this point in the year? If its not flat there may be havoc with the passing game.

San Diego has risen in the polls to #11, the WCC Championship is on the line, San Diego is coming off a 1-0 win against a very good Pepperdine squad and we are playing at home there so I expect a good game. This time I get to go in person so I am dragging out all my San Diego connections for local Pilot Support. May even be a drum or two if the Toreros allow it.

To my knowledge, Torero stadium will probably be OK for the game. The main issue will be that the grass is Bermuda grass, which is a lot faster than the nice rye/bluegrass we are used to. That will be our main concern field-wise.

I think the real contest will be the players, not the venue.

Well, the description in the facilities section of the Toreros site says it was used for the WUSA, so maybe it is flat. Of course we know American football might make the field a little worn out.

Any sense of what size crowd will be there?

One would think that this game would draw a crowd. The truth is that the season total is but 4278 to date. Even if it's the largest crowd of the season, you won't see a Merlo crowd.

For the sake of making a point, let's say we lose to San Diego on Saturday night. (We won't...)

Losing to USD now would not be the best way to enter the playoffs. Truth be told, if we do lose to them, we still can make the magic to win six straight matches and the National Title with the strong core group we have.

Forgetting the RPI and home field advantage for a moment, a true champion will find a way to win no matter what the circumstances are. (See examples: 2002 season and 2005 season. Wins on road. Wins at home. Wins at College Cup locations. Trophies!!!!!!!)

Bottom line - anything is possible once you're in the tourney, as the OSU Beavers baseball team proved in 2006 and 2007. If we have to play UCLA on the road in the Quarters for the 3rd straight year, we win the dang match!!!

No excuses if we lose, please. You suck it up and start to prepare for 2009.

And, by the way, we are the Pilots!!!