Columbia University: Roar, Lion, Roar

UP's second opponent of the Labor Day weekend is Columbia U, which features U-23 national team member Sophie Reiser, a midfielder from Seattle. CU also has an awesome fight song, "Roar, Lion, Roar."

A Columbia mailing to alumni says, "The women's soccer team will return 10 of 11 starters for the 2009 season and welcome six newcomers." 2008 record: Overall: 11-4-2 Conf: 4-2-1 Home: 6-2-0 Away: 5-1-2 Neut: 0-1-0

Here is some of what GoColumbiaLions.com has to say:

NEW YORK -- For the third time in program history, the Columbia women's soccer team will travel to the west coast to open a season. The Lions will play in the state of Washington for the first time ever, and will face Washington and Portland, both NCAA Tournament qualifiers a season ago.

Scouting the Pilots
Off to a 3-0 start and a No. 3 national ranking, Portland looks poised to once again remain among the top teams in the country this year. The Pilots have defeated three Pac-10 teams already this season, including a 4-0 thrashing of then-No. 16 Cal on August 28. Last season's West Coast Conference Rookie of the Year Danielle Foxhoven leads Portland with four goals, while All-American Sophie Schmidt has two goals and two assists.

Head of the Class
The senior class of Christina Eckhardt, Meggie Ford, Ashley Mistele and Sophie Reiser has etched their place in Columbia's record books. The foursome has finished .500 or better in the Ivy League play in three straight seasons, a program record, and is 11 victories short of the all-time record for wins in a four-year span (40, set from 1996-99).

Reiser Rises to the Top
Senior Sophie Reiser picked up some pretty impressive hardware after setting career highs with 12 goals and 11 assists last season. The Seattle native was named the Ivy League Player of the Year, the Soccer Buzz Northeast Region Player of the Year, and a Soccer Buzz All-American. Reiser also was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America first team, and was selected as a candidate for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in August.

GameTracker isn't tracking! Anyone got an alternative source?

GO PILOTS!!!

Same here

Guess it's too early for the GT operator.

Maybe he/she is still in bed.

Anyone know if someone that is at the game that can be sent a text message or be called. The suspense is killing me!

Well we got to the field right as a monsoon hit... with the little one in tow, we headed back to grandma and grandpa's house. Sorry I can't be of assistance.

Suspense is killing me too! Darned Game Tracker! Ahhhh!

Can I assume that the game is either rained out or at a minimum delayed? Can anyone confirm?

3-0 UP 2 for Sophie and 1 for Dani scored in the first half. Now in the second but no update as yet

Thanks so much for the update. Keep um comming

Go UP!!!! Keep em coming!

Sophie scored again now 4-0

Sophie again now 5-0

Sorry update 5-1

Go Sophie!!!

Am I reading this right? 4 goals for Sophie?

5-1 must be final as it is posted on portlandpilots.com now.

A big thanks to "pilotposer" for keeping us updated. I really appreciate it!

Mr. Poser is our hero!

Geezaldinho wrote:Mr. Poser is our hero!

Ditto, Poser - You're everyone's hero - Please write up more details when you can.

Here's how I saw it from Husky Soccer Field: The Pilots and Lions put on an entertaining game that was notable for the Lions ending the Pilots’ shutout streak late in the game. The teams endured a monsoon of a first half, as did the “crowd” of a few hundred drenched souls. The weather was a miserable example of Washington hospitality: Heavy rain, gusting wind, slick field and gloomy skies at kickoff. As we were huddled under a canopy awaiting the game, one Columbia fan questioned whether the game would even be played under such conditions, and the Northwesterners who overheard just laughed. Yeah, they’ll play!
The Pilots handled the field conditions remarkably well. (They do have some experience playing in the rain!) Enyeart came out like a house afire, attacking the goal and sending balls wide right to Chandhoke and Tsao. Foxhoven cleaned up after an Enyeart shot off the post for a lead about 30 minutes in. Then Schmidt turned on her power game for two goals up the middle, one when she and Foxhoven went 2 v 2 against the CU back line plus keeper; Schmidt skipped the ball low into the far corner from distance rather than passing, and the keeper had no chance. Chandhoke played a strong game once again winning balls and passing them around, and almost scoring on several attempts. Three of Portland’s first seven shots were goals, per the scoreboard.
Portland’s D held up strong in the first half– the starting four played the whole match. The backs did not play long balls very often, preferring short passes under control. Winters ruled the midfield, winning the air battle and taking and giving many shoves and bumps in doing so. Tsao and Sweeney attacked freely up the sides as if daring Columbia to counterattack. Sweeney distributed well with both feet.
Just before halftime the rain ceased and stayed away the rest of the match.
Subs Kreminski and Burk came on for Foxhoven and Enyeart for the 2nd half. Later on Johnson (forward, replacing Kreminski), Brooke (right mid for Chandhoke) and Jacka (left mid for Reed) took the field, if I’m recalling correctly. Despite the improved field conditions neither team scored for the longest time. The Lions never gave up and appeared to score about 10 minutes from the end, only to have it called back, as the whistle had already blown the play dead. The reprieve was short-lived: TheLions turned disappointment into celebration right away with a shot from the right side into the upper corner that DeYoung couldn’t reach. She had already tipped another strong shot over the crossbar to foil an earlier attempt. CU still kept attacking and put consecutive shots off the goalpost and crossbar.
But in a “take that!” response worthy of Megan Rapinoe, Johnson immediately attacked up the middle and dished off to Schmidt, who put in her third goal to deflate the Lions. She soon added her fourth to cap a dominant 90-minute performance (and at least one fan urged her to get five).
So: a fun game for all despite the heavy weather. Each team proved something. Pilots poured on the offense for the highest goal total of the season; Schmidt was a monster up front; Columbia scored a morale-boosting goal against a previously perfect defense.

And here is the official Gocolumbia lions.com story, complete with the wrong team name for the UP "Pioneers" -- maybe they thought they were playing Lewis & Clark -- so no Pulitzer Prize for this one:
SEATTLE -- Senior Christina Eckhardt became the first player in the country to crack the defense of No. 3 Portland with a goal in the 83rd minute, and the Columbia University women's soccer team outshot the Pioneers in the second half, 11-6. But the Lions could not overcome four goals by Portland All-American Sophie Schmidt in a 5-1 loss on the final day of the Husky/Nike Invitational at the University of Washington on Sunday afternoon.

Portland entered the game having outscored its opponents 11-0, and had defeated four nationally-ranked teams by way of shutout. But after Columbia controlled play for much of the second half, Eckhardt connected for the first goal of her career from 30 yards out. Her shot found the upper-right corner of the net and put the score at 3-1.

Following the goal, the Lions continued to put pressure on and saw a shot from senior co-captain Ashley Mistele hit the post in the 86th minute.

The contest began with sophomore Liz Wicks recording the match's first shot in the opening minute that went wide. But from there, the Pioneers would score three times in the first half to take control. Schmidt tallied two of her goals in the opening period, while sophomore Danielle Foxhoven had the other.

The Lions came out of the halftime break aggressively, recording four shots, including three by senior All-American Sophie Reiser, in the first 20 minutes of the half. Columbia would maintain its high-energy play throughout the half, and had a pair of corner kicks and two shots in the moments leading up to the goal by Eckhardt.

Schmidt would conclude the scoring for Portland with back-to-back goals in the final eight minutes of the match.

My take on today's game is similar to p haze.

First half it rained. Hard. We got wet. Soaked. Then it stopped just as the half came to an end. It was so wet that my pants only dried out about 10 minutes from Portkland on the way back - and I had the heat/fan cranked up to dry out! Extra kudos to the crazy bunch who made it out. Don't blame those with small children for abandoning ship.

Pilots played really well in the first half. Same starting line up as each game (?) but with Hailee in goal. They played remarkable one- and two-touch ball in horrible conditions and completely played Columbia off the field. Went in 3-0 up. Everyone played well and Sophie scored two nice goals and dani did the fiox-in-the=box routine and pounced on a rebound for her score.

Second half they starting making subs most of whom showed well but somehow the control was not as tight and Columbia got back in the game, made a few chances and scored one, had one called back and hit the post twice on another sequence. Hard to say what the problem was because the starting d and Keelin were all still there.

Shame to concede the first goal of the season; but having done so they then proceeded to get back in gear and put a couple more in at the other end.

University of Portland was named the Husky/Nike Invitational tournament champion. Both Portland and Washington went 2-0, but the Pilots win due to total goals scored (7-6). Pilot junior forward Sophie Schmidt was also named the Offensive MVP after scoring four goals in Sunday’s victory over Columbia. Washington’s Kendyl Pele was the tournament’s Defensive MVP

Sophie is playing very well. It's not just the goals but the whole of her game.

She is strong on the ball; a great target because she controls the ball with her back to the goals and holds it and lays it off; she is moving as well as I've seen her. And she runs and runs. She played the whole 90 minutes today, I think.