Stats, Audio, Chat vs. LMU

fan from afar wrote:Are you getting that bus to Portland through Fargo?

Actually, I got lucky and found a plane flying out of Minneapolis. Although, I think my connection is in Chicago...or maybe it's Denver.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

mattywizz wrote:Man this team is on a roll. I am really excited to watch my first game this season next sunday. Hope they continue these clinical performances right through College Station.

There is an outside chance they could clinch the WCC next Sunday. A very outside chance, though--the Pilots need to win twice and USD and SCU each need to drop points in their games.

The students will still be getting back from fall break, so it should be easy to find us at the top of the student section. You can print out my avatar and use it as a guide.

I'll be sure to head over there after they cut me off in the Pilot Club...and if Bill Reed is still pouring, it might be early on.

Can someone fill me in a bit? If we don't win both games this weekend/other teams do too well, how does that effect our overall chance? I'm new to following soccer this closely, so if you could delineate what it takes to win WCC that would be great.

First off, the Pilots are in complete control of the WCC race. They just have to keep winning. And I'm confident they will.

After yesterday's games I figured the Pilots' magic number. You can do this in baseball, basketball, hockey, etc. Here's the WCC standings today, after everyone has played 3 games:

1 UP 3W-0D-0L/ 9 pts.
2= SCU 2-0-1/6
2= USD 2-0-1/6
4= LMU 1-1-1/4
4= Pep 1-1-1/4
6= USF 1-0-2/3
6= SMC 1-0-2/3
8 GU 0-0-3/0

Other than us, Santa Clara and San Diego are the teams that can score the most points. They each have four WCC games left, so each can score 12 more points (and they already have played each other). So, 6+12=18 possible points. The Pilots would need 19 points and nobody could catch them. They currently have 9 points, so their magic number is 10: 19-9=10.

Now, they don't actually need to score 19 points. Any combination of points the Pilots earn (3 for a win, 1 for a draw) and points USD or SCU drop (3 for a loss, 2 for a draw) that adds up to 10 will clinch the conference for the Pilots. Also keep in mind there are separate magic numbers for USD and SCU, so treat each team separately.

Let's say the Pilots win both games next weekend. That would be six points and the magic number would be down to four. SCU and USD both play twice next weekend. If they each lose one game and lose or tie the other, that would be enough dropped points to eliminate them both and give the title to the Pilots. I say it's a long shot because SCU and USD are home against the LA schools this weekend and I would be very surprised if those two teams played that poorly against both Pepperdine and LMU.

Of course, if that happened, the LA schools would still be in contention and could win the conference if they win out and UP lost to both SD and SC.

Thanks! I just got off work so I can be at both games this weekend. I'm excited. And I'll certainly be paying attention to SC and SD this weekend too.