Toreros Bring 11 Match Unbeaten Streak To Town

I'm sure this Thursday night, October 25th at 8pm, and on national television (for some), a sold out Merlo Field, loud and in rare, wild form, will greet one of the nation's best women's collegiate soccer teams with the gusto of a typhoon! Yes it's San Diego in town for a huge WCC match. And yes they do bring an 11 match unbeaten streak to the table.

I'm no expert on their strength of schedule during the streak, however I do know they tied current consensus #1 UCLA, (whom we lost to on the road in overtime), and beat one of the elite programs in the nation, Santa Clara (which helps the Pilots in conference play immensely).

If there was ever a 12th player on the pitch, our sold-out stadium during big Pilot matches is certainly one of them. We should see terrific soccer Thursday night. A great prelude to Sunday's mega-match with Santa Clara.

with Santa Clara already having a loss and a tie in conference, this stacks up as a more important game for us at this juncture in the season. If we win, we can win the conference even with a loss down the road.

I really hope that the new Purple Pride student group pulls out all the stops for these 2 games... I have no doubt in my mind that the fans, and the students in particular, can influence these games.

A national TV audience, the 2 other top teams in the conference... it doesnt get much bigger than this. I am calling on ALL fans to be rowdie and CRAZY this weekend! Lets show the country (including potential recruits, NCAA selection committee, etc. watching on tv) what Pilot Soccer is all about, and carry our team to another WCC crown.

Just a clarification... SCU is 2-1-0 in conference play; their tie last week was to UCSB, not a WCC team. (It will be interesting to see how SCU does against a stubborn GU team on Thursday.)

USD comes in to Thursday's game with a 2-0-1 WCC record.

Hey everyone... her's the latest coaches' poll:

http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=603

UP is #6, SCU #11, and USD #17. I'm surprised USD fell so much, but I guess that's the way it goes when you tie an unranked team.

Also... check out Purdue at #4. That loss definitely doesn't look so bad now. UCLA is #1 and USC is #9. Florida State (our best win) is #10.

EDIT: Here are the Soccer Buzz poll:

http://www.soccerbuzz.com/2007rankings/rankings2007.htm (UP #6, SCU #12, USD #13)

Quite right, Pilotnut, the tie was out of conference. I guess I just figured the non-conference season was over.

Stoney, USD actually climbed a slot in the NSCAA poll. they're 17 now, they were 18.

I find it interesting that we are behind Santa Clara and USD in the West region, but well ahead in the National NSCAA poll.
some interesting politicking going on, it seems.

Oh well, that will get sorted out this week.

Ahhh... I guess I remember reading that they were No. 11 last week. Usually teams use the NSCAA poll as the "gold standard" poll, but maybe USD was fudging it by using their highest ranking in one of the myriad other polls.

Either way... should be a good one!

PilotNut - You hit all the right buttons in your post. Couldn't have said it better. GO CRAZY PILOT FANS! The benefits from our tremendous fans cannot be overstated.

Merlo isn't sold out yet for SD. General admission tickets are still available. Pack 'em in!