Pilots v Syracuse (Sunday)

Wadhington and Wisconsin tied 1-1.

From the UW website: "No. 4 Portland was declared the tournament champions with a perfect 2-0 record. UW finished second at 1-0-1, Wisconsin was third at 0-1-1 and Syracuse finished fourth at 0-0-2.
Husky junior captain Kate Deines (Issaquah, Wash.) was named the tournament Offensive MVP after scoring three goals in the first game vs. Syracuse on Friday. Elli Reed from Portland was named the Defensive MVP for helping her defense allow just one goal all weekend."

A couple of comments to add about the game:

Syracuse played a pretty rough brand of soccer. I think the ref for the Wisconsin game would have called a bunch more fouls and issued a couple more yellow cards to Syracuse. It made the game pretty choppy and ugly. At one point, Dani walked half way up the field and talked quietly to the ref for a minute. I wonder if she was saying something to him about what was going on. Given what the ref did not call later in the game, I thought his foul call that led to the Syracuse goal was pretty chippy.

Kristin Kelly's playing the whole game, with MO out for the first half and Cloee out for the second, says something. I'm not sure what: that Garrett wants to be sure she has game time under her belt in case of an injury later in the season; that he sees a need to get some rest for MO and Cloee; that he's prepping for what the lineup might be when Sophie goes for World Cup qualifying?

Capelle is looking better and better. She brings some chaos into the opponents' defensive third of the field.

Elli Reed is having a phenomenal year. When Elli and Sarah Bridges are in together, Elli overlaps more than when it's Elli and Kendall. Sarah seems more reluctant to take the ball deep and around the corner, bouncing it back for Elli to overlap with and take in most of the time. Elli repeatedly shredded the defenses of both Wisconsin and Syracuse.

I could repeat what other posters have said about some of the other players, but will leave it at that.

UPSF

Good thinking on Kristen Kelly: could be all of the baove possibly. But it was nice to see her get a full game in.

It looked to me like she had a solid game. I didn't realize how tall she is until I saw her in person - a real asset for a central defender.

Kristen seems to me to be a bit of an unsung heroine that last few years. She has looked really good whenever and wherever she has been needed, but she's never made the first XI. She played some at outside mid two years ago when the three amigas were at the World Cup and was probably the most effective of our fill-ins. She has played all of the positions across the back and even holding mid once in a while, and she hasn't made many mistakes.

I never worry when I see her coming into the game. She's just a solid player!

I agree with you 100% SoreKnees, Kristen is really a supersub.

Good call, SoreKnees. Kristin filled in at midfield 2 seasons back ... with her arm in a cast, no less. I thought that performance in the post-season would have earned her more playing time. Veteran experience like hers is so important as the season goes on.

I'd like to echo what others have said about Kristen's solid play. She did not get a lot of playing time during her first two years. Last year, she played a fair amount, and I was very impressed. Very solid defender.