USD

Because initials and names are SO different

But that said, I've noticed the very same things, her aggressiveness I think is one of her best defining characteristics, and one vital to a striker, which at times does lead her to force the issue more than she needs to. Remember, haha, she is a true freshman starting for a highly ranked team, some learning curve is expected, and she's just playing the way she always has because it has worked. It's hard to argue that she's seen results with it too. To say Micaela (oops I used her name), hasn't exceeded expectations to this point would be lying, I think a certain amount of greed and confidence is required to be a great striker, but in her 4 years on the Bluff, she will gain that vision and playmaking that might still be a bit undeveloped at this stage. It will be a fun transformation to watch in a very very talented player.

As for the ranking, there might be something to that, but for a team who has only lost to the #1 team with a fairly challenging overall schedule, how else to you rank them?

I agree with the previous two posts. I've been struck with how we have a crop of great freshmen each with moments of brilliance, but I just love upperclassmen. Their percentage of accurate passes is several notches higher than the freshmen. Jessica and Ellie are my favorite players to watch this year, and of course Sophie and Keelin are outstanding. And look at how much better the sophomore Taylor is than the freshman Taylor was last year.

As for the ranking, well yeah, I can't say there's anyone other than S that I would rank higher for sure, but we have had several skin-of-our-teeth 1-goal victories this year where the loser looked pretty equal to us. For a chance of beating S or UNC, I'm just hoping that some combination of Sophie back, Kendall and Kendra healing, and freshmen developing will enable the team to gel and connect—and produce substantially more good scoring chances—in a way that raises the level from what we've seen so far. It could definitely happen.

decrink wrote:
Well, I know its not always popular on this board and I hope the girls don't read here (they shouldn't) but I still don't think this team is as good as their ranking. Never thought that before about any Pilot team. Sometimes it's lucky to be better. Others its better to be lucky. This year's team seems to me the latter.

They do read this actually. Michelle Enyart told me they do last Sunday. She said it is quite funny but really disheartening at times.

decrink wrote:
Well, I know its not always popular on this board and I hope the girls don't read here (they shouldn't) but I still don't think this team is as good as their ranking. Never thought that before about any Pilot team. Sometimes it's lucky to be better. Others its better to be lucky. This year's team seems to me the latter.

I don't really care about popularity contests. The ranking that matters is the RPI and they're in good shape there.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

decrink wrote:
Well, I know its not always popular on this board and I hope the girls don't read here (they shouldn't) but I still don't think this team is as good as their ranking. Never thought that before about any Pilot team. Sometimes it's lucky to be better. Others its better to be lucky. This year's team seems to me the latter.

I don't really care about popularity contests. The ranking that matters is the RPI and they're in good shape there.

The team is in good enough shape that even a loss tomorrow would keep them above Notre Dame in the rpi at season's end. ND could beat us out on record against common opponents, but it's starting to look like UP would get the 4th #1 seed anyway. They are actually in better shape than in several years.


The one hitch I see is if BC beats UNC they are back in the mix. Then things get complicated.

Luck or not, I like where we are. Maybe we will be the luckiest Champions ever.

The pitch is a disgrace. It was bad for the men's game 3 weeks ago (after some rain) and looked even worse for last night's game. Very difficult to play it effectively on the ground. For the non-partisan spectator, this game had very little appeal. Probably not good for the future of televised games.
Pilots looked in total control - except very few chances created. It looks like to convert all the possesion into goal scoring opportunities, they need Sophie back.

Totally agree with you. I think the team is finally meshing on offense. It was really nice to see them be overall team players and not just trying to individually score. The offense looked like a team Friday.
It was great to see a fabulous video feed on national TV.
Cannot wait to see what we come up with on Sunday. Hopefully a recap of a fantastic goal or should I say hopefully goal(s)
I am positive that there was quite the factor of the field issue that wasn't very obvious. But if you talk to the players I bet they can tell us a few good swampy marsh comments. I sure am sure rooting for this team to pulloff a win on Sunday. Wow I almost forgot what a nice deterrance to fend off 2 defenders by Brooke and the boot to get to Foxhoven's diving kick for the goal. Fantastic goal Foxhoven.

Let's also remember that the reason Taylor had the ball to send it in to Dani for Dani's great finish was that Kendall hit a great ball in the air across the field to Taylor. There were two great passes, great ball handling, and a fabulous finish strung together. That's about as good as it gets.

No question the Pilots have had some luck this year, and they haven't had the free for all score fest of the last few years. But, there's been no discussion about the Pilots strength of schedule this year as compared to the last few years. I don't think you can evaluate a team unless you give careful consideration to its strength of schedule.

I took a look at the strength of schedule contribution to the Pilots RPIs this year and last year as of the same date. The RPI measures strength of schedule according to the following formula: ((2 x Average of Opponents' winning percentages against teams other than the Pilots) + Average of Opponents' opponents' winning percentages)/3. In other words, it considers the Pilots' opponents winning percentages, factoring in the strength of the teams against which they achieved those percentages.

The Pilots' strength of schedule as of this date last year was 0.589. This year it is 0.613.

I then looked at my tables to see what the difference between 0.613 and 0.589 means in terms how much stronger an 0.613 team is. The difference between the two is 0.024. On average, a team ranked 0.024 higher than an opponent will win the game 60% of the time, tie it 15% of the time, and lose it 25% of the time. That is how much stronger the Pilots' opponents on average have been this year as compared to last. It puts the Pilots' current 16-1 record (as compared to 15-1 as of the same time last year) in context and makes it very impressive indeed.

Geezaldinho wrote:

Luck or not, I like where we are. Maybe we will be the luckiest Champions ever.

That would be nice!

Here is a Google link to an overhead shot of the USD campus. (Sorry _I could not figure out how to post a picture of it.)

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=university+of+san+diego+sd+california&fb=1&gl=us&hq=university+of+san+diego+sd&hnear=California&cid=0,0,1405528941972512169&ei=33fETOOXBYGesQPj3I2gDA&ved=0CCMQnwIwAQ&ll=32.772997,-117.184939&spn=0.004854,0.006866&t=h&z=18

This is pretty darn funny.... Note how there is the soccer field (Valley Field) right next to the Torero Stadium. Too small for any fans though I guess... Well, maybe not for the amount of fans at USD.... Heck, they could have put those High Def cameras on top of that building at Valley Field.

What in the world is up with that soccer field half line stripe??? Am I going loony or is this some sore of major line stripe blunder? Maybe it is a secret new practice technique? This half line stripe thing is really confusing Trenchcoat. Maybe I'm missing something?

Trenchcoat

Trenchcoat Wally wrote:What in the world is up with that soccer field half line stripe??? Am I going loony or is this some sore of major line stripe blunder? Maybe it is a secret new practice technique? This half line stripe thing is really confusing Trenchcoat. Maybe I'm missing something?

Thats just an artifact of google maps' 45 degree view. If you switch to overhead view or zoom out a level, it is corrected.

They are trying to confuse the opponents' shooting aim .. by offsetting the shooting line to goal .. as in "parallax" .... !