St. Mary's Gaels

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:

UPPilots wrote:UPSF, when is the last time a men's player has left to pursue a professional career early? I think it was Alex Eliott after the 2007 season. A lot of the guys recently have stayed all 4 years, Warner, Guerrero, VanSchaik, Emory. The fact is, college soccer is a stepping stone for men's players to go on and play professionally, whereas it is basically the pinnacle of the women's game

That is exactly what I meant. It's more fun, to me, to watch the pinnacle than to watch a stepping stone. The expectation with the men, whatever has happened over the last few years, is that if we have a superstar, he will be gone in two or three years (Cherundolo, Heath, Casey, Salazar). I mean no disrespect to the men. I'm just saying that when we talk about the women and we talk about the men, we're talking about two different levels of their respective games. I don't think it's reasonable to expect fans to look at both the same way.

This is not to say that fans shouldn't go see the men this year. They played really great soccer against the Gaels and were really fun to watch.

By the way, I agree with the Geez. My thinking, part way through the St. Mary's game, was that "Wow, this team must have a bunch of brothers named 'Grees.'" Then I figured it out.

Yeah, the font was a weird choice, as was putting the "Gaels" where player names normally go. I remember thinking " well, we had all those Dominguez kids for a while".


I understand where you are coming from, but you seem oblivious to the realities of the paths the BEST men and women players at UP have to navigate. The best players of both genders have never given 100 of their playing time to UP because neither gender can. This has been true ever since I can remember.

The best players of either gender use UP as a stepping stone to the next level, the only difference is how they do it.


Milbrett redshirted between her Sophomore and Junior years to devote herself to training for the National Team. Both MacMillan and French lost some games for UP due to National Team duties. Christine only played ONE full year for UP in her 5 years at the bluff. I recall we missed her services dearly when she was team captain at the 2002 Peace Queen Cup in Seattle and missed the game with Santa Clara that settled the conference championship that year. Allie Wagner got a special limo down from Seattle for SCU, but Christine stayed up there. Also, I think we only lost games that year when she was gone. I remember being pretty frustrated with the demands her Canadian coaches put on her.

In more recent times, Megan wasn't playing full time for UP the year she got her first ACL. One wonders is fatigue played a role there. Also, she left with at least one and possibly two hardship years remaining in her eligibility to get in on the ground floor of the WPS. Though she was here a long time, she didn't exhaust the role she could have played here.

Sophie Schmidt struggled with her Canadian master's demands on her while she tried to patch together a UP career. One year she played on both the full National Team and Captained their u20 team through Qualifiers. That left her so exhausted for NCAA play that she took a gamble with her future career and retired from NationaL team commitments for a year.


In 2008, UP gave up THREE of its best players to the USA u20 effort during the tournament, just when their presence could have made the difference in the run to a third Cup. Those three and healthy Megan, Kendra, and Sophie would have been unstoppable. They never got to all be together at once during the tournament, and National teams played a big role there

Kendra, of course, made the ultimate sacrifice for the National team, getting hurt her first day in camp after the season, and she never recovered quickly enough to have a real chance to have an impact the next fall for UP, try as she might.

The list goes on, but I don't begrudge those players who took their opportunities at the next level during their stays at UP, just as I don't begrudge those players who left for the pros Before they used up their eligibility.

Watching Steve Cherundolo during his two short years on the bluf was a joy, just as it was to see Kelly Gray, Nate Jaqua, Connor Casey, Josh Simpson, Heath Pearce, and the others while they were here to give their full effort. We got to see the best players in the country while they were developing, just as we do when we watch most BCS football or Basketball games. I think that's a good thing. I'd love it if we got more of those type players on the Bluff. Very few played made me say "Wow" as much as Stevie did.

We may be watching it again with Steven Evans, so enjoy every minute he is on the pitch.

To say the women are at their pinnacle of their careers and the men Are second tier is too simple, just as saying that the best women don't have to make choices toward the next level. This group of men is playing very attractive ball. It's worth watching.

I do think that with both genders the NCAA is going to have to allow the best to play more games. 20 games a year is just not enough for the best players to get better and compete with players who make the decision to forgo NCAA ball and go pro early. That's also a reality for both genders. It used to be so. Casey Keller played for the Timbers during the summers he was on the bluff. Though he played four years for us, he also got enough games to get him to the 10K hour threshold Malcom Gladwell talks about.I think that's the biggest impediment to getting the best players here. I think having the best for two years or so is fine, if it is good for both UP and the players themselves.

I don't want to beat a dead horse or to make too much of a point. I'm not oblivious to any of what you described. It's just a lot easier, for me, to give my all for players I know will be here for four years of play, whether or not they will be gone some of the time for NT duty. Plus, at the college level, I like women's soccer better.

Still, I agree that the men are a good value. Plus, seeing the St. Mary's men totally disintegrate made it even better for that game.

Geez, I agree with you. I think that the NCAA should look into playing more games over a longer period of time, maybe a 30 games season with one game per weekend, because so often the Sunday games turn into wars of attrition. Playing 2 games in less than 48 hours isn't good for the health of the players and the product on the field suffers.

UPSF, is it that hard to give your all for both teams? Even in the cases we mentioned above, maybe one player from the men's team every 3 years leaves early to go pro. That still leaves somewhere around 30-40 guys in a 4 year cycle that play all 4 years (sometimes more due to injuries and redshirting, sometimes less due to transfers, etc.)