Gonzaga

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8/19/2011    Gonzaga   1   IllinoisU   5   at Illinois
8/21/2011    Gonzaga   0   LoyolaChicago   1   at LC
8/26/2011    Gonzaga   2   AirForce   1   at neutral
8/28/2011    Gonzaga   1   BoiseState   0   at BS
9/2/2011     Gonzaga   1   WeberState   0   at Gonzaga
9/10/2011    Gonzaga   4   EasternWashington   0   at neutral
9/15/2011    Gonzaga   1   WashingtonState   2   at Gonzaga
9/18/2011    Gonzaga   1   WashingtonU   3   at Gonzaga
9/23/2011    Gonzaga   3   IdahoU   0   at Gonzaga
9/30/2011    Gonzaga   2   Seattle   0   at Seattle
10/2/2011    Gonzaga   2   MontanaU   0   at Gonzaga
10/7/2011    Gonzaga   1   StMarys   1   at SM
10/9/2011    Gonzaga   0   LoyolaMarymount   0   at LMU
10/13/2011   Gonzaga   0   SanFrancisco   1   at Gonzaga
10/15/2011   Gonzaga   2   BYU   3   at Gonzaga
10/21/2011   Gonzaga   0   Pepperdine   1   at Pep
10/23/2011   Gonzaga   1   SantaClara   4   at Gonzaga
10/27/2011   Gonzaga   0   SanDiegoU   3   at Gonzaga

dwm wrote:UPSF-
and likewise we want OSU to beat UO, and FSU to win the AAC tournament, right? Or does tournament play not count?

An unusual and difficult season will come to an end for the University of Portland women's soccer team Friday night.

Portland's home game against Gonzaga tonight at Merlo Field, will be the final game of the 2011 season for the Pilots. Not the final game of the regular season, but the final game of the season. For the first time since 1999, the Pilots will not play in the NCAA tournament.

The season started with high hopes of building on last season, when the Pilots finished 19-1-2 but suffered an unexpected loss to Washington in the second round of the NCAA tournament. UP lost four regular starters from the 2010 team, but returning players included leading scorer Danielle Foxhoven and goalkeeper Hailee DeYoung -- both seniors.

The season quickly began to unravel amid surprising early-season losses to San Diego State, Seattle University and Boston University and a rash of injuries -- particularly to defensive players.

"It's been very tough. It's been very hard," Foxhoven said. "I can't say that I've come to terms with it yet."

Whether the Pilots (8-9-1, 3-4-0 West Coast Conference) win or lose against Gonzaga, the Pilots will not have a winning season. Standards are much higher at UP, a program that has captured two national championships in the past 10 years and had reached the NCAA tournament 11 consecutive seasons.

"It's been an adjustment. You get accustomed to things and sometimes, things change," DeYoung said. "You go through ebbs and flows, easy parts and hard parts."

Garrett Smith had never been the head coach of a Portland Pilots team that didn't reach the NCAA tournament until this year. The nine losses are the second-highest (1983 team posted a 2-11-3 record) in school history and equals the total number of losses in the past four seasons combined.

"(It's) definitely not a place we want to be. But it's understandable where we're at as you look back and recapture a whole season," Smith said. "But it was not something we were anticipating at the beginning of the year."

The Pilots' erratic season began with two home wins, then three consecutive road losses before a draw against Washington and a win against Oregon State. The start foreshadowed inconsistent performances during conference play, particularly on defense.

The Pilots have allowed 26 goals, the most since 1999, the last time the Pilots failed to reach the NCAA tournament. Smith pointed to an injury-racked backline as the primary culprit for the fall to mediocrity.

Junior midfielder/defender Kendall Johnson tore a ligament in her left knee in the spring and has missed the entire season. Chronic back pain forced senior defender Kassi McCluskie to miss the last nine games and senior defender Emma Nelson has missed the past seven games with an injured left foot. Sophomore defender Cloee Colohan has missed the past four games with a strained left hamstring.

"That's the foundation of what we are – a defensive team – not letting teams score and not letting teams have shots," Smith said. "This year, without that base, it kind of left us exposed a little bit."

Games remained a popular draw on campus, with average home attendance of 3,175 -- high for college women's soccer. But the team also became a target for critics, a new experience for the ultra-successful program.

Smith said players blocked out the critics and persevered through the adversity.

"If they're not going to run the hill with us. If they're not be with us at practice every day. If they're not going to be in the training room with us, you can't listen to them whether they say the good things or the bad things," Smith said. "And that's what we did."

Through it all, Smith said the team has remained together and stayed focused.

"There was the desire to play well and still improve this season even when it (tournament berth) was a little out of reach," Smith said. "The true character of this team showed."

The season has been difficult for everyone associated with the program, but the seniors are taking it particularly hard. Foxhoven, whose 56 career goals ranks fourth on the school's all-time list, said she is proud of her play with the Pilots, but admits that she will leave the school with one major regret.

"Coming into this program, the first meeting I had, (former players) said, 'We want you to leave this program better off than (it was) when you came here,' " Foxhoven said. "The hardest part for me is leaving, knowing that we've kind of gone the opposite way."

The talk before the season was winning the West Coast Conference and returning to the NCAA tournament. Now, the talk is winning the final game against Gonzaga and avoiding the first losing season since 1983.

"We just want to go in and play a good looking soccer game," DeYoung said. "Play a fun soccer game and go out on a high note."

-- Geoffrey C. Arnold

purple haze wrote:As if any of us needed another reason to root against UW...