Illinois Friday Nov 22nd

A crying shame.

What just happened?

It looked to me like the Pilots were awarded a foul. One Pilot thought the place where the ref marked the foul was maybe 5-10 yards away. She tapped the ball toward another Pilot nearer the point of the foul. Illinois intercepted this kick and advanced toward the goal, and scored. Essentially, the first Pilot kicked the dead ball towards the spot of the foul, and Illinois, and apparently the ref, treated this as a quick restart. It was clear that the Pilots did not intend this as a quick restart, both from the vigor and angle of the pass, from the placement and relaxed demeanor of the team members on the field, and from their reaction after Illinois intercepted what they thought was a dead ball and put it into play.

No instant replay, so I'm not sure if this is what really happened. If so, it is HORRIBLE refereeing, which ends up looking like a bonehead play by the Pilots that robbed them of the likely opportunity to win in PKs.

I'd say Illinois did win on PKs   
(I didn't think there was any contact on the first PK call, but who knows - the feed was choppy.)
Your description of the end is accurate to what I saw. Did we see the first Pilot pass the ball, or was that off-screen? I saw Frisbie waiting for the ball, and of course we know she takes most of the restarts from the back.
Ugh. I can't imagine what the team is feeling, if I'm this bitter....

Does anyone have video of the end of the game?

I also wonder whether the player to whom the ball stealer passed was offsides... Anyone see where the Pilot defenders were?

The first PK call looked totally bogus.  An Illinois players totally whiffed on a ball and fell down from the follow through.  There was no Pilot anywhere near her.  Maybe I missed something, but I can't imagine what.

The last play was right in front of me.  The Pilots had a free kick.  Amanda had the ball.  Cruz was about 5 yards in front of Amanda, with her back towards Amanda and heading towards the far goal.  There was an Illinois player right next to Cruz.  Amanda bunted the ball towards Cruz and simultaneously called out "Michelle, [I didn't hear what she said next]."  I'm sure she either wanted Cruz to take the kick or she wanted Cruz to set it up for her.  Amanda very obviously was not intending to take the free kick.  Cruz didn't see what was happening.  The Illinois player saw the ball and took it and headed for the goal.  Amanda did a double take and tried to defend, but that was it.  I don't know where the ref and the sideline assistant were, I was watching the play.

I knew Amanda wasn't intending to be taking the kick, but right away I said to myself, "Uh oh."

What a very bad way for it to end.

Not that anyone really wants to re-live it, but here is the last goal:



Such a heartbreaking way to end the year, but what a season it was for the Pilots! This group deserves A LOT of credit... we got back to the Top 5, we broke student attendance records, and these seniors saw us through the challenge of a couple of tough years and did indeed make the program return to glory.

My heart goes out to the players... such a horrible way to end it. But I have nothing but pride and admiration for what they accomplished this year.

Plus, the future looks very bright indeed! Let's get 'em next year.

I'm sure there's a pretty big piece of missing video there. The foul you're seeing is not the one from which the ending started.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:I'm sure there's a pretty big piece of missing video there.  The foul you're seeing is not the one from which the ending started.

???

I don't think so. That was recorded directly from the live stream.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:I'm sure there's a pretty big piece of missing video there.  The foul you're seeing is not the one from which the ending started.

Well, whatever that video is, it looks like the blue team scored a good goal.

Wow, I've looked at that about 10 times. It doesn't look like anything I saw. Maybe I'm proving the eyewitness testimony is not good.

So confusing. Looks like she kicked it pretty much exactly at the spot of the foul and even deadened it before kicking. Seems clean to me.

Looks like an unfortunate miscommunication at the back. After the foul, McKluskie kicks the ball lightly to her left, in Frisbie's direction, while Frisbie is moving forward. Since Frisbie usually takes the free kicks, my guess is she thought McKluskie just overhit it (or maybe she did) and started jogging to retrieve it, which was why she was caught off-guard by the steal.

What the ref probably saw: a poor decision for a free kick, but fair.
What Illinois saw: the best opportunity they would probably get all game.

There the whole game with the squad.
1) First PK the illinois girl actually swung, slipped, and tripped over the ball, then ran into kurle.
2)The 2nd PK was legit.
3) The end of the game was well, just a joke.

And to think referee Chris Greer screwed up last year too.
http://akronsportsnow.com/archives/321/file-this-under-cheated/

After thinking about what I thought a saw and heard and looking at the video, the video obviously shows what I saw even if it isn't what I remember seeing. Amanda was communicating something to Cruz. The best I can come up with is miscommunication as Lo was sending the ball to Amanda. Or, other possibility, Lo was not intending to re-start. What a bummer.

Tough way to end the season. Heads up Pilots. Here's to next year.

Looks like my interpretation of the video was correct: http://www.oregonlive.com/pilots/index.ssf/2013/11/pilots_womens_soccer_teams_sea.html

Illinois (11-8-3) rallied from a 3-1 deficit midway through the second half and won on Jannelle Flaws’ 23rd goal of the season. It was a shot that never should have happened, Frisbie contends. Moments before, Illinois was called for a foul, creating a free kick for Portland (17-3-1) on its defensive end of the field. Frisbie, a senior, was about to take the free kick when Illinois forward Megan Pawloski stole the ball.

“It wasn’t near the spot where it was supposed to be set and the ball never stopped. It was never in play. I went to grab it and put it in the spot and they grabbed it,” Frisbie said. “I was confused because I didn’t think it was in play.”

The flatfooted Portland defense could not recover before Pawloski passed to a wide-open Flaws, whose shot from 10 feet eluded goalkeeper Erin Dees.

Bummer.

There was some bad calls. And some unfortunate calls.
There was some miscommunication.
But, and it hurts me to say it, we got out played.

I hope next year we win more 50/50 balls.
We move to loose balls better.
We don't pass across the face of the goal.

Go Pilots!

In spite of the emotions and pain we're feeling for the players today , we enjoyed watching great Pilot soccer this fall!  Seniors, thank you for your spirit and skills, and the way you never gave up no matter who got injured during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Everyone else, thank you, and we look forward to another great season next year!

soccerjoy wrote:In spite of the emotions and pain we're feeling for the players today , we enjoyed watching great Pilot soccer this fall!  Seniors, thank you for your spirit and skills, and the way you never gave up no matter who got injured during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Everyone else, thank you, and we look forward to another great season next year!

I second that, for sure.

Here's the first PK call. Dubious at best.

All I can see in slo-mo is the defender's left arm is outstretched and the offense falls forward, which is consistent with a push. But still, let them play!

From my seat in the bleachers, about what seemed like a mile from the field it was a game of many emotions.  Pure joy at the first two goals, concern at the goal by UI, joy again with the Pilots  third goal, outrage at the play that caused the Villains to chant "Diver, Diver" and led to UI's second goal followed by a bad feeling with the second penalty, then great hope for Dees to stop the shot followed by disappointment as the shot went in.  The overtime brought hope as the Pilots controlled much of the play and then finally astonishment at the last call and a great sadness then pride watching the team console each other at this bitter defeat.  We all stayed to salute the team as a very dejected bunch came over to applaud the fans for the last time in this 2013 season.

After a good night's sleep and on a bright sunny, but cold morning I have a great appreciation for what this team and the staff accomplished this season.  They put in a lot of hard work and provided us all with a chance to see some wonderful soccer.  The outcome was not what any of us had hoped for, but the road that lead to this final game is a testament these young women and their dedication to their sport.  I wish them the best in whatever direction their future takes them.

A_Fan wrote:After a good night's sleep and on a bright sunny, but cold morning I have a great appreciation for what this team and the staff accomplished this season.  They put in a lot of hard work and provided us all with a chance to see some wonderful soccer.  The outcome was not what any of us had hoped for, but the road that lead to this final game is a testament these young women and their dedication to their sport.  I wish them the best in whatever direction their future takes them.

Thanks for that A_F, I think many of your fellow fans need words like that this morning.

I didn't get a chance to watch the game because of work, but I did see some of the comments here.

Several comments on Lou getting injured and Amanda too. I saw a couple of the late season regular games and Amanda was really hobbling and not 100%.

One of the things that allowed this team to succeed was having fresh legs come in to get the starters a blow. We had both Emily and Noelle have great years and getting regular minutes most games.

What we did not see was the coaching staff develop some of the younger defenders so that they could come in and give some of the back line a break. By develop I mean getting 20-30 minutes on a regular basis. We have the developing Edenstrom, Hall and Bindl to name a few that did not get very minutes this year. At the same time Viera, Amanda and Lou played a full 90 almost every game. I would have liked to see the things we did up front happen with the back line too. We could have used some qualify subs when our starters were hobbled.

The coaching staff stared two freshmen on the back line this year, one of them virtually every minute of every game. And they were paired on the wings with classmates much of the time.I think it does them a disservice to claim they ignored youngsters.

I rather think that is what made Amanda's presence on the back line all the more important.

Next year they, along with LO and Rebekka will be the seasoned veterans to help the ones with less experience.