Nike Invitational

The replay of last night's win over the Anteaters is available on the Pilots website. It probably won't be there long.

I don't understand how Pedersen doesn't start and play more.

Harry Redknapp wrote:I don't understand how Pedersen doesn't start and play more.

Cecilia arrived from Denmark pretty dinged-up with nagging injuries....once she gets in "game shape" I think you'll see her get a lot more minutes.  

I don't think the fans are the only ones who believe she may be the best player on the squad.....

Game today was very disappointing. It's shaping up to be another long season of underperformance.

I'm not sure what to make of this year. The positives based on the 4 games I've seen ball movement is better than it was last year, the attacking half is moving better, and the Pilots have the potential to dominate play and possession. Notre Dame was the exception and I don't know that the Pilots can stay with a top 10 team. The negatives have been passes sometimes lacking the right touch, or sometimes to no one, an inability to finish, and a defense that has been shaky on multiple occasions. The goalkeeping has been a mixed bag with some good and some head scratching moments of confusion. The latter may be attributed to youth. Hopefully, the preseason is a shake off the rust and give the team a chance to jell. League play will be interesting. The first weekend of San Diego & BYU will tell a lot.

I think in general the problem is that players get recruited who don't have the quality to play soccer on a high level.
Further, players who played their whole entire life on one position suddenly play on a totally different position.
The way how we play did not change compared to the year before. We mainly lose the ball due to long kicks and punts. After the keeper catches the ball, no one opens up and tries to get the ball. Tactically, it is hard to see that players have solutions when having or after losing the ball.
In my opinion, the forwards have to be higher up in the field (at least one of them) and stand between the other team's back line. Also the wide midfield players have to try to get the ball into the box way quicker. This is the reason we are not dangerous enough in front of the goal.
Furthermore, the tactical system never changes during the game. Sometimes, you can see that we start with a system which does not led us to success. However, we never try to surprise the opponent with a change.
If there is no change in the system we play, I don't think we have a chance to keep up with the top teams in the conference - and as a result, we lose the standing as a top team in the nation.

Beating UW Thursday would help alleviate a lot of negativity here. The possibility of UP being 2-6 is hard to accept. Then we'd have to go 8-3 the rest of the way to avoid yet another losing season.

In games I've seen the Pilots have had lots of possession and made lots of passes. But they are slow in moving the ball and they are very conservative in the passes they make. Lots of passes between back four and central midfielders. Players take the easy option rather than trying to move the ball forward. I realize that patient ball controlling play is a sensible strategy. I'm not advocating aimlessly hoofing the ball downfield. But at some point there needs to be penetration in the final third. There needs to some zip on the passes and the movement on and off the ball has to stretch the defense. Most of the time it looks too easy to defend against.

We had one strong recruiting class for 2013 but never had anywhere near the same overall talent in subsequent classes. And, from all indications, it doesn't look that hopeful for the next few seasons either. Did we just get lucky that one year?

In the 2013 recruiting class, there were five 4-star recruits.  They were:  Ellie Boon, Mikayla Elmer, Danica Evans, Madison Hall, and Allison Wetherington.  The UP publicity mentions that highly rated class often.  But three of those top recruits have transferred.  Those losses lessen the impact of the class of 2013 considerably.

Does anyone have any insight on how long Kaycie Young will be out?

I am impressed with this years freshman. Lots of promise.
But the roster is too small and has been for years.
We looked sharp Friday night against a not great team.
We looked not so sharp Sunday against an even weaker looking team.

We have a long way to go.

My #1 pet peeve this year is throw ins. We have not been defending them. Opponents often have an unmarked player or even 3 unmarked players. Meanwhile we lose a high percentage of our throw ins.

High point so far is that we are more aggressively attacking the goal and taking more shots than recent years.

The Pilots women's team has been using the same throw-in method for at least ten years with at least 90% being sent up the sideline regardless of how well the other team has it covered. This is totally different than the men's team where they normally look for an open team mate to insure retention of the possession. I have always wondered why the women force this play as they appear to be expecting something good to come of it once in awhile. Most often the other team gets possession instead. Everyone sitting around me is always wondering the same thing. They also give up any advantage by taking too long to execute the throw-in, giving the other team the chance to prepare while the other teams most often make a quick throw to their open player. Just an observation from well over 100 games.

I remember a time when we won most of the throw ins, off. and D.