Super season start

Agreed that it can be frustrating to be missing some of our best players for events like these, but I think Garrett understands and appreciates the value of international experience like that... when it comes down to it, being able to represent your country is pretty much the pinnacle for any sport, and it's such an awesome opportunity for all of those kids. And in the end, the program is about the student-athletes, not trying to always have the best chance at a championship. When the two of them coincide... well that's just fabulous!

Well put StoneMAN! I hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks for reminding me what's really important. Having a chance to play for your country would probably be the pinnacle of any student-athlete's career.

According to a University of Florida fan on the BigSoccer blog, Florida is scheduled to come here for the first trip of the 2008 Fall season.

WOW!

Nobody's backing off playing hard games early. If the four teams mentioned so far all make it the same weekend, I think I might need to have nurse Ratchet double up on my meds.

Great find, UPSoccerFanatic! Looks like we're starting the 2008 season with a BANG!!!

It seems odd to me that Florida, UCLA, and USC all would be here the same weekend, since the Pilots only could play two of them. I wonder if the UCLA and rumored USC weekend would be the first home weekend of the season and Florida would be coming for the Nike Tournament later. Or, some other two-weekend combination thereof. Any ideas?

You may be right. Of course, the Florida poster said it would be THEIR first road trip. That doesn't have to be the first weekend.
My guess? Gonzaga or PSU will be the fourth team. That's just because the team probably has to be from nearby, and not a PAC 10 school.

I'd hope for the Zags. They need to beef up their schedule, even at the risk of possibly losing some games.

Doubt it will be the Zags. Pilots' last seven games are always against their seven WCC opponents. Don't know if this is league-mandated or not. Believe I've seen other WCC schedules in the past, and I think they were also the same as the Pilots. Those last seven games are the most important games of the season, except for the tournament.

I wasn't thinking that UP would play the Zags. The teams would form up similar to the way they do for UP's Nike Tournament where 2 schools come in from out of town and play 2 local teams. In the Nike Tournament, the second school always seems to be UW. They did something similar a couple years ago, and I think PSU played the same schools we did the first weekend last year.

The more I think about it, though, it doesn't make marketing sense to have all those teams the same weekend. That would mean that 2 of those teams would play the same day, on the same entry ticket. You could sell the place out with any one of those teams, Why not spread them out?

Because of the distance, Florida wouldn't come here unless we could give them 2 games. UCLA and USC might just come for 1 game, however. flights from LA fall into the "commuter" category. They may not want/need two dates. I guess it depends on what else they want to do that weekend. They may want to have a date at home that weekend, or they could schedule another date somewhere else and still have 2 rest days between dates.

USC may be coming the next weekend.