ucla

Schmidt (on UCLA): We have taken tremendous strides since the last time we played UCLA, in terms of healthy bodies, confidence in ourselves and enjoying the way we play. UCLA is not to be taken lightly, but I have tremendous confidence in the group we have now that we can get the job done.
took this off the pilot web page. as a few of us discussed earlier, we were very nervous about the tennessee game. however, after witnessing the tennesse game an how well the girls played, i feel better about ucla then i did the vol's.
if i remember correctly, we were w/out lopez, sophie an kelsey got knocked out w/a concussion. ucla was missing kara lang who i hope would come to u pf p because of christine. oh well. i will still be on pins an needles, but i feel more confident.

UCLA had Lang there, just back from the World Cup, and she scored both goals. Sophie was there and played part of the second half. Kelsey got her concussion in the first half and was bonkers in the second half, shanking lots of kicks. UCLA's overtime goal was an easy save, but Kelsey was so dazed that she misplayed it. Those Portland fans who were there thought Portland looked to be the better team.

The team now is a completely different team, as Sophie says. I bet UCLA would rather be playing any other team that is left. Did you all see the Tennessee coach's comment -- she'll be shocked if we don't win the tournament.

By the way, I entered the round 1 and 2 games into my RPI program this afternoon, trying to pass time until the game, and ran the program to see where Tennessee came out after their first and second round wins. They came out at #6!

Also, it dawned on me at the game. The last time the Pilots played a tournament game here was the quarters two years ago against Notre Dame. Electricity then, electricity tonight!

The game the Pilots should be thinking about is last year's playoff game versus UCLA...when they knocked us off! That's the more significant game to think about. That's the game that should motivate and inspire payback!

The only advantage the Bruins should have about hosting this quarterfinal game....is that they won't have to make another trip to LAX.

Keep em home Pilots!

GO FOR 3!!!

Here are some comparative stats, for what they're worth. UCLA has played 22 games, the Pilots 21. The team's number is followed by its opponents' number:

Goals scored:

UCLA 59/12
Pilots 54/9

Shots:

UCLA 350/159
Pilots 389/123

Goals per game:

UCLA 2.61/0.53
Pilots 2.57/0.43

Goals per shot:

UCLA .169/.075
Pilots .139/.073

Shots on goal:

UCLA 176/80
Pilots 188/54

Shots on goal per shot:

UCLA .503/.503
Pilots .483/.439

Shots per game:

UCLA 15.9/7.2
Pilots 18.5/5.6

Corner kicks:

UCLA 110/72
Pilots 149/53

Average home attendance:

UCLA 1242
Pilots 3771

You forgot one

NCAA Championships:

UCLA 0
Portland 2

does anyone know yet if comcast sportsnet is going to carry the game live this friday?

Sure would be nice to have the game on TV. I'd be willing to bet it's an issue of money to send a crew down there.

Anyone have a few grand spare cash?

Geezer got it right... no TV for Friday. Comcast has a Denver office but not one in LA. Go figure.

Oh well. We'll have live audio and Gametracker... and the chat room, of course!

For those who have been following the discussion under the Tennessee game topic about the USC/West Virginia game being set for West Virginia, I just looked at the most recent bracket on the NCAA Women's Soccer website. That game indeed will be at West Virginia. The Notre Dame/Duke game will be at Notre Dame; the Connecticut/Florida State game will be at Florida State; and the Pilots/UCLA game will be at UCLA.

I think the siting of the Connecticut/Florida State game at Florida State in particular violates the NCAA's rules. Especially since one could argue that since Connecticut beat the #1 seed, they should get some extra consideration in relation to a #2 seed. And,Connecticut appears to me to have had the advantage on most of the other siting criteria. Am I surprised that the NCAA didn't give Connecticut the game? Of course not. And, I don't really think the rules should allow a game to be sited at a lower seeded/ranked school unless the higher seeded/ranked team can't host the game for some reason. But, if the Championship Committee is going to hide behind the rules as a rationale for shipping seeded teams during rounds 1 and 2, then it ought to abide by the rules when it comes to siting rounds 3 and 4.

Maybe I'm beating my head against a wall, but there's got to be some way to embarrass the Committee into fighting harder to get the Championships/Competition Cabinet to change the round 1 and 2 siting rules.

Well, it's late and this has been a great weekend for the Pilots' women's soccer team and fans, and I'm starting to sound incoherent. GO PILOTS!

I looked on the UCLA site and it shows the game will be on TV
ESPNU but I can't find it anywhere else.....

UPSoccerFanatic... perhaps helping explain the decision to host the game at West Virginia was the apparantly deplorable condition of the field at USC this past weekend. I saw this from a disgruntled Florida fan on Big Soccer:

It was bad. the sidelines were all torn up(cause that's where the teams stand and tear it up during football games), the corners were full of sand, the middle of the field had patches of brown and no grass at all.

If this is true, it wouldn't surprise me too much if USC was unable to guarantee that they could provide a better field to play on.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=621511&page=21

Graham Hays weighs in again on UP soccer with his five burning questions

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?columnist=hays_graham&id=3127868

His second question is:

Wasn't the championship game supposed to be in College Station?

And his fifth is:

Shouldn't we really be playing the Canadian national anthem?

Nice way to kill time 'till we play.

LOL!!! just watched kgw's news broadcast on the wb at 10:00 pm. the sports segment had a piece on the girls an did a little interview w/michelle enyeart. paraphrasing, she said she has been having sleeping the last couple nights, having troubling focus in school, but mainly she just wanted to go down to l.a. an , 'ummm, KILL 'EM'. the anchors got a good laugh out of that.

an just my opinion, i took her not sleeping an having trouble focusing in school not as nervousness, but excitement. as in, i cant wait to get down there. i am so ready!! if anyone sees this before 11:00 p.m., im sure kgw will play it again. they're sports usually comes on about 20 after the hour.

Thanks for that bit of news, fozzie. I agree she sounds like she is extememly excited, and possibly because she can smell blood in the water now with the real opportunity to continue our steamroller-like march through the play-offs. (I loved the "umm...KILL 'EM" quote!)

I must admit I feared the Bruins quite a bit in recent weeks, and there is no question about their talent level and big-game experience. However, after the wupping we put on Tennessee, and the revenge factor after losing two straight to them down there, (including our season-ending loss last year in the Quarters), I do believe we stand well prepared to knock them bonkers!

Granted this will probably change to absolute nervousness come Friday, but I am feeling confident about the game on Friday... The team really seems to be in the right frame of mind, we are playing really well, and are ready to avenge the last 2 losses.

Lets go to UCLA and take care of business.