Portland-Texas A&M, September 17

agsoccer2007 wrote:Always had an appreciation for Portland and Santa Clara also, def. root for them over the usual giants.

Geezaldinho wrote:Now that we are done with the lovefest, I have a question.

What's with the coach G. Guerrieri thing? Is there a tax on names by the letter in Texas? Is it a leftover from his Playing Jersey? Is he in the witness protection program? His name is nowhere on the website.

I had to go to reverse Whois to figure out it might be Gerald and that he owns coachg.com and a bunch of other related sites.

Too bad. I was hoping for Guglielmo or Guillermo or Geraldo or something...
Not that there is anything wrong with Gerald - not any worse than Garrett.

Maybe it's just one of those deals where you go buy G. for so long it pretty much becomes your name... who knows, the guy probably has all his bank accounts, credit cards, insurance paperwork, mortgage, and everything under "G Guerrieri" ... that would be my assumption.

jc wrote:

Maybe it's just one of those deals where you go buy G. for so long it pretty much becomes your name... who knows, the guy probably has all his bank accounts, credit cards, insurance paperwork, mortgage, and everything under "G Guerrieri" ... that would be my assumption.

Or maybe all the vowels got used up in the surname.

A_Fan wrote:The Tribune link comes up with this warning:

"Reported Attack Page!

This web page at www.portlandtribune.com has been reported as an attack page and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack pages try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack pages intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners."


Did anyone else get this warning?

"They're loaded. No matter what the position, no matter what their role is," Texas A&M coach Gerald Guerrieri said. "We've got to be on our toes and conscious of all the different weapons that they have."

PILOTS SOCCER: UP women remember Texas A&M
BY STEVE BRANDON
The Portland Tribune, Sep 15, 2010


CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT / PORTLAND TRIBUNE
Elli Reed, one of four seniors who start for the Portland Pilots, plays the ball ahead through the Penn State defense in last week's 4-2 home victory.

Garrett Smith likes the position the Portland Pilots have put themselves in after eight games.

"We're right where we need to be," he says of a women's soccer team that is 8-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country.

But to get the playoff position the Pilots desire, they need a good result Friday night at Merlo Field. To sustain a blemish at home from the 7 p.m. game with No. 6 Texas A&M (6-1) would damage Portland's hopes of getting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA playoffs.

It was Texas A&M that dealt UP a regular-season blow last year, beating the Pilots 3-1 on Sept. 18 at College Station, Texas. That proved to be the only loss Portland had before the postseason, but it apparently was enough to keep them out of a No. 1 seed, and it forced them to play their quarterfinal match at UCLA, where they lost 2-1.

"Oh, yeah, we always try to remember what history is, for every opponent," Smith says, when asked if the Pilots want some revenge. "We treat this as a must-win game. Right now, the goal is 9-0, and A&M is the next team in our way. Last year is history, but we still remember."

Reflecting on that 2009 defeat, Smith says "the one thing we learned was about our approach to the game. It was our first out-of-region trip in a long time, and we may have just been off a little bit. I think that game refocused our team. After that game, we went on a tear in terms of scoring and limiting goals. It (the loss) may have been a good thing for our team."

Both teams come into Friday's game on something of a tear.

The Pilots keep holding other teams to few quality chances and have found ways to win, behind senior captains Sophie Schmidt and Keelin Winters and many others, and with a freshman, Micaela Capelle, leading them in scoring.

The Aggies have been scoring at a high rate, with 21 goals in a six-game win streak since dropping their opener 3-0 at home to No. 1-ranked North Carolina. Four Aggies have scored at least three goals, and another veteran, Bri Young, leads the club with five assists.

Texas A&M returned 11 starters, along with some players who sat out 2009 with injuries, and the Aggies were no slouch last year, reaching the NCAA round of 16 and ranking No. 13.

The Pilots can't afford to look ahead to their Sept. 25 match at No. 2 Stanford or the West Coast Conference schedule.

"A&M has nationally recognized players. They're a nationally recognized program," Smith says. "When we scheduled this game a couple of years ago, we expected that they would be tough to play this year and would be a good matchup, a potential Final Four or finals team."

Of course, so are the Pilots.

"We're playing very, very well," Smith says.

Especially after halftime. The Pilots have outscored opponents only 5-3 in the first half of games and 12-2 after intermission.

Smith moved Capelle into the starting lineup because she was finding the back of the net off the bench.

"We started the season with Dani (Foxhoven) and Halley (Kreminski) up front – they were our two veterans and they earned the spot – but we found we weren't scoring any goals early in games," Smith says. "Micaela turned out to be our leading goal scorer, so it just seemed warranted that the leading goal scorer should be given the opportunity to be a starter.

"Every player here knows the best 11 play."

The Pilots are one of seven Division I teams without a loss or tie through the first nearly month of the season. The others are Georgetown and Maryland (both 7-0), Florida and Louisville (both 6-0), Siena (5-0) and Oregon State (4-0). Smith's players would like to stay in that group.

"We're just trying to take care of business," he says, "and win out, and hopefully our strength of schedule, with our out-of-conference games, will be good enough this year to earn a top playoff seed."

agsoccer2007 wrote:Can anyone answer this for me: is there a cost to watch the live feed tonight online or is it pretty much free to view? I'm really hoping for the second but I'll stomach the $$ if I have to

fwill wrote:Thanks for posting the Trib article, Geez. And for the record, you can buy Shiner Bock at Belmont Station, but I don't know why anyone would want to.