NCAA tournament

UP made a giant leap to 13 in the coaches poll after wins against Seton Hall and UCLA.
UCLA is just hanging on at 25th after their 0-2 loss.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1/united-soccer-coaches

And the still early RPI has UP at 24 as I write.

The only downside I see is that no other WCC teams received any votes.

UP’s story on the ranking, including some good individual stats.

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2022/9/13/mens-soccer-portland-ranked-13th-in-united-soccer-coaches-top-25-poll.aspx

And it turns out TOPdrawer ranked us also, at #19.

Portland moved up in the UNITED SOCCER COACHES ranking  to

#9

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1/united-soccer-coaches

Meanwhile, RPI Update has the Men's team at #24, with only #68 LMU and #73 USF in the top-100.

USF, UP's next opponent, lost to LMU in LA on Saturday, 3-0.

USF had gone undefeated through 9 games (6-0-2) until losing back-to-back contests to Air Force at home and LMU.

https://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/RPI%20Rank

This week’s Coaches poll has Up at #9.

Their current RPI is #23

Not sure why both teams moved up a slot overnight with hardly any games played.

Maybe butterfly effect.

The Win over USF last week jumped UP men to #6 in the coaches poll. That’s the highest ranking since the 1980’s teams with Garrett Smith, Kasey Keller, Scott Benedetto, etc.

The RPI jumped to #14

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2022/10/11/mens-soccer-pilots-ranked-sixth-highest-ranking-since-1980s.aspx

Geezaldinho wrote:The Win over USF last week jumped UP men to #6 in the coaches poll. That’s the highest ranking since the 1980’s teams with Garrett Smith, Kasey Keller, Scott Benedetto, etc.

The RPI jumped to #14

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2022/10/11/mens-soccer-pilots-ranked-sixth-highest-ranking-since-1980s.aspx

Not to quibble with the official press release, but I distinctly remember being ranked in the top 5 in the fall of 2000, my freshman year at UP. And I was right! Click to page 2 on this PDF:

https://hudl-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/Past%20College%20Rankings/D1%20Men/2000NCAADIMNR.pdf

This janky old press release from Virginia makes it look like were No. 5 in the Soccer America poll too: https://virginiasports.com/news/2000/09/05/i-soccer-america-i-ranks-virginia-men-s-soccer-1-team-in-the-country/

I seem to have a memory of us even climbing higher in the rankings than 5 that year, but I can't find any proof of that. So my memory must just be off.

That season began with incredible promise - Conor Casey (who ended up leading the country in scoring that year) and Kelly Grey were scoring goals like crazy - but then Clive left to go coach and Conor to go play in the Olympics and were gone for several weeks, and things sort of fell apart. We didn't even make the playoffs and finished 1-5 in WCC play. Ouch. A tough fall from grace from the lofty heights of No. 5 earlier in the season.

But Clive led the US to a 4th place finish at the Olympics, and here's a pretty amazing article from last year looking back at that team: https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4339958/us-mens-2000-olympic-medal-round-run-an-improbable-adventuretold-by-those-who-lived-it

Some amazing stuff about Clive from Landon Donovan, Alexi Lalas, Jeff Agoos, Brad Friedl, etc. What a legend.

I appreciate your diligence, Stoney, but that 2000 team was ranked #5 based on a two win record on Sept 4.  Amazing what a 3-0 win against Indiana and a 5-0 win against Butler will do.
Sort of like this Year’s preseason wins over UW and OSU, except they counted. Let’s hope we win the one that counts Friday.

 That went away by the 11th.

By October 16 they were receiving votes, and as you say, they collapsed in the conference season.

The amazing part of that ranking is they were completely missing from the preseason poll and two games later were pushing the top of the chart.

The Olympic Spanish team the USA lost to had some pretty amazing players on it. Off the top of my head, Capdevila, Romero, Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez and a couple others who became mainstays in la Liga were on that team. Most eventually were on Spain’s World Cup winning team.

I still shake my head remembering Ívan Amaya’s miss in the shootout in the final that gave Cameroon the gold.

Spain was the most talented silver medal team in history.

Geezaldinho wrote:I appreciate your diligence, Stoney, but that 2000 team was ranked #5 based on a two win record on Sept 4.  Amazing what a 3-0 win against Indiana and a 5-0 win against Butler will do.

Oh for sure. Indiana was the pre-season #1, so that catapulted us straight to the top 5. Didn't last long.

But that team was 8-1-2 at one point and still ranked in the teens... coulda, shoulda, woulda. Maybe it was my freshman naivete, but I really did believe that team could make the College Cup. Then WCC season came!

Either way - the press release headline "Pilots Ranked Sixth, Highest Ranking Since 1980s" isn't quite accurate. I remember the golden days of September 2000!!!

Well, the text said ranked in two polls. There was no topdrawer in 2000.

I have no idea who the second poll would have been in 1988 or 1989.

Soccer America?? College soccer news? Was there a coaches poll back then?

Geezaldinho wrote:Well, the text said ranked in two polls. There was no topdrawer in 2000.

I have no idea who the second poll would have been in 1988 or 1989.

Soccer America?? College soccer news? Was there a coaches poll back then?

Soccer America was definitely around in 2000 at least... as I put in the earlier post, this janky old press release from Virginia makes it look like were No. 5 in the Soccer America poll too: https://virginiasports.com/news/2000/09/05/i-soccer-america-i-ranks-virginia-men-s-soccer-1-team-in-the-country/

That press release only mentions the coach's poll and Soccer America, so maybe that was it for polls back then?

Kevin Bonilla helps Pilots men's soccer take flight
(Yet another author who does not know these Pilots ply the water, not the sky)

https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/12-sports/560481-448788-kevin-bonilla-helps-pilots-mens-soccer-take-flight

[quote="DoubleDipper"]
(Yet another author who does not know these Pilots ply the water, not the sky)

Says the guy with the jet as his avatar!

SoreKnees wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:
(Yet another author who does not know these Pilots ply the water, not the sky)

Says the guy with the jet as his avatar!

To be fair, it’s usually the editor that writes the headlines, not the writer.

Geezaldinho wrote:

SoreKnees wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:
(Yet another author who does not know these Pilots ply the water, not the sky)

Says the guy with the jet as his avatar!

To be fair, it’s usually the editor that writes the headlines, not the writer.

The editor in Corvallis got it right!  

Beavers Sink No. 6 Pilots 3-2

https://osubeavers.com/news/2022/10/14/mens-soccer-beavers-sink-no-6-pilots-3-2

Geezaldinho wrote:The Win over USF last week jumped UP men to #6 in the coaches poll. That’s the highest ranking since the 1980’s teams with Garrett Smith, Kasey Keller, Scott Benedetto, etc.

The RPI jumped to #14

The mercurial RPI is now #17 after the 3-2 loss at OSU and Top Drawer has UP at #6 in the nation.

(United Soccer Coaches Poll should be out Tuesday...)

DoubleDipper wrote:

Geezaldinho wrote:The Win over USF last week jumped UP men to #6 in the coaches poll. That’s the highest ranking since the 1980’s teams with Garrett Smith, Kasey Keller, Scott Benedetto, etc.

The RPI jumped to #14

The mercurial RPI is now #17 after the 3-2 loss at OSU and Top Drawer has UP at #6 in the nation.

(United Soccer Coaches Poll should be out Tuesday...)

The Coaches dropped the Pilots to #7 after their loss in Corvallis...OSU didn't receive any votes but their RPI is now #24.

UP is up a couple of spots to #15 in the RPI from the weekend, however, they likely can only go down for the remainder of the season because their remaining opponents all rank lower:

10/22 #72 LMU
10/26 @ #188 GU
10/29 @ #157 USD
11/5 #199 SCU
11/12 @ #193 UOP

Pilots are tied for 18th in the coaches poll.

More importantly, the D1 committee has them in their top 16 at the #14 position.


A good seed is crucially dependent on the result against Pacific this weekend. It would be nice if San Diego dropped points this weekend,also.
Their RPI is currently #24.

If I understand correctly, the top 16 get a first-round bye and then a home game against a first-round winner. Is this correct?

I also remember from past years that there is a big geographical segregation in the first two rounds, with all three teams in a cluster being from close by, right?

So who would be in the Pilots' cluster? A Pac-## side and someone from one of the other western leagues?

The seeded 16 get a first round bye and an unranked ( committee ranking) team in the second round.

The weird stuff that happens on the Mens bracket is mostly in the first round, where travel appears to be the main decider in who you play.

The unseeded team travel in the second round is probably up to the travel computer  algorythm, but with a dirth of unseeded teams in the NW someone will probably fly in. I don’t know if there is any consideration for adhering to a proper bracket, but there might be some.

After that, it looks pretty much a rational bracket. Last year we were unseeded and got the closest unseeded team in the first round (Seattle) Then #2 UW  got us as the closest unseeded team in the second round. Then they got #15 Indiana  and then  #7 Duke or #10 St. Louis. (St.Lo beat Duke) And those teams flew in.


Oregon State was the #1 and teams that had to travel  were St. John’s, #16 New Hampshire, and #8 Clemson. Had they won the PK’s shootout,  #9 Kentucky was next up in Corvallis. St. John’s was the outlier who wasn’t local in the second round because there weren’t teams that could travel by bus.

Last year’s bracket here: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/soccer-men/d1/2021
So at #16 we would probably get UW as the #1 this year in the third round.
( right now OSU is #16 in the committee ranking and they would go to UW)
If, however, we stay  #14 we would probably fly East to play somebody like #3 Clemson or #4 Virginia, maybe #5 Syracuse.

The unranked Western teams I see are USD if they win the conference, UCLA at #31, and creighton, UCSB and Denver. Maybe Air Force.

uCSB will probably stay in California.

Otherwise the tournament looks like teams hopping over the Appalachian mountains.

The men win 4-0 in Stockton, but USD wins in San Francisco to take the WCC crown and the automatic bid with an RPI of 95.

The Pilots now await their playoff fate, with the selection show coming on Monday, Nov. 14 at 10 a.m.

I am told it is likely UP, RPI 29, will host a NCAA First-Round game on Thursday, November 17.

DoubleDipper wrote:The Pilots now await their playoff fate, with the selection show coming on Monday, Nov. 14 at 10 a.m.

The Pilots will host UC Riverside, the winners of the Big West title, on Thursday evening at Merlo Field.

The winner of that game will head to Corvallis for a Sunday showdown with the Beavers.

Season ticket holders should already have an email they can respond to to get tickets.

DoubleDipper wrote:The Pilots will host UC Riverside, the winners of the Big West title, on Thursday evening at Merlo Field.

I have been told this game will NOT be streamed on the WCC Network, but instead can be viewed on ESPN+.

Nick Carlin-Voigt wrote:The motto here in the program is one team, one goal, one family. That speaks to the idea that everyone is one.

https://wccsports.com/news/2022/11/17/mens-soccer-a-team-built-on-passion.aspx