Cloee Colohan, a 2-year+ starter, transferred to BYU. Not sure if Garrett Smith refused to grant her a release and forced her to sit out a year.
Apparently, Colohan is enrolled at BYU but not on the latest roster that includes the incoming freshmen this fall. She was considered the best, if not the best, central defender the Pilots ever have had, according to a poster on the 2011 thread. With her leaving and Michelle Olivier graduating, is it not a reach to say the Pilots have lost the heart of their defense?
Best they ever had is admittedly subjective. She is very good, but there are a lot of Kristen Eaton and Lauren Orlandos fans. We shall see. They held UW scoreless last Saturday. They do get Kendall Johnson back helping out the back line after an injury year.
http://portlandpilots.com/schedule.aspx?tab=womenssoccer&path=wsoc Schedule's up. Hadn't checked for this in a while. I wish I could go up to UP v. SDSU.
WCC teams in Chris Henderson’s All White Kit final 2012 recruiting class rankings: #5 Santa Clara PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Andi Tostanoski, GK, FR, Colorado Springs, Colorado #23 BYU PLAYER TO WATCH IN 2012 – Cloee Colohan, D/M, JR, West Point, Utah (Transfer from Portland) #38 St. Mary’s (CA) #56 Portland #83 Loyola Marymount
Interesting and true: last year's Pilots with a 9-10-2 record allowed more goals (30) than any Portland team in over 25 years.
Here's what Colohan, who had been a Portland co-captain, said in a BYU SID interview last month: "I came home last Christmas break and usually am really excited to get back to Portland, because I loved it, but this time I wasn't. For some reason I just had this weird feeling that I didn't want to go back. And when Portland had played BYU in the fall I didn't play because I was hurt, but I still came and saw what BYU was all about. I saw how they were as a team, and I knew I wanted to be a part of that. So, after Christmas, I got back to Portland and I struggled. I knew I couldn't stay so I talked to my coach and decided to go. The next day I was on a flight to Utah, without even knowing if I could play at BYU or not. It was a huge leap of faith." She wasn’t listed on the Cougar roster as late as the middle of March but later played with the team on their Europe trip that ended in May.
Well, Portland lost to San Diego State on a keeper error and for the season gave up more goals than they scored. Now, Garrett Smith is using last season's backup in goal. If that is a marked improvement, it's a change that should have been made a year earlier. If it's not, recruiting a keeper should have been a priority.
You have to remember that MoistPits hates Portland and Garrett Smith. I think this is going to be an interesting season "we'll have to wait and see" season for Pilots fans. I'm really looking forward to it, as I think we'll see some very good team play. No superstars, but everyone pulling together. How it will end in terms of game results, who knows?
I don't hate Portland. And I don’t hate the Emperor. I just see he needs to wear some clothes and wish he learned to be a better loser. Come on. Were you honestly satisfied with the overall talent level you saw last season? I sure wasn’t. Were you disappointed with a recruiting class that no one ranked among the top 50? I was. Do wish the Emperor could now recruit as well as SCU's Jerry Smith? I do. But, yes, no one knows how the new season will play out. Maybe they’ll upset a UNC team playing without half their starters. Maybe they won’t make the tournament.
Portland loses from 2011 Hailee deYoung, Michelle Olivier, Danielle Foxhoven, Hailey Kreminski, Emma Nelson and Chloe Colehan. That is one-half of Portland's 2011 All WCC contingent and over 8,000 minutes of soccer. Portland gets Kendall Johnson returning from injury and freshmen Haylee DeGrood, Shelby Vaver, Sarah Bindl, Noelle La Prevotte and Devlyn Jeter. Kendall Johnson is a good player, the freshman were ranked as a class #56. They do not appear to make up for the players that have left. Total roster: 18. Room for injuries: none. So my prediction is Portland in 2012 has fewer wins than in 2011. They do return Micaela Capelle, who I thought was their best player last year. But I think 2012 will be a tough year for the Pilots.
OK, some more concrete guesses. That's what I was looking for. How was spring, or was there any spring ball? I know the NCAA nearly outlawed it, IIRC.
spring ball is not something to take too seriously. Many teams play shorthanded, and comparisons can fool people. UP, for example, played most of the Spring schedule with 10 or 11 field players, and in several matches, each keeper played a half. I'm sure the other teams played short also, but players on their benches had someone to talk to. But UP did open with the Huskies this spring and beat them 2-0 in Seattle. again, not to make too much of it, it was a spring game. I will mention, however, that the W league Sounders women with full complement of Nat Team players beat the Huskies 3-1, and a return match without many USWNT players, but with Mexican Nat player Veronica Perez, former Nat Stephanie Cox, and several former WUSA players beat the Huskies again 1-0. One outcome of the UW match was that Michaela Capelle got whacked in the Knee and was lost for the Spring (and to the u20 Nats). so UP was even more shorthanded the rest of the Spring. two seniors (Kreminski and Nelson ) were asked to Play Spring ball to spell players a bit after that. UP also Played D2 perennial champs Seattle Pacific and beat them 5-0, which again comperes to the week before when SPU played the Sounders women and got beat 5-0 by Morgan and co. SPU is a D2 team, but they were 17-3 last year and have a recent National Championship. they regularly beat area D1 teams in the Spring. UP then Played crosstown Portland State 3-0, then last Fall's Tournament matchup Oregon State (2-0 or 3-0 I think, i can't remember which), and Finished out against Oregon and beat them 4-1. I was out of town for those matches, so I can't really comment on them. other than to mention Taylor Brook was hurt in one of those games. Both she and Capelle should be OK for the season. So, for UP fans, it was OK. they ouscored their opponents in Spring ball 16 or 17 : 1 and compared favorably to how two of those teams did playing what is arguably the best Women's team in the nation since the demise of the WPS. But again, it is Spring ball, and one struggles to know how team rosters are doing with those other teams. thee were no issues about who should or should not have played. One hopes the incoming players will be able to contribute more than just minutes, but they are pretty much guaranteed to play. and I would say it gives hope that against the level of Play they had this Spring, the prediction of the demise of the defense might be overstated. There are many UP fans that hope so.
My understanding is that most MCL's don't require surgery, only rest. I hadn't heard that either player actually had surgery. I saw Capelle in summer league last week and I assure you she will be ready, barring further injury. Brook's injury was less severe but is more recent. I'm told she is on track to start the season.
Knowing they couldn't get through spring scrimmages without players going down and being short-handed, do you have concerns with a roster of 18 and ending up with a repeat of last season or worse?
Sure, but that's a concern every team has, or should have. There are no guarantees for you, either. I don't wish that on anyone. We had team leaders go down for a bunch of years in a row even with relatively large rosters. Since 2005 we had Rapinoe, Rapinoe, Rapinoe, Rapinoe,(4 ACL's, two Rapinoes), Chandhoke ( leg), Chandhoke( ACL), Enyartl(leg), Enyeart (ACL-well, every CL in her knee), Colohan (stress fracture), McClusky ( two years of back surgeries)... Hell, I could go on for half a page. That doesn't even include players who couldn't go every week. Colohan rarely practiced last year, for instance, and she was held out several games. As I recall, you should be a little jumpy too. You are not immune from having half your team go down, or have you forgotten? A recall a few years ago you showed up with almost no bench and players on the field hobbling. It was inspiring to watch. You put up a better fight than healthy teams who came in. As I recall, your team was applauded when they came off. Sometimes you want to erase those memories. The fact is, soccer is tough on women athletes. They get hurt. One of the reasons I give for why UP won two championships is that we had almost no injuries those years. Could happen again.... Neither UP nor SCU are in positions to have Florida size rosters. Both teams do what they do with available rosters, twice since I have been watching UP we have had what most see as frighteningly small squads. It actually brought the team together last time. They went to the semis against UNC and took them to 4 overtimes the year Florida won starting with this exact size squad. They finished with 12 field players and a keeper who played the field sometimes to spell them. UP has never been a mass substitution squad, if you haven't noticed. The philosophy is that the best players should be on the field. That is how it is in international play. I'm not sure they can pull anything like that off a second time, I hope they don't have to, but it will be fun to see what happens.
The facts don't really back you up when you say, "Neither UP nor SCU are in positions to have Florida size rosters." Florida's roster lists 31. Santa Clara has 30. Portland has 18. So are you claiming this current Portland team, without injuries, could win a national championship?
