The never-gracious Pilot Coach, Garrett Smith, on today's loss: "I thought we'd scored enough to win the game but we can only control the things we can control and the decision-making was up to someone else today, unfortunately."
The video wasn't the greatest, so maybe I'm wrong... I thought the second PK was a bad call, however, that goal at the end was the weirdest. Did somebody not blow a whistle? Why did Portland not know that somebody was coming at them with the ball? It really is too bad because I think Portland was the better team but suffered from some rookie mistakes (or something). Now, with BYU and Portland eliminated, we have to endure all the snide comments about the WCC from all the ACC worshipers...
There are 8 ACC teams to the WCC's 0. I'd say any snide comments they want to make are warranted. No?
Women's Soccer Blog with Lorielle McCluskie: http://portlandpilots.com/news/2013/11/25/WSOC_1125135809.aspx mature words of pride and truth; watching Pilots this season was a pleasure
Portland actually plays a brand of soccer I enjoy watching, They are really good at possessing the ball, It is nice to actually watch a team that is able to move the ball from out of the back, through the midfield and try to work it in front of the net for better percentage shots. To actually see a team string together 5+ passes with consistency throughout a game is a refreshing sight to see.
Chris Henderson of All White Kit, on Portland's season ender: "Heightened expectations were dashed by the Illini, who beat the Pilot defense like a rented mule, putting up twenty-four shots, ten shots on goal, and four goals."
There is no message. Look at the goals each team gave up over the year, or even the three goals The Ilini gave up. And also keep in mind that two of those four goals are from pretty questionable PKs and a third was from a questionable restart. It's just a cheap attention getter. I thought Chris Henderson was better than that. I was fooled. You are an ass.
Yeah, OK. First of all, you're actually talking to Chris Henderson. Second, it's difficult to craft a response considering you barely seem coherent. Actually, there is a message, one you seem unable to comprehend considering you're yammering about the goals given up by each team during the course of the entire year when I, a.) wasn't making reference to the entire season, just this match and b.) wasn't talking about Illinois' defense because that item was dealing with Portland and not the Illini. Regardless of how Portland's defense may have played throughout the season, they were awful against Illinois on Friday. An attention getter? Seriously? Do you think I sit up at night, twist my mustache, and obsess over ways to antagonize Portland fans to boost site hits? Thankfully, most of Portland's fans seem to be somewhat more mature than you and don't go into a sanctimonious temper tantrum the second someone criticizes their club. /rant
That isn't criticism. " beat like a drum" ?? The Portland defense gave up TWO goals in the run of play in that game, and it's still a question whether one of those goals was even in the run of play. but you go ahead and commiserate with Moist Pits.. You make a great pair.
Thank you Mr. Arbiter of Criticism for enlightening me as to what does and does not count as criticism. Considering I've generally not changed my tone of writing for four seasons now and you are just now clutching your pearls, it seems "speaking ill of my team" is a prominent criteria in your judgements. Thank you as well for ignoring the shot count, the shot on goal count, the corner kick count, and trying really hard to convince yourself that that final goal was an amazing injustice instead of a very unfortunate defensive mix-up. I generally have found Moist Pits to be insufferable, but you're succeeding in making him/her appear tolerable in comparison, so there's that I guess.
Well, admittedly, it's not terribly diplomatic to post something like this on a team's forum but that isn't your fault, you're not the one who posted it.
Well, well Illinois pummeled BC also with the exact same stat line as the Portland game, 24 shots 10 on goal. BC won the game 4-1. Did they beat them like a rented mule? I guess the difference was they didn’t have Big 10 official Chris Greer on the field with them. I guess the ACC wouldn’t allow that. Apparently the NCAA cant follow it’s own rules. We have a Hall of Fame Sportswriter here and he also has a radio show. People call in and make some ignorant statements, and he would always say “did you watch the damn game”? And by the way he is usually referring to one of the other major sports in this country. Illinois had 5-6 quality shots in the game. The rest were from distance and basically prayers. Illinois/BC game wasn’t any different, except the field was in better condition. I guess you consider watching balls sailing over, or wide of the goal to be pummeling. I call it turnovers. To win a game 4-3, and describe it as a team getting beat like a rented mule, would be incompetent. You were not at the games. Your analysis, opinions, and your web site credibility are questionable at best. Where do you come up with this- what amounts to -stuff. I’m shocked that you actually have people read this “in depth” analysis that you probably get off gametracker and make your “amazing’ Assumptions. You have got to do better than this Chris. There were some games that were 4-0 and 4-1. I believe some particular Midwest teams on the wrong end of those. Maybe those teams were rented mules. Your familiar with those I’m sure. Oh yea I forgot we are just a bunch of trolls on Big Soccer. I’m sure the same trolls that follow your twitter account and read your Gametracker Web site. You accuse Moist Pitts and Clivewhorshipper of intolerable behavior, and then go on twitter and debase the people that you write for. Are they not the “customers” that you seek? Followers? Those trolls, I believe help with your site hits. If you watched the Damn game you would have seen how much the 2 center mids kept losing the ball. Over and over in the 2nd half. And Illinois kept shooting from Distance over and over. Did you watch the Santa Clara/Portland game? What did you say about that complete and utter domination. SC with 2 Herman candidates and there offensive machine. Where is it Chris I want to read about it. You built the game up pretty big, but what’s wrong, you didn’t like the outcome? So no follow up? It was on ESPN. You didn’t have to depend on Gametracker. Where was the in depth AWK analysis of that game? I smell a trend with you Chris. Your exposed.
Oh wow, where to start. If you actually bothered to read a little more of what I wrote, you would have noticed that later when I talked about Boston College, I noted that they had throttled two Big Ten defenses, including Illinois on Sunday. I'm sorry if a throttling doesn't equal being beaten like a rented mule in your book. I'm not sorry that you have a persecution complex and think the refs are out to get you and your beloved Pilots. But hey, you're the logical one, right? No, I consider having four goals scored against you being indicative of your defense taking a pummeling. And yes, I know that one of the penalties was dubious. Yes, it would be, except that isn't actually what I said. I said Portland's defense was beaten like a rented mule, not that Portland was beaten like a rented mule. I wasn't at the games? Wow, you are perceptive. I see we're at the point where you're trying to be mean but are inevitably just tossing cliches and a whole heaping pile of word salad into a blender and hoping something sticks. Hey, I'm shocked people read what some schmuck on the internet thinks, but apparently I'm not doing that good of a job since you couldn't even comprehend that I was talking about the Portland defense getting beaten like a rented mule and not the entire team. Thanks for your concern though and your insistence that I've got to do better, but I'd rather be patronized by coaches, players, etc. You know, people who matter. Probably. Gluttons for punishment, I suppose. Kind of like me responding to this thread, I guess. I don't know, I think I'm still a ways from debasing folks. Insulting? Yeah. Debasing? Eh, not so much. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm writing for those who lack an iota of reading comprehension, have a habit of capitalizing random words, and can't separate "your" from "you're". Sorry for being a stickler for grammar and punctuation. Actually, I did watch it (and pretty much everything else I can get on the cable package). It was an excellent performance and one befitting a club clinching a share of the league title. I didn't write about it, because before the NCAA Tournament I basically had a choice of writing a preview column or a review column given other commitments and the fact that I was working hard on Bubble Watch, RPI brackets, and assorted other mid-week material. I obviously chose to write the previews, so there aren't any wrap-up columns for the season before the NCAA Tournament. But hey, everything has to be about you and your Pilots, right? But mostly about you I'm guessing. Oh no. You got me. [/sarcasm] Apologies to everyone coming in here hoping for something constructive, I know I've basically threadjacked things trying to spew hellfire and brimstone at what's probably a lost cause. Despite the numbskull-inati here thinking I'm at the head of a super secret plan to be super mean and awful to Portland, I actually thought they had a good season, winning a WCC title and setting the foundation for the next few years. There's some great young talent here, like Boon and Viera, and I think Wetherington can develop into a star (and hopefully ends up on the U20 World Cup roster). Hopefully some top teams make the trip to Merlo next year, since UP's one of the few programs with a tolerable web stream.
Chris Henderson has a mustache? Who knew... ANYhoo, if I don't like what I'm reading, I simply stop reading it. That would work for both parties concerned in the above hot word contest. I visit this thread because I like to watch the Pilots online. Will I stop watching if somebody predicts doom? Nope. The WCC will always attract good players because the schools are great, and not everyone wants to go to UNC. That is enough for me. There is definitely something to look forward to every fall. Not hating on the statistical enthusiasts... I just find that I don't really care anymore about statistics or probability, except maybe on a superficial level. It doesn't mean that I think those things are worthless, I just like to watch the soccer, which Portland does very well, even in a so-so year... One thing I have to say... I don't like everything I read on big soccer, but this is a place for everyone to express an opinion. Without being labeled an idiot on twitter, I might add. On to 2014...
While UCLA isn't WCC... it is west coast soccer. Here's rooting for the only left coast team left in the tourney
The only video I have seen on the pk's was inconclusive. But the restart, in the videoI saw, seemed to me that the kicker kicked the ball from the spot of the foul and clearly intended to restart with a short pass to another Portland player. The intended recipient for some reason made no move to the ball, and bad things happened from a Pilot perspective. There was nothing questionable about the restart, from the perspective of the kicker, the other team and the ref (and me). Portland's quick short passing game looks great and sure worked against Santa Clara, but you have to stay alert or things can go awry.