2009 verbal commits!!!!

Woo Hoo!

Two Park City Utah defenders have committed to UP for the 2009 year!

Lindsi Lisonbee and Cloee Colohan are coming here. Both are all- state , ODP, YNT, --all that good stuff.

Lisonbee in particular has drawn raves. She was probably the best defender in Utah as a sophmore and probably one of the most sought after players in America in that class. Colohan is no slouch either, she's made waves in the youth programs. They come out of Park City, where Ellie is from, and played club with her.

http://www.parkrecord.com/sports/ci_7484198

Great news for the Pilots!

I've seen Lisonbee play...she is really all they say she is and more. Quite a phenomenal player when she is "on", quite a "get" for the Pilots.

So, KFTC,

tell us something about her--size, speed, etc.

it is estactic to see pilots recruiting outside of or/ca/wa, how great is it to see the program reaching into texas an georgia? the commentators on the game today mentioned that if you are a top notch soccer recruit, when you get a recruiting letter, you want it to be from unc, portland or notre dame. it seems like our success is finally reaching nationally. goooooooooooo pilots!

Great news, Geez! We're definitely recruiting more "national" caliber players as well as highly touted local talent. We're creating a real juggernaut out here in the Old NorthWest. The rest of the country is just going to have to get with the program - our program!

Yes, KFTC. Can you tell us any more about said recruit?

but it is still important that we draw the top rated oregon recruits. when i look at a lineup card, i want to see gals from oregon in the lineup. after all, we are u of p!

Absolutely, fozziewozzie! The best of Oregon as well
as the best national recruits we can get our hands on...

And Geezer, I've started to get real excited everytime you
start a post with: WOO HOO!!!

Sorry, that came across the spy network right after the women's game and before the men's game. I guess I was pretty excited.

I thought it would be great to get these two, but I had no clue we would.

Here's an article that has some stuff on Lisonbee playing high school ball last year as a soph with Ellie.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20061013/ai_n16786671

My favorite part? -- when they call her "the towering Lisonbee"

ussoccer.com has her listed at 5'10".

Colohan is listed on the u-16 roster as a puny 5'8", but hey! she's under 16 and probably still growing

Query: how many scholarships for '09 do we have left? As far as I can tell, after '08, we have both Rapinoes departing, and maybe Kari Nicholson (who may redshirt?). Assuming those are the only departures which we know will occur after the '08 campaign, then the offers we have extended to date may well already be equal to what we are losing after '08. The upshot is that while I am thrilled at the obvious caliber of recruiting-- even if we are becoming the Intermountain Pilots--I am uncertain whether we now have a scholarship to offer Tualtin's Verloo. Does the extension of these offers to Lisenbee and Colohan mean Verloo will not be a Pilot? I hope not but perhaps Verloo has other plans . . .

wrv

There is no fixed number. unlike football and basketball, soccer is a sport where there is only the money for scholarships to be divided among the players, so players usually get something like 2/3 scholarship. Also you can get academic scholarship money and that's not counted towards one of the 15 athletic slots. UP is consistently at the top of NCAA academic performance with its teams, and I'll bet that at least a couple players do that.

Don't forget Katie Brown left the team at the start of the season, too. If things go the way they have been, a couple players will be off on National Teams. UP has to start planning ahead for those things too. I can't imagine that Sophie, for instance, won't be called up for the Canadian cause, Kelsey might be called up. Some of the great freshmen and sophs. and some of the incoming kids are already on some of those teams. I don't think it's unreasonable to plan on a redshirt or two each year for NT or injury reasons.

There are 22 kids on the roster now. I imagine the ideal squad might be 6 entering each year, or alternating years of 5 and 6 players. this class already has Taylor Brooke from Oregon, and Lisonbee and Colohan from Utah. I don't think we are done yet, and we know that there are a couple Oregon players we'd really like to have. Heck, there's probably players all over the country we'd like to have.

Since you mentioned Verloo, I'm betting (with no real first hand knowledge) that she got so many offers she's having trouble sorting though them. We know what her choice should be, but we aren't the ones who decide. That may also be the case with a couple other kids, too.

Thanks for the explanation, Geezer. I, too, was wondering about that.
And I also believe that we aren't through with the 2009 recruiting class.

And isn't it odd that we know of three 2009 public verbal commits just a few weeks after we discovered who most of the 2008 commits were?

There's an interesting feature of the commitment process that someone else might know more about. Players have trouble deciding where they want to commit and then get injured, potentially seriously. I have the impression that teams usually will keep those players (a la Jessica Tsao) if they've committed, but will withdraw their "offers" if the players haven't. It's a risk a player runs by not committing. Someone who knows, please add you input and let us know whether I'm right about how injuries fit into the commitment process.

If I'm not mistaken, Jessica got injured Between her sophomore and Junior years, before she would have been given an offer.

It may well be that we were able to get her precisely Because her injury kind of put her on the back burner for teams that didn't believe in her talent as UP did.

Hmmm... I'm pretty syre she was hurt after her junior year.

Here is the 2005 all-state list:

http://www.oregonlive.com/prepgirlssoccer/oregonian/index.ssf?/prepgirlssoccer/3astate05.html

And 2004:

http://www.oregonlive.com/prepgirlssoccer/oregonian/index.ssf?/prepgirlssoccer/3astate04.html

But she wasn't on the 2006 team, her senior year.

right you are, stoney. The years all run together.

I still think that if you believe in a player's talent, an injury wouldn't affect an offer much.

If a player can play, she can play. If she can't play, there are other ways to help a student get through college that don't depend on athletic prowess.

If you are a school in a position where you need a specific player Right Now, then maybe it's different.

I don't think UP is in that position.

Our friend topDrawer has a story on the region IV ODP playing some version of the Canadian National Team and winning, 1-0

Of interest to Pilot fans is that Cloee Colohan played well and Courtney Verloo was a striker for the team.

Check it out at: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/articles.aspx?article=2803 (bottom of the page)

edit: checked the CNT site-- it was their U-17 team.

Thanks for sharing, Geezer. Interesting that Verloo and Colohan were both starters on that unit. I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure out that both Oregon and Utah players must be in the Region IV Oympic Development Program.

The article noted that both players played well. I don't know if Courtney will be a UP commit, but it feels warm in the gut when a young Pilot commit, (Cloee), is starting on an elite youth team and is the only defender singled out for a solid game.

We've got a real sweet looking pipeline right now.

I guess I just assumed everyone knew about the ODP regions, but I guess not everyone spends time on those websites. There are four Nationwide.

We are in region IV which covers the West, and includes Alaska, Arizona, California North, California South, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming--a pretty big area.
You'll note there are two State Associations in California, a couple of other big states have two associations. Ohio and New York come to mind.

I think most of our recruits have come from this region, so it's pretty important to us. In fact, I can think of only a few recruits who aren't from our region. Before the first championhip, I can't recall any besides Canadians and Europeans.

On the current roster, Schmidt (Canada), Jackman (III) and Scifo (I) are the only ones. I think Scifo was our first recruit ever out of region I. Michelle Olivier next year comes out of region III

Region III covers the Southeast - North Carolina to Texas and Oklahoma

Region II covers the Midwest - from Indiana to the Dakotas and Arkansas.

Region I is the Northeast - from Ohio Eastwards and South to Virginia.

Thanks, Geezer, for the ODP Region breakdown. Wow - only four regions for the whole country. So how elite is it to be on one of these team's rosters? Or are there more than one team representing Region IV U-17 playing at various locations?

Each level is a feeder for the next larger group. You can get an idea for how players are progressively selected by following one through the ranks.

Lets pick Oregon's Courtney Verloo as an example. Here's the rosters for the '91 players (U-16 at this time)in each program.

You'll see there are 3 Oregon YSA girls in the Region IV pool, only Courtney right now on the National U-16 pool from Oregon. I think U-16 is when kids start playing internationally (the Canadian programs seem to play US regional and National teams)

http://www.oregonyouthsoccer.org/test/state/2008_91_Girls_Pool.pdf
http://www.regioniv.com/odp/girlspools.htm
http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.jsp_84-2007U16GNTPool.html

Then you have to see if the player is actually playing, and not just in the pool.
In Courtney's case, you'll see she is active from the topDrawer link above.

Just because you don't see a player here, it doesn't mean she's not any good. Kid's get on and off these lists due to injuries or age, or because they don't play club ball or are just taking a couple months off from soccer.

It's pretty big investment in time and money for kids to play in all these programs. Sometimes they pick and chose where they think they will be most noticed. Sometimes after they have verbaled they will stop playing these tournaments until they are eligible for the higher National teams due to their college experience.. those are generally paid for by the US Soccer Assn.

Thanks for all the info. I noticed that a Lauren Hansen is assistant coach of the Region IV 92 ODP team. Is that our Lauren?

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:Thanks for all the info. I noticed that a Lauren Hansen is assistant coach of the Region IV 92 ODP team. Is that our Lauren?

Yup, that's her. There are lots of UP/former UP players involved with clubs and ODP teams in region IV. I think her involvement comes out of ties with FC Portland.

go here: http://www.fcportland.org/coaches_bio.html

It reads like a who's who of UP soccer (Not surprising, since Clive started the club)

There are former UP players in lots of other club programs around the country.

if i remember correctly, jessica tore her acl like a week after megan did against wsu. i remember thinkg it was pretty ironic. so i believe jessica tore acl her senior year, in camas, playing in a tourney against a nationaly rank team from ohio

You are correct, fozzie. Jessica tore her ACL about one week after Megan did in October 2006. I also thought it ironic, and was very concerned about Jessica going into August camp a couple months ago. How terribly ironic again that Tsao seems to be showing no obvious signs of the injury, while Megan and Rachael are out for the season with fresh torn ACL's!

With Rebecca Meierbachtol, Megan, Rachael and Jessica, that's four players, and five ACL tears in about 2 1/2 years, I think. (Rebecca tore her's in the Spring game against Mexico, April 2005, I believe.) And I also concur with fozzie that Jessica tore her's as a high school senior, although that certainly would be a concern for the Pilots.

I think four players and five tears is ENOUGH! NO MORE ACL TEARS FOR A LONG TIME!!!!!

BTW - Does anyone know how Rebecca is doing? This was supposed to be her Redshirt Senior season. She seems to be a wonderful person. I've seen her once this year (since August). She had an ugly black metal contraption around her knee. I feel horrible for her, and am concerned about her future quality of life with her knee problems. I know she planned on playing her final season with the Pilots. She really seemed to love playing for the Pilots. So her knee's condition must not be good....We love you Rebecca!!!!