Go Big Purple

I publicly aired my skepticism back in October when I came back from a Portland Pilots-PSU Vikings match with reservations about the Pilot gals' abilities to take on the big, bad girls of the NCAA. Megan Rapinoe, their top scorer, had just gone down with a season-ending ACL tear, the team had drawn Florida and lost to Florida State, and their outing against PSU, a team that would give, oh, a Hillsboro U-8 girls side a bit of trouble if nothing more, was superbly mediocre.

IOW, I said that things looked Bleak on the Bluff.

Well, I have to eat my words. Mmmm, they taste pretty good. Today the Pilot gals go up against the biggest, baddest mamas of all the 2006 NCAA, the top-seeded Texas Longhorns. And I'd like to say that I am with Rachel Rapinoe and her sisters on this years Pilot squad. Get stuck in, gals. Good luck.

Go, you Pilots!

Update 1:30pm: UP 2, UT nil. We're going uuuuupppp, we're going up, up, up... Rachel Rapinoe (see the top of this post - I think I'm in luuuurve...) scores 3 minutes into the first half. Wooooohoooo!!! Cori Alexander with another clean sheet. Awesome, gals.

So it's UCLA on T-giving weekend. Should be a good one. Note also that the heavy hitters: UNC, Notre Dame are both still in it. Portland winning next weekend may set up a semifinal-final UP vs. UNC. Wow.

I love this game.