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Portland -6 SMU -0. The Portland women’s soccer team showed why they are in the top 10 and the Lady Mustangs are unranked. The only areas the Lady Mustangs lead in were corner kicks, fouls and offsides. This game was a perfect illustration of how far the SMU women’s soccer team has fallen in the last couple years. An embarrassing performance to say the least. Obviously SO’s idea for our soccer teams is not top 25 but bottom 25.

GO PONIES!!!

You're lovin it, aren't you? Game wasn't over five minutes and you were already online and crowing about it. Same score that North Carolina beat Notre Dame by two weeks ago. There has NEVER been an SMU team that could have beaten Portland today. Winning the seven-team WAC didn't make the teams of old world beaters.

redblue08 wrote: Winning the seven-team WAC didn't make the teams of old world beaters.

Absolutely correct.

It did, however, make them Conference Champs and NCAA tourney bound.

for those that follow women's soccer, Portland has been a perennial national power. I believe they have numerous national championships under their belts. they are obviously quite good again this year.

And they came in angry after getting upset by Aggie High the other night — they came in clearly trying to make a statement for the poll voters.

Pony4Life wrote:And they came in angry after getting upset by Aggie High the other night — they came in clearly trying to make a statement for the poll voters.

Beating up on a bottom 50 team should hardly impress the pollsters.
As much as I despise the aggies I must respect the fact that they have had consistently good teams over the last 5 years or so. I believe they are currently ranked 13th and should move up based on their result against Portland. Portland is currently ranked 2nd in the nation. At the end of last season they were ranked 5th and 7th.
In the past we also had highly ranked teams but no longer since we went to ‘wannabe coaches’ instead of proven winners. There is no reason we should not be winning. Texas and Dallas specifically are soccer hotbeds with an abundance of recruits with D-1 potential. Good talent can only be maximized through effective coaching. This is Erwin's third recruiting season. If he can't recruit and build a winning program by now he needs to go. Obviously, SO’s promise of top 25 in all we do does not apply to women’s soccer.

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Remember that Steve O hired Erwin to coach men at UCF in soccer. So, they have some history together. I suspect that Erwin showed Orsini something at UCF to make him want to bring him here for his women's program. Let's weather this season and see what they want to do after the season is over. Clearly if this keeps up, this program has spiraled downward very fast.

redpony wrote:This is Erwin's third recruiting season.

When was Erwin hired? Early '07? Not sure it's fair to call '07 his first recruiting class. Not even sure that it's fair to call '08 his first recruiting class considering how early the girls commit these days.

ponytony wrote:Not sure it's fair to call '07 his first recruiting class. Not even sure that it's fair to call '08 his first recruiting class considering how early the girls commit these days.

I am sure he had been recruiting players before he came here. This is not a lot different than a sales person changing companies- he still has the same relationships.
Also, at what level in high school can a student-athlete sign a binding loi? I thought it was their senior year.
Yes, many students have an idea of where they want to go to school but the final commitment is not made before their senior year.

JJ went to Hawaii and turned that program around in 1 year. Applying your logic to our football team you would be saying that none of the recruits before next year should be counted as JJ's. I doubt he would agree with you.

Anyway the real test of being a successful coach is the W-L record (and national rankings) and in the last two seasons our record has gotten worse and this year may be the worst of all.

GO PONIES!!!

mustangbill67 wrote:for those that follow women's soccer, Portland has been a perennial national power. I believe they have numerous national championships under their belts. they are obviously quite good again this year.

GEE- maybe we should hire their coach. An experienced coach that is a PROVEN winner.

GO PONIES!!!

Erwin was hired in January 2007 with signing date only weeks away. He was a successful assistant men's coach for Schellas and was the men's coach at UCF. Probably very little contact with or knowledge of potential women recruits. He had less than a month to find a 2007 class. He signed 6 players, 3 of whom are still on the roster. In 2008, he signed 9 players, 6 of whom are still on the roster. In 2009 he signed 12 players. He has also looked at a lot of walk-ons trying to find additional players and build a practice squad. There will always be a lot of attrition in the walk-on group as players are cut or quit for lack of playing time. His basic scholarship team is still very young but I agee that he needs to show progress this year in the conference.

I stand corrected. I had forgotten that he was the men's coach at UCF. However, having been in Dallas with Schellas he still should have had a strong grasp on the local soccer talent- both boys and girls.

GO PONIES!!!

redpony wrote:Anyway the real test of being a successful coach is the W-L record

This statement is trite and a bit short-sighted. I think it was you in a previous post who quoted Erwin's record as being 15-20. He could have improved his record to 21-14 by scheduling Sam Houston St., Baylor, McNeese St., Houston Baptist, Lamar, and Texas Southern instead of Notre Dame, USC, California, Portland, and Oklahoma State twice. This would have been in his own self-interest but probably not in the best interest of the team or the program.

The 2007 signing class was recruited by the previous coaching staff. There are actually only 5 players left from the 08 class since one more quit this season after one game and, unfortunately for us, she was one of the top scorers in Nationals this summer. Some quality players have left the program from the 08 class alone - at least two of the top recruits quit or transferred as well as several more who saw a lot of playing time last season as freshmen. We'll continue to be a young team if this trend continues.

newmustangfan wrote:

redpony wrote:Anyway the real test of being a successful coach is the W-L record

This statement is trite and a bit short-sighted. I think it was you in a previous post who quoted Erwin's record as being 15-20. He could have improved his record to 21-14 by scheduling Sam Houston St., Baylor, McNeese St., Houston Baptist, Lamar, and Texas Southern instead of Notre Dame, USC, California, Portland, and Oklahoma State twice. This would have been in his own self-interest but probably not in the best interest of the team or the program.

In business the guideline is P&L. No profits and you soon cease to exist. In coaching it is W-l and national rankings (which I believe you omitted from my previous post). As trite as it sounds it is the real world. You don't win and get national rankings then you are gone. You also don't get national rankings playing push-over teams.
Another concern with this program is the large amount of attrition. Not just walk-ons but quality scholarship players that have left and are playing for other college teams. All of those factors indicate an internal coaching problem.

GO PONIES!!!