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GREENSBORO — Jim Pielow usually likes to fall off the grid in the summertime.

Pielow teaches and coaches girls soccer at Northeast Guilford, and those precious summer weeks are his family's time to visit loved ones and see the world.

Last summer, Pielow was at his brother's house in the Colorado Rockies, far from cell phone service but connected enough to check his e-mail for the first time in a while. A message was waiting from his athletics director.

"Call as soon as you can," it read. "I think they want you to coach the All-Star game."

Pielow drove toward the nearest town until his cell phone snapped out of its coma. Sure enough, the North Carolina Coaches Association had asked Pielow, a nine-year caretaker of the Rams' program, to coach tonight's East-West All-Star game at UNCG Soccer Stadium.

"It's a real honor," Pielow said. "I think I was the last one they were waiting on."

Pielow will have six Guilford County players on his roster, including Northeast's own two-time Triad 3-A goalkeeper of the year, Erin Cable.

Cable said she hasn't played at all since the Rams lost in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs in May. But players from both sides of the state have seen each other so much on the summer travel circuit, there won't be many secrets.

"I can tell you their names, their positions, where they played last year, where they'll play next year ..." said Page's Ashley Adler, who will be joined on the West team by teammate Christin Newman, Grimsley's Bess Goodman and Western Guilford's Claire O'Keeffe and Lindsey Nusdeo. Bishop McGuinness' Cissy Nitz, a Campbell-bound midfielder, is also on the squad.

"There aren't any weak links," Pielow said. "It's very different. The biggest issue is putting them where they're going to be happy."

As he does with his own team, Pielow has suited up to play with the All-Stars at practice to help make even sides. The difference, he said, is quickly apparent.

"It gives you a much better idea that they're at a different level," he said. "The touch is definitely there."

The boys game will follow and includes Northwest Guilford teammates Aaron Adams, the reigning News & Record All-Area player of the year, and goalkeeper Jeff Basey.

The West won last year's girls game 1-0, while the boys played to the first scoreless tie in the event's 17-year history. Adler said that with such strong defenses, that type of game is to be expected.

"Somebody's just going to be lucky to get one," she said.

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com