By Joseph Kurtz
The University of Portland women's soccer team will play at home for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division I Women's College Cup this weekend after receiving the second seed. For the first time in the last four years, the Pilots earned a home seed in the tournament, and they will play Northern Arizona University tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Merlo Field.
As the Pilots look toward their game tomorrow, they face a familiar opponent in the Lumberjacks. On Sept. 12th, the Pilots drummed NAU for seven goals en route to a 7-0 win.
If the Pilots win, they will advance to play on Sunday afternoon to against either the University of Texas or Washington State University, as the Horns and the Wildcats face off just before the Pilots' game on Merlo Field tomorrow night.
This season is the 16th time in the last 17 years that the Pilots have made it to the NCAA College Cup. They won the National Championship in 2002 and more recently in 2005.
The No. 2 ranked Pilots clinched a tournament bid last weekend as they beat the University of San Diego 4-1. For the first time this season, the Pilots had to come from behind to win, as they were down 1-0 just after halftime, but then scored four unanswered goals to capture the win.
Sophomore Sophie Schmidt stole the show as she kept her red hot scoring streak intact with not only a goal, but also two assists. The goal was Schmidt's 10th in the last nine matches. Senior defender Korie Nicholson joined in on the scoring with the eventual game-winner, off of a corner kick from senior Megan Rapinoe in the 74th minute. Junior Michelle Enyeart and freshman Halley Kreminski each added goal on the night.
The win over USD not only helped the Pilots' chances of getting a home seed, but it also clinched the West Coast Conference title. For the second straight season of producing an undefeated 7-0 conference record, the Pilots won their 10th WCC title with the win.
Other notable seeds in the bracket include Notre Dame, which earned a No.1 seed with an undefeated regular season record of 21-0. Stanford University, University of North Carolina and UCLA received the other three No.1 seeds.
