By Joseph Kurtz
The University of Portland women's soccer team continued to roll into the playoffs last weekend as they extended their school record 18-match winning streak with wins over Northern Arizona University 6-1 and the University of Texas 2-0.
In the first game against NAU, it took all but two minutes for the Pilots to score a goal on the Lumberjacks, as sophomore Sophie Schmidt got the ball in the middle of the box off a rebound from sophomore Sara Jackman, and like a veteran, Schmidt controlled the ball and then kicked it past the NAU goalie.
Senior Megan Rapinoe, who earned West Coast Conference player of the year, was also the best player on the field, making plays everywhere. It paid off for her in the 28th minute, when she notched the second goal of the night with a shot from about 12 yards out to the bottom right corner of the goal.
Rapinoe commented on the game saying, "It's great to play in front of the home crowd, I've been blessed to play here."
The Pilots also got a boost from freshman Halley Kreminski as she added a goal in the 40th minute to make the score 3-0. Kreminski ran in behind the defenders and received the ball off of a corner kick from Rapinoe and then shot the ball into the right side of the net.
After halftime, the Lumberjacks responded with a goal of their own in the 57th minute as the NAU striker kicked the ball past Pilots goalie, junior Kelsey Davis, and into the net.
It did not take long for the Pilots to respond as team captain Rapinoe took charge just a minute later and put a cross over for Schmidt, who jumped in the air and headed the ball past the NAU goalie for her second goal of the night.
Not wanting to be left out of the scoring, freshman defender Kassi McCluskie came in from the back and received the ball at the top of the box and blasted the ball into the right side of the goal in the 59th minute. After the goal, McCluskie appeared ecstatic as she had one of the best post-goal celebrations of the game for the first goal of her career.
After getting goals from some unlikely players Rapinoe commented, "It's good, we got six goals today from a lot of different players. It's good when everyone is contributing."
Kreminski added her second goal of the night in the 84th minute as she received a pass from WCC freshman of the Year, Danielle Foxhoven, made a great move on the goalie and then tapped the ball into a wide open net to make the score 6-1.
The Pilots seem to be NAU's kryptonite; the Lumberjacks have allowed only 32 goals over the course of their season. The Pilots 6-1 win over the Lumberjacks last Friday and the 7-0 win from earlier in the season amounts to 41 percent of the goals scored against NAU.
Next up on Sunday afternoon was Texas, who has played Portland seven times in the past and has left with a loss seven times. Sunday was no different a the Pilots beat UT 2-0 in a hard-fought win.
Schmidt said the key going into the game was to "Keep the same winning mentality."
The Pilots kept that mentality as they got by a stingy Longhorn defense in the 11th minute for the first goal of the game. The goal came from a nice feed into the box by Rapinoe to Schmidt, and when Schmidt fired a shot on goal, it bounced right off the goalie to Foxhoven who wasted no time in kicking the ball into the goal.
The Longhorns defense kept them in the game as they had to face the relentless assault of 22 shots from the Pilots. "They made it nearly impossible to score," head coach Garrett Smith said.
Schmidt added the second and final goal of the game in the 80th minute as she punched in a goal to the right side of the net off of a penalty kick, a result of Foxhoven getting taken down in the box.
With the Pilots scoring fewer goals than the match before, the Pilot defense had to step up, only allowing a total of four shots by the Longhorns. Only one of those came in the second half. "Our defense played fantastic," Schmidt said.
"Portland was good, they wore us down," Texas head coach Chris Petrucelli said. "We knew it was going to be tough. It's a first class program, and they play good soccer here."
Portland now goes on to play in the third round of the College Cup against James Maddison University this Saturday at 7 p.m. at Merlo Field.
