Box Score I Quotes I Video Highlights
PORTLAND, Ore. --- The No. 2 seed Portland Pilots took care of business in the first round of the NCAA playoffs with a 6-1 victory over Northern Arizona Friday evening before 3,582 fans at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex. The Pilots advance to a second round match with Texas – 1-0 winners of Washington State in the early game – scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Pilots (18-1-0) extended their program-best winning streak to 17 matches with the win, while the Lumberjacks (12-7-3) had a six-match unbeaten streak come to an end in their first NCAA tournament appearance.
Portland and Northern Arizona met earlier this year with the Pilots earning a 7-0 win over the Lumberjacks.
Sophomore striker Sophie Schmidt continued her scoring tear with two goals and an assist in the match. She wasted little time in getting the Pilots on the board first, gathering a rebounded shot and blasting it from close range off of a defender and into the right side of the goal in the second minute. A member of the Canadian National Team, Schmidt has now scored 12 goals in the last 10 games and has 13 total goals on the season.
Freshman Halley Kreminski also added two goals, doubling her season total, while senior All-American Megan Rapinoe added a goal and two assists. Freshman defender Kassi McCluskie scored her first career goal late in the match.
Trailing 3-0 after the half, the Lumberjacks got a boost when the team’s lone senior, Kayla Bauder, netted her first goal of the season in the 57th minute. Portland wasted little time in getting it back as less than two minutes later Rapinoe sliced through the NAU defense and sent a perfect cross that Schmidt headed home.
McCluskie added a strike in the 59th minute, blasting a shot to the low right from the top of the box after a failed clearance on a corner kick by the Lumberjacks.
Kreminski capped the scoring in the 83rd minute, taking a pass from fellow freshman Danielle Foxhoven and beating goalkeeper Tori Rocke who came off her line.
Rapinoe’s goal came in the 28th minute as Schmidt found her unmarked in the left side of the box. After cutting around one defender, she cracked her shot off the right post and in.
Kreminski gave the Pilots a 3-0 halftime lead after tapping in a corner kick taken by Rapinoe in the 40th minute.
Portland held a 25-7 edge in shots for the match, including a 16-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Pilots also had a 10-1 edge in corner kicks, three of which ended up as goals. Portland did not commit a single foul in the match, while NAU had four.
Rocke made 10 saves in goal for the Lumberjacks, a few of the difficult variety. Pilot goalie Kelsey Davis recorded three saves. With NAU’s second half goal, Portland has now given up six goals on the season.
