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#7 PORTLAND PILOTS (17-2-1, 8-1-0 WCC)
vs. ILLINOIS ILLINI (10-8-3, 5-5-1 BIG TEN)
Date: Friday, November 22, 2013
Location: Lincoln, Neb.
Kick-off: 9:00 a.m.
Pitch: Nebraska Soccer Field (3,500)
Game Coverage:  Live Video  I  Live Stats
 
POR vs. ILL
Overall Series: 1-0-0
Here: 1-0-0
There: 0-0-0
Neutral: 0-0-0
Last: @POR 4, ILL 1 (Sept. 11, 2009)
 
THIS WEEK
• The seventh-ranked and No. 3 seed Portland Pilots travel to Lincoln, Neb., this week for an NCAA Second Round game against the Illinois Fighting Illini on Friday at 9 a.m. (Pacific) at Husker Soccer Field.
• Second/Third Round host Nebraska will face Boston College following the Portland-Illinois game, and the two winners will square off at 11 a.m. (Pacific) on Sunday.
• Nebraska is scheduled to provide a free video feed of all the games this weekend, which can be accessed via Huskers.com
• The Pilots and Illini have one previous meeting, which was a 4-1 Portland win at Merlo Field on Sept. 11, 2009.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots opened the 2013 NCAA Playoffs with a 2-0 win over Seattle U in a First Round game last Saturday night at Merlo Field.
• Freshman Danica Evans scored the game-winner in the 78th minute and senior Amanda Frisbie added some insurance with a PK in the 89th minute.
• Freshman left back Ellie Boon set up the Evans goal when she sent in a cross from the left endline; senior Micaela Capelle let the cross go to Evans, who buried it.
• Portland was awarded the PK when Capelle was taken down in the box.
• UP senior goalkeeper Erin Dees was forced to make just one save en route to the shutout, her seventh of the year and the team's ninth.
• Portland out-shot Seattle 11-3 and had nine corners to Seattle's three.
 
THE TOURNEY
• Portland received a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Championships and is making its 14th straight post-season appearance; UP has been to the playoffs during 21 of the last 22 years and has reached at least the Second Round for 14 straight years.
• The Pilots won the national championship in 2002 and 2005.
• Portland has advanced to three championship games, eight College Cups (semifinals) and at least the quarterfinals on 15 occasions.
• ACC schools Virginia, Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia Tech earned the tourney's four No. 1 seeds, and WCC schools Santa Clara and BYU will join the Pilots in the second round.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots have won 14 of their last 15 games and allowed just one goal during the run of play in those 15 games, which came during a 1-0 loss to BYU on Oct. 26 at Merlo Field.
• That loss to BYU snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Pilots, which was the longest for the program since also winning 10 in a row in 2010.
• The crowd of 5,011 fans at the BYU game marked the sixth largest crowd in UP women's soccer history at Merlo Field; a school-record 1,768 students were also present.
• Three of Portland's five goals allowed against WCC opponents came on PK's (at Pepperdine, at Saint Mary's, vs. Santa Clara), while another came on an own-goal (vs. Gonzaga).
• Micaela Capelle was named the WCC's Player of the Month for September after opening the year with seven goals in 10 games.
• Portland leads the WCC lead in assists (39) and is second in goals (40), goals per game (2.00), points (119), fewest goals allowed (15) and goals against average (0.75).
• Individually Ellen Parker leads the WCC in game-winners (7); every goal this season scored by Parker has been a game-winner.
• Amanda Frisbie was named the WCC's Player of the Week on Sept. 30, while Ellen Parker has earned that distinction twice.
• Earlier this season Micaela Capelle had strings of five straight games (Sept. 8 - Oct. 5) with a goal and seven straight matches (Sept. 15 - Oct. 5) with a point.
• Amanda Frisbie was named to the initial MAC Hermann Trophy Watch list.
• UP's freshman class was ranked No. 5 in the country and features national team players Allison Wetherington (US U-20's), Ellie Boon (US U-18's) and Danica Evans (US U-18's).
• Portland has led the nation in attendance for nine straight years, including this season.
 
WCC HONORS... ON THE FIELD
• Senior Amanda Frisbie is the 2013 WCC Defender of the Year, Allison Wetherington is the Freshman of the Year and Garrett Smith earned his sixth Coach of the Year award as 10 Pilots total received all-league recognition.
• Frisbie also landed on the All-WCC First Team along with senior goalkeeper Erin Dees and senior midfielder Ellen Parker.
• Senior forward Micaela Capelle joined Wetherington on the All-WCC Second Team.
• Sophomore Noelle La Prevotte earned All-WCC Honorable Mention, as did freshmen Ellie Boon, Danica Evans and Ariel Viera.
• Viera and Wetherington both landed on the league's all-freshman team as well.
 
WCC HONORS... OFF THE FIELD
• Junior Emily Sippel landed on the WCC All-Academic Team and was one of seven Pilots total to receive all-academic honors; Sippel received honorable mention accolades last season.
• Sippel is a biology major with a cumulative GPA of 3.87; she has three goals and five assists.
• Receiving all-academic honorable mention for Portland were seniors Sarah Bridges, Micaela Capelle, Michelle Cruz, Erin Dees and Ellen Parker and sophomore Haylee DeGrood.
 
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
• The Pilots have regularly started four, five and sometimes six freshmen this season.
• Danica Evans, a forward, and Ariel Viera, a defender, have started all 20 matches, while midfielder Parkes Kendrick has made 18 starts.
• Midfielder Allison Wetherington has started 15 games and has registered four goals and six assists, while Evans has four goals and six assists.
• Ellie Boon has started nine straight games at left back, filling in for an injured Michelle Cruz, and has one goal and three assists.
 
THE SWITCH
• Senior Amanda Frisbie, who has played forward for the past three seasons, made the switch to center back this season after leading the WCC with 12 goals last year; she just nabbed the WCC's Defensive Player of the Year award.
• Frisbie is still tied for the team lead with eight goals this season.
• She was named the WCC's Player of the Week on Sept. 30 and she was named to watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, which is the highest individual award in college soccer.
• UP has claimed three MAC Hermann Trophies in program history, with Shannon MacMillan (1995) and Christine Sinclair (2004 & 2005) the honor.
 
#MERLOMADNESS
• UP has now led the nation in attendance for nine straight years, including this season when Portland brought in a total of 35,243 fans to Merlo Field.
• Portland has also topped the 30,000-fan plateau nine straight years and has exceeded the 40,000-fan mark four times (2008-10, 2012), which is the most in the country.
• The Pilots packed 5,011 fans into Merlo Field for the BYU game on Oct. 26 to register the sixth largest crowd in UP women's soccer history.
• The packed house also featured a school-record 1,768 students, which topped the previous student attendance record of 1,700, set during the Marquette game on Aug. 23.