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PORTLAND, Ore. --- After junior Amanda Frisbie gave the Pilots a one-goal lead in the first half, the Portland Thorns FC scored twice after the break before holding on for a 2-1 win over the University of Portland in an exhibition soccer match played in front of a capacity crowd of 4,892 fans on Saturday night at Merlo Field. UP junior forward Micaela Capelle nearly scored the equalizer in the game’s final minute, but her shot from six yards out was just wide.
 
Sophomore defender Lorielle McCluskie set up the game’s first goal when she sent a long ball over the top from the back line. Frisbie ran onto the ball and chipped a shot over the defender and past a charging Roxanne Barker, the Thorns FC goalkeeper. The shot from 15 yards out took a couple of bounces before finding the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game in UP’s favor.
 
Portland starting keeper Erin Dees made a handful of saves during the game’s first 45 minutes to maintain the one-goal lead, including a blast from former teammate and Thorns FC forward Danielle Foxhoven in the 20th minute.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Nichole Downing took over for Dees in the second half and continued to deny a bevy of shots from the Thorns. The Portland pro team finally scored when Foxhoven put away a rebound in the 52nd minute. Downing made a nice save on the initial shot and then got a touch on the follow from Foxhoven, but the ball would trickle in to tie the score at 1-1.
 
Moments later it was Allie Long who drilled a shot into the left corner of the net from 20 yards out to give the Thorns a slim lead.
 
Downing matched Dees’ six saves from the first half and helped keep the game at 2-1 until Capelle’s final attempt with only 45 seconds remaining in regulation. On a failed clearance, Capelle was able to gain possession, make a move to the left to avoid the keeper before pushing a shot left of the left post.
 
The Thorns finished with a 23-6 edge in shots, while the Pilots forced the two Thorns goalkeepers, Aline Reis subbed in at the half, into a pair of saves.
 
“I was really proud of our team and I thought it was overall just a great effort,” Frisbie said after the match. “This was a great opportunity for us to play against a high-level opponent to see what we have to work on.”
 
The game with the Thorns FC, which is one of eight teams who will make up the newly formed NWSL, was free and open to the public. Donations were taken at the front gate and more than $12,000 was raised to benefit the Providence Heart and Vascular Institute’s Play Smart Young Heart Screening program.
 
“It was a great night and a great event, not just for soccer in Portland but for women’s soccer,” said UP head coach Garrett Smith. “It was great to see us bunker in and fight for what we got and it was a great night for both programs.”