PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Pilots women's soccer has announced their schedule for the 2024 fall season. The schedule includes an early-season multi-game trip to Hawaii, a loaded home schedule against nationally ranked opponents and a revamped conference schedule that includes Oregon State and Washington State.
"Each year, we want to continue to challenge and stretch ourselves to play a tough non-conference schedule. The reality is that our non-conference games should be preparing us, on a number of levels, for the highly competitive WCC conference opponents we face," Portland head coach Michelle French said. "We will have a new look this fall and are extremely excited to tie that together with the strides we made over our Spring season."
The season begins on the road for the Pilots, who will take on the Cal Poly Mustangs down in San Luis Obispo, California. The Pilots hosted the Mustangs last season, collecting a 2-0 win over a team that finished third in the Big West and advanced to their conference championship. After that, the Pilots will host their first game at beautiful Merlo Field against the Stonehill College Skyhawks on Sunday, Aug. 18. The Pilots and Skyhawks played in Massachusetts last year, with the Pilots earning a dominant 4-0 win over Stonehill.
The Pilots are off to Honolulu after that for an early-season tournament that will see them face the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine and the Baylor Bears. They'll play the Rainbow Wahine on Thursday, Aug. 22 and the Bears on Sunday, Aug. 25. Hawaii went 5-8-3 last season to finish seventh in the Big West and also played the Pilots in Portland back in 2022, with the Pilots winning 1-0. The Bears went 9-7-3 last year and have played the Pilots three times, with Portland taking two contests in 2005 and 2006 respectively before dropping a game to Baylor in 2017.
Portland begins a six-game homestand soon after, starting with the USC Trojans on Saturday, Aug. 31. The Trojans were one of the top teams in the nation last year, going 11-5-3 and making the NCAA Tournament and earning a first-round victory over Grand Canyon before falling to BYU. The Trojans finished the year ranked 25th in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll. The Pilots host the Sacramento State Hornets after that on Sept. 5 as part of a doubleheader with the men's team.
The Pilots host another nationally ranked team after the Hornets in the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who visit Merlo Field on Sunday, Sept. 8. Nebraska was ranked seventh in the final Top 25 poll after posting an impressive 17-4-3 record and advancing to the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Big 10 regular season champs also played the Pilots back in 2022, a match the Pilots won 1-0 on the road in Lincoln.
Portland plays the Seattle U Redhawks on Sept. 12 before hosting the Cal Baptist Lancers on Sept. 21 to finish off the non-conference schedule. The Redhawks and Lancers each has solid years for the WAC, with Seattle U finishing 10-9-2 overall and making the WAC Tournament championship and Cal Baptist posting a 11-2-6 record overall and 6-0-3 record in WAC play to finish first in the WAC.
WCC play begins on Sept. 28 for the Pilots, who finish their homestand by hosting the Saint Mary's Gaels. The Pilots tied the Gaels – a team that went 10-5-3 and 4-3-1 in WCC play to finish fifth in the conference – 0-0 in Moraga. The Pilots travel to San Francisco for a match on Wednesday, Oct. 2 against the Dons, who the Pilots defeated 4-1 at home last year. USF went 6-9-3 on the year and 3-4-1 in WCC play to take sixth.
The Pilots take on one of the top teams in the conference in the Santa Clara Broncos next, a team that finished ranked 23rd in the national rankings after a 14-5-2 season. The national champions in 2021, they advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament this year before falling to the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Pilots then host the Pacific Tigers, who Portland has beaten each of the last three seasons – including a 4-0 victory on the road last year.
Portland plays their new conference foe, the Washington State Cougars, for the first time as WCC opponents on Saturday, Oct. 12 in Pullman. The Cougars – who went 9-6-4 overall – played the Pilots last year in Portland, coming out on top with a 1-0 win. The Pilots then head to San Diego to play the Toreros – another team the Pilots collected a 4-0 victory against last year – on Friday, Oct. 18.
The Pepperdine Waves and LMU Lions are up next, with the Pilots hosting both teams on Oct. 23 and Oct. 26, respectively. Pepperdine finished second in the conference with a 9-5-5 record overall and a 6-2 record in WCC play, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. They lost in the first round to the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal. The Lions were winless in WCC play and finished 6-10-3 overall.
The final road WCC match for Portland comes on Saturday, Nov. 2 against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who took first in the conference last year after posting a 14-4-2 record overall and a 6-1-1 record in WCC play. They advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after qualifying for the first time since 2005 and won their first tournament game in program history against the Idaho Vandals.
The Pilots finish the regular season against the Oregon State Beavers. The Pilots played the Beavs last year to a 1-1 draw in Corvallis. The Beavers went 4-8-7 overall and 1-6-4 in Pac-12 play.
Portland posted a 10-4-3 overall record for their best winning percentage since 2013. It was also the first time the Pilots reached at least 10 wins in back-to-back seasons since that same year. They led the WCC in goals-against average (.529), shutout percentage (.647) and save percentage (.839) and ranked second nationally in shutout percentage and ninth in GAA.
Tickets for the 2024 season are live now, with season tickets, flex packs and single-game tickets available at PortlandPilots.com/SOCCERTIX2024. You can click the URL or check out the link in the right-hand column to get yours today.
2024 Fall Schedule
Aug. 15 at Cal Poly, 7 p.m.
Aug. 18 vs. Stonehill College, 1 p.m.
Aug. 22 at Hawaii, TBD
Aug. 25 vs. Baylor, TBD
Aug. 31 vs. USC, 4 p.m.
Sept. 5 vs. Sacramento State^, 7 p.m.
Sept. 8 vs. Nebraska^, 12 p.m.
Sept. 12 vs. Seattle U, 7 p.m.
Sept. 21 vs. Cal Baptist, 7 p.m.
Sept. 28 vs. Saint Mary's*, 7 p.m.
Oc. 2 at San Francisco*, 6 p.m.
Oct. 5 at Santa Clara*, 1 p.m.
Oct. 9 vs. Pacific*, 7 p.m.
Oct. 12 at Washington State*, 7 p.m.
Oct. 18 at San Diego*, TBD
Oct. 23 vs. Pepperdine*, 7 p.m.
Oct. 26 vs. LMU*, 7 p.m.
Nov. 2 at Gonzaga*, TBD
Nov. 9 vs. Oregon State*, 7 p.m.
^Indicates doubleheader w/ men
*Indicates WCC match
Bold indicates home match
All times are PST
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