Women's Soccer: WVU Falls at No. 4 Portland
September 11, 2005 07:39 PM | General
September 11, 2005
Portland, Ore. - No. 19 West Virginia battled fourth-ranked Portland for a tough 72 minutes before the Pilots got on the board, but in the end Portland denied WVU’s hard fought chance at an upset.
West Virginia (3-3-0) fell, 2-0, to the fourth-ranked Pilots (6-0-0) on Sunday afternoon at Merlo Field in the final contest of the Nike Invitational.
UP’s All-American forward Christine Sinclair dropped a pass to Megan Rapinoe who sent a 20-yard shot that bounced off the far post and into the goal for the game-winner at 71:59.
Five minutes later Sinclair added an insurance goal for the final 2-0 score.
“When you play a team like Portland you want to disrupt their style as much as possible,” said Nikki Izzo-Brown. “I thought we did a great job of disrupting them, but a team of this caliber will capitalize on mistakes. We made a few and they took advantage of them.
“We fought hard today,” Izzo-Brown added. “I’m very proud of how hard this team fought. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t come up on top.”
Portland controlled much of the first half play, denying the Mountaineers a shot in the half. However, the Mountaineer defense thwarted all Pilot scoring opportunities, becoming the first team this season to prevent a Portland goal in the first half.
In the 17th minute, goalkeeper Lana Bannerman stifled a Pilot scoring attempt from Lindsey Huie to keep the match knotted a zero. Huie hit a line drive shot toward Bannerman’s near post, but the junior made a great save to prevent the potential score.
Minutes later, Bannerman again came up big, coming off her line to prevent a goal from Sinclair.
Portland nearly took the lead early in the second half when Sinclair sent the rebound from a previous Bannerman save off the far post. Mountaineer Natalie Cocchi cleared the ball from the endline removing West Virginia from danger.
West Virginia returns to action next weekend with matches at Richmond and William & Mary. The Mountaineers first play at Richmond on Friday, Sept. 16, at 7:00 p.m., then finish up the weekend at 25th-ranked William & Mary on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 2:00 p.m.
West Virginia 0; Portland 2
Scoring: UP - Rapinoe (Sinclair) 71:59; UP - Sinclair 76:41
Shots: WVU - 0; UP - 23
Corner Kicks:WVU- 0; UP - 4
Fouls: WVU- 3; UP -5
Goalkeeping: WVU- Lana Bannerman, 90 minutes, six saves, 2 GA; UP - Cori Alexander 90 minutes, 0 saves, 0 GA
