Round 1: Pilots 5, Iowa State 0

LINCOLN, Neb. - Top-ranked and No. 1 seed Portland scored four goals in the first 17 minutes en route to a 5-0 shutout of Iowa State in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship held at Nebraska Soccer Field on Friday, November 11. Iowa State, making its first NCAA appearance, finishes the season with an 11-7-3 overall record.

Senior striker Christine Sinclair, two days after gathering her third West Coast Conference Player of the Year honor, continued her remarkable run at the NCAA scoring records with her third hat trick of the season and added an assist while playing only 38 minutes. Freshman phenom Megan Rapinoe added a goal and assist and Natalie Budge also scored a goal.

"It was just one of those days when everything seemed to go in, especially in the first half," Sinclair said. "For the first 20 minutes, we were just on fire. It was just one of those days."

Sinclair brought her tally to an NCAA record 21 career postseason goals during the game, bringing her to second place in NCAA Division-I history with 106 goals, and  breaking a tie with former Pilot Tiffeny Milbrett (1990-92, 94) and North Carolina standout Mia Hamm (1989-90, 92-93). Her 243 career points are sixth in the NCAA books. She netted 35 goals and nine assists on the 2005 season to lead the nation in scoring. The NCAA D-I single-season goals scored record is 37, set by Lisa Cole of Southern Methodist in 1987. Danielle Fotopoulos (SMU/Florida, 1994-96, 98) holds the NCAA career goals record of 118.

With a pro-Iowa State crowd in attendance, the Pilots took control early as Rapinoe, the WCC Freshman of the Year, netted her 10th goal of the season on an assist from Sinclair at 5:02. The Redding, Calif. native took a cross from the right and beat Cyclones’ keeper Joanna Haig top shelf.

The tandem teamed up again to give the Pilots a 2-0 lead at 7:44, as Rapinoe assisted on Sinclair’s first goal of the day. Rapinoe made the run into the left of the penalty area and laid off the ball to Sinclair in the middle. She took one touch and finished with ease.

Budge tallied her sixth goal of the 2005 season after a nice set-up by sophomore midfielder Angie Woznuk at 16:10. Woznuk attacked and drew Haig to the left of the goal mouth before sliding a pass to Budge for a tap-in at the right post.

Sinclair scored 24 seconds later after getting behind the defense and drilling a shot from the left into the right side netting. After subbing out for the remainder of the half and the first 15 minutes of the second period, Sinclair returned to the pitch and capped the scoring in the 81st minute on a patented connection with fellow senior All-American Lindsey Huie. Drawing the defense to herself with a dangerous attack, Huie found Sinclair unmarked at the right post for her third goal of the day. Sinclair promptly returned to the bench for the remainder of the contest.

Portland earned its 14th shutout of the season and outshot the Cyclones 20-9 for the game. ISU’s nine shot attempts matched a Portland opponent season-high set by Arizona. Haig recorded nine saves between the pipes for the Cyclones, while Portland junior keepers Cori Alexander and Ruth Gilliam each made three saves while splitting netminding duties.

"We try not to give up a lot of goals," Portand associate director of soccer Garrett Smith said. "That’s always been a trademark of Portland. We have a very organized team from forwards all the way through to our goalkeeper. They all take a lot of pride in our shutouts. I think also our ball possession helps us with that as well. Our attitude is if we have it and they don’t, they won’t score on us."

"I was a little bit nervous before the game, but I think that it is just the feel of playoffs because you know that someone is going to go home," said junior midfielder Lisa Sari. "But I have a lot of confidence in our team so I knew it would work out."

Smith was able to get all active players into the game because of the early lead. The Pilots played 21 players, including freshmen Korie Nicholson and Katie Brown who got their first taste of playoff competition.