UP to host watch party for Olympic gold medal women's soccer game, Thursday, August 9

University of Portland is hosting a watch party for the USA vs. Japan Olympic gold medal women's soccer game, set for 11:30 AM on Thursday, August 9. The watch party will be held on campus at 5000 N. Willamette Blvd, in Buckley Center Auditorium. It is open to the public and free to attend.

Former Portland Pilots soccer star Megan Rapinoe has been a standout for Team USA, scoring three goals (including two in today's epic 4-3 overtime win over Canada in the semifinals, which also featured three goals from Canada star and fellow former Pilot Christine Sinclair) and notching three assists en route to Team USA going undefeated in Olympic play and securing a spot in the gold medal final game against Japan.

The game will be a rematch of the 2011 Women's World Cup final, which ended in heartbreak for Rapinoe and Team USA when Japan defeated the Americans in a penalty kick shootout.

Several former Pilot soccer players have played in the Olympics, most notably in the 1996 games, when former Pilot teammates Tiffeny Milbrett and Shannon MacMillan each scored in the gold medal game to defeat China 2-1.

The University of Portland is an independently governed Catholic university guided by the Congregation of Holy Cross. U.S. News & World Report ranks the institution as one of the top ten regional universities in the West. It is the only school in Oregon to offer a College of Arts & Sciences, a graduate school, and nationally accredited programs in the schools of business, education, engineering, and nursing.

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