Article in Portland Tribune

Coach Garrett Smith traces the Portland Pilots’ 14-goal weekend to a week earlier, when the UP women’s soccer team totaled one goal in a split with powerhouses UCLA and USC.

“We felt we should have done more with our opportunities that weekend,” Smith says, “and the team was still hungry to put away some chances.”

The result: victories of 8-0 Friday over Kennesaw State and 6-0 Sunday over Colgate, both in the Husky Nike Invitational at Seattle.

If Kennesaw State and Colgate didn’t know what hit them, Smith does.

“We just unloaded,” he says. “Yes, the level of competition was a world apart from playing UCLA and USC, but more than anything we just converted and went into the games with a killer instinct that maybe we didn’t have the week before.

“We came out thinking, ‘Let’s try to score in the first minute, and let’s look for our chances. And if we can score three goals, let’s score three. And if we can score five, let’s score five.’

“It didn’t matter who we had in the game, and we used a lot of subs.”

The Pilots (4-1-0) got five goals in the two games from freshman Danielle Foxhoven, who had a hat trick on Sunday.

“As early as it is,” Smith says, “she’s been our most goal-dangerous player. She had the most opportunities versus USC (a 1-0 UP win), and she wishes she had some of them back. I think she’s gaining more confidence."

Foxhoven leads the team in goals (six) and points (13). She's taken a team-high 15 shots, four more than Megan Rapinoe and Charney Burk.

“She’s not going to dazzle you with 30-yard bombs, she’s just very intuitive around the goal, a pure goal-scorer," Smith says of Foxhoven, a 5-6 freshman from Littleton, Colo. "She’s always trying to find her spot. She plays off other people very well.”

• Smith says he’s looking forward to seeing Foxhoven up front more with Sophie Schmidt, who saw limited playing time over the weekend as she continues her gradual return from her role on Canada’s Olympic team.

• Forward/midfielder Megan Rapinoe also continues to pace herself in her return from knee surgery.

“She’s still trying to get her legs under her,” Smith says. “I still consider this her preseason. You probably won’t see the settled-in Megan Rapinoe for another month. She looks sharp and is getting more sure of herself every day, but judge her come November.”

• The Pilots’ scoring outbursts came in their first games since the loss of Megan’s sister, redshirt senior forward Rachael Rapinoe, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the first half against USC. For the second year in a row, Rachael Rapinoe is lost for the year to a knee injury.

“Your heart just sunk for her when Rachael went down,” Smith says. “We all know the only reason she came back this year was to play with her sister and for the Pilots. She was all but done with school and could have graduated last year, and her plans have been to move on with her life after college soccer; she wasn’t going to play pro.

“If there was ever any extra motivation that our team needed, it’s to do well for Rachael. She’s still our team captain.”

• Michelle Enyeart had two goals against Kennesaw State and a goal and an assist versus Colgate. She scored Sunday on a penalty kick in the 15th minute, giving her four goals this season and 32 in her Pilot career, good for eighth on the school’s all-time list.

• Elli Reed had two assists in the Colgate match.

Keelin Winters and Kendra Chandhoke also scored versus Colgate.

• The Pilots return to practice Tuesday in preparation for the Nike Portland Invitational this weekend at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex.

Friday’s three-game slate begins with two women’s games: Washington-San Diego State at 3 p.m., and UP-Northern Arizona at 5:30 p.m. At 8 p.m., the Portland men face Washington in a game that will be carried live by Fox Soccer Channel.

On Sunday, two women’s games will take place on Merlo Field: Washington-NAU at noon, and UP-San Diego State at 2:30 p.m.

Auto Pilot wrote:I forgot about Stanford given that they were rated No. 1 Preseason.

Kelley Ohara, Alicia Jenkins, Christen Press, Kristen Stannard also consider that Ali Riley who plays for the NZ U-20s might be away from Stanford for this event as well.