UP v. Michigan

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Goals right before halftime can be such killers -- especially a ball that bounces in off the goalkeeper's fingertips.

It left the rest of the postseason out of reach for the Portland women's soccer team.

Michigan's Nkem Ezurike scored one goal and assisted on two others as the Wolverines eliminated the Pilots 3-0 Friday at Penn State's Jeffrey Field in the NCAA Tournament's second round.

"It was too big of a hole for us this time," Portland coach Garrett Smith said. "We've come back before, but give Michigan a lot of credit. Once they got their two goals they dug their heels in and made things very, very difficult for us today."

Michigan (16-5-2) advances to the third round for the third time in program history and first time since 2002, and will meet the regional top seed and weekend host Nittany Lions on Sunday.

Clare Stachel and Emily Jaffe scored the first two goals, with Jaffe finding the net 39 seconds before halftime.

"That one before the half was a really important goal," Stachel said, "and that gave us a lot of confidence going into the locker room."

A pass from Ezurike set up Jaffe to the right of keeper Emily Dees. Jaffe's chip shot ticking off the junior goalkeeper, bouncing inside the far post.

"Those usually hurt the most," said Dees, who made two saves. "They're the ones you think you can have. With less than a minute left, it's tough."

The Wolverines needed just 3:23 of game action to start the scoring. Ezurike had the ball deep to the side of the goal, turned and timed her pass perfectly to Stachel. With the Pilots defense flat-footed, Stachel split between two defenders to get one-on-one with Dees and easily placed the ball to the lower right corner of the net.

"That just gives you so much confidence from the get-go," Stachel said. "We were really looking forward to playing Portland because they're a great soccer-playing team."

Portland (11-5-5) nearly had an answer less than a minute later, with Amanda Frisbie launching a rocket from 25 yards out that keeper Haley Kopmeyer dove to deflect from the top corner for her only save of the game in Michigan's 13th shutout of the season.

"We did have our chances," Frisbie said. "We did have opportunities. We did get behind them a couple times and we had our chances. At the end of the day they did well keeping us in front of them."

Portland outshot Michigan 10-8, including 7-3 in the first half, but very few of their attempts were high-quality chances.

Ezurike finished the scoring by outsprinting the Pilots defense from near midfield and, with a defender a half-step behind her, beating Dees from 12 yards out.

Even staring at a 2-0, and eventually 3-0, deficit, the Pilots never gave up.

"We've come back too many times this year," Smith said, "and it's just really unfortunate."

--Gordon Brunskill, special to The Oregonian

Dan No Yell wrote:Mid season last year, people on this site were calling for GS's head. ....

Dan No Yell wrote:Undredged.

Just saying, great year, Go Pilots!