| WCCSports.com | WEB |
|
December 6-And then there were two For the first time in history, two West Coast Conference teams will play for the women's soccer national championship
Portland 2, Penn State 0 Portland defeated Penn State 2-0 Friday evening in the NCAA Women's College Cup semifinals. The Pilots advance to their second appearance in the finals, and will play a familar foe, as Santa Clara downed North Carolina 2-1 to advance to their second consecutive NCAA title game.
The Pilots' only previous final appearance was a 1-0 triple overtime loss to Notre Dame in 1995.
Christine Sinclair's goal in the third minute Friday gave Portland a 1-0 lead at halftime. Sinclair has 24 goals this season in 20 games, and with her eighth goal of the 2002 playoffs, she's just two goals behind Mia Hamm's all-time record of 15 playoff goals.
Wanda Rozwadowska capitalized on a scrum in front of the goal at 57:33, knocking in a rebound on the second of Emily Patterson's two shots, putting Portland up 2-0 in the second half.
Sinclair, who now has 24 goals this season and eight in the playoffs, won a 50-50 battle for the ball just inside midfield, running onto a ball cleared out of the Portland box by Erin Misaki.
The Pilots notched their school-record 17th shutout, and Lauren Arase had her fifth shutout of the playoffs. Portland is now 18-0 when scoring first this season, and 14-0 when Sinclair scores.
Santa Clara 2, North Carolina 1
Santa Clara would draw first blood at the 9:30 mark when junior Veronic Zepeda found the back of the net for her sixth goal of the season. Senior midfielder Devvyn Hawkins and sophomore forward Bree Horvath registered assists on the score. Zepeda received a pass from Horvath, dribbled around UNC's standout defender Catherine Reddick and struck a low shot that went through North Carolina's Carmen Watley's legs into the net.
The goal seemed to be a wake up call to North Carolina, as the Tar Heels out-shot the Broncos 9-0 in the last 33 minutes of the half. Santa Clara's Leslie Osborne blocked two shots and the Broncos' keeper Alyssa Sobolik registered two saves in the first half of action.
The two teams battled back and forth through the better part of the second half with neither able to find the net. Zepeda would change that, as she blasted her second goal at the 71:10 mark to stake SCU to a solid 2-0 lead with less than 19 minutes to go.
The Tar Heels would register their lone goal at the 78:34 mark when their spectacular freshman midfielder Lindsay Tarpley scored her 16th goal of the season to make it a 2-1 game.
North Carolina, franticly seeking the equalizer in the closing minutes, saw shots by Susan Bush and Catherine Reddick go wide left.
The Broncos, who have outshot their opposition 392-153, managed just seven shots to North Carolina's 19. The SCU defense put the clamps on UNC standout Alyssa Ramsey who came into the game with a team leading 17 goals and 46 points. Ramsey managed just one shot on the evening.
|
 |
