Late rally falls short as freshmen Michelle Enyeart and Kendra Chandhoke  again provide Portland’s goals

SANTA CLARA, Calif. --- No. 5 Portland held the early lead in a West Coast Conference rivalry match against No. 4 Santa Clara Thursday evening, but the home Broncos scored the next three goals and held on to win by a 3-2 margin in front of a nationally televised audience on Fox Soccer Channel.

The Pilots fall to 1-10-1 all-time at Buck Shaw Stadium, despite a fast start out of the gates. Portland (12-3-2, 2-1-1 WCC) controlled the run of play for the first 15 minutes and kept the ball on the attacking half most of the time.

Freshman Michelle Enyeart gave the Pilots a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute after a brilliant run by junior All-American defender Stephanie Lopez. From her own goal box, Lopez weaved past six Santa Clara defenders and toed a pass to Enyeart in the left side of the penalty box. Enyeart beat Broncos goalkeeper Meagan McCray to the ball and, despite being just two yards off the endline, tapped in an extreme angle shot deftly to the right post. It was her 14th goal of the season, tops among all freshmen nationally.

The momentum shifted as Santa Clara (12-3-1, 2-1-1 WCC) pressed forward and was awarded a penalty kick in the 21st minute. Forward Meagan Snell was tripped up in the penalty box by Portland junior defender Emily Michaelson. Marian Dalmy took the PK attempt and beat Pilots goalkeeper Cori Alexander, who guessed correctly, to the low left.

The Broncos continued to control the run of play for the remainder of the period and took a 2-1 lead in the 28th minute as defender Lauren Zealer sent a long pass to Snell on the run. With a defender on her hip and Alexander coming off her line, Snell chipped the ball under the crossbar from about 20 yards out.

Santa Clara extended the lead to 3-1 in the 61st minute as freshman forward Kiki Bosio finished a counter attack with a well struck shot from the top of the box to the low left.

Portland made it a 3-2 deficit off of a corner kick in the 83rd minute. Junior All-American Angie Woznuk sent the ball into the goal box and freshman striker Kendra Chandhoke side-footed it off one bounce into the upper right. It was Chandhoke’s eighth goal of the season and Woznuk’s team-leading 10th assist.

The Pilots had a couple threatening attacks in the final five minutes, but nothing that developed any shots on goal.

The Broncos held a 14-7 advantage in shot attempts for the match. Alexander made six saves for the Pilots, while McCray stopped two shots for the Broncos.

The goals by Portland’s freshmen duo marks the sixth time this season that each has scored a goal in the same game. One, or both, freshmen have scored goals in 12 of Portland’s 16 matches and have combined to account for 22 of the team’s 50 goals.

Enyeart has now recorded either a goal or an assist in all 10 games she has started. She has scored a goal in each of the last four contests and has 10 strikes in her last 10 outings.

Portland continues its road trip with a Sunday match at San Diego. The Pilots and Toreros will meet at 1 p.m. at Torero Stadium.