Photos I Portland Tribune Preview I Examiner.com Preview



PORTLAND, Ore. --- Wednesday marked the first official practice for the University of Portland women’s soccer team as it seeks to bring its third NCAA Championship trophy back to The Bluff. With the start of the season approaching rapidly, the team wasted little time in getting things started as head coach Garrett Smith rolled the ball out and let his veterans take on the freshmen in the team’s annual scrimmage to open training camp.

Photo Gallery of First Practice 

Not too often would a program be disappointed with a 21-2-0 record and advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season, but not too many programs have the same high standards as Portland. After winning the 2005 NCAA title, the Pilots have lost in quarterfinals road matches each of the last four years. The goal in 2010 is to put together a regular season that secures home field advantage, where Portland has led the nation in average attendance five consecutive years, and make another deep run in front of raucous home crowd.

“Our goal every season is to win a national championship,” Smith said. “We need to take care of business during the regular season and give ourselves the best chance of hosting playoff matches all the way up to the College Cup.”

With a loaded schedule that features nine NCAA playoff teams from 2009, including a road matchup with NCAA runner-up Stanford, the Pilots will have plenty of opportunities to prove their merit. Another key contest will be on Sept. 17 when Portland hosts Texas A&M, the only team to beat the Pilots during the regular season last year.

Portland returns eight starters and 18 letterwinners from the 2009 season, including 10 players with experience on either senior or youth national teams. The Pilots have won three consecutive West Coast Conference titles and enter the season owning a league-record 21-game win streak.

A total of eight newcomers will look to fill the void left by a five-player graduating class which included All-American striker Michelle Enyeart and three-year starting goalkeeper, Kelsey Davis. Among the freshmen recruits are two national team experienced goalkeepers and six highly-rated field players, including two of the best players from the state of Oregon.

“The field players are all offensive-minded players that will only enhance our attack from last year, which led the nation in goal scoring,” Smith said. “All of them have great offensive gifts and a capacity to work hard on defense. It was exciting to see what we could accomplish as a goal-scoring team last year, but now the future looks even brighter. 

“Securing two top national goalkeepers will give us the stability we have grown accustomed to defensively. To be able to recruit top out of region talent shows that the Portland name is being recognized nationally and players want to come to the Northwest.”

The pieces once again seem to be in place for a deep playoff run in Portland.

Below is a look at the 2010 roster by position.

FORWARDS
Junior striker Danielle Foxhoven led the nation last year in points per game (2.82) and was No. 2 nationally in goals per game (1.1). She finished the year with 25 goals and 12 assists, while her 62 points are fourth-most in UP single-season history. Foxhoven recorded four games with three or more goals and became the first player in school history with two four-goal games. She enters the season with 100 career points, already among the top 10 in UP history.

Looking to join Foxhoven in the starting rotation is fellow junior Halley Kreminski. A physical presence at 5-9, Kreminski was fourth on the roster in 2009 with 10 goals, including a hat trick versus San Francisco. Sophomore Elinor Priest also provides good size at 5-9 and came off the bench in nine games last season to tally two assists.

A pair of freshmen will look to compete for playing time right away at the forward position. Amanda Frisbie (McKinney, Texas) was rated as the No. 45 recruit in the country by TopDrawerSoccer.com. A natural left-footer, Frisbie has led her Dallas Texans club team to a national championship and is described by Smith as having “a goal-scorers mentality.”

Fellow freshman Micaela Capelle (Gresham, Ore.) is a three-time All-State honoree and one of the top local talents. She scored 28 goals as a senior and “brings a flair and creativity to the game,” according to Smith.

MIDFIELDERS
Canadian National Team senior Sophie Schmidt and former USA Under-20 National Team captain Keelin Winters will anchor the Pilot midfield in 2010. A veteran of the World Cup and Olympics on the international stage, Schmidt has played all over the field for the Pilots in her first three years and will be a key figure in the midfield as a senior. Winters, also a three-year starter, has earned All-WCC honors each year on The Bluff.

Redshirt senior Kendra Chandhoke had a great junior season in 2009 as a wide midfielder. Recruited as a striker, Chandhoke transitioned to the right side and scored nine goals with seven assists. She has 30 career goals and is three shy of the UP all-time top 10 list. Chandhoke is recovering from an offseason injury, but expects to be back in the lineup before too long.

Sophomore Kendall Johnson is the most recent Pilot to develop into a national team star. The Portland native earned a starting spot for the USA at the U-20 World Cup this summer and will look to build on a freshman campaign where she was named the WCC Freshman of the Year. Fellow sophomore Taylor Brooke provided a spark off the bench last season with a goal and five assists and should battle for a starting spot out wide. Senior Sara Jackman scored a goal and an assist in 10 games as a junior and can play any midfield position.

Freshmen Michelle Cruz and Ellen Parker are two of the top-rated incoming freshmen for the Pilots and are expected to push for playing time immediately. Cruz (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) was rated the No. 39 national recruit by TopDrawerSoccer.com and was a member of the USA Under-18 National Team. Parker (Paradise Valley, Ariz.), another Top 50 recruit by TopDrawerSoccer.com, enrolled at UP for the 2010 spring semester and played during the Pilots spring season. She also has experience with the USA U-20 and U-18 National Teams. Local product Sarah Bridges is a two-time NSCAA High School All-America honoree and the reigning Oregon State Player of the Year. A superb athlete, Bridges (Portland, Ore.) also brings good size to the midfield (5-8) and will compete for playing time. Fellow freshman Kylie Leffler (Newberg, Ore.) is a walk-on and will provide depth in the midfield.

DEFENDERS
Portland will boast two of the best outside backs in the nation in three-year starters Elli Reed and Jessica Tsao. Reed has been a constant figure on USA Youth National Teams, most recently helping the USA U-20 squad to the 2008 World Cup title. She scored three goals and added two assists from her left back position last year. Tsao earned a spot on the USA Under-23 National Team roster and was an Academic All-America a year ago. She recorded nine assists from her right back position in 2009.

The central defender positions will have strong competition. Junior Michelle Olivier is a two-year starter and anchored the Pilot defense in 16 starts last season. Fellow junior Kassi McCluskie was a starter as a freshman, but battled injuries last season and was limited to only eight appearances off the bench. Cloee Colohan came on as a highly-rated freshman last season and started the first five games of the season before suffering a season-ending injury and utilizing a medical redshirt. Senior Kristen Kelly moved into a starting role last season after McCluskie and Colohan went down with injuries and helped the Pilot defense shut down opponents. In the eight games in which Kelly started, Portland outscored opponents by a 44-1 margin, but she also battled injuries late in the year and was sidelined.  All four players enter camp with visions of securing starting positions.

Junior Emma Nelson and sophomore Molly Klier will also battle for playing time at the outside back positions. Nelson appeared in 10 matches and made one start last season and recorded an assist. Klier came off of the bench in five matches and can play multiple positions for the Pilots.

GOALKEEPERS
Redshirt junior Hailee DeYoung is the lone goalkeeper on the roster with collegiate experience. DeYoung started four matches for the Pilots last season and posted a miniscule 0.40 goals-against average. She has appeared in 14 matches throughout her career with the Pilots.

Freshmen Erin Dees and Nichole Downing are the newest additions in a long line of successful netminders for goalkeeper coach Bill Irwin and both will compete for the starting spot. Dees (Downers Grove, Ill.) was a member of the USA Under-15 National Team and is the No. 29 recruit nationally according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. She led her Eclipse Select club team to a national championship in 2009 after a runner-up finish in 2008. Downing (Carlsbad, Calif.) is another Top 100 recruit with U-15 National Team experience and led her San Diego Surf club team to nine tournament titles since 2006.