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PORTLAND, Ore. --- After falling behind on an early goal by San Diego, the Portland Pilots stormed back for an emphatic 2-1 win over the first-place Toreros in a West Coast Conference men’s soccer match played on Sunday afternoon at Merlo Field. The win snaps an eight-game winning streak for the Toreros and improves Portland’s record to 7-9-1 on the year and to 5-5-0 in the WCC.
 
The Toreros drop to 10-7-0 and to 8-2-0 in the conference.
 
It looked grim early after the Pilots conceded a goal to the Toreros in the third minute. James Cohn fed a pass to Dan Delgado in the left side of the 18-yard box, and Delgado chipped a shot over Portland goalkeeper Justin Baarts and into the right side of the net.
 
But the Pilots were unfazed and soon equalized on a stellar goal from senior Ben Hemphill. Junior Steven Evans had possession near the left side line, avoided a tackle and somehow kept the ball in play. He then fired a cross towards the penalty spot, where Hemphill leaped and finished with a shot off the outside of his foot and past Drew Ilijevski. The equalizer is the third goal this season for Hemphill.
 
Then just before the half, it was Evans who gave the Pilots a 2-1 lead heading into the locker room. On a free kick, freshman Hugo Rhoads sent a ball towards the right post. That’s where fellow freshman Jaime Velasco one-touched a cross back in front of the frame, allowing Evans to easily finish with his 14th goal of the year.
 
Portland then tightened up on defense in the second half and redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Kyle Foster made a handful of important saves. Foster, who entered the game at halftime, made a game-saving stop in the 74th minute. On a San Diego free kick from 25 yards out, Dan Delgado hit a shot destined for the left post. Foster made a diving save to keep the score at 2-1 in Portland’s favor.
 
Meanwhile, the Pilots kept up the pressure at the other end of the field. Evans had a shot saved after a nice pass from Joe Sleven, and Marc Tonkel hit the crossbar with a header in the 80th minute.
 
Portland finished with a 12-9 edge in shots, while the Toreros claimed a slight 6-5 advantage in shots on-goal. Foster registered five saves during the game’s second 45 minutes and Ilijevski finished with three stops.
 
Sunday was senior day at Merlo Field as Portland’s six seniors were making their final regular season appearance at home. Hemphill, Sleven, Tonkel, Colin Anderson, Ricardo Carrillo and Keith Grubisich were honored with a pre-game ceremony.
 
The Pilots next conclude the 2012 regular season with a pair of WCC matches this week. First Portland heads to Spokane, Wash., for a 2 p.m. match on Wednesday afternoon against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
 
The Pilots will then play the season finale in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday against the San Francisco Dons at 12:00 p.m.