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#22 PORTLAND PILOTS (6-2-1)
vs. CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE MATADORS (3-3-3)
Date: Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012
Location: Portland, Ore.
Kick-off: 7:00 p.m.
Stadium: Merlo Field (4,892)
Live Video/Audio (free): PilotsVideo.com
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. CSUN
Overall Series: 2-0-0
Here: 0-0-0
There: 2-0-0
Neutral: 0-0-0
Last: POR 1, @CSUN 0 (Sept. 25, 2011)
 
THIS WEEK
• The No. 22 Pilots welcome the Cal State Northridge Matadors to Merlo Field for their lone match this week on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
• The Pilots have won the only two previous meetings against the Matadors, which both came in Northridge, Calif., in 2010 and 2011.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots split a pair of games at Merlo Field, defeating Seattle U 3-0 on Friday night before dropping a 3-1 decision to Denver on Sunday afternoon.
• Against the Redhawks, Micaela Capelle scored the game-winner in the 19th minute, while Kaila Cameli scored twice in the second half as the Pilots recorded their fifth shutout of the season.
• Cameli then scored her third straight goal for the Pilots on Sunday to give Portland an early 1-nil lead; but the Pioneers responded with three unanswered goals en route to the win.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS...
• The Pilots checked in at No. 13 in the NCAA’s first RPI rankings of the season.
• Kaila Cameli has scored three straight goals for the Pilots.
• Frisbie has been named the WCC Player of the Week twice this season; her first honor came after she scored four goals during a 5-0 win over Fresno State on Aug. 31.
• Ellen Parker was also named the league player of the week after notching the game-winner against North Carolina during the season opener.
• Portland, which is averaging home crowds of 3,681 fans per game, has had two sellouts this season at Merlo Field, which has a capacity of 4,892.
• Portland received one first place vote and was chosen to finish fifth in the WCC Preseason Poll of the league’s nine head coaches; Micaela Capelle was voted to the 2012 Preseason All-WCC Team.
• UP has advanced to at least the second round of the NCAA playoffs for 12 straight years.
• Portland won the NCAA National Championship in 2002 and in 2005.
• Head coach Garrett Smith has been named the WCC Coach of the Year five times.
 
I SEE A PATTERN DEVELOPING
• Amanda Frisbie nabbed her second West Coast Conference Player of the Week award of the season after she scored twice during Portland’s 3-2 win at USC on Sept. 16.
• The junior forward from McKinney, Texas, was named the league’s co-player of the week (Sept. 4) after a four-goal performance against Fresno State.
• Ellen Parker, who scored the game-winner in Portland’s 1-0 win over No. 4 North Carolina on Friday, Aug. 17, was named the first WCC Player of the Week (Aug. 20) for the 2012 season.
 
THAT’S A LOT OF GOALS
• During Portland’s 5-0 win over Fresno State on Aug. 31, junior forward Amanda Frisbie became the 16th player in program history to score four goals in one game.
• The last to accomplish the feat was Danielle Foxhoven against USF on Oct. 25, 2009.
• The five-goal margin of victory was the largest for the Pilots since a 9-0 win over UT-San Antonio in the opening round of the 2010 playoffs, a game in which Frisbie recorded her first career hat trick as a freshman.
 
THAT TOO IS A LOT OF GOALS
• Junior forward Kaila Cameli has scored the last three goals for Portland, dating back to the win over Seattle on Sept. 23.
• Cameli scored twice against the Redhawks during the 3-0 win, and she scored UP’s lone goal against Denver on Sunday.
• Cameli has six goals this season, which is tied with Amanda Frisbie for the team high.
 
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
• Cameli and Frisbie are tied for second in the conference with their six goals, and Frisbie ranks third in the WCC with 15 points; Ellen Parker ranks second in the conference with an average of 0.67 assists per game.
• As a team, the Pilots rank first in per game attendance (3,681), are second in fewest goals allowed (7), goals against average (0.76), shutouts (5) and assists per game (1.67) and are third in points (53), goals (19), goals per game (2.11) and assists (15).
 
THE PLACE TO BE
• A capacity crowd of 4,932 fans packed into Merlo Field on Sept. 7 for Portland’s game against Notre Dame, making it the second sellout crowd this season for the Pilots at home.
• 4,912 fans were on hand to watch the Pilots blank Oregon 2-0 on Aug. 24.
• Portland is averaging 3,681 fans through six home games at Merlo Field, which has a capacity of 4,892.
 
SPEAKING OF THE COUNTRY’S #1 FANS...
• The Portland Pilots women’s soccer team led the nation in attendance for the seventh straight year after averaging 3,110 fans per game at Merlo Field in 2011.
• UP has topped the 30,000-fan plateau for seven straight years as well, and Portland was the only school in the country to average more than 3,000 fans per game in 2011.
• UP owns the NCAA record for attendance in a season when 47,082 fans attended Portland women’s soccer games in 2008.
• The Pilots have topped the 40,000-fan mark three times (2008-10) and have reached that figure four times overall, which is the most in the country.
 
BUSY “OFF” SEASON
• Junior forward Micaela Capelle kept busy during the off-season as she helped the US U-20 Women’s National Team claim the CONCACAF Championship in Panama last winter, which sent the team to the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
• She scored a goal and registered an assist during a win over host Panama.
 
WELCOME BACK
• Back for Portland this season is former all-league selection and redshirt-junior defender Kendall Johnson, who missed all of the 2011 season due to an injury.
• Johnson was named the WCC co-Freshman of the Year in 2010, while also landing on the Soccer America All-Freshman First Team.
• The Portland native entered 2012 with five career goals and six assists, and she has one goal, a game-winner, and an assist this fall.
 
LONDON CALLING
• The 2012 London Summer Olympics were a historic event for the University of
Portland as alums Megan Rapinoe, Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt each left London with some new hardware.
• Rapinoe and the US took gold, while Schmidt, Sinclair and Team Canada claimed the bronze for Canada’s first Olympic medal in women’s soccer.
• When all was said and done, the University of Portland (3) claimed more medals than Greece (2), and UP would have finished ahead of 31 countries in the final medal tally.
 
HAPPY 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
• In 2002, under the guidance of legendary coach Clive Charles, the University of Portland won its first NCAA Women’s Soccer National Championship.
• The Pilots, featuring then-sophomore Christine Sinclair, capped a cinderella season by defeating conference foe Santa Clara 2-1 in the national title game in double overtime.
• UP will be celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its first national title with a reunion during the Pilots’ game against San Diego State at Merlo Field on Oct. 7.
 
THE BLOGGERS
• The women’s soccer blog is back by popular demand, and this year it’s Kendall Johnson who has taking on blogging duties for the Pilots; be sure to bookmark PortlandPilots.com/KendallBlog to follow Kendall and the Pilots all season long!
• UP features two bloggers this season, as espnW has tapped Micaela Capelle for a season-long blog as well; just visit espnW.com to check out Micaela’s thoughts.