The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Portland
Soccer defeated by No. 6 Portland
09.20.2004 | Soccer
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Longhorns freshman Caitlin Kennedy (Euless, Texas/Colleyville-Heritage) netted her second career goal to start the second half of play and tie the match at 1-1, but junior Christine Sinclair answered with a pair of scores for the Pilots as No. 23 Texas (4-3, 0-1 Big 12) dropped a 3-1 decision to No. 6 Portland (7-1, 0-0 WCC) in front of 1,018 fans at Merlo Field on Monday, Sept. 20. Notably, while the loss was only the Horns, second in their last six games, it also marked the sixth straight victory for the Pilots.
The match remained deadlocked at 0-0 for most of the first half, but Portland was able to break through in the 40th minute of action as Natalie Budge took a feed from Jennifer Tuttle at the left corner of the UT penalty area and drilled a shot into the upper right corner of the goal for a 1-0 Pilots lead. After the halftime intermission came and went with the same score in tact, Texas got on the board only three minutes into the second period of play as Kennedy fired a shot into the right corner of the Pilots, goal from 25 yards out to knot the game at 1-1. Again tied, the two teams each looked for an opportunity to pull in front and at 55:07 Sinclair picked up her own rebound in front of the UT net and tucked a shot inside the right post to reclaim Portland,s one-goal lead at 2-1. A little over 11 minutes later, Sinclair struck again by settling a pass from Tuttle and placing a shot from 12 yards out inside the right post to push the Pilots, lead to 3-1. The Portland defense and goalkeeper Cori Alexander then took over by keeping the Longhorns off the board for the final 13 minutes of action en route to capping off the two-goal victory. While Alexander recorded the victory by tallying a pair of saves, UT,s Dana Hall (Kingwood, Texas) incurred the loss in a four-save effort.
Pacing a Longhorns attack that managed 10 shots for the game was Kennedy, who registered her second goal on the year and now has points in three of her last five matches, and fellow freshman Kelsey Carpenter (Allen, Texas), who tied Kennedy with a club-best two shots on the night. Portland, meanwhile, had its offense headlined by Sinclair, who scored twice in the second half on three shots, and Tuttle, who assisted on two of the Pilots three scores on the evening.
Up next, the Longhorns travel to Lubbock, Texas, for a 7 p.m. match with the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Friday, Sept. 24.
