High-flying Pilots

Sinclair lifts Portland women to first NCAA title

Santa Clara and Lana Bowen couldn't keep up with Christine Sinclair (12). AP

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Christine Sinclair made all the difference for Portland with the national championship at stake.

Sinclair scored two goals Sunday, netting the winner in sudden-death overtime as Portland won its first national title with a 2-1 victory over Santa Clara in the NCAA Women's College Cup.

Sinclair had missed Portland's 1-0 loss to Santa Clara back on Nov. 3 because she was playing with the Canadian national team.

She was unstoppable in the rematch, scoring her 25th and 26th goals of the season. Sinclair scored 10 goals in the NCAA tournament and was selected the College Cup's most valuable offensive player.

"It was a tight match and a matter of inches," said Santa Clara coach Jerry Smith, whose team won the 2001 title.

"The beauty of a player like Sinclair, she disappears from a game for a while and then finds a way to get her one or two goals."

Portland had been to six previous College Cups without a title. Sinclair liked the Pilots' chances Sunday when she saw a soggy field soaked by a steady drizzle.

"As an attacker, you like it," Sinclair said of the slick conditions. "Anything on net, keep it low and it could have a chance."

Devvyn Hawkins gave Santa Clara a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute when she finished a corner kick with a volley past goalkeeper Lauren Arase.

Sinclair tied it eight minutes later with a low cross that skipped across the wet field, curled around goalkeeper Alyssa Sobolik and rolled inside the post.

Santa Clara seemed to have all the momentum in the first overtime when the Broncos forced Arase to make three tough saves in the first five minutes. Arase then had to leave the game after getting kneed in the head in a collision in the penalty area.

Portland put in freshman Kim Head, who had played just 25 minutes and faced just one shot all season.

"I was breathless," said Portland coach Clive Charles, whose team lost the 1995 final 1-0 to Notre Dame in overtime and hadn't made it there again until Sunday.

"It was a 10-ton weight off our shoulders," Charles said of the winning goal. "I was dreading penalty kicks."

Defender Kristin Moore started the play with a run up the left side and sent a low cross into the box where Sinclair was able to flick the ball on goal. Sobolik stayed on her line and made the block, but the ball bounced off her chest, hit the right post and bounced back to Sinclair, who calmly put it into the net.

"It was a perfect cross," Sinclair said.

"We had the right person on the end of it," Charles said.

At No. 8. the Pilots (20-4-2) are the lowest seed to win a championship.

Santa Clara (20-5-1) missed a chance to join North Carolina as the only back-to-back champions in the 21-year history of the College Cup. The Tar Heels have won 16 national titles.

Sinclair set an NCAA tournament record with 21 points on 10 goals and one assist. North Carolina's Mia Hamm set the previous mark of 16 in 1993.

 

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