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SAN FRANCISCO—Four first half goals set the tone for the Dons' West Coast Conference opener on Friday night and were able to get the deciding goal on a Danny Kirkland penalty kick in the second half to give them the 3-2 victory over Portland.
 
It is the first time in three years that San Francisco (7-3-2, 1-0-0 WCC) has begun WCC play with a win.
 
"We told the guys from day one, the WCC, every game is going to be a battle, physically, mentally, emotionally," San Francisco head coach Eddie Soto said. "The game got really chippy. Our guys were able to keep their composure. I think the result was well-deserved."
 
After a first half where the match saw four goals scored, it turned to a defensive struggle.
 
In the 49th minute, Miguel Aguilar took a cross at the left post and slid into a kick only to have it knocked away by Portland goalkeeper Paul Christensen. The rebound was handled by Taylor Krueger but his shot went wide.
 
Portland (4-6-3, 0-1-0) nearly went on top in the second half when in the 62nd minute Eddie Sanchez caught a chip, which gave him a one-on-one with Chase Hauser but the San Francisco goalkeeper met him near the top of the box and knocked the ball away to keep it a tie game.
 
Four minutes later, Hauser was met with a one-on-one with Sanchez and, again, he met the Portland striker on the right wing and smothered the ball for the save.
 
"They're a dangerous team," Soto said. "They have some really good attacking guys. Eddie Sanchez is one of the better attacking guys I've seen in this conference. For us to hold him out here in the second half, I'm proud of our guys."
 
Later in the half, Aguilar took a ball near the end line and turned the corner but Portland was able to knock it away, giving the Dons a corner kick. It eventually found the foot of Krueger and his shot went off the hand of a Portland defender, giving USF a penalty kick.
 
Kirkland lined up for the kick in the 82nd minute and put in high and into the net to give USF a 3-2 lead.
 
"At halftime, we made a couple of adjustments," Soto said. "We just felt that they were going to come out with a lot of energy, they were going to come out and really try to press us and we had to withstand that. I felt we did a good job doing that."
 
The Dons ended the night with 20 shots and 12 corner kicks.
 
San Francisco will be back in action on Sunday when it faces Gonzaga in the second half of a double header with women's soccer.
 
The match began in a flurry for both teams.
 
In the sixth minute, David Romney delivered a cross into the box, which found the head of Bryce Kaminski but his attempt was saved by Christensen.
 
Portland battled back and took advantage off a throw in, with a San Francisco defender having been tripped up, and Eddie Sanchez found Michael Escobar who delivered his kick from the left of the circle and found the top left corner of the goal to put the Pilots up 1-0.
 
Aaron Lombardi, who made his first start of his San Francisco career, collected a cross and nearly picked up his first goal but his kick went off the body of Christensen.
 
"Lombardi is the most professional soccer player I've ever coached at his age," Soto said. "He's been hurt and been 110 percent committed to his rehab and getting healthy. We've been slowly getting him along and today was his shot. He got some good minutes, he got some good plays but he's still coming along. We need to be patient with him."
 
The Dons evened the match in the 18th minute when Kirkland sent in a corner kick to the near post and found the head of David Romney for the goal. It was Romney's first of the season.
 
San Francisco kept the pressure on Portland and got a lift from their bench. Jesus Del Toro checked into the game in the 25th minute and within seconds of checking in, Romney found him at the foot of the goal for the header and the 2-1 lead.
 
Portland got a fortunate bounce in the 37th minute when Derek Boggs found a wedge in the defense but had his shot saved by KJ Ahlo but it bounced right to the foot of Escobar for the chip-in goal, tying the match at two.