SAN FRANCISCO — The University of San Francisco shined under the Friday night lights as the Dons (4-9-1, 2-2 WCC) showed off their talent from an extraordinary effort to upset and give No. 7 Portland (10-1-3, 2-2-1 WCC) its first loss of the season, 2-1, at Negoesco Stadium.
Cameron Martin sparked the Dons lead in the first half. It was a collective offensive effort at the 13th minute mark, after
Tawwab Emiola dished a pass to
David Polson who then launched the ball from 18-yards to find Martin in the center of the box for the finesse kick into the back end of the net. Martin recorded his second goal of the season as the Dons led Portland 1-0 in the first period.
The second half was even more interesting, as both the Dons and the Pilots scored a goal apeice. Right at the 58th minute, the Pilots where issued a yellow card which brought
Santiago Digiuseppe up in line for the penalty kick. DiGiuseppe did his job and rocketed the ball right past Portland's 'keeper Kienan Weeks to lead USF, 2-0.
The competitiveness took a rise after four yellow cards were issued after DiGiuseppe's penalty goal. Three were issued from USF's
Ashish Chattha,
Jordan Hughes,
Sam Higgins and one from Portland's Jason Manning. As pesky as the Pilots played, they found their way past the Dons defense. At the 74th minute, Rey Ortiz launched the ball across the box to Alejandro Pereira for a header into the right corner of the net to trail the Dons, 2-1.
The nationally ranked Pilots attempted five crucial shots in the last 10 minutes of play, but it was
Ruben Stuiver five out his six saves that came in at the very end to seal the Dons, 2-1 victory.
San Francisco led with six saves over Portland's three. Both teams tallied 25 fouls. Portland recorded 18 shot attempts as the Dons had 15.
COACH'S QUOTE
"First and foremost, I am really proud of the group. We came out and executed really well. We scored a couple of goals, but as we continued to press we should have had a couple more. We executed our game plan well. I am proud of our individual and collective defending. It was a great team win."
UP NEXT: GONZAGA
San Francisco will continue its home stand at Negoesco Stadium on Sunday against Gonzaga at 2:30 p.m.
