Portland Shakes UCLA Quickly to Claim Title

Starting with a goal 92 seconds into the game, Portland ended UCLA’s near-perfect run in the NCAA women’s soccer tournament with a 4-0 victory in the national title game Sunday at Aggie Soccer Stadium.

The Bruins (22-2-2), who outscored their first five tournament opponents, 25-0, lost in the title game for the second consecutive year. They lost to Notre Dame on penalty kicks last year after playing to a 1-1 tie.

Christine Sinclair led Portland (24-0-2) with two goals that gave her an NCAA-record 39 for the season. Sinclair had been tied for the record with Southern Methodist’s Lisa Cole, who had 37 goals in 1987.

But it was Portland’s Angie Woznuk who put the Bruins on their heels early.

With UCLA’s defense keying on Sinclair from the start, Woznuk moved to an opening, took a feed from Megan Rapinoe and zipped a right-footed shot under goalkeeper Valerie Henderson.

“To score a goal that early, I think, makes the other team question a little bit what they’re capable of,” Woznuk said.

UCLA had shut out 17 of its previous 19 NCAA tournament opponents before Woznuk’s goal, the fastest the Pilots had scored in a game this season.

“They did a great job to capitalize on our mistake,” Coach Jill Ellis said. “That certainly put us behind the eight ball.”

The championship was the Pilots’ second in three years.