U.S. international Megan Rapinoe is out for the year with a knee injury, but her twin sister, Rachael, has stepped into her spot in the Portland attack and helped the defending NCAA Division I women’s champions.
Rachael Rapinoe scored the winning goal for the Pilots in their 2-1 win over BYU Thursday in the opening round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Portland will face the fourth-seeded Utah, which rallied for a 3-2 overtime victory over Idaho State, in the second round on Saturday.
Forward Kendra Chandhoke put the Pilots ahead with her 10th goal of the season in the 30th minute, backheeling Stephanie Lopez‘s short cross into the goal. BYU equalized 34 seconds after the break on a goal by Katie Larkin, but the Pilots went ahead in the 65th minute when Chandhoke gathered a loose ball and found Rapinoe unmarked at the top of the box. Rapinoe, who started the first 11 matches at outside back for the Pilots, finished for her fifth goal of the season.
BYU had two late chances to tie the score, but goalie Cori Alexander stopped a point-blank shot from Larkin in the 88th minute, followed by Katie Brown heading the rebound attempt off the Pilots goalline.
“We should have finished better and we missed some key opportunities,” Rachael Rapinoe said after the match. “But we hung in there and fought until the end.”
Utah, unbeaten in 13 straight games, barely survived against Idaho State, which twice went ahead on goals by Michele Okumura. Katy Reineke‘s penalty kick with 30 seconds left sent the game into overtime, where Amanda Feigt won the game in the 104th minute.