PORTLAND, Oregon — The Portland Pilots bounced back from an early 1-0 deficit to beat the West Virginia Mountaineers 2-1. Portland improved to 4-0-3 in the season following the win and maintained their unbeaten streak through seven.
How it happened
- West Virginia opened the scoring when Luke McCormick scored in the third minute, assisted by Ryan Crooks.
- The Pilots responded to level it with a 22nd-minute goal from Brandon Cambridge – his fifth goal of the season.
- Portland then made the 1–1 draw through Jacob Babalais’ 43rd-minute goal, his third of the season. Jake Arteaga and Nick Fernandez assisted the goal. The 2:1 held until the end of the game.
game notes
- The Pilots are unbeaten by seven points for the first time since 2018.
- Brandon Cambridge leads the Pilots with 12 points a year (five goals, two assists). All five goals have come in the last six games.
- Babalay’s goal puts him in second place on the team. He has seven points on the year.
- Portland remains one of three colleges where both football programs remain undefeated.
- The Mountaineers finished 21st before the game and were a top-five team last season. They advanced to the Elite Eight in last season’s NCAA tournament.
Portland Head Coach Nick Carlin-Voigt on the win
“Great team win tonight. So proud of the entire program to battle another top 25 national ranking team through adversity. We’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the country so far and to come away unscathed is a Credit to us players and staff.It was always a difficult turn after a fight in Denver #10 just three days before.Credit to WVU for being a good team moving the ball well and PKs from the finals last year Four away was they no doubt asked us some questions and I thought the guys calmed down once we found out how close the half channel actions are.
We gave up an unfortunate goal early in the first five minutes and our lads didn’t panic, regrouped and regained control of the game to score two crucial goals. We always say goals change games and we have faith in our players to make games. After a bad start we started to move the ball well, but in every good game you have to defend an advantage and that was necessary to manage the game. We’ll talk about ways to improve one game at a time. We’ll now get some much-needed rest and gear up for a tough Bakersfield team on Merlo this Friday. We look forward to bringing our fans and community supporters back to Merlo this Friday!”
Next
The Pilots will face off against the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners on Friday, September 23 here at their home. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Visit PortlandPilots.com for live stats and video options.
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