How did you become a Pilots' fan?

There's not much happening on the board this week, so maybe it's time for some off-season nostalgia to pass the weeks until the August opener. A blog for a team in another sport in another state has had a very popular post today asking how each contributor came to be a fan of the team. I'd love to hear the stories from Pilots' fans.

Did you begin following the team through an affinity for or affiliation with UP? Or were you, like me, a soccer fan who fell in love with the team because of its quality and character? Do you remember the first match you saw? Who were your first favorite players, especially ones that some of us might not immediately remember?

I was drafted as a youth soccer coach a few years after moving to Portland in 1988 and soon became a huge fan of the sport, to which I was quite new. My first Pilots' match was the loss (6-1, if I remember) to the North Carolina team that featured Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm. Must have been about 1992 or so. (Was there ever a better college team?) Tiffeny Milbrett was the Pilots' star, but she was pretty much bottled up most of the time.

I continued to go to games whenever we could over the next few seasons with whatever family members wanted to come along. Gradually "they" turned into "we" and the Pilots became an important part of our autumn life. It was wonderful to watch Clive build the program through the '90s and into the new century. Every time we met UNC or Notre Dame, we seemed to come a little closer to their level, until finally in 2002 we reached the level that we were dominating teams the way UNC used to dominate us. (Too bad we didn't play UNC in 2002 or 2005!) Now I'm a season-ticket holder and, like so many others on this board, mark my autumns by the number of days until the next Pilots' match.

Among my favorite but less honored Pilots over the years have been Betsy Barr, Erin Misaki, and Angela Harrison. (I have a special place in my heart for the 110% holding midfielders, of whom the Pilots have had a remarkable run. How many teams can claim 10-going-on-12 years with the likes of Betsy, Lisa Sari, and Keelin?)

I'm looking forward to reading your favorite Pilot stories and memories!

Became a fan in about 1997 when our daughter was playing soccer with a travel team. Their team came to a Pilots match and we were hooked. We were treated by seeing some of the best players like Milbrett and McMillan to have played at UP.
I really don't remember the first match we saw but remember a wide variety of playing conditions from driving rain, and freezing temps for playoff matches and also some hot weather.
Some of the NCAA games against UNC and Notre Dame were some of the most exciting matches to watch.
Christine Sinclair was probably one of our favorites to watch. I was amazed at some of the shots she made and the touch she had on the ball.

I remember hearing about Portland's soccer program shortly after the men's team made the Final 4 when I made a decision to attend school there. I was a Communications Major at UP from 1990-1994, and I had a few classes with Tiffany and saw the soccer teams gradually progressing. I remember seeing Keller drop perfectly thrown balls at the feet of UP defenders and midfielders to begin an attack...and watching Milbrett lead us to our first women's Final 4 around 1994-1995 when I watched the game as a Holy Cross Associate in Brockton, Massachusetts. The men's Final 4 that helped to build the momentum to build Merlo and the women's Final 4 a few years later created some momentum that never stopped.

I was more of a basketball fan when I came to school, but I went to soccer games because I could, and it was entertaining enough, though I didn't really pick up on the details while I was a student. Last fall I came back for the first time after graduating and was hooked again after the first match I saw. After going a few more times I met some of the TA who went and stood behind the students, and now I love them as much as I love the Pilot soccer teams.

I have enjoyed soccer for a good part of my life--even got to see Pele play once when I was a kid. Played rec-soccer as a kid, but was not good enough to make the high school team.

In the 80's and early 90's, with other pressures of life, I did not have much time to spend watching soccer, but caught a number of '94 World Cup games on TV, and it reminded me how much I enjoyed soccer.

So that fall--almost on a whim--I decided to check out a game at UP. It was a women's game against UW. It took me no more than 5 minutes of watching Tiffeny and I was hooked. UP ended up winning that game (in OT on a goal by Shannon MacMillan, if I recall). I attended as many men's and women's games that year as I could.

The next year my son (who was playing rec soccer at the time) got season tickets, and we've had them ever since.

There are so many players I've enjoyed watching, but three that I especially enjoyed were Tiffeny Milbrett, Erin Misaki and Davide Xausa.

I grew up in North Portland and my grandfather went to UP (actually PU)...a long time ago, probably around the time Geezer was dominating the collegiate lacrosse scene...j/k. I'm sure it was a year or two before that...

Anyway, he was very active in the alumni community so my family had always been associated with the school in some way or another. When I started playing soccer, I guess that would be the mid-late 80s my parents started taking us to the games so we could learn the game better. I don't remember any specific first game, but I certainly remember Kasey Keller playing on the old field and booting the ball what seemed like across the field. Ever since Merlo opened ('90? I know someone will correct me and I'm too lazy to look it up.) my family had season tickets. We went to pretty much every game we could (men's and women's) although their season ran at the same time as my soccer season (imagine that).

Now I live a little too far away to attend many games, although I did make it to two tourney games last year! My parents still have season tickets, along with two other couples. They prefer to go to the women's games, I think they only missed one game last year, the third rounder against James Madison. And I think they even considered skipping my wedding to attend the game...luckily Stonehouse had his laptop and was able to set up game tracker or the radio feed so that the 10 or so season ticket holders were able to follow the game. I still follow the team through Pilotnation and portlandpilots.com, but wish I could make more games.

So to make a long story short, I have been a UP soccer fan for about as long as I can remember.

Got a similar story to mattywizz... shocker. We've been keeping it real in NoPo since '82. Well, I guess you were '81. You're old.

I grew up a mile away from campus and have been going to games forever. Started off with just my dad but slowly more and more family started getting tickets. We've got a pretty strong contingent now and it's fun to see my nieces have the same experiences I did when I was a kid. We have been holding down the fort behind the goal close on 20 years now.

I must admit that the guys were my favorite back in the day... Kasey Keller, Yari Alnutt, Scott Sagar, Ziggy Clark, Joey Leonetti... loved all those dudes. But of course I was a big women's fan too, especially as I got a bit older. Oh, Ana del Bosque.

So many classic memories... intense playoff games, heckling goalies, torrential downpours, bringing in our own huge jug of hot chocolate, being convinced that seaguls portended Pilot goals... of course it was fun to be a student in the cheering section and I've had a blast calling games on the radio broadcast from time to time, but nothing really matches the childhood memories.

I fell in love with the game of soccer when my college (Western Baptist) started a soccer team my senior year in '77. Then in '91 after visiting my fiancee in St. Johns I passed the UP campus and saw there was a game going at Merlo. I stopped to watch and saw Tiffany score three goals on break-aways. I've rarely missed a women's game since. Watching Tiff, Shannon, and Christine over the years has been phenomenal. I'm so lucky to live a mile away from the best women's soccer in the country.

I saw all of those players as well, Stonehouse. Great group. What in the world is Joey Leonetti up to these days?

athleticjames wrote: I saw all of those players as well, Stonehouse. Great group. What in the world is Joey Leonetti up to these days?

As several of those guys did and are doing, He's doing This

Ah, I should have guessed! Thanks PG.

I would have to say Ziggy was my favorite player. It probably didn't hurt that he was my counselor two years in a row at the Portland soccer camp.

Joey also does the play-by-play for several of the men's games. He's done at least a few games the past 2-3 years.

And Ziggy was my counselor at the Clive Charles Soccer Camps too... loved him! He helped coach our dominating Zimbabwe team to the World Cup title. And yes, I did indeed score a clinching goal in a PK shoot-out win over, I think, Italy. I rule.

Stonehouse wrote:Joey also does the play-by-play for several of the men's games. He's done at least a few games the past 2-3 years.

And Ziggy was my counselor at the Clive Charles Soccer Camps too... loved him! He helped coach our dominating Zimbabwe team to the World Cup title. And yes, I did indeed score a clinching goal in a PK shoot-out win over, I think, Italy. I rule.

Nice, I'll have to listen to those play by plays. Hey congrats on going over 2,000 posts recently Stonehouse.