Nov. 30, 2005

ABBY HAIGHT
The Oregonian

Megan Rapinoe loves the spotlight.

The soccer game can't be too big for the University of Portland freshman, who sat out as a redshirt last year. The pressure can't be too intense. The shot can't be too impossible.

"The bigger the game, the bigger the opponent, the more I get hyped up and want to do more for my team," Rapinoe said this week as the Pilots prepared to face Penn State on Friday in the semifinals of the NCAA College Cup at College Station, Texas.

On a team loaded with talent and some of the best offensive players in the college game, Rapinoe (pronounced raw-PEA-no) has emerged as a lightning rod at attacking midfield -- physical and scrappy, with a quick, sure touch and devastating power, capped by unbridled joy in her teammates and competition.

"Her strength is her attitude," said Garrett Smith, the Pilots' head coach and associate director of soccer. "You just want to bottle it up and open it when you need it."

Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum shook his head over Rapinoe's opening goal in last week's quarterfinal at Merlo Field, a long shot that ripped through the fingers of the Irish goalkeeper.

Mark Krikorian, coach of College Cup-bound Florida State and coach of the 2004 U.S. Soccer U-19 National Team, joked that he would be happy if Rapinoe had an off-day if Portland and the Seminoles happen to reach the NCAA final.

Rachel Rapinoe, a sophomore defender for the Pilots, has watched her twin develop from mouse to monster on the field.

"She's the best soccer player I've seen," Rachel Rapinoe said. "She has that natural ability to score. . . . She has that big, bold confidence that sets her apart from everyone on the field."

But it wasn't always so.

The Rapinoe sisters played every sport, following their older brother into soccer while growing up in Redding, Calif. Rachel, who felt most comfortable with the game in front of her, gravitated to defense. Megan had an aptitude for goals, but not the confidence of a striker.

"Timid, small, scrawny," she described herself. "I used to hide on the field, just hid from everyone. I wasn't sure of my abilities, I guess."

Her confidence grew as her talent drew attention. Megan was called into junior national team camps. The sisters played for the elite Elk Grove United club with future Pilots teammate Stephanie Lopez, and college scholarships were on the horizon.

As freshmen at Foothill High School, the sisters debated whether they would go to college together. Rachel wanted to head East. Megan preferred staying closer to home. By their junior year, they decided they were a package deal.

"We've knocked heads, the way you do," Megan said of her sister. "But we're very close. Always best friends growing up."

Smith first saw the sisters while he was at a game recruiting Lopez, who was a year ahead of the Rapinoes in high school. After seeing the sisters play, Smith began recruiting them, as well.

"I thought (Santa Clara's) Jerry Smith had already found them," Smith said.

And the Rapinoes were leaning toward Santa Clara or UCLA before they made their first recruiting visit to Portland.

"We just knew there was something genuine about it, after meeting the coaches and the players," Rachel said. "In the airport as we were leaving, we said, 'That's it.' "

But Rachel would end up moving to Portland alone after Megan earned a berth on the U.S. U-19 national team that would play for the 2004 world championship.

"All the kids are very good athletes and she's certainly an exceptional athlete," said Krikorian, who also coached Lopez and Portland midfielder Angie Woznuk on the team, of Megan Rapinoe. "But she's got a good understanding of the game. Her tactics are good. Her vision is good. She doesn't have a weakness in her game."

Rapinoe was used to scoring almost at will on her club team. She was accustomed to turning on her energy when she needed it, and coasting when she didn't. Krikorian demanded more maturity.

Krikorian sat the player down before the tournament, "basically to let her know that she had unlimited potential and that she wasn't quite reaching it."

The lesson stuck. Rapinoe scored three goals for the United States, which finished third in the championship.

"It was invaluable," Smith said of Rapinoe's experience with the national team. "Being on the bubble and being told, 'Hey, can you do that all the time? Because if you can, you're in.' On the world stage, you either show up or you don't make it, because he's got the whole country to choose from."

Rapinoe electrified in her Merlo Field debut, scoring five minutes into an exhibition game against Mexico on a dreary spring night last April. She stormed into the fall, scoring 14 goals, adding 12 assists and putting in seven game-winners.

True to her love for the big stage, Rapinoe leads Portland with five goals and three assists in the NCAA playoffs.

Playing beside forwards Christine Sinclair and Natalie Budge, with Woznuk and Lindsey Huie lurking on the wings, Rapinoe has the freedom to strike or make plays. Teammates tease that she never has met a shot she didn't like -- and Rapinoe agrees with them.

"She knows as well as anyone else when she takes a good shot and when she takes a bad one," Huie said. "But every shot is an opportunity."

Rapinoe still is learning to play defense. But she is not afraid of contact, modeling her game on Lisa Sari, the physical, defensive-minded junior who plays beside her in the midfield.

"I do like to bring a physical presence to the game," said Rapinoe, the only starting offensive player who has received two yellow cards this season. "When you have a player like that, it gives confidence to your team. And it can be a little intimidating to the opponent."

Smith expects Rapinoe to continue to develop -- into a team leader next season after the Pilots lose seniors Huie, Sinclair, Kelsy Hollenbeck and Colleen Salisbury, and into a regular for the U.S. national team.

"She's a risk-taker," he said. "She's not afraid to make mistakes. She'll shrug it off because she'll get another chance.

"She'll add some discipline, some maturity to her game and she'll be twice the player that she is."