Dec. 7, 2005
ABBY HAIGHT
The Oregonian
Hours after being crowned NCAA national champions, the University of Portland women's soccer team took a moment to write some love letters.
Then, with handwritten posters held high -- "This is for you," and "We love our fans," and "There's no place like Portland" -- the Pilots walked out of the Portland International Airport terminal and into a city's embrace.
They were greeted at the airport by television lights and a phalanx of about 100 fans. Later, about 1,000 more greeted them at the Chiles Center on the University of Portland campus to celebrate a special team and a remarkable, unbeaten season.
Goalkeeper Cori Alexander captured the homecoming on her video camera. Senior Lindsey Huie, so imperious on the field, melted into tears. Junior Elsa Hume considered rushing to her 1:30 p.m. class, then gave into the wave of euphoria that had carried the Pilots to Portland from Aggie Soccer Stadium in College Station, Texas.
"Last night, I couldn't sleep," said Alexander, the defensive star of a weekend in which the Pilots beat No. 2 Penn State on penalty kicks in the semifinal Friday and ran past No. 4 UCLA 4-0 on Sunday in the championship game. "I didn't have a big game to look forward to. I just couldn't sleep. I was on the plane, listening to music, just smiling and laughing."
Portland students Jon Mauser and Darren Lloyd were at the airport waiting area an hour before the Pilots' plane was due to arrive.
Lloyd, a senior, had been part of a boisterous welcoming party when the Pilots won the 2002 national championship, and the two were regulars at Merlo Field this season.
"During the penalty kicks (Friday night), people were running down our dorm screaming," Lloyd said.
The two planned to continue the celebration at the Chiles Center.
"We have to get our high-five quota in for the day," Mauser said.
Four years ago, airport officials weren't prepared for a welcome of samba drums and cheers that disrupted the security screening area.
This year, no problem.
The Villa Maria Hall drum squad was waiting for the campus celebration. And the airport was ready with a welcome of its own.
"Nothing is more important than this day," Mike Irwin, the airport's federal security director, said with just a hint of overstatement. Irwin graduated from Portland in 1978. His wife also is a graduate, and a daughter is in her senior year there.
"We're awful proud of them," Irwin said. "How often do you get an NCAA championship?"
A water truck sprayed a fountain as the team's jet taxied. And the team's arrival was announced over the airport's loudspeakers several times.
A dozen Royal Rosarians, in full whites, stood with red roses for each player. The city's official welcoming committee had a plaque ready:
Be it known to all people, river and wood, field and hill that this most worthy subject is hereby welcomed to the City of Roses, Portland . . .
Players were led by the familiar drum squad rhythm into a standing ovation -- of students, faculty, fans and wide-eyed kids -- at the Chiles Center.
"You can't even say you're the 12th man," Garrett Smith, the Pilots' head coach and associate director of soccer, told the crowd. "You're the foundation of what we do."
There was laughter at Alexander teaching the Rev. Tom Doyle, Portland's vice president of university relations, her rendition of the Texas Two-Step -- the intimidating ritual of patting the goal posts she did before each penalty kick Friday.
And there were tears, especially from the four seniors who had played their last game in Pilots uniforms.
Colleen Salisbury thanked fans and her teammates for an experience she had dreamed of since childhood. Huie spoke of the unforgettable richness of her time at Portland.
"These were the best four-and-a-half years of my life," said Sinclair, who left a legacy of broken records and will turn her attention to helping Canada qualify for the 2007 World Cup after completing her studies this winter.
Kelsy Hollenbeck had lost her voice and didn't try to say anything.
The Rev. William Beauchamp, the school president who attended Sunday's championship game but had to travel to Seattle on Monday, praised the team in a letter read by Doyle.
"You have been teachers of everyone who has been open to your lessons," Beauchamp wrote to the players. "The young people who see you as their role models. The adults, who look to you for lessons of dedication and humility and joy. And your opponents -- who have learned a few things about soccer."
Afterward, players were mobbed for autographs and pictures. The celebration will continue Friday, when the city of Portland will hold a party for the team at noon at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
As the crowd ebbed, some players gathered their bags and began, reluctantly, getting back to their lives. Students are in dead week, with finals beginning next Monday.
"There's no practice today, no practice tomorrow," Alexander said. "What am I going to do with myself? Probably get my school work in order. Oh, yeah, I took my books with me. Did I touch them? No."
Huie lingered, posing for photographs with children and signing T-shirts.
She wiped tears away several times.
"I think the reality of the situation is going to get to me when I'm home, away from this team," said the senior All-American, who plans to move back to Southern California after graduation. "I only have two weeks left to be with them."