Just two days after a disappointing opening game loss at the hands of Wright State the Portland Pilots took to Merlo Field again, this time for a matchup against DePaul. They did not let the fans down on Sunday, beating the DePaul Blue Demons by a score of 2-1 thanks to sophomore midfielder Jackson Jellah.
The Pilots’ first win of the season improves their overall record to 1-1 as DePaul drops to 0-1-1 on the year.
Jellah provided the spark the Pilots needed after coming off the bench in the 26th minute, when he netted the first goal of the game to give the Pilots a 1-0 lead that they were able to maintain until just before the intermission.
Just 30 seconds before the halftime buzzer sounded when DePaul’s Michael Mojarro scored the equalizer and put a defeated look on the faces of Portland’s players as they walked off the field. Junior goalkeeper Paul Christensen was determined not to let the team dwell on the late goal.
“I was just telling guys that we need to keep our heads up,” Christensen said. “Obviously you don’t want to give up that goal, but we also had halftime to reset.”
The Pilots did reset and dominated the second half offensively, taking seven shots to DePaul’s two. And one of those second half shots found the net by way of Jellah who scored his second goal of the night and his third of the year and secured the win for the Pilots.
“It was a great team goal,” Jellah said of the eventual game winner. “I was just lucky to be there to tap it in."
The win was the Pilots’ first of the season and the first of his head coaching career for coach Nick Carlin-Voigt, but he expects that there will be more to come. Carlin Voigt told the Beacon that now, “the expectation is to have this result all the time.”
Three freshmen got the starting nod for the Pilots on Sunday night, and two of them, forward Benji Michel and midfielder Rey Ortiz had assists on the night. The other starter, freshman midfielder Gio Magana-Rivera, logged 74 minutes and took two shots of his own, but did not convert.
“The freshmen are talented,” Carlin-Voigt said. “You can see the technique that they have and their ability to make plays.
Carlin-Voigt and the Pilots will attempt to take this winning mentality into their next game as they play host to the Ohio State Buckeyes next Friday, Sept. 2 on Merlo Field at 7 p.m.
