July 10, 2005  The U.S. womens national soccer team were in town playing a match against the Ukraine (their national team, not the entire country), so Ross and I went to the game.

The game was almost painful. A 7-0 route, and that's with the U.S. having a slow first half and playing some reserves. The best moment was Tiffeny Milbrett's goal. It was her 100th international goal, and scoring 100 goals on a national team is something few players ever accomplish. What made it even better is that Tiff is from Portland and played for the University of Portland, so we got to see a Portlander score her 100th goal in Portland on the same field she played on in college. Suffice to say the crowd went wild.

The game previous to this was Tiffeny's 200th international game, another feat few players achieve, so she was honored for that today. She received a cash prize but, rather than keep it for herself, she gave it to the Clive Charles fund. Clive was the long time University of Portland soccer coach who died of cancer in 2003. He was/always will be venerated and beloved in the world of soccer, especially in Portland. He was Tiffeny's coach when she played for U of Portland and she says she owes a lot of her success to him, so it was a great moment when she donated her winnings to him.

So it was a great day of soccer, and Portland is becoming quite the city for the U.S. Womens team. In 2000, Kristine Lilly played her 200th game here in Portland and became the first player in history to play 200 international games. In 2004, Kristine Lilly scored her 100th goal in Portland, becoming the 5th woman in history to reach 100 goals. Then today, Tiffeny Milbrett scored her 100th goal here. And Portland hosted games in the '99 and '03 FIFA Womens World Cup. Pretty damn cool!

Now I just wish that I'd worn sunscreen being that, along with having a cold, I'm now sunburned as well. Kinda odd to be cold and burned at the same time.

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