The Portland Pilots may have felt wronged by having to go on the road for the first two rounds of the NCAA soccer tournament. But they proved that no distance was going to slow them down Friday.

The Pilots, ranked third in the country, routed the Denver Pioneers 5-0 at Prentup Field to set up a matchup with the host Colorado Buffaloes.

Sunday's 1 p.m. contest will mark the second time CU and Portland have met in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Portland hosted CU in 2004 and won 3-0 in the Buffs' first-ever trip to the second round.

Portland (16-3-0) dominated DU (13-5-4) on Friday, out-gunning the Pioneers 13-2 in shots on goal.

Heritage High School graduate Kendra Chandhoke, a Portland sophomore, scored 30 minutes into the game for a 1-0 lead, and the Pilots rolled from there. Sophie Schmidt added a pair of second half goals to lead the Pilots, and Michelle Enyeart had a goal and two assists.

They'll take it

Mel Hicks was as surprised as anyone when she was given the chance to boot home her first collegiate goal in Colorado's 2-0 victory over Hawaii.

After a scramble for a loose ball, Hicks came up with it all by herself 15 yards in front of the net — so all by herself, in fact, that everyone on the field froze for a split-second thinking she was offsides. Even Hicks paused briefly before firing.

"I froze because I thought I was offsides for the 20th time," Hicks said. "I was waiting for a whistle or for the coaches to yell. I just kind of looked around and made sure I knew what was going on and got a shot."

No excuses

The Rainbow Wahine players were making no excuses after falling to the Buffs, despite some difficult circumstances.

In addition to playing at altitude instead of their normal sea level, the Rainbow Wahine also hadn't been home in over a week. After winning the WAC tournament in Boise last weekend the squad stayed on the mainland rather than traveling home and then back again.

"It had to have something to do with it," Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing conceded. "Altitude may have had something to do with it. We're an extremely well-conditioned team. It didn't look it on the field today."

Pitching in

A host of CU athletic department officials were lending a hand with the game operations on Friday.

Some, such as women's golf coach Anne Kelly, were selling tickets at the gate, while others, such volleyball coach Pi'i Aiu and assistant athletic director of compliance Julie Manning were ball shaggers along the sidelines.

Notable

The CU soccer team will be on hand at the celebration in honor of live-buffalo mascot Ralphie at the practice bubble today north of Dal Ward Athletic Center. ... Attendance for the two games Friday was 1,112. ... Friday's game was the second meeting all-time between CU and Hawaii. The Buffs ended their inaugural season in 1996 with a 3-2 loss to Hawaii.