Can they hang a banner saying the USD women's soccer team was 17 minutes from a West Coast Conference championship?

That's how close the Toreros came to the school's first WCC title in women's soccer, and it is 17 minutes they will be replaying in their minds for months, maybe years to come. Seventeen minutes.

Instead, second-ranked Portland won its 10th conference title based on a 4-1 win against No. 11 USD last night before an energetic crowd of 2,537 at Torero Stadium – or nearly twice as many as watched the USD men's basketball game at adjacent Jenny Craig Pavilion two hours earlier.

“Pretty tough to swallow,” USD senior forward Amy Epsten said.

Epsten's assist set up the lone USD goal, which came just 40 seconds into the second half. Epsten chipped a perfectly weighted ball into the penalty area, and Elissa Magracia knocked it past charging Portland goalkeeper Kelsey Davis. It was only the fifth goal Portland had allowed in 18 games this season.

It was akin to rattling a stick in a hornet's nest.

Portland's Sophie Schmidt equalized eight minutes later on a curling shot that smacked off the left post. Had it stayed 1-1, the two teams would have finished tied atop the WCC at 6-0-1 and shared the title.

But Portland coach Garrett Smith had seen enough. He motioned down the bench for Michelle Enyeart, Elli Reed and Keelin Winters to start warming up.

All three are members of the U.S. under-20 national team, which is usually a good thing – except when the U-20 World Championships coincide with the NCAA Tournament. The World Championships begin Nov. 19 in Chile, and the three are scheduled to depart today.

Wanting his team to get used to playing without them in the playoffs, Smith has not started them in recent weeks and kept them on the bench last night.

But in the 63rd minute, all three subbed in at once. Instantly, the pace and texture of the game changed.

Korie Nicholson made it 2-1 in the 74th minute.

Enyeart made it 3-1 in the 75th minute.

Halley Kreminski made it 4-1 in the 86th minute.

“They're a good team without their U-20 players,” USD coach Ada Greenwood said. “When you've been running around for 65 minutes, and they inject two or three players at that level, it was a little much at the wrong time.”

Portland finishes the regular season 17-1, 7-0 and almost certainly will host an NCAA Tournament regional next week. The Toreros' (14-4-2, 6-1) most likely destination is a regional at UCLA or USC. The 64-team field will be announced at 5 p.m. tomorrow on ESPNews.