For both the Penn State women's and men's soccer teams, this weekend brought the end to remarkable seasons.

The Christie Welsh era also came to an end on Friday at the women's College Cup at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Tx. The Portland Pilots scored three minutes into the game en route to a 2-0 win over the Nittany Lions in the national semifinal.

The Pilots (19-4-2) defeated Santa Clara yesterday to win the NCAA Championship.

The men's soccer team's Cinderella season and College Cup aspirations came to a grinding halt Saturday night as the UCLA Bruins pounded the Lions 7-1 at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.

The scoring started early in both games. In the women's contest, the No. 8 seeded Pilots' outstanding forward, Christine Sinclair, took the ball away from Lions' defender Gillian Samuel near midfield and sprinted toward the goal to place a shot into the lower corner of the net. The ball trickled past Lions' goaltender Amanda Brown.

"It's really nice to score early and get off to a good start, but it also gives you a false sense of security," said Portland women's soccer coach Clive Charles. "When you get something you haven't deserved, it's hard to sustain it."

Penn State (19-4-1) had its chances in the first half to score and tie the game. In the 13th minute of the game, the Lions served the ball into Portland's zone where Welsh took the ball away from a Portland defender, controlled the ball and then chipped it past Portland's goaltender, Lauren Arase. Welsh controlled the ball with only an empty net in front of her and pushed the ball past the right post with a shot off her left foot.

"I had a wide-open shot, and I just panicked," Welsh said. "I shot it with my left foot and shanked it. It was early in the game, and I had to think we had more chances."

The Lions' other good chance in the first half came in the 23rd minute as junior forward Heidi Drummond got behind the defense before Arase made a leaping save of Drummond's blast that was headed for the top left corner of the net.

Welsh's only shot of the game was the missed opportunity in the first 15 minutes. Her illustrious four-year career comes to an end with 82 goals and 52 assists. This season Welsh reached many career milestones, including the 200-point club, 50-50 club and 40-40 club.

The next time Welsh plays soccer, she will not be wearing a Lions' blue and white, but instead the national team uniform or a Women's United Soccer Association uniform.

The glass slipper was not in the cards for the No. 15 Penn State men's soccer team (16-8) this year, but a costly red card was. In the 26th minute, with the Lions leading 1-0, senior goalkeeper Ryan Sickman tripped UCLA junior forward Cliff McKinley as McKinley took a breakaway into the box. The foul temporarily prevented the No. 4 Bruins (16-3-3) from knotting the contest at one goal apiece.

Penn State's fortune was turned upside down as the referee waved the red card, calling for the ejection of Sickman.

Lions head coach Barry Gorman said the foul was not intentional, nor was it malicious.

"In that situation, there's going to be a collision," Gorman said. "It certainly didn't warrant that card. It's a crying shame that these things happen."

Not only was Sickman forced to leave the game, but the Bruins were also awarded a penalty kick. UCLA capitalized as the Lions' backup goalkeeper Ryan Moate could not stop Adolfo Gregorio's shot to the right side of the net, and the teams went on to close the first half with a tie score.

In the second half, the Lions ran out of the magic that had taken them from playoff uncertainty to Big Ten champions to legitimate College Cup contenders. Six minutes into the half, Moate came out to challenge Bruins senior forward Tim Pierce. Pierce answered the challenge, beating Moate to put UCLA up 2-1 and in the lead for good.

After Pierce's go-ahead goal, the UCLA offensive storm continued brewing. Led by junior forward Matt Taylor's first career hat trick, the Bruins would score five more goals before all was said and done to win 7-1.

While the knee-jerk reaction for a team is to try to forget a devastating loss such as this, Gorman urged the team after the match to do otherwise.

"I told them, 'I don't want you to forget this result -- I want you to remember it,' " Gorman said. "I want them to come back hungry next year."