I live one mile from the University of Portland, a lovely private university with a stunning campus, friendly students and Merlo Field. While other schools across the country fill stadiums with city-sized crowds for football games, The U.P. very quietly hosts thrilling soccer matches at Merlo Field where their legendary soccer programs have been generating international stars in relative obscurity for decades. Instead of thousands of screaming fans, Merlo usually sees crowds of fewer than 1,000 but you wouldn’t know it by the intensity of the play on the field.
Last weekend I shot both the men’s and women’s teams in matches at Merlo. As a long-time fan I’ve been eager to get down to field level with my camera and capture the incredibly athleticism of the young players. After a few brief emails with the communications director at the University I picked up my press pass and climbed over the short wall surrounding the pitch and settled in for the action. If you think it’s impossible to get field-level access to high-level sporting events, you may want to just try asking. It never hurts to ask.
Below are some of my favorite shots from the two matches, and for each image I’ve included information in the caption about my camera settings, strategies and experience making it. Enjoy!