There is no hesitation in second-year head coach Sherri Murrell’s voice when she describes the sort of expectations she has for her women’s basketball team this season: “We have a simple goal: We want to win the Big Sky Tournament. We want the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.” With the return of most of the integral players from last year’s squad that rumbled to a 22-9 record (11-5 Big Sky), the program’s best in Division I history, this lofty goal hardly seems out of reach.
The final whistle that blew in Thursday’s 1-0 loss to Northern Arizona in the semifinal round of the Big Sky Tournament represented the end of the Vikings’ 2008 campaign. But to first year head coach Laura Schott and the strong core of players that will be returning next year, it marked the beginning of a new era in Portland State soccer.
The Portland State women’s soccer season ended abruptly at the Big Sky Tournament in Ogden, Utah as the Vikings fell to Northern Arizona 1-0. It was a game of missed opportunities for the team, who could not capitalize on scoring chances and were held scoreless in the tournament semifinals. It was the second consecutive loss in the semifinals for the Vikings, who fell last year to Sacramento State.
After a rollercoaster season that began with a stifling nonconference schedule and ended with a late-season surge to capture the second seed in the Big Sky Tournament, the Vikings will finally get the chance to prove their mettle in the postseason. Tournament play begins today in Ogden, Utah, when the Vikings’ take on the third-seeded Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at the home of tournament host Weber State.
Last season, Sacramento State handed the Vikings two consecutive losses at the end of the season. The first loss dropped Portland State to the number four seed in the conference tournament, and the second loss ended the Vikings’ season.
When the Portland State women’s soccer team convened for training camp this summer, a slew of introductions were in order. First, the players had to meet their new coaching staff: head coach Laura Schott, who served as former Viking coach Tim Bennett’s top assistant for the previous three years, and assistants Melanie Langley and Janine Szpara.
With a 1-0 shutout win on the road Saturday against Idaho State, the Vikings officially clinched a spot in the Big Sky Tournament for the second year in a row, a feat never before accomplished by the women’s soccer program. The victory not only elevated Portland State (5-10-3, 4-1-1 BSC) back to the top of Big Sky standings, but also marked the culmination of their impressive late-season turnaround spearheaded by an offensive awakening.
Deadlocked in a battle for the top spot in the Big Sky rankings, the women’s soccer team suffered their first conference setback on Thursday in a 2-0 road defeat to Weber State (7-7-2, 4-1-0 Big Sky). Not only did the loss blemish the Vikings'(4-10-3, 3-1-1 BSC undefeated conference record, but the Wildcats’ victory supplanted the Vikings as the top team in the Big Sky.
With a pair of decisive wins this weekend against conference rivals Montana and Eastern Washington, the Vikings seem to be proving that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. After a dreadful nonconference season in which their opponents outscored the Vikings (4-9-3, 3-0-1) 26-7, the team carried an auspicious conference record of 1-0-1 into Friday’s match against Montana (5-9-1, 2-2 BSC).
Prior to last weekend, the 2008 season looked to be anything but a success for the women’s soccer team. Nursing a 1-9-2 record headed into the conference opener last weekend, the Vikings seemed to have taken an enormous step back from their performance one year earlier, in which they were undefeated at home and finished with an overall record of 7-9-2. Those results were good enough for the squad’s first Big Sky Tournament invitation since 2004.
Entering this weekend’s two Big Sky Conference matches against Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona, the Vikings found themselves with the rare opportunity to wipe the slate clean. “Big Sky play is a whole different story,” said head coach Laura Schott, who said she encouraged her players to look beyond their disappointing nonconference record (1-9-2) and bring a fresh, positive attitude into their final stretch of the season. It seems Schott’s encouragement did not fall on deaf ears.