When someone mentions high school basketball in the state of Oregon, the first name that comes to mind is Kevin Love, the freshmen phenom from Lake Oswego who now leads the No. 2 UCLA Bruins. Second to mind is Kyle Singler, a freshman forward from South Medford who starts for No. 13 Duke.
The second year of the Jerry Glanville era should be better than the first, but improving on this season’s 3-8 finish will not be a breeze.
When it comes to winning and losing, nothing matters more than the score when time expires. For the Vikings this weekend, they did their best to instill that lesson into two teams from the Midwest, relying on solid play and late-game heroics to reach the championship game of the BP Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska.
A week ago, the Vikings faced one of the best teams in the country in No. 2 UCLA. This weekend they play three games in three nights in one of the northernmost cities in the world: Fairbanks, Alaska.
The season ended Friday for Portland State soccer with a 2-1 loss to regular-season and Big Sky tournament champion Sacramento State. The defeat marks the second-consecutive season that has closed with a loss to the Hornets, who have a four-match winning streak over Portland State. Although the Vikings were disappointed, the progress made and experience gained in 2007 should make the 2008 squad one of the Big Sky’s most dangerous.
After finishing last season with a school-record 19 wins under third-year head coach Ken Bone, the Vikings find themselves preparing to make a run at the Big Sky title and a birth in the NCAA Tournament.
For the second season in a row, the race for the Big Sky regular-season title came down to a match between Portland State and Sacramento State, and with a 1-0 victory Friday the Hornets once again came out on top.
This is exactly when the future starts to get blurry for Portland State soccer.
After a 3-0 loss Friday at Northern Arizona, the Vikings broke out of their mini-scoring slump in the second half at PGE Park Sunday, posting a 1-0 victory over Northern Colorado. With the victory, Portland State clinched its first post-season birth under third-year head coach Tim Bennett.
This weekend is a time of celebration for Portland State soccer. Sunday’s match will mark the final appearance for Juli Edwards at PGE Park in a Portland State uniform. The senior defender is nearing the end of one of the most decorated careers in Viking soccer history.
Temperatures may be dropping across the Big Sky, but for the Portland State soccer team, the race for a championship and a spot in the Big Sky Tournament is just beginning to heat up.