Soccer battles Central Washington and Oregon

Despite another winless weekend for the Portland State soccer (0-9-2), the team remains optimistic about the regular season which begins this week.

On Friday night, the Vikings were able to shut out Central Washington (2-11-1) yet had to settle for a tie, 0-0, after regulation and two overtime periods.

Portland State hoped to find its first win of the season, but even after two overtimes neither team could score. Portland State was clearly the more aggressive team on offense, launching 16 shots to Central Washington’s 11. The Vikings owned the edge on corner kicks (5-3) as well as shots on goal (9-2).

“There were a lot of missed opportunities, but we’re really still trying to put our offense together, our offense and defense is trying to learn how to work together to attack opposing defenses,” junior co-captain Rebecca Blum said.

The Vikings appeared to have scored in the first sudden death overtime, when the ball was booted at Wildcat goalkeeper Emily Barber. Although she was able to stop the ball, it looked as though she was inside the goal line, but the referee nullified the goal. That led to the eventual tie.

“Our coach is definitely doing a great job, we’re just still trying to build on this team being so young and adapting to a new system. Not to mention the harsh schedule that we were set with for the pre-season play,” Blum said.

On Sunday, the Vikings traveled south to Eugene to take on a red hot Ducks’ team. The Oregon (6-2-1) squad, off to its best start in school history, unleashed an astounding 39 shots, with 19 shots on goal, to win 4-2. Viking goalkeeper Gretchen Pietras recorded a career-high 15 saves, stopping more than 75 percent of shots taken on goal. The Vikings were only able to get off seven shots against the stingy Oregon defense. Portland State was able to strike in two shots in the second half against reserve goalie Domenique Lainez.

“We came to play, we just didn’t do what we needed to do until it was too late,” Blum said.

There were two goals scored by the Vikings during Sunday’s game, both recorded in the final 20 minutes of regulation. Amy Orr was able to get on the board with an assist from Lori Mansoor. Ten minutes later, Melanie Langley scored on an open net, the result of a broken play.

The Vikings open up league play Friday when they travel to Sacramento to take on the Sacramento State Hornets.