Soccer extends winless streak to five games

Portland State women’s soccer extended its winless streak to five games with a draw and a loss in the two games played over the weekend. The Vikings, now 4-7-1 on the season, will begin the defense of last season’s regular season title when league play opens in the coming week.

On Friday, after taking a one-goal lead over Utah Valley in the first half, the Viks allowed a late 84th-minute goal to tie the score at Hillsboro Stadium. As a result, the Viks had to leave the pitch content with a 1-1 draw against the Wolverines.

On Sunday, Seattle University outperformed and outscored Portland State in a 2-0 victory at the Redhawks’ Championship Field.

The reigning Big Sky Conference regular season champion Vikings kick off their 2010 conference campaign when they host Eastern Washington at Hillsboro Stadium on Friday, followed by the University of Montana on Sunday.

Going into Friday’s game, Utah Valley held a 3-7 record on the season and the Viks were 4-6. The two teams last met last season, when then-PSU senior Dolly Enneking made Portland State history by scoring both goals of the 2-0 win to become the Vikings’ record-holder for career goals.

PSU took the early advantage on Friday off an early gift from Utah Valley senior Lauren Bluth. While the Vikings attacked, Bluth and Wolverines senior goalkeeper Hailey Brown both went for the ball about eight feet out from the net; a miscommunication led to Bluth inadvertently heading the ball into her own goal.

The teams played neck-and-neck throughout the remainder of the game, with Utah Valley pulling slightly ahead in shots (21 shots compared to 19 attempts from the Vikings). However, Portland State had five corner kick opportunities compared to three for the Wolverines.

In the 84th minute, Utah Valley senior Ashley Burdett drew the score level after firing a shot across Portland State goalkeeper Lainey Hulsizer’s goal. A junior with two starts this season, Hulsizer replaced senior keeper (and team co-captain) Rachel Jarvis in goal at halftime for the second consecutive game.

With a 1-1 stalemate at the end of regulation play, the game went into overtime. During the first period of overtime, PSU senior Emily Rohde had a shot denied by the Utah Valley crossbar. The left back’s shot bounced back on the turf, just inches from the goal line. During the dying seconds of the game, Hulsizer made some decisive saves against Utah Valley forward Haley Curtis to help the Viks hold on to a 1-1 tie.

Head coach Laura Schott, last season’s Big Sky Coach of the Year, was happy with the resilience her team displayed in the game.

“I thought we battled through some adversity and played extremely hard today,” Schott said in a statement released by the school. “I’m proud of their performance even though it didn’t result in a win.”

The Viks then left the comfort of home to take on Seattle University in Seattle on Sunday. Going into the game, the two teams had drawn five of six meetings between the schools and Seattle led the series with one win. The Redhawks (9-4-0) have been in red-hot form this season, and came into the match on a four-game winning streak—two of which were against Big Sky opponents.

The Vikings’ defense managed to keep the Redhawk’s offense at bay on Sunday, despite PSU being outshot 9-0 in the first half. Portland State earned three corner kicks during the period, compared to Seattle’s four, but were unable to make any of them count.

In the second half of play, Seattle senior Kara Kuttler broke the deadlock in the 59th minute. Kuttler took the shot from 15 yards off a pass from teammate Monique Escalera. The Redhawks then added insult to injury when freshman Ava Ames scored an insurance goal in the 89th minute to put the final score at 2-0.

Portland State next hosts conference opponents Eastern Washington at 5 p.m. on Friday and University of Montana at 1 p.m. on Sunday.