Earlier this month the reigning Big Sky Conference’s regular season soccer champion Portland State wrapped up spring activities with a win over Western Oregon in the final scrimmage of the spring offseason.
“Spring went really well,” said head coach and Big Sky Coach of the Year Laura Schott in a statement released by the school. “We got a lot of players time that didn’t get a ton of time in the fall. We tried players in a bunch of different positions they hadn’t played before. Everyone played and a lot of players stepped up at different times throughout the spring.”
The team played through spring without last season’s starting defenders, junior Toni Carnovole and senior Emily Rohde. Midfielders Esty Geiger and Michelle Hlasnik had to fill in the roles at the wide back positions.
“The defensive line has seen a lot of change this spring with injuries, graduation, etc.,” Schott said. “It’s been good to see players step into those positions and perform. The majority of what I’ve seen from those players has been very positive.”
Over the course of the four spring scrimmages, the Viks appeared to have difficulty regaining some of the goal-scoring touch they possessed last fall. The Viks scored two goals while allowing eight. Both of PSU’s spring goals came from sophomore forward Megan Martin, who appeared in all 20 games and started five games last season. Martin scored two goals in 2009, both of which were game-winners.
“We need to get used to our formation we’re going to be playing in the fall, being more adaptable and becoming more consistent scorers,” Schott said. “Our defense, for the most part, played well and I saw a lot of good things there, especially from a back line and a goalkeeper who have not played a whole lot together.”
Last season’s team captains, Big Sky Defensive MVP Cris Lewis and defensive midfielder Nathalie Wollmann, played their last games for the Vikings last season. Senior Rachel Jarvis and sophomore Kenisha Macklin shared the goalkeeping responsibility in the spring, each looking to fill the impressive cleats left empty by the departing Lewis. In her final season with PSU, Lewis started every game and became the school’s all-time leader in saves, shutouts and wins and set the single-season record for shutouts, with eight.
At the offensive end, the Vikings sorely missed the goal-scoring prowess of the last season’s Golden Boot Award winner and Offensive MVP Dolly Enneking. Even with senior Frankie Ross, the 2008 Golden Boot winner playing on the right wing, the Viks didn’t appear to have the same spark they had in front of the goal last season. Martin showed promise, as did sophomore Amanda Dutra, who had a steady presence on the team’s offense since last season and contributed an assist against Western Oregon.
“We have been getting better as the spring season continues but we have to work on finishing the chances we create,” said junior Amanda Howie, who has taken over marshalling the midfield.
Schott addressed the year to come with optimism.
“We need some leaders to emerge—players who are willing to step up when it’s crunch time,” she said. “But I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that, I just think it will take some time. There are a lot of positives heading into the fall because the team will be so talented.”
There are currently nine upper-classmen, including three seniors, on the Vikings roster, and eight new freshmen are signed up to play next year.
“I’m looking forward to seeing which players come back very motivated and set themselves apart from the group, since we will have a very large team. I think it will be a very good situation for us because it will be very competitive and players will have to rise to the occasion and I’m really looking forward to that.
“The freshman class coming in is very good. But the players returning were part of a team that won the Big Sky regular season, so they have a lot of experience under their belts even though they are very young.”
The Vikings open their fall campaign—and their bid to be the first back-to-back Big Sky Champions since Montana in 1999—with practices beginning Aug. 4.