Soccer goes 1-1 over the weekend
The Portland State women’s soccer team played two challenging games this weekend. First, on Friday, the Vikings traveled to Eugene to take on the University of Oregon, beating the Ducks 3-1. Then on Sunday, the Vikings were back home to host the visiting University of New Mexico. In a defensive contest, the Lobos pulled out a 2-0 victory at PGE Park.
The start of a grueling two-game stretch began on Friday night against U of O. The Ducks jumped out to an early lead by scoring in the 29th minute of the first half. U of O midfielder Carlie Ashcraft scored off an assist from fellow midfielder Cristan Higa. However, not three minutes later, defender Karly Larsen took matters into her own hands by scoring an unassisted goal for the Vikings. At halftime, the score was locked up at 1-1.
In the second half, it was more of the Vikings attacking on offense. The 59th minute of the second half highlighted not one but two goals from Portland State. First, Jessica Shadle scored unassisted, then about 30 seconds later, Carly Sawhill set up freshmen forward Megan Plinski for a commanding 3-1 lead. After that, the defense did the rest of the work, not allowing the Ducks to strike and concluding the game 3-1.
“We came into it knowing it was going to be a hard game, and we walked away knowing that if we worked hard and together we could beat any team,” said senior Becky Blum.
On Sunday, New Mexico came into PGE Park with ideas of spoiling the longest winning streak in soccer history at Portland State (4). The first half displayed mostly defense from both sides. At halftime, the score remained 0-0.
“They wanted it more than we did today, and it shows in the result,” Bilanski-Erickson said.
Not long into the second half, the first goal of the match came from New Mexico freshman Nicole Pitcock. Pitcock was put in to start the second half and made her presence felt as she scored at 47:21 in the half. The second goal came when Rachael Addison scored off a corner kick from teammate Erchen Theys at the 58:19 mark. With that goal, the Lobos went up 2-0 and never looked back. For the remainder of the half, both defenses held strong, not letting any more goals slip by. Portland State had three shots on target but were stopped by New Mexico goalkeeper Kristin Winters each time. The Lobos attempted four shots on target and were stopped twice by Vikings goalkeeper Joell Giger. New Mexico gathered 19 fouls and two yellow cards to Portland State’s 15 fouls.
“We missed opportunities we had today. We’re just going to put this game behind us and look forward to conference,” Blum said of the second game.
This was the last match for the Vikings before league play, which begins Sunday, Oct. 13. at PGE Park, where the Vikings play Sacramento State at 1 p.m.
