Box Score
HILLSBORO, Ore.-  Despite outshooting its opponent 16-6, the Portland State women's soccer team couldn't find its scoring touch as the Saint Mary's College Gaels (1-0-0) defeated the Vikings, 2-0, at Hillsboro Stadium on Friday afternoon. With the loss PSU drops to 0-1-0 on the season.

"We did a lot of things well today," head coach Laura Schott said. "We did two specific things that hurt us however. We were not aggressive and accurate on goal in the final third and we slowed the tempo down when we should have been speeding it up." 

The Viks looked strong early in the first half as it appeared that freshman Cori Bianchini had found senior Megan Martin, who came flying up the middle, for the game's first goal in the early moments, but an offside call negated the marker. Saint Mary's College was the first to find the back of the net as Katy Roby connected with Noria Mitchell on a long pass and sent the forward in on goal. Mitchell broke free of her defender and buried a shot to put the Gaels up 1-0 in the 24th minute of play. Saint Mary's struck again soon after, as a foul by PSU gave Melinda Madden a free kick from 20 yards out. Madden's shot cleared the wall of Viking defenders, fooled the goalkeeper Lainey Hulsizer, and gave the Gaels a 2-0 lead in the 29th minute of play. Portland State came close to scoring on a number of opportunities in the first half, but the stanza ended with Saint Mary's College up 2-0. PSU outshot the Gaels 7-4 and held the advantage in corner kicks, 2-0.

In the second half the story was a similar one for the Viks as they had some great chances but the team was unable to capitalize. As the final horn sounded, it was Saint Mary's College that proved victorious on the day, prevailing with a 2-0 victory.

All told, the Vikings fired 16 shots at the Gaels netminder but none of them found the back of the mesh. Portland State took four corner kicks to Saint Mary's one. Hulsizer played the entire match, was credited for one save with two goals against and falls to 0-1-0 on the year. Meanwhole Kate Brenot tallied seven saves while earning the shutout and improved to 1-0-0.

Senior Amanda Howie led the team in shots with four, while Martin had several good opportunities and led the team with two shots on goal.

"We have a lot of young players and this should help them grow," Schott said. "There were a lot of positives we identified in the locker room as a group and I'm looking forward to the upcoming games."

PSU will be back in action next Friday, Aug. 24 in Beaverton, Ore., to take on Oregon State and then play the University of Oregon at Hillsboro Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 26. The  matches are slated for noon and 1 p.m., respectively.

Game Notes: Saint Mary's College remains undefeated against the Vikings holding a 3-0-0 advantage ... Two freshmen cracked the starting lineup in the season's first game as both freshman Torie Morris and Bianchini started the match for PSU.