EUGENE, Ore. — The Portland State Vikings dropped their season opener Friday, losing 3-0 to Oregon in front of 821 fans at Pape Field.
 
Oregon (1-0-0) scored two goals in an eight-minute stretch in the second half to open up what had been a tight match to that point.
 
Portland State (0-1-0) held Oregon off for the first 43 minutes of the match, even as the Ducks built an early shot advantage. The Ducks broke through one minute, 43 seconds before halftime, however, as forward ShayLee Miner squeezed a ball through the PSU defense on a corner from midfielder Lilly Archer.
 
The Ducks added to their advantage with a strong stretch of play near the start of the second half, producing two goals in less than eight minutes of play. Forward Brooke Strawn scored the Ducks' second goal of the match, as she headed in a cross to the far post from forward Bri Pugh in the 62nd minute.
 
The Ducks' Maryn Beutler then punctuated the Ducks' scoring with a deep shot from 30 yards out in the 70th minute that just tucked in the upper right corner of the goal.

Oregon's two goals overshadowed an aggressive start ot the second half from the Vikings, which produced a couple of chances at a goal in the 49th minute. Junior defender Melissa Bishop sent a shot off the crossbar to start the threat for PSU, while junior midfielder Ariana Cooley followed up with a short that just skirted wide left of the post.
 
Despite the score, the Vikings' showed strong stretches of play in the match, particularly from the team's large group of young players. Thirteen of the Viks' 17 active underclassmen played in the match, including seven of the team's nine freshmen.
 
"Obviously we want to win and we didn't do that today unfortunately, but I really liked the young players that came on at the end," PSU head coach Laura Schott said. "They showed a lot of fight and a lot of upside. We'll grow from this, we'll get better, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year."
 
Three of the Vikings' underclassmen earned their first career starts in the match in sophomore goalkeeper Angela Haluska, freshman midfielder Abbey Bergquist and freshman defender Kristin Moyer. Haluska finished with four saves in the match, which was also her first appearance ever for the Vikings.
 
The Vikings return to action Sunday, Aug. 25, as they host No. 14 Marquette in their home opener at Hillsboro Stadium. Kickoff for the match is 10 a.m.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings drop to 3-9-1 in the all-time series against Oregon…Coach Schott drops to 0-4-0 against Oregon since she became head coach before the 2008 season…Schott also drops to 1-11-0 all-time against Pac-12 schools…Forward Kayla Henningsen made her 20th straight start in the match, and has now started 35 of the 38 PSU matches in her career.