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HILLSBORO, Ore.— That'll do the heart good.
 
A week after dropping two tough matches on the road, the Portland State women's soccer team broke out offensively Friday as junior midfielder/forward Aurora Bodenhamer recorded her second brace of the season and assisted on another goal to lead the Vikings to a 4-1 win over Idaho State at Hillsboro Stadium.
 
The four goals are the most by the Vikings since the team beat Cal State Bakersfield 4-0 on Sept. 7, 2013, as well as the most the Vikings have scored in a Big Sky match since the team beat Eastern Washington 4-0 on Sept. 30, 2012. The Vikings' seven assists Friday also tied a school record, which hadn't been matched since Sept. 22, 2002, when the Vikings also had seven assists against Central Washington.
 
Additionally, Bodenhamer's five points in the match are the most by a Viking since Eryn Brown had eight points on three goals and two assists in the Vikings' 7-0 win over New Mexico State on Sept. 1, 2013.
 
"Our team is capable of capitalizing like this," PSU head coach Laura Schott said after the match. "We've had a lot of adversity to overcome and I'm glad our players earned the win today by staying resilient and doing work. It was fun to watch."
 
The win catapults the Vikings (4-9-0, 2-3-0 Big Sky) up the Big Sky standings, as they temporarily move up to sixth with six points in conference play after Friday's win.
 
Bodenhamer got the Vikings going in the 19th minute, when she headed in a corner off passes from junior midfielder Bianca Munoz and sophomore midfielder Katie Forsee. Munoz served in the corner to the back post, where Forsee flicked the ball back in front of goal to Bodenhamer, who sent her header to the right of the Bengals' goalkeeper to the put the Vikings up 1-0.
 
The Vikings kept the pressure up after Bodenhamer's goal, but the Bengals remained within a goal until Bodenhamer and freshman forward Morgan Matthews combined for a pair of goals within a minute of one another that put the Vikings well in control at the end of the first half. Bodenhamer scored the first of the two in the 42nd minute thanks to a nice crossing pass from Matthews, who fed Bodenhamer perfectly up the right seam. Bodenhamer took one touch but held up just outside the box while the Idaho State defender kept running, freeing her for a 20-yard shot that tucked just inside the left post for her second goal of the match.
 
Now up 2-0, it was then Bodenhamer's turn to feed Matthews, which she did with a beautiful long pass across the ground and through several Idaho State defenders to Matthews, who was running up the left seam. Bodenhamer's pass fell right to the feet of Matthews, who had timed her run perfectly to give her a 1v1 with the Idaho State goalkeeper. Matthews waited for the Bengals' goalkeeper to commit and then slotted in a left-footed shot inside of the left post to put the Vikings up 3-0 in the 43rd minute, just 39 seconds after Bodenhamer's second goal.
 
Idaho State forward Maria Sanchez brought the Bengals back within two with a moment of individual brilliance in the 54th minute, but the Vikings bounced right back with their fourth goal of the match just over two minutes later. Forsee started the play with a long ball up the field that junior midfielder Whitney Hilde and senior midfielder/forward Cori Bianchini each flicked on to feed a charging Breanne Chilton-Eddy. Bianchini's flick left Chilton-Eddy with lots of room to run onto the ball up from the right post, which gave Chilton-Eddy enough time to place a shot to the left of Idaho State's goalkeeper that found the back of the net.
 
Chilton-Eddy's goal marked the first career score for the redshirt sophomore, while Matthews' goal counted as her first career goal as a Viking as well.
 
Bodenhamer, meanwhile, recorded her second brace of the young conference season, as she also scored two goals in the Vikings' 2-1 win over Southern Utah. Additionally, Bodenhamer's second goal temporarily moved her into a tie for the Big Sky lead for goals scored in conference play, but Sanchez broke that tie with her fifth goal of the conference season later in the match.
 
The Vikings will now hope to continue their offensive outburst in their next match, as they face a difficult turnaround with a road match against Weber State in Ogden, Utah, at 12 p.m. (MT) Sunday.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improve to 10-8-1 all-time against Idaho State with Friday's win, and have now won nine of the last 10 matches in the series…The Vikings take the lead in the all-time series against Idaho State at home, however, as they move to 5-4-1 against the Bengals on their home turf…The Vikings are also now 4-2-0 at home, where they have scored all nine of their goals this season.