BOX SCORE - PDF | HTML

GREELEY, Colo. — Road woes? What road woes?
 
The Portland State women's soccer team showed no signs of struggling on the road Friday, as the Vikings beat the defending Big Sky tournament champion Northern Colorado 1-0 on a 30th-minute goal from junior Katie Forsee.
 
The win snapped an eight-match road losing streak for the Vikings (4-10-1, 2-4-1 Big Sky) in conference play, and marked the Vikings' first win over the Bears (8-6-1, 3-3-0 Big Sky) in Greeley since 2008.
 
Additionally, the win kept alive the Vikings' hopes of making the Big Sky tournament, as the Vikings moved just two points out of the top six in the Big Sky after Friday. The Vikings could further their case with another road win over last-place North Dakota Sunday, which will be the Vikings' last road match of the season before closing the regular season with two home matches against Weber State and Sacramento State.
 
"Katie had a first-class goal today, and many of our players played well in the win," head coach Laura Schott said after the match.
 
Schott did not overstate the quality of Forsee's goal, which was her second game-winning goal of the season for the Vikings. Forsee chested down a pass from redshirt junior Breanne Chilton-Eddy on the play, and then beat a UNC defender to the long ricochet in the box. UNC goalkeeper Madeline Burdick came out on the play, as well, allowing Forsee to chip a shot over Burdick's head for the goal.
 
With the goal, Forsee tied senior Aurora Bodenhamer for the team lead in goals with her fourth of the season, and took over the team lead in points from Bodenhamer with 10 on four goals and two assists.
 
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Abbie Faingold followed Forsee's goal with three outstanding saves in the second half to preserve the Vikings' lead. The first save came in the 60th minute, when the Bears' Brooke Braden fired a bending shot from outside the right post, forcing Faingold to make a diving punch to deflect the ball around the left post.
 
Faingold then made two saves off a corner in 70th minute, first saving a quick shot on the back post from the Bears' Paige Morris, and then making a diving catch on the rebound shot from the Bears' Kassy Castillo.
 
Faingold finished the match with her fifth shutout of the season, tying her for the seventh-best single-season total in program history. Faingold's five shutouts also rank her tied for seventh all-time in career shutouts, and Faingold is still in her first year as a starter.
 
The Vikings will now hope to double down on their road success this weekend when they play at North Dakota on Sunday.
 
The Vikings will face a quick turnaround before that match, as the Vikings and Fighting Hawks kick off at 11 a.m. (CT) Sunday, just over 36 hours after the Vikings ended their match against the Bears.
 
"This road trip is tough, but our players are excited to play. The turn around is always a challenge, but we will focus on what we can control and do our best to earn three points," Schott said of the challenges of the trip.
 
The Vikings have only faced the Northern Colorado-North Dakota twice – once in 2012 and again in 2014 – and did not sweep their matches in either of those times. The Vikings beat the Fighting Hawks in both 2012 and 2014, however, and will carry a 4-0-0 all-time record against North Dakota into their match Sunday.
 
If the Vikings can pull out a fifth win against the Fighting Hawks, then it'll mark the first road conference sweep for the Vikings since 2013, and catapult them back into Big Sky tournament contention with two matches remaining in the regular season.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improve to 8-4-1 all-time against the Bears with Friday's win…The Vikings also improve to 4-2-1 all-time against the Bears on the road...Besides an historic conference road sweep, the Vikings will also be going for their first weekend sweep since 2014.