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GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The Portland State women's soccer team went from road woes to road warriors in one weekend, as the Vikings followed a 1-0 win over Northern Colorado late Friday with another 1-0 win over North Dakota Sunday to complete their first six-point conference road weekend since 2013, and reenergize the Vikings' push for a spot at the Big Sky tournament.
 
The weekend sweep moved the Vikings (5-10-1, 3-4-1 Big Sky) temporarily into a tie for fourth place in the Big Sky standings before the conclusion of the later matches Sunday. Additionally, the Vikings will finish their season at home against two teams also chasing playoff berths in Weber State and Sacramento State, giving the Vikings a couple of chances to pick up points against teams they'll be trying to beat out for a spot in the tournament.
 
The fact that the Vikings catapulted themselves up the standings on a road weekend may have caught some people by surprise, considering the Vikings came into the weekend with a 1-7-0 road record this season, and hadn't won any Big Sky match on the road since 2014.
 
The Vikings snapped an eight-match conference road losing streak with their win over Northern Colorado Friday, however, and then completed the six-point weekend with their win over North Dakota (2-11-2, 1-6-0 Big Sky).
 
The Vikings hadn't earned six points in a conference road weekend since 2013, when the Vikings won back-to-back matches at Weber State and Idaho State on Oct. 17 and 19, respectively. The Vikings hadn't ever earned six points on any road trip to Northern Colorado and North Dakota, either, a trip that forces the Vikings to travel more than 3,500 miles and play two matches in just over 36 hours.
 
"Six points on a road trip such as this one is big," PSU head coach Laura Schott said after the match. "The Sunday games are tough and made harder on the road, but the team weathered the storm to earn a shut out today.
 
"This weekend is a demonstration of the growing resiliency of our team and our leaders. That UND team was tough. They fought till the end."
 
Junior Katie Forsee scored the game-winning goal for the Vikings against the Fighting Hawks, two days after she also scored the game-winner in the Vikings' 1-0 win over Northern Colorado.
 
Forsee's game-winner Sunday came in the 31st minute, as she headed in a free kick sent into the box from redshirt junior Kristin Moyer. Forsee finished the match with 12 shots overall – a single-match school record – and also tied her own single-match record for shots on goal in a conference match with six.
 
Forsee's back-to-back scores makes her the 34th player to score in back-to-back matches for the Vikings, as well as the second to do so this season, following Morgan Matthews, who scored in back-to-back matches in the Vikings' wins over Nevada and Colorado State on Sept. 11 and 16, respectively.
 
Forsee's two game-winning goals also gave her a team-high three game-winners this season, tying her for the second-best single-season total by a Viking player in school history. Cori Bianchini, Forsee's former teammate, set the single-season record for game-winning goals with four in 2013, just one more than Forsee's current total.
 
Additionally, Forsee's team-high 12 points (5g, 2a) stand as the most by a Viking in a season since 2013, when Eryn Brown and Bianchini finished with 21 and 14 points, respectively.
 
The Viking defense, meanwhile, recorded their second straight shutout on the road Sunday, the first time the Vikings have shut out back-to-back conference opponents on the road since the Vikings shut out Eastern Washington and Montana on Oct. 4 and 6, 2013, respectively.
 
The Viking defense had struggled on the road this season before this weekend, as 27 of the team's 34 goals this season have come on the road. Additionally, the Vikings carried a 3.27 goals-against average as a team in road matches into the weekend, but lowered that average to 2.65 with their two shutouts on the road this weekend.
 
Goalkeepers Abbie Faingold and Ashton Blanskma combined for the shutout Sunday, as Faingold started the match but got subbed out in the 20th minute after suffering a knock. Blanskma took over from there – her first action since suffering an injury of her own in the Vikings' match at Gonzaga on Sept. 4 – and made four saves over the remainder of the match to preserve the shutout.
 
The Vikings will now hope to carry their momentum into their lone match next weekend, when the Vikings host Weber State on Oct. 23. The Vikings and Wildcats will kick off at 1 p.m. (PT) at Hillsboro Stadium.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improve to 5-0-0 all-time against North Dakota with Sunday's win…The Vikings also improved to 3-0-0 on the road North Dakota…The Vikings scored in their fifth straight match Sunday, their second five-match scoring streak of the season.