Complete Match Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Fearless. Proud. And incredibly excited. The Portland State women's soccer opens its season Friday, as the Vikings host the CSUN Matadors at 1 p.m. (PT) at Hillsboro Stadium.
 
The match will be the Vikings' first chance to prove head coach Laura Schott's optimism has merit. Schott said before the season that her team's goal, as always, will be to win a Big Sky championship, even as the Vikings come off an injury-plagued 2015 campaign that saw them go 5-13-0 overall and 3-7-0 in the Big Sky.
 
CSUN will be a good opening test for the Vikings' young roster, which will feature 18 underclassmen among the team's 26 players for the second straight season.
 
The Matadors beat the Vikings, 3-0, in Northridge last season as part of a 5-1-0 start to their 2015 season.
 
Offense was a strong point for the Matadors in 2015, as they scored 33 goals, the most in a season for the Matadors in 10 years. The Matadors return their top two scorers from last season in junior forward Cynthia Sanchez and senior midfielder Kourtney Kutscher. Sanchez and Kutscher combined to score 17 of the team's 33 goals in 2015, while Kutscher was named to the All-Big West first team.
 
The Matadors also return 2014 All-Big West first-team selection Taylor Hobson to their attack, after Hobson missed the entirety of 2015 due to injury.
 
Defensively, the Matadors will have two players competing for the starting goalkeeper position in Jovani McCaskill and Jenna Koziol. McCaskill started the Matadors' first three matches of 2015 – including the team's match against the Vikings – but then missed the remainder of the season due to injury. Koziol, meanwhile, will be a newcomer for the Matadors in 2016 after transferring from Pierce College.
 
The Vikings are also in search of a starting goalkeeper, and will start the season splitting time between two keepers in redshirt sophomore Abbie Faingold and redshirt freshman Ashton Blanksma. Neither Faingold nor Blanksma has started a match in their Viking careers, but that will no long be true for one of the two come Friday.
 
The match against the Matadors will also be the Vikings' first chance to find answers to the attacking woes that plagued the Vikings last season. The Vikings only scored 13 goals in 2015, the lowest total of any Viking team under Schott. Senior midfielder/forward Aurora Bodenhamer was a bright spot last season, however, as she scored five of the team's 13 goals, all in Big Sky play. Schott said before the season that she expects many of the team's young players to help Bodenhamer in the attack this season.
 
All will remain conjecture, however, until the team gets going on Friday.
 
MATCH INFO:
Aug. 19, 2016 – 1 p.m. – vs. CSUN – Hillsboro, Ore. (Hillsboro Stadium)
 
LIVE VIDEO:
A live video stream will be available for the match. Fans can access the live video via the women's soccer schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
LIVE STATS:
Live stats will be available for the match. Fans can access live stats via the women's soccer schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
SCOUTING CSUN:
• The CSUN Matadors (0-0-0) will open their 2016 season against the Vikings on Friday, after going 11-8-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the Big West Conference in 2015. The Matadors' 2015 win total included a 3-0 win over the Vikings on Aug. 23.
• CSUN scored 33 goals in 2015, the most goals for the program in 10 seasons
• The Matadors return their top two scorers from 2015 in junior forward Cynthia Sanchez and senior midfielder Kourtney Kutscher. Those two combined to score 17 of the team's 33 goals in 2015, while Kutscher was named to the All-Big West first team. The Matadors also return 2014 All-Big West first-team selection Taylor Hobson, who missed all of 2015 with an injury.
• CSUN shut out seven of their 20 opponents last season, and only allowed multiple goals in six matches
• Jovani McCaskill started the season in goal for the Matadors (and played against the Vikings), but her season ended after only three starts due to an injury. She will compete with Jenna Koziol – a transfer from Pierce College – for the starting spot in 2016.
• The Matadors return three of their four back-line starters from 2015 in seniors Nicole Thompson and Briana Geffre, and redshirt sophomore Lindsay Kutscher, who was named to the Big West All-Freshman team.
• The Matadors started 2015 5-1-0, including their win over Portland State, but finished the season 6-7-1 after injuries started to mount up.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS CSUN:
The Vikings trail CSUN, 1-4-0, in the all-time series between the two teams. The Vikings and Matadors played their first match against each other in 15 years last season, when the Matadors beat the Vikings 3-0 on their home field. Before that, the Vikings and Matadors were both Big Sky Conference members from 1997-2000 and played four matches against each other over that time. The Vikings won the opening match, 3-2, in overtime in 1997, but then lost the next three.
 
UPCOMING:
The Vikings head across the river to face the cross-town rival Portland Pilots on the Pilots' Merlo Field next Friday, Aug. 26, at 5 p.m. (PT). The match will be the first regular-season meeting between the cross-town rivals since 2010.
 
IRON WOMEN:
Usain Bolt spends more time on the track – which isn't much – than Kristin Moyer and Katie Forsee spent on the bench last season. Moyer did not miss a single minute of any match during the season, and Forsee only missed 45 total minutes. Moyer saw all of her time on the back line, but Forsee saw time at every position on the field, except goalkeeper. Forsee was named an All-Big Sky honorable mention after the season for her efforts, while Moyer was a second-team All-Big Sky selection in 2013.
 
TOUGH ROAD SCHEDULE:
The Vikings face a tough road schedule in 2016, as they play four of their five Big Sky road matches at 4,000 feet of elevation or above. The Vikings will open Big Sky play on their toughest road trip of the season, playing at Northern Arizona (7,000 feet above sea level) and Southern Utah (5,000 fee above sea level) within 36 hours. The Vikings will also travel more than 3,500 miles as they play at Northern Colorado and North Dakota on Oct. 14 and 16, respectively.
 
BY THE HAMMER OF BODEN:
Senior midfielder/forward Aurora Bodenhamer returns to the Vikings after leading the team with five goals scored last season. Bodenhamer's five goals all came in Big Sky play, and ranked one off the single-season record for conference goals by a Viking. Bodenhamer scored two goals in two different matches last season, including both goals in the Vikings' 2-1, overtime win over Southern Utah. Bodenhamer was named an All-Big Sky honorable mention after the season, the first all-conference honor of her career.
 
YOUTH MOVEMENT:
The Vikings brought in 10 true freshmen during the offseason, and added a transfer from South Carolina in sophomore forward/midfielder Jacky Huchler. The Vikings will rely on their young players frequently during the season, as freshmen or sophomores make up 18 of the team's 26-player roster. Additionally, all four of the Vikings' goalkeepers are freshmen or sophomores, and none of them have ever started a match for the Vikings. Redshirt sophomore Abbie Faingold is the only goalkeeper to have seen action for the Vikings, as she made her Portland State debut last season while playing the final 27:07 in the Vikings' match at Weber State.
 
2015 SEASON RECAP:
Injuries and inexperience led the Vikings to a disappointing 2015 campaign that saw their seven-year streak of making the Big Sky tournament snapped. The Vikings finished the season 5-13-0 overall and 3-7-0 in Big Sky play. Goal scoring was an issue all season, as the Vikings scored only 13 goals, the lowest total of any season under head coach Laura Schott. The Vikings also only shut out two opponents during the season, and had the highest goals-against average (1.65) of any Viking team under Schott.