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CHENEY, Wash. — All sophomore forward Regan Russell does is score big goals.
 
Russell scored the Vikings' first-ever goal against national powerhouse University of Portland in the team's first match of the year, and Wednesday, Russell scored the game-winning goal in the Vikings' 1-0 win over Northern Arizona in the Big Sky quarterfinals.
 
The Vikings entered Wednesday with just a 2-8-3 all-time record at the Big Sky tournament, and hadn't won a match at the conference tournament since 2013. Additionally, the Lumberjacks (9-10-1) had eliminated the Vikings (9-9-1) from the Big Sky tournament three times before Wednesday, and had never lost to the Vikings in the tournament.
 
That scar tissue didn't matter to the Vikings Wednesday, however, as they picked up their third-ever win in the tournament behind Russell's goal and the sixth shutout of the season for goalkeeper Abbie Faingold and the Viking defense.
 
"This was the best all-around team performance of our season," head coach Katie Burton said after the match. "The team defense was key to this win. We won the aerial battle, which allowed us to get the ball on the ground and play our style of play. I couldn't be more proud of these girls."
 
Russell scored the lone goal of the match in the 70th minute, giving the Vikings the crucial lead late in what had been a close match. The teams combined for only 15 shots in the match, two less than the 17 combined shots they had in their match during the regular season, which had been a season-low for the Vikings.
 
Freshman Mya Lopez started the play that led to Russell's goal, as she sent a corner into senior Katie Forsee at the top of the box. Forsee was just able to get a head on it and send it over to freshman Rilee Castilla, who took one touch to control the ball before sending a cross to Russell on the back post. Russell hammered Castilla's cross in from point-blank range, only a minute after she had subbed into the match for the first time in the 69th minute.
 
"Rilee did a tremendous job of keeping the ball alive for us on the goal," Burton said. "The team framed the play like we've been working on, and Regan had a great finish."
 
The Viking defense took over after Russell's goal, and did not allow NAU a single shot on goal after the Vikings went up 1-0.
 
"Our back line executed everything we discussed yesterday during film and today during pregame," Burton said of her defense. "NAU likes to flick to their quick forwards and the back line was excellent at anticipating, stepping in front and winning the foot race to the ball."
 
Faingold came up big for the Viking defense late in the first half, when she made all three of her saves in the match.
 
NAU nearly sent a free kick from midfield into the net in the 38th minute, but Faingold was just able to tap the bouncing ball over the crossbar for a corner.
 
Faingold came up big again in the 43rd minute, when NAU's Amber Measley fired a dangerous low shot through a crowd from outside the box. Measley's ball skipped off the ground low in front of Faingold, but Faingold smothered the ball even as she wasn't able to catch it cleanly for the save.
 
The Vikings will now play top-seeded and tournament-host Eastern Washington in the Big Sky semifinals Friday at 1:05 p.m. (PT). The Eagles won the Big Sky regular-season title with an 8-1-1 conference mark that included a 3-0 win over the Vikings in Cheney, Wash., on Oct. 13. Only one top-seeded team has won the Big Sky tournament in the past nine seasons, however, and the Vikings will be looking to make it one out of 10 with a win over the Eagles Friday.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improve to 7-13-5 all time against Northern Arizona with their win Wednesday…The Vikings improved to 3-8-3 all time in the Big Sky tournament…Redshirt senior Kristin Moyer broke the Portland State career record for minutes played in the match, and now leads with 6,303 minutes played in her career…Moyer also moved into a tie for sixth all time with her 70th career start…Faingold moved up to fourth all time in career saves with her 155th in the match…Faingold also moved up to fifth all time in shutouts with her 11th Wednesday.