MISSOULA, Mont. – The Portland State women's soccer team played well against the Big Sky Conference leader Montana for a majority of the match, but the Grizzlies capitalized with three goals in a three-minute period before defeating the Vikings 4-0 on Sunday.
The loss drops the Vikings to 4-12-0 overall on the season and 3-4-0 in the Big Sky. For Montana, the Grizzlies remain on the top of the standings with an overall record of 6-5-5 and 5-0-2 in the BSC.
Both teams played a very tight first half as Montana finished with nine shots and Portland State managed four attempts with neither team finding a goal in the opening period.
The Vikings pressured Montana early as
Sienna Higinbotham sent a shot to the bottom right corner of the net, ending in a save in the sixth minute of play.
Enya Hernandez kept Portland State even with the Grizzlies in the first half, tallying three of her six saves in the period.
After starting the second half in a scoreless time, Montana broke open the scoring in the 54
th minute before adding two more goals in just over three minutes to take a commanding 3-0 advantage.
Higinbotham led the Vikings with two shots, one landing on goal while
Chloe Huling,
Paige Donathan,
Sofi Papastamos,
Natalia Blanco, and
Rilee Castilla all managed one shot in the contest.
Montana would eventually add one more to their total after Hernandez initially saves a long shot before the Grizzlies sent it back into the net.
The Vikings return to Hillsboro Stadium for the final weekend of regular-season play as they host Eastern Washington on Friday, Oct. 25 before facing Idaho on senior day on Sunday, Oct. 27.
