PORTLAND – With playoff hopes still alive, the Portland State women's soccer team made it a little more difficult as the Vikings dropped a 4-1 contest against Eastern Washington at Hillsboro Stadium on Friday.
The loss marks the fourth straight for Portland State who moves to 4-13-0 overall and 3-5 in Big Sky Conference matches. Eastern Washington improves to 9-5-1 overall and 6-0-1 in BSC as they continue to push for a conference title.
The Eagles opened the scoring early in the first half as McKaley Goffard sent a deep shot straight on goal that fell just under the crossbar and into the net.
Portland State answered quickly, adding a goal of their own as
Sofi Papastamos took a free-kick from outside the box, finding the head of
Natalia Blanco who headed it back the keeper for her first goal as a Viking.
Despite being even in shots at 9-9 in the first half, Eastern Washington tallied two more goals, one in the 26
th minute and one in the 40
th minute to take a 3-1 advantage into halftime.
The Eagles poured on the pressure in the second half while controlling most of the match. They finished with 22 total shots, 15 of them on target, while holding the Vikings to zero shot attempts in the second period.
Enya Hernandez tallied a career-high 11 saves, reaching double-digits for the first time this season. Blanco led the Vikings with four shots in her first start of the season while Tea Poore finished with three shots, two on goal.
Holding the sixth spot in the Big Sky standings heading into the match, the Vikings will now wait and see the result of several matches around the league before determining what it will take to advance to the conference tournament.
The Vikings return to Hillsboro Stadium for senior day and the final match of the regular season as they host Idaho with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.
