KICKOFF
The Portland State women's soccer team will open the 2026-27 calendar for the Vikings with a split home-away weekend against in-state powerhouse Oregon and UNLV. The Vikings host the Ducks at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hillsboro Stadium, before hitting the road to play UNLV in Las Vegas at 11 a.m. Sunday.
 
The Vikings head into their 2026 season on the back of a fourth-place finish a year ago. They return 16 letterwinners off that team, as well eight starters. That group includes leading scorer Ocean Rideout, who was granted a waiver for a fifth year of eligibility Tuesday morning.
 
The biggest names not on the list of returners are Kalo Iongi, an All-Big Sky First Team selection as a defender last season, and starting goalkeeper Natalie Cunningham. Iongi and Cunningham led a stout Portland State defense that allowed just five goals in eight conference matches. The Vikings ranked second in the Big Sky Conference with a 0.63 goals against average within league play.
 
Rideout's return helps bolster the Viking offense as she accounted for six of the team's 14 goals last season between four goals and two assists.
 
The Vikings still ranked last in the Big Sky with 0.82 goals per game a season ago, even with Rideout, but they should have more firepower around her this year. They return senior Elle Frazier after the three-year starter last season with a knee injury. Frazier ranks second to Rideout in career goals (8) and points (19), while she is the active career leader in matches started (51).
 
The program also brought in three transfers from Chicago State in senior midfielders Alexis Boyer and Renee Davis, as well as junior midfielder Gabby Flores. Davis and Flores represented the Cougars' top two point leaders last season. Davis recorded 10 points between four goals and two assists while Flores finished with nine behind three goals and three assists.
 
Aliayha Saldana – the 2024 Big Sky Freshman of the Year and an All-Big Sky honorable mention last season – also returns after tying Grace Sarabia for second on the team with two goals in 2025. Sarabia earned All-Big Sky second-team honors last season when she played all 90 minutes in 16 of the Vikings' 17 matches.
 
Both Oregon and UNLV brought in large numbers of newcomers. The Ducks have 18 new players on their team between 11 freshmen and seven transfers. The Rebels, meanwhile, have 21 newcomers on their 30-player roster between 11 transfers and 10 true freshmen.
 
Another newcomer for the Ducks has a long connection to the Portland State program. Laura Schott enters her first year as an assistant with the Ducks after previously spending nine years as the Vikings' head coach between 2008-16. Schott represents the Vikings' all-time wins leader with 73, having won regular-season titles in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
 
One of Schott's wins came over the Ducks in 2014. Goalkeeper Caitlin Plese saved a penalty kick in the 89th minute to keep the match level, while Tamia Hasan won it for the Vikings with a goal in the third minute of overtime.
 
That remains the Vikings' latest victory against the Ducks. With Schott back in a PSU-Oregon match, perhaps it's time for another.   
 
MATCH #1: PORTLAND STATE (0-0-0) vs. OREGON (0-0-0)
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
DETAILS: Thursday, Aug. 13, 7 p.m., Hillsboro, Ore. (Hillsboro Stadium)
SCOUTING OREGON:

• The Oregon Ducks will open their 2026 season against the Vikings this Thursday. They won an exhibition match, 2-1, over Idaho Saturday, giving them a win over one of the Vikings' Big Sky rivals.
• The Ducks head into the season – their second under head coach Tracy Joyner – picked to finish last in the 18-team Big Ten Conference. They're coming off a 3-10-5 overall record in their first year under Joyner, when they were also 1-6-4 in Big Ten play.
• The Ducks were a bit unlucky last season as 14 of their 18 matches were decided by a goal or less. They finished the year with a 2-1 upset of No. 8 Washington, which was the Huskies' only loss in Big Ten play.
• The Ducks improved defensively in 2025, allowing 12 fewer goals than the previous year. The 21 goals allowed in 2025 was the fifth fewest in program history and tied for the third fewest in the modern era (discounting the COVID-shortened season).
• Junior midfielder Carly Cormack, sophomore forward Ellie Felt and senior defender Laurent Kenny were all named Big Ten Players to Watch in the preseason. Kenny scored the game-winning goal with three minutes remaining in the Ducks' upset of the Huskies last season. She finished the year with three goals and an assist. Cormack led the Ducks with four goals and 10 points last season. Felt – the 2023 Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year for Sunset High School – enters her first season with the Ducks after playing her freshman season at Nebraska.
• The Ducks also added 2024 Oregon 6A State Player of the Year Paige Nakada as a transfer from San Francisco. Felt and Nakada are two of 18 newcomers for the Ducks between 11 freshmen and seven transfers.
• Another newcomer for the Ducks is assistant coach Laura Schott, who spent nine seasons as head coach at Portland State. Schott led the Vikings to Big Sky regular-season titles in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The 2013 team went 8-0-1 in Big Sky play, completing the program's first (and still only) unbeaten run through the conference. Schott is still the Vikings' all-time leader in coaching wins at Portland State with 73. She was 73-76-22 (.491) in her nine seasons with the Vikings.

SERIES NOTES:

• The Vikings are 4-13-1 all-time against the Ducks.
• The Vikings last beat the Ducks in 2014, beating them 1-0 in overtime at home. Portland State goalkeeper Caitlin Plese saved an 89th-minute penalty kick to keep the score tied, while Tamia Hasan won it for the Vikings with a 93rd-minute golden goal. Laura Schott – current assistant coach for the Ducks – was the Vikings' head coach at the time.
• The Ducks won the teams' latest meeting, a 2-0 decision in Eugene on Aug. 18, 2024.
• The Ducks have won 11 of their last 12 matches against the Vikings.

 
MATCH #2: PORTLAND STATE (0-0-0) vs. UNLV (0-0-0)
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO ($)
DETAILS: Saturday, Aug. 16, 11 a.m., Las Vegas, Nev. (Peter Johann Memorial Field)
SCOUTING UNLV:

• The Rebels enter their first year under new head coach Kacey Bingham. Bingham spent the past seven seasons as head coach at Western Oregon. The Vikings beat the Wolves three times during Bingham's tenure, winning 2-1 in 2021 and 2025, and 4-1 in 2022.
• Mountain West Conference coaches picked the UNLV Rebels to finish seventh in the 11-team league. The Rebels are coming off a 4-10-5 campaign in 2025. They went 2-4-4 in Mountain West play, finishing 11th in what was then a 13-team conference.
• Three UNLV players made the 2026 Mountain West Women's Soccer Watch List in Ana De Los Santos, Maddie Encinas and Sierah McCallum. All three are new transfers into the program. De Los Santos played her freshman season at Washington State, while Encinas and McCallum came most recently from Utah and Pacific (Calif.), respectively.
• The Rebels added 21 newcomers between 11 transfers and 10 true freshmen. That represents 70 percent of the team's 30-player roster. Riley Hodson, who played for the Vikings in 2024 and 2025, represents one of the Rebels' new transfers.
• The Rebels ranked ninth in the Mountain West with 1.11 goals per game last season. They also ranked sixth in assists (1.16) and eighth in points (3.37) per game.
• Defensively, the Rebels ranked seventh in the Mountain West with 4.58 saves per game in 2025.
• The Rebels lost their top seven scorers off last season. Additionally, all three goalkeepers who played for the Rebels last season are gone.

SERIES NOTES:

• The Vikings and Rebels are tied 1-1-1 in their three previous matches against each other. They drew their first match against each other, 0-0, in 2007. The Vikings won 1-0 in 2011, while the Rebels responded with a 5-0 victory in 2013. Both team's victories came on their home turf.
• The Vikings are 0-1-1 against the Rebels in Las Vegas.

 
FREE KICKS

• The Vikings were picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky Conference in the league's preseason coaches poll. The Vikings are coming off a 3-3-2 league record in 2025 when they were also 4-9-4 overall.
• The Vikings qualified for the Big Sky tournament for the fourth straight season in 2025 but fell 1-0 in the quarterfinals to Idaho.
• The Vikings returned seven started off last year's team, including All-Big Sky second-team selection Grace Sarabia and honorable mention Aliayha Saldana. Additionally, Elle Frazier – an All-Big Sky second-team selection in 2024 – returns to the active roster after missing last season with an injury.
• Head coach Maureen Whitney (Sacramento State, 2001) begins her third year as head coach. She has an 8-18-9 career record, 5-6-5 in Big Sky Conference matches. Whitney is in her 10th season overall with the Viking program.
• FROM THE WINDY CITY TO THE ROSE CITY: Senior midfielder Alexis Boyer, junior midfielder Gabby Flores and senior midfielder Renee Davis are all transfers from Chicago State. Davis and Flores were the Cougars' point leaders in 2025. Davis had four goals and two assists while Flores had three goals and three assists. Boyer, meanwhile, ranked fourth on the team with 1,417 minutes played over 19 total appearances and 18 starts.
• Three Vikings – sophomore midfielder McKenna Eggleston, sophomore defender Gianelly Gargurevich, and sophomore forward Claire Masters — are from Tigard, Oregon, where they played together at Tigard High School under head coach Scott Eggleston (McKenna's father).
• Portland State has 11 Oregonians on the roster, 10 of which are from the Portland metro area… in the era of the transfer portal, PSU has 11 players on the roster who competed at other four-year schools.
• THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND: The Vikings have two intra-conference transfers in Kendel Johnson (Montana) and Josie DeLine (Weber State). Johnson played in four matches as a freshman as Montana swept the Big Sky regular-season and tournament titles last season. DeLine, meanwhile, played two seasons for Weber State (2023-24) before transferring to the Vikings ahead of their 2025 season.
• The Big Sky Conference expands this season with the addition of Utah Tech and Southern Utah (despite the departure of Sacramento State). There are now nine conference matches (rather than eight). PSU will play four at home and five on the road… overall, the Vikings have 17 scheduled matches, with eight at home and nine on the road… among non-conference opponents, California Baptist, now a member of the Big West Conference, won the Western Athletic Conference last season and competed in the NCAA Tournament. San Diego State and Boise State were powerhouses in the Mountain West Conference last season, with the Broncos going 8-0-2 in league play… PSU plays at University of Portland on Sept. 10.

 
2025 STATS REVIEW

• The Vikings allowed only five goals in eight conference matches last season, and never more than one in any match. The five goals allowed in conference play ranked the Vikings second among all teams with a 0.63 goals against average.
• The Vikings led the Big Sky with an .894 save percentage within Big Sky play last season.
• Offensively, the Vikings ranked last in the Big Sky with 0.82 goals scored per game. They totaled 14 goals for the season, six of which came in Big Sky play.
• The Vikings returned their top six scorers from last season. Ocean Rideout led the Vikings with four goals and 10 points. Aliayha Saldana and Grace Sarabia tied for second on the team with two goals each. Bianca Potesta, another returner, also tied Rideout for the team lead with two assists last season.
• Natalie Cunningham ranked third in the Big Sky with an .810 save percentage last season, as well as fourth with 4.92 saves per game. The Vikings will have to replace her, however, after she graduated out of the program.
• Cunningham played 76.5 percent of the minutes in goal for the Vikings. Finley Crabtree, a senior this season, played the other 23.5 percent of the minutes. Crabtree sported a 1.75 goals against average and .720 save percentage in her four starts in goal. Crabtree is the only goalkeeper with previous playing time at Portland State on this year's roster.