RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A third-minute goal for California Baptist put the Portland State women's soccer team in an early hole it could not climb out of Thursday as the Vikings fell to the Lancers, 2-0, at CBU Soccer Stadium.
 
The Lancers (1-0-1) struck early behind a good combination up the left side of their attack. Nikki Mau ran onto a long ball and crossed it to the far post, dropping it right at the feet of Alysa Then who rocketed a shot in from six yards out.
 
CBU added a second goal in the 18th minute after a VAR challenge from the CBU head coach – a new rule this year within women's college soccer – revealed an earlier handball by the Vikings (0-3-0) in the box. Tyra King took the ensuing penalty for CBU and sank the shot into the bottom right side of the net.
 
The two first-half goals came as part of a dominant opening 45 minutes for the Lancers. They outshot the Vikings 12-to-2 while controlling the ball 62 percent of the time in the first half.
 
The Vikings bounced back in the second half, particularly in the final 15-20 minutes. Gabby Flores found Yammile Picon on the other end of a cross in the 81st minute that produced the Vikings' best chance at a goal. Flores crossed the ball from the left to the far post, where it skipped to Picon who was charging in with a full head of steam. But Picon's shot went right to CBU goalkeeper Rebecca Winton for one of her three saves on the night.
 
The Vikings' other two shots on goal came from outside the box. Aliayha Saldana tried a shot from distance in the 56th minute, sending a ball on frame from 40 yards out. Camilla Contreras Bran, then, took a loose ball in the attacking third and fired a quick shot from just outside the top right of the box in the 74th minute. Neither tested Winton much, though, who collected both with little trouble.
 
The Vikings finished level with the Lancers, 5-to-5, on shots in the second half.
 
PSU goalkeeper Finley Crabtree finished with four saves in the match. The best of the four came in the fifth minute, as Crabtree snatched a point-blank shot from CBU's Anja Jestrovic. The save, which came less than two minutes after CBU's first goal, prevented the Lancers from opening the floodgates early and kept it a match, albeit one that didn't go the Vikings' way.
 
They'll now look for a breakthrough Sunday, when they'll continue their California road trip at San Diego State. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
 
MATCH NOTES:

• This was the first-ever counting match between Portland State and California Baptist.
• Ocean Rideout, a native of Riverside, Calif., was playing in front of family and friends in her hometown Thursday. She went to Arlington High School in Riverside.
• Aliayha Saldana had four shots in the match, the most by a Viking in a match so far this season.