SACRAMENTO -- Let the (postseason) games begin! The Sacramento State women's soccer team carries the No. 4 seed into Greeley, Colo., this week, opening play against No. 5-seeded Weber State in the first round of the 2022 Big Sky Conference women's soccer championships hosted by Northern Colorado at Jackson Stadium. The tournament semifinals will be held on Friday (Nov. 4), with the championship to be decided on Sunday (Nov. 6).
MATCH #18
WHAT: #5 Weber State (5-11, 4-4 Big Sky) vs. #4 Sacramento State (4-9-4, 4-3-1 Big Sky)
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022
TIME: 1 p.m. PT
WHERE: Greeley, Colo.
STADIUM: Jackson Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: Statbroadcast.com
TOURNAMENT INFO: Big Sky Conference Championship Page
BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Nov. 2
No. 3 Portland State vs. No. 6 Montana, 10 a.m. PT (Watch | Live Stats)
No. 4 Sacramento State vs. No. 5 Weber State, 1 p.m. PT
Friday, Nov. 4
No. 2 Idaho vs. Portland State/Montana, 10 a.m. PT (Watch | Live Stats)
No. 1 Northern Arizona vs. Sacramento State/Weber State, 1 p.m. PT (Watch | Live Stats)
Sunday, Nov. 6
Championship Match, 11 a.m. PT (Watch | Live Stats)
BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Sacramento State athletics by following us on Facebook (/SacramentoStateAthletics), Twitter (@HornetSports), and Instagram (@sacstateathletics). You can also follow the Hornets' women's soccer program on all three platforms: Instagram (@sacstatewsoccer), Twitter (@sacstatewsoccer), and Facebook (/sacstatewsoccer).
WE'LL DO IT LIVE!: All matches from the 2022 Big Sky Conference Championships will be streamed live on the ESPN+ subscription platform. Links to watch and for live stats for all matches throughout the season will be posted, as soon as they are available, on the women's soccer schedule page at HornetSports.com.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!: The Hornets have named their captains for the 2022 season as senior Aubrey Goodwill has been joined by juniors Shylah Soon and Isabella Vinsonhaler.
GOODWILL'S MVP HIGHLIGHTS HORNETS' ALL-LEAGUE HAUL: Senior Aubrey Goodwill was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive MVP and picked up unanimous all-league first-team honors (one of two players to do so this season), while three other Hornets made the 2022 postseason conference honor roll announced on Monday afternoon. Joining Goodwill on the first team was junior Jasmyne Dunn, while sophomores Abigail Lopez and Danna Restom were named to the second team. Complete release available at HornetSports.com.
DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP)... DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP): Goodwill became the third Sacramento State player in the last four seasons -- and the fifth overall -- to win the Big Sky's top defensive honor, joining Kara Taylor (2005), Rachel Leonard (2016), Mikayla Reed (2019), and Christina Lazar (2020).
NOT ONE... NOT TWO...: Goodwill and Dunn each picked up first team honors for the second straight season -- and only the eighth and ninth Hornets to earn at least two Big Sky first team honors during their careers in school history -- while Lopez and Restom were second-team honorees for the second year in a row. Goodwill's award was the fourth of her career (second team in 2020 and honorable mention in 2019), making her only the sixth player in school history to earn Big Sky honors four times along with Mikayla Reed, Kara Taylor, Katie McCoy, Christina Trenton, and Sarah Howard.
SCOUTING WEBER STATE: The Wildcats enter this week's tournament with a 5-11 overall record and a 4-4 mark in Big Sky play, finishing just one point back of Sacramento State in the standings... Weber State enters the tournament on a roll, winning its last three consecutive contests against Idaho State (4-2), Northern Colorado (1-0), and Montana (2-0)... This is the first neutral site contest of the year for the Wildcats, who are only 2-8 away from home... Sophomore forward Morgan Furmaniak -- the BIg Sky Co-Offensive MVP for 2022 -- leads the team in goals (five), points (11), and shots (29), standing as one of nine goal scorers for Weber State this season... Senior goalkeeper Mekell Moss has started 12 of the team's 16 matches in net, posting a 1.83 goals against average and 54 saves (.711 save percentage), posting shutouts in all three of her wins this year.
SERIES NOTES: Weber State leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 14-11-4 count after the Hornets snapped a four-match winless streak against the Wildcats with their win at home back on Oct. 7.
HORNETS TOURNEY NOTES: Sacramento State is making its 13th all-time appearance in the Big Sky Championships and it's third since 2019... The Hornets are 6-9-2 all-time in the tournament, posting a 2-1 record in the quarterfinals, 2-8-1 in the semifinal round, and a 2-0-1 mark in the championship match... The No. 4 seed is the highest for Sacramento State since the Hornets were the No. 2 seed in 2019... Sacramento State has reached the championship match in 2006, 2007, and 2010, falling on penalties to Idaho State after a 2-2 draw in 2006, and defeating Northern Colorado (2-0) and Northern Arizona (1-0) in its next two appearances... The Hornets were 1-1 in last year's tournament, opening with a 1-0 upset of third-seeded Northern Arizona before falling to Montana by the same score... Sacramento State is 1-2 in tournament matches played in Greeley, Colo., adding a double-overtime loss to Eastern Washington in 2019 to last year's results... The Hornets have lost five of their last six tournament matches after going unbeaten in seven straight -- including five consecutive victories -- from 2006-15.
AGAINST THE FIELD... TOURNEY STYLE: The Hornets are 0-2 against Weber State in the Big Sky Championships, but the two programs haven't met in tournament play since 2001 -- a 2-1 Wildcat victory... Weber State also posted a 3-0 victory in 1997... Sacramento State is 0-2-1 against Montana (2000, 2006, 2021), 2-2 against Northern Arizona (2005, 2010, 2016, 2021), 0-0-1 against Idaho State (2006), 2-0 against Portland State (2007, 2010), 1-2 against Northern Colorado (2007, 2015, 2017), and 1-1 against Eastern Washington (2015, 2019).
AGAINST THE FIELD IN 2022: Sacramento State is 1-2-1 against the other four participants in this week's championship, posting a 2-1 victory at No. 2 seed Idaho on Oct. 16 and battling No. 3 seed Portland State to a scoreless draw on the road on Oct. 2... The Hornets fell at home to No. 6 seed Montana, 2-1, on Sept. 23, and dropped a 2-0 decision at regular season champion Northern Arizona on Oct. 21.
POSTSEASON... TABLE FOR TWO: The Sacramento State women's soccer team will be joined in the postseason by the Hornets' men's team, who nailed down a Big West Conference Tournament berth over the weekend. It is the third time that both the Sacramento State men's and women's soccer teams have qualified for their respective conference tournaments in the same season, joining the 2016 and 2017 squads.
PREVIOUSLY, AGAINST THE WILDCATS: Jasmyne Dunn scored her second goal of the season in the 40th minute and the Hornets' defense made it stand for the team's third consecutive shutout in a 1-0 victory over Weber State at home on Oct. 7. Goalkeeper Mia Shalit made five saves and the defense limited the Wildcats to just five shots on goal.
NO TIME FOR A BREATHER: Junior goalkeeper Mia Shalit did everything but stand on her head to keep her side in the regular season finale at Northern Arizona back on Oct. 21, finishing with 11 saves while facing 24 shots from the Lumberjack offense. The 11 saves are tied for the second-highest total in her career and marked the third time this season (fourth overall) that she has finished with double-digit stops along with her career-high 15-save performance at No. 21 Stanford on Aug. 18 and 11 more stops against No. 22 Washington on Sept. 15.
KEEPING IT 100: Shalit's save total against NAU gave her 91 saves on the year, putting her just nine stops shy of becoming the first Hornet goalkeeper to reach the century mark in that category since Aaliyah Fesili stopped 101 in 2019.
GAME-WINNER? DUNN DEAL: Apparently, all she does is win... no matter what. Jasmyne Dunn scored her fourth career goal in the second half at Eastern Washington on Oct. 14, putting the Hornets ahead for good in a 2-1 victory. All four of her career scores have gone down as game-winners, joining her goals against Eastern Washington last year as well as Northern Colorado and Weber State this season. In addition to her scoring exploits, one of Dunn's three career assists has also come on a game-winning goal against Idaho in 2021.
GOODWILL HUNTING: With her two assists on the game-tying goals against both Eastern Washington and Idaho, senior defender Aubrey Goodwill enters the conference tournament with 16 career helpers during her career in the green and gold, putting her just two shy of Paula Guarda (1994-97) for second on the school's all-time list. Leading the team in goals (four), assists (three), and points (11), this season, Goodwill is now just six assists shy of the school's career record-holder, Katie McCoy, who collected 22 assists from 2004-07.
MINUTE WOMAN: Shalit has played all 1,530 minutes between the pipes for the Hornets this season -- the most by a Sacramento State keeper since Aaliyah Fesili went the distance for 1,861 minutes over 19 matches in 2019, which ranks tied for fourth on the school's single-season list. It's a single-season best for Shalit, who split time with Katie Price in 2021, appearing in 907 minutes over 10 contests for the Hornets.
SHE'S GOING THE DISTANCE: Should she continue that trend and play every minute in goal for the rest of this season, Shalit would become the first Sacramento State keeper to play every minute between the pipes since Fesili during that 2019 season and only the fourth since 2010, joining Savannah Abercrombie in 2010 (1,762) and 2011 (1,593), and Kimberly Mata in 2014 (1,731).
A FULL 90: Continuing the theme, five Hornet field players have played a full 90 minutes a total of 30 times, led by Aubrey Goodwill's nine such contests (including six of her last seven) and Lexi Rakela's eight. Ali Fuamatu-Ma'afala (six), Madelyn Dougherty (four), Darian Louthan (two), and Erika Tilford (two), have also played all 90 minutes in a match, while Jasmyne Dunn has added a team-high seven matches with at least 80 minutes.
NO GOALS FOR YOU!: Since the start of conference play, junior goalkeeper Mia Shalit has been downright stingy, allowing just seven goals past her and posting a 0.88 goals against average over her eight starts, making 41 saves to go with an .854 save percentage and three clean sheets. She ranks in the top half of the league in goals against and asave percentage, while her 5.13 saves per game in conference play stands second.
PKs ARE OK: The Hornets have done well to make opposing teams pay for fouls in the box this season as their four makes (in four attempts) from the penalty spot are tied for the third most in the NCAA as of Oct. 31, trailing only Santa Clara and SMU (5-for-5) for the top spot. Sacramento State is one of only 10 schools to make at least four on the year while, individually, Aubrey Goodwill and Abigail Lopez are tied for 29th in the nation with their spotless 2-for-2 showings from the spot.
BE QUICK, BUT DON'T HURRY: Jasmyne Dunn's goal (and game-winner) against Northern Colorado on Sept. 25 just 3:50 into the contest was the fastest by a Hornet this season and the earliest that Sacramento State has scored since Kylee Kim-Bustillos scored just 64 seconds into a match against UC Davis on Aug. 23, 2019. Dunn's goal also marked the third time this season that the Hornets have scored in the first 10 minutes of the match, joining Abigail Lopez's score at Pacific (Aug. 21) and Aubrey Goodwill's goal at CSU Bakersfield (Sept. 18).
OUT EARLY...: But clutch lately. Entering the last two weeks of the regular season, the Hornets had scored eight of their nine goals on the season in the first half. Sacramento State, however, has been a second half scoring team over its last three contests, scoring its last four goals in the second 45 as Lexi Rakela, Jasmyne Dunn, Ariana Nino, and Danna Restom all found the back of the net in wins over Eastern Washington and Idaho. Prior to that outburst, only Abigail Lopez had dented the back of the net in the second half for Sacramento State, scoring in the 49th minute at Pacific on Aug. 21.
STOP! SHALIT TIME!: Junior goalkeeper Mia Shalit continues to rank among the busiest keepers in the Big Sky entering the conference championships, leading the league with 91 overall saves and 5.35 saves per game at the end of the regular season. Nationally, Shalit is also shining, ranked No. 29 in total saves, and No. 40 in saves per match.
SHALIT SAVES: When it comes to facing nationally ranked opponents, junior goalkeeper Mia Shalit has risen to the occasion. After logging a career-high 15 saves in the regular season opener against then-No. 21 Stanford, Shalit nearly matched that performance on Sept. 15 against then-No. 22 Washington, making 11 stops in a contest that was a one-goal game until the final nine minutes. The performance against the Huskies was Shalit's third career double-digit save total as a Hornet when you include an 11-save effort at Saint Mary's in 2021.
THAT SOUNDS LIKE A RECORD: Well, it was close. Shalit's 15-save performance against nationally ranked Stanford in the season opener ranked second on the school's single-match list, trailing only Dawn Anderson's 20 stops against Pacific in 1995, while the total was the highest by a Big Sky Conference goalkeeper since Southern Utah's Isabella Whitmore had 19 stops against UNLV on Nov. 3, 2019.
