SACRAMENTO -- Senior Aubrey Goodwill netted her fourth goal of the season midway through the first half from the penalty spot to break a scoreless deadlock for Sacramento State, but visiting Montana answered just before the end of the half an added the winner in the 62nd minute to escape Sacramento with a 2-1 victory in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams on Friday.
The Hornets remain winless on the year, falling to 0-7-3 overall on the year while the Grizzlies won their fifth straight in the series in improving to 4-2-5 overall.
Ranked as one of the all-time assist leaders in Sacramento State women's soccer history, Goodwill is turning into a reliable goal scorer for the Hornets, scoring her team-best fourth goal of the year in the 37th minute to get her team on the board first.
The sequence started with Kalista Hardy finding some space to make a run down the middle and playing it through to a streaking Jasmyne Dunn, who was taken out inside the 18 by a sliding Montana goalkeeper without the ball, drawing a whistle.
Sacramento State was awarded a penalty kick with just over eight minutes to play in the half and Goodwill stepped over the ball to take it, collecting her thoughts before striking a right-footed attempt just under the diving keeper to the left side of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Goodwill's score pushed her into the team lead in the category, scoring for the third time in the last two matches after netting her second career brace at CSU Bakersfield last weekend and setting a new single-season career high. The senior from Rescue, Calif., has now scored the team's last four goals and is a perfect 7-for-7 from the penalty spot in her career — including 2-for-2 this season — extending her own school record.
After scoring first for the second consecutive contest, the Hornets looked to take that one-goal lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Grizzlies had other plans, striking for the equalizer with just 48 seconds remaining in the first half as Bella O'Brien found herself unmarked at the top of the box and roofed a deflection into the center part of the goal to tie the match at one apiece.
The score remained that way until Skyleigh Thompson put together an individual effort for the game-winner in the 62nd minute, setting the ball and using her speed to beat her defender into the box, where she cut left and tucked a shot past the diving Hornet keeper to the left side for the final 2-1 tally.
Sacramento State had an opportunity to break the one-all tie its self in the 57th minute off a corner, but Lexi Rakela's header into the ground bounced up and clipped the crossbar before being cleared away from danger and out for another corner by Montana.
Hardy, Heather Tarabini, and Rakela, each had opportunities in the final 20 minutes following Thompson's go-ahead score, but none of them could connect.
Montana finished with a 13-9 advantage in shots, putting six on frame to three for the Hornets, while Sacramento State generated five corners to just two for the Grizzlies.
Goalkeeper Mia Shalit, who entered the week ranked in the top two in the league in both saves and saves per match, finished with four stops, while Camellia Xu finished with two saves for Montana.
The Hornets close out the opening weekend of conference play at home on Sunday (Sept. 25), welcoming reigning Big Sky regular season champion Northern Colorado to Hornet Soccer Field for a 1 p.m. kick-off.
