SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento State women's soccer team holds its postseason destiny in its own hands heading into its regular season finale. The Hornets close out the schedule on the road on Thursday, traveling to Missoula, Mont., to take on league-leading Montana at 2 p.m. PT.

THIS WEEK…
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Montana

MATCH #17
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-7-5, 2-2-3 Big Sky) at Montana (11-2-3, 5-0-1 Big Sky)
WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023
TIME: 2 p.m. PT
WHERE: Missoula, Mont.
STADIUM: South Campus Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com

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 women's soccer program on all three platforms: Instagram (@sacstatewsoccer), Twitter (@sacstatewsoccer), and Facebook (/sacstatewsoccer).

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!: Every home match during the 2023 regular season will be streamed live on the ESPN+ subscription platform, with select road contests available on various streaming platforms. Links to watch and for live stats for all matches will be posted, as soon as they are available, on the women's soccer schedule page at HornetSports.com.

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!: Sophomore Madelyn Dougherty, junior Isabella Vinsonhaler, and junior Abigail Lopez, were named team captains for 2023.

BIG SKY BIG PICTURE: One. Just one. That's all the Hornets need in terms of points to clinch their spot in the Big Sky Conference Tournament with only this week's match at Montana ahead of them. A win or a draw against the Grizzlies puts Sacramento State into the field of six, while a loss would require some help from the rest of the league as Eastern Washington would need to lose to Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado would need a loss or a tie in one of their final two matches.

PALMATIER PICKS UP BIG SKY HONORS: Freshman goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career on Oct. 17, allowing only one goal while facing a barrage of 38 starts in a pair of draws against Weber State and Idaho State on the road. Read the complete release by clicking here.

SCOUTING MONTANA: The Grizzlies enter the week with an 11-2-3 overall record and a Big Sky best 5-0-1 mark in league play, standing two points ahead of second-place Portland State... Montana can clinch the league title outright with a win or at least a share of the title with a draw... The Griz, who opened the year with a 5-0-1 record, have won their last five straight and are unbeaten in their last eight contests since dropping back-to-back 1-0 matches against Colorado State and Georgia Southern at home on Sept. 7 and 10... Montana has posted nine shutouts on the year, outscoring opponents by a 30-8 count... Skyleigh Thompson leads a trio of Montana players with double-digit points, scoring five goals and assisting on three others for 13 points... Delaney Lou Schorr (11) and Sydney Haustein (10) are also in double figures... Goalkeeper Ashlyn Dvorak has played every minute in net, posting a 0.50 goals against average and 66 saves (.892 save percentage), while allowing only eight goals on the year.

SERIES NOTES: Montana leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 19-7-6 count... The Hornets are winless in their last 11 head-to-head meetings with the Grizzlies -- outscored 16-4 in that stretch -- having not posted a result since a 0-0 tie in Missoula on 2019... Sacramento State's last win in the series -- and its last victory at Montana -- came in 2013 by a 3-0 score... The Hornets are 2-8-3 on the road against the Grizzlies, including an 0-3-1 mark in their last four trips to Missoula.

ONE AND ONLY: Last week's results against Eastern Washington and Idaho marked the 11th and 12th times in 16 contests that the Hornets have had a match decided by a single goal or less this season.

ALL KNOTTED UP: Last weekend's draws at Weber State (0-0) and Idaho State (1-1) marked the first back-to-back draws since the Hornets tied four consecutive matches during the pandemic-delayed 2020-21 spring season. The scoreless draw against the Wildcats was also the first since a similar result at Portland State on Oct. 2, 2022.

TIE ME A RIVER: The five draws this year match last season's total and are tied for the second-most in a single season in program history, trailing only the six ties during an 11-2-6 season in 2019. Meanwhile, the three draws in Big Sky Conference play are the most since the 2019 squad finished 5-0-4 in league.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!: Junior Ariana Scholten made her birthday a memorable one near the midpoint of the first half at Idaho State, netting the tying score to help forge a 1-1 draw with the Bengals. The goal was the first of her Hornet career and the second of her collegiate career dating back to her freshman season at San Diego in 2021.

STREAK SNAPPED: Scholten's goal against Idaho State ended a Hornet scoreless streak of 194:35 dating back to their 76th minute goal in a 1-0 win over Eastern Washington.

HERE TO HELP: Junior Danna Restom's assist on Scholten's goal was her first of the season and her first since posting an assist against Northern Colorado on Sept. 25 last season.

IZZY DOES IT: The shots kept coming from Weber State and Palmatier just kept getting in the way. The Folsom, Calif., native finished with a career-high 10 saves in the scoreless draw with the Wildcats, surpassing her previous best of nine set at Hawai'i on Aug. 24. They were also the most saves by a Hornet goalkeeper since teammate Mia Shalit finished with 11 stops against Northern Arizona in the 2022 regular season finale. Two days later, Palmatier finished with six first-half saves against Idaho State, helping her post a .941 save percentage for the weekend.

KEEPING THE SHEETS CLEAN: Palmatier's shutout against Weber State last weekend was her fourth of the year -- the most clean sheets by a Sacramento State keeper in a single season since Aaliyah Fesili finished with 10 in 2019. Palmatier's four shutouts this year are third in the Big Sky entering the week, while she also ranks third in saves (60), second in saves per game (4.62), and fourth in both save percentage (.769) and goals against average (1.46).

LESS IS MORE IN LEAGUE: Palmatier has been stingy in net since the start of Big Sky play, allowing only three goals and posting a 0.60 goals against average over five matches, making a total of 29 saves for a .906 save percentage.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: If the Hornets can manage to get on the board first, things usually turn out pretty well. Sacramento State has scored first six times this year and is unbeaten in those six contests, posting a 4-0-2 mark. That streak grows slightly larger dating back to last year as the Hornets are unbeaten in their last nine matches (6-0-3) in which they break onto the scoreboard first, last losing a match under those conditions against Montana on Sept. 23, 2022, by a 2-1 score in last year's Big Sky opener.

TAKING HER BEST SHOT: On the back of taking at least one shot in 15 of the team's 16 matches, Lopez's 38 shots are a new career high (28 last season) and the most by a Hornet since Kylee Kim-Bustillos finished with 43 attempts in 2019. Lopez's seven shots at Northern Colorado were also a single-match career high and the most by a Hornet since Kylee Kim-Bustillos had the same number against California Baptist in 2019. 

MINUTE WOMEN: Talking about putting in the time. Sacramento State has four of the Big Sky's top 10 field players in terms of minutes played: junior Erika Tilford ranks second (1,429), sophomore Madelyn Dougherty is fourth (1,385), junior Isabella Vinsonhaler is eighth (1,345), and junior Ali Fuamatu-Ma'afala is ninth (1,320).

FULL 90: Continuing on the minutes theme, 10 Hornets have combined to play a full 90 minutes a total of 73 times, led by Tilford, who has gone the distance in 14 of the team's 16 matches -- including 11 consecutive performances until she played in "only" 82 minutes at Idaho State last weekend. Dougherty and Vinsonhaler have each accomplished the feat 12 times -- including eight in a row by Dougherty and seven straight by Vinsonhaler -- while Ali Fuamatu-Ma'afala has done so 11 times, including the last six straight. Cassandra Herrman, who opened the year coming off the bench, has been an integral member of the back line as well, going the distance in her last eight matches and nine times overall.

FASTER THAN FAST: Before the sound of the opening whistle faded into the distance, junior Danna Restom put the Hornets up 1-0 at Northern Colorado on Sept. 24, scoring her first goal of the year just 38 seconds in -- the second-fastest goal in school history behind only Lisa Wrightsman's 36-second strike at Northern Arizona in 2002.

IT'S LATE... I'VE GOTTA SCORE: If the drama of the opening minute against Northern Colorado wasn't enough, Lopez put everyone on the edge of their seats in the final minute, scoring the game-tying goal after the Bears had scored twice in five-and-a-half minutes to take the lead. Lopez's goal with 48 seconds remaining is the ninth-latest regulation goal in school history and the second time in the last three matches that the Hornets have scored in the final minute -- both ending in draws after Isabella Vinsonhaler scored with :03 remaining in a 1-1 draw with California Baptist on Sept. 17.

COMING UP BIG IN THE BIG SKY: Shalit has shined in conference play over her last 10 starts dating back to last year, posting a 0.90 goals against average and 49 saves to go along with four shutouts and an .845 save percentage.

NOSE FOR THE GOAL: Lopez, a two-time All-Big Sky honoree, has been one of the program's top scorers in her three seasons with the Hornets, entering the week with 11 career goals while assisting on four others over 49 matches. She enters the week two goals shy of breaking into the top 10 on the school's all-time list (Tisha Smith and Adaurie Dayak are tied for ninth with 13).

SPOT ON: Lopez kept her perfect career record from the penalty spot intact with her goal against Northern Arizona on Sept. 22, improving to 4-for-4 in penalties in her two-plus seasons. Her four career makes strengthen her hold on second place on the school's career list according to available records, standing behind only Aubrey Goodwill and her seven penalty makes.

MIGHTY MIA: Senior goalkeeper Mia Shalit returns for her third season between the pipes for the Hornets after leading the Big Sky in overall saves (94) and finishing second in saves per game (5.22). Shalit, who spent time in the summer of 2022 with the Peruvian Women's National Team, finished the year ranked eighth on the school's single-season list with her 94 stops, while her 1,640 minutes stand seventh on the single-season chart. Nearly half of those 94 saves came in the span of four matches when she posted double-digit stops against No. 21 Stanford (15), No. 22 Washington (11), Northern Arizona (11), and Saint Mary's (11).

MILESTONES AHEAD: Shalit enters the 2023 campaign looking to move up a number of school all-time lists:
• Ranks 8th in career saves with 164 (needs 8 to match Kristy Milanese for 7th)
• Ranks T-9th in career shutouts with six (needs 2 to tie Amy Seely and Jenny Lawrence for 7th)
• Ranks 9th in career minutes with 2,873 (needs 16 to match Kristy Milanese for 8th and 33 to match Mandy Trojan for 7th)