SACRAMENTO — It's a battle of conference unbeatens at Hornet Soccer Field this weekend as Big Sky Conference co-leaders Sacramento State and Portland State go head-to-head on Sunday (Oct. 1) at 1 p.m. Both the Hornets and Vikings are 1-0-1 after the first weekend of league play, matching Idaho with four points at the top of the table.
THIS WEEK…
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Portland State
MATCH #12
WHAT: Portland State (4-5-1, 1-0-1 Big Sky) at Sacramento State (3-5-3, 1-0-1 Big Sky)
WHEN: Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023
TIME: 1 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.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 Hornets' 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 men'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.
SCOUTING PORTLAND STATE: The Vikings enter the week with a 4-5-1 overall record and a 1-0-1 mark in Big Sky play, tied atop the league table with Sacramento State and Idaho... Portland State is unbeaten in its last four (3-0-1) after a 1-5 start, coming off a 2-1 win over Northern Colorado and a scoreless draw with Northern Arizona last week... Junior midfielder Abi Hoffman leads the team with four goals and nine points, standing as one of seven Vikings to find the back of the net this year... Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Cunningham has started seven of the team's 10 matches (585 minutes), posting a 1.23 goals against average and 30 saves (.789 save percentage).
SERIES NOTES: Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Portland State by a 15-11-4 count... The Hornets and Vikings battled to a scoreless draw in the Pacific Northwest last season... Sacramento State's last win in the series came in the pandemic-delayed spring 2020-21 season when the Hornets swept a pair of matches on the road by the scores of 1-0 and 2-1... Portland State's last win in the series came by a 4-2 score in Oregon in 2021... This will be the first meeting between the two programs in Northern California since the 2018 season -- a 1-0 Portland State win -- as the last five head-to-head battles have been played on the Vikings' home turf... All told, 17 of the 30 meetings have been contested in Oregon... The Hornets are 5-4-1 at home against PSU, but haven't won since a 2-1 overtime victory in 2015.
LOPEZ PICKS UP BIG SKY HONORS: A pair of clutch performances netted junior Abigail Lopez her first career Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award on Monday (Sept. 26) after helping the Hornets to an unbeaten start to league play. Not only was it the first award for Lopez, it was the first offensive player of the week award by a Hornet since Skylar Littlefield on Feb. 22, 2021.
START ME UP: The Hornets' 1-0-1 start in league play is the program's best since the 2016 squad opened league play with the same record following results over Southern Utah (W, 2-0) and Northern Arizona (T, 1-1). Since then, Sacramento State has opened conference play with a pair of ties in 2017, 2019, and the delayed 2020-21 spring season.
ONE AND ONLY: The two results last week marked the sixth and seventh times in 11 contests that the Hornets have had a match decided by a single goal or less.
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, scoring her first goal of the year just 38 seconds into the contest -- 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.
ABBY AIMING HIGH: Lopez's scoring exploits have her standing among the Big Sky's best, ranking tied for sixth in shots (24), fourth in shots per game (2.67), tied for ninth in points (8), and tied for third in goals (4).
SHE'LL GO FARBER: Sacramento State scored three goals last week and freshman Ellie Farber had a hand... errr... foot in all three... sort of. Although it doesn't officially count as an assist, Farber was the one who drew the foul in the box that led to Abigail Lopez's game-winning penalty against Northern Arizona. Two days later at Northern Colorado, she handled things the old fashioned way, posting the assist on Danna Restom's opening score, then helping on Lopez's game-tying goal. Farber became the first Hornet to have two assists in a match since Aubrey Goodwill did so against Southern Utah in a 3-0 win on Oct. 6, 2019.
SHE'S A HELPER: Farber's three assists put her among the Big Sky Conference's best helpers, ranking her fourth in the league behind Idaho's Alyssa Peters.
LET'S GET LAU-D: Freshman Dalen Lau became the latest Hornet to collect her first career point this season, tallying an assist on Lopez's game-tying score. She is one of 10 Hornets to post a point and the eighth to score their first career point in the green and gold.
TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT... OR SEVEN: Lopez's seven shot attempts at Northern Colorado were a career high and the most by a Hornet since Kylee Kim-Bustillos against California Baptist in 2019. The total is also the second highest in the Big Sky, trailing only Eastern Washington's Maddie Morgan, who had eight against Providence (Mont.) on Aug. 31.
MAMA MIA!: In making only her second start since returning from injury, senior goalkeeper Mia Shalit finished with a season-high eight stops in the shutout of Northern Arizona -- one more than she had in her three previous appearances combined and the most since she had 11 at Northern Arizona in last year's regular season finale.
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 percentge.
NOSE FOR THE GOAL: Lopez, a two-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree, has been one of the program's top scorers in her two-plus seasons with the Hornets, entering the week with 11 career goals while assisting on four others over 44 matches. She enters the week only 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, 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)
THE HORNETS, QUICKLY: Qualifying for the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the third straight season, Sacramento State returns 13 letter winners and eight starters for the 2023 campaign, while welcoming back four redshirts and adding 14 new faces -- including a pair of Division I transfers.
THAT'S FRESH: The 12 true freshmen listed on this year's roster are the most under the direction of Head Coach Randy Dedini and are the most for the program since the 2002 squad featured 14 Hornets entering their first year of collegiate soccer.
CHIEFS OF STAFF: Head Coach Randy Dedini enters his 17th season at the helm of the Hornet program and is joined once again by volunteer assistant Danielle Davis and director of operations Joey Lum. New to the staff in 2023 is assistant coach Chris Malenab, who has spent the last eight years coaching in the USL ranks -- including three years with the Sacramento Republic FC from 2014-17 -- and with the 2022 WPSL National Champion California Storm, as well as the Grenada and Guam national teams.
STATE OF THE HORNETS: Five different states will be represented on the Sacramento State roster in 2023 but, aside from California, no other state will have as much of an impact as the "Aloha State." The Hornets feature six Hawai'ians (Ali Fuamatu-Ma'afala, Teysha-Ray Spinney-Kuahuia, Shaunee Egloria, Dalen Lau, Madelyn Dougherty, and Payton Inabata) on this year's roster along with one each from Washington (Sierra Sonko), Colorado (Ella Wilcox), and Idaho (Isabella Vinsonhaler). Sonko is the first Hornet from the "Evergreen State" since Caitlin Prothe wrapped up her stellar career in 2018, while Wilcox is the first Colorado native since Courtney Gorham finished her four years in 2005.
PRESEASON PICKS: Sacramento State enters the 2023 campaign picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky Conference, receiving 34 points to finish just one back of Eastern Washington in fifth and six points ahead of both Portland State and Northern Colorado. Reigning champion Northern Arizona received four first-place votes and 54 points overall to edge Idaho (three votes, 49 points), while Weber State (one vote, 45 points) and Montana (40 points) rounded out the top four.
