SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The race for the Big Sky Conference title begins in earnest this weekend as Sacramento State closes out a run of four straight on the road in the Pacific Northwest. The Hornets open against Idaho on Friday (Sept. 27) at 6 p.m., before taking on Eastern Washington on Sunday (Sept. 29) at 1 p.m.
MATCH #10
WHAT: Sacramento State (2-4-3, 0-0 Big Sky) at Idaho (6-3-1, 0-0 Big Sky)
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 27, 2024
TIME: 6 PM
WHERE: Moscow, Idaho
STADIUM: P1FCU Kibbie Dome
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoVandals.com
MATCH #11
WHAT: Sacramento State (2-4-3, 0-0 Big Sky) at Eastern Washington (5-4-1, 0-0 Big Sky)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 27, 2024
TIME: 1 PM
WHERE: Cheney, Wash.
STADIUM: EWU Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoEags.com
GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | Idaho | Eastern Washington
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!
• Seniors Abigail Lopez and Isabella Vinsonhaler, junior Madelyn Dougherty, and sophomore Ellie Farber, have been selected as 2024 captains
• This is the third straight season that Vinsonhaler has been named a team captain, while Lopez and Dougherty were captains in 2023
SCOUTING IDAHO
• The Vandals enter the week with a 6-3-1 overall record, matching Montana for the most wins in the league at the end of non-conference play
• Idaho is unbeaten in its last three (2-0-1) matches following a 1-0 shutout of UNLV last week at home
• Friday's match marks the third in a run of four straight at home for the Vandals, who are unbeaten (3-0-1) on their home turf this year and unbeaten in their last six (5-0-1) at home dating back to last year
• Graduate midfielder Margo Schoesler leads the team in scoring with five goals and 10 points this season on 21 shot attempts
• Eight different Vandals have scored this year -- five of those with multiple goals
• Freshman goalkeeper Paula Flores has played every minute thus far this year, posting a 1.30 goals against average and 45 saves (.776 save percentage) to go with three shutouts
SERIES NOTABLES
• The series between Idaho and Sacramento State is knotted up at 7-7-1 since 2001
• The Vandals lead the series as Big Sky rivals by a 6-4-1 count since 2014
• The Hornets had won two straight in the series in 2021 and 2022 before Idaho posted a 1-0 win in Sacramento last year
• Each of the last three meetings -- and five of the last six dating back to 2019 -- have been decided by a single goal
• Idaho is 4-1-1 in the last six matches played in Moscow, but the Hornets snapped a five-match winless streak with a 2-1 win in 2022 thanks to goals by Ariana Nino (84') and Danna Restom (89') in the final 6:04 of regulation
SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON
• After winning just two matches in 2023, the Eagles enter the week with a 5-4-1 overall record
• EWU hosts Portland State on Friday before welcoming Sacramento State
• Eastern Washington has lost two of its last three following a 2-1 loss to Boise State and a 1-0 win over UNLV last week
• The Eagles are 3-2 at home, posting wins over Hawai'i, San Jose State, and the Rebels
• Junior forward Chloe Pattison leads the team and Big Sky with eight goals and 17 points, scoring at least one goal in six of the team's last seven
• She is one of eight Eagles to score this year, and one of four with multiple goals
• Junior goalkeeper Kamryn Willoughby has played all but 13 minutes in net this year, posting a 1.54 goals against average and 38 saves (.717 save percentage) to go with three shutouts
SERIES NOTABLES
• Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Eastern Washington by a 15-9-5 count
• The Hornets are unbeaten in their last five (3-0-2) meetings -- and 5-2-3 in the last 10 -- with the Eagles following a 1-0 win at home last season
• Both draws during the five-match unbeaten streak are of the scoreless variety during the pandemic-delayed 2020-21 spring season
• Sacramento State has won the last three straight, outscoring EWU by a 7-3 count
• Sunday marks only the second meeting between the two programs in Cheney since 2019, playing five times in Sacramento and once in Greeley, Colo., for the Big Sky Tournament during that span
FOR OPENERS... BIG SKY STYLE
• Since 1996, the Hornets are 12-10-6 in Big Sky openers
• Sacramento State posted a 1-0 victory over defending champion Northern Arizona in last year's Big Sky opener at home
• Prior to that, the Hornets had been winless in their previous four (0-2-2) league openers
• Friday marks the first time that the Hornets will open conference play on the road since a 4-2 loss at Portland State in 2021
• It also marks the first time opening conference play against Idaho -- one of only three schools that Sacramento State has not faced in a league opener (Idaho State and Northern Colorado being the others)
• Friday marks the sixth time in the last nine years that Sacramento State opens conference play on the road
• The Hornets are 6-7-3 in road conference openers, but are 2-1-2 in their last five
• Six of Sacramento State's last seven league openers have either ended in a draw or decided by a single goal
"CHAMP"-ING AT THE BIT
• The 2024 season marks the fourth straight season that the Hornets will open conference play against the Big Sky regular season or tournament champions from the previous year
• Friday's opponent, Idaho, won the 2023 tournament title over host Northern Arizona
• In 2023, Sacramento State opened with a 1-0 win over the Lumberjacks, who had claimed both the regular season and tournament crowns in 2022
• In 2021 and 2022, the Hornets opened against Montana, which was declared the tournament champions in the delayed 2020-21 spring season after COVID protocols canceled the title match and took home the tournament trophy a year later in 2021
• It was almost five-in-a-row after the Hornets opened the 2020-21 season against Eastern Washington after the Eagles lost the tournament title match in 2019
SCHOLTEN ON THE BOARD
• Senior Ariana Scholten became the fifth different Hornet to tally a goal this year when she staked the Hornets to an early last at Southern Utah last week
• It was the second career goal for the Ripon, Calif., native in the green and gold and her first since a 1-1 draw at Idaho State on Oct. 15, 2023
TOP 10 FOR NUMBER 10
• Lopez is now among the top 10 goal scorers in the history of the program following her performances against CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield, finishing with a pair of goals on 10 shots in an unbeaten weekend
• The three-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree enters this week's matches with 13 career scores to go with five assists for 31 points
• Her 13 goals are tied for ninth on the school's all-time list, matching Tisha Smith (1994-95) and Adaurie Dayak (2013-16), while putting her one back of Elece McBride (14 from 2008-12) for eighth
• Lopez's 31 points are five back on that all-time list, trailing former teammate Aubrey Goodwill (2018-22) for 10th
• Her 110 career shots are also two back of Jessica Mackiewicz (1998-99) for 10th place
• After tying her personal single-season career high with four goals in 2023, Lopez has led the team in points twice in the last three seasons (10 in 2021 and eight in 2023)
LATE MATCH MAGIC
• Of the Hornets' seven goals scored, three of those have come in the final 10 minutes of a match -- including one in the final two minutes and another in the last 60 seconds of play
• All three of those goals have accounted for either the game-tying or game-winning scores
• Aside from Abigail Lopez's late-match heroics against CSUN (game-winner with 9:28 left) and Cal State Bakersfield (game-tying goal with :39 remaining), Ellie Farber's goal with 1:39 remaining tied the match against UC Santa Barbara on Aug. 22
• Lopez's goal with 39 seconds left was the eighth-latest goal scored in regulation in school history and the latest since Lopez scored the game-tying goal with 52 seconds remaining at Northern Colorado on Sept. 24 of last year
LOPEZ AMONG THE BEST IN THE BIG SKY
• The senior enters the week leading the Big Sky in shots per game (2.67), tied for third in overall shots (24), and tied for seventh in goals (2) along with teammate Ellie Farber
WHEN IT'S GOTTA BE CLEAN
• Palmatier's shutout in the team's 1-0 win over CSUN on Sept. 12 was the sixth of her career, moving her into a tie for ninth on the all-time list along with Mia Shalit (2021-23) for ninth
• She trails both Jenny Lawrence (2005-08) and Amy Seely (2000-02) by two for the No. 7 spot on the school's career list, while four more clean sheets this year will make Palmatier only the seventh Hornet keeper to reach double digits in the category
IZZY DOES IT
• Palmatier enters the week ranked second in total saves (47) and third in saves per game (5.22), while also standing fourth in save percentage (.783), tied for sixth in shutouts (2), and seventh in goals against average (1.44)
• Three of her top five single-match save totals have all come this year
• A career-high 11 saves came in a scoreless draw against Cal Poly on Aug. 29, followed by a 10-save match against Oregon on Sept. 8 -- her second and third career contests with double-digit stops
• The 11 saves against the Mustangs were just one shy of breaking onto the program's all-time single-match top 10 list and were the most since Mia Shalit finished with the same number against Northern Arizona on Oct. 21, 2022
• The 11 stops are also tied for the most in a match by a Big Sky keeper as of Sept. 23, matched only by Montana's Bayliss Flynn on Sept. 8 at Wyoming, while Palmatier's 10 saves against Oregon are tied for third
