SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's soccer team hits the road for the first time since the 2024 season opener in mid-August, heading to the Pacific Northwest for a pair of matches in the "Beaver State." The Hornets travel to Portland on Thursday (Sept. 5) for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff, then take on Oregon on Sunday (Sept. 8) at 1 p.m.

Please note the time change for the kickoff at Portland from the originally scheduled 4:30 p.m., in anticipation of excessive temperatures in the "Rose City" on that day.

THIS WEEK…
MATCH #5
WHAT: Sacramento State (1-1-2, 0-0 Big Sky) at Portland (2-2-1, 0-0 WCC)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024
TIME: 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Portland, Ore.
STADIUM: Merlo Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: PortlandPilots.com

MATCH #6
WHAT: Sacramento State (1-1-2, 0-0 Big Sky) at Oregon (3-2, 0-0 Big Ten)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024
TIME: 1 p.m.
WHERE: Eugene, Ore.
STADIUM: Papé Field
WATCH: Big Ten Plus
LIVE STATS: GoDucks.com

GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | Portland | Oregon

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!
• Seniors Abigail Lopez and Isabella Vinsonhaler, along with junior Madelyn Dougherty and sophomore Ellie Farber, have been selected as captains for the 2024 season
• This is the third straight season that Vinsonhaler has been named a team captain, while Lopez and Dougherty were captains in 2023

SCOUTING PORTLAND
• The Pilots enter the week with a 2-2-1 overall record, but have lost their last two against Baylor (1-0) and USC (2-1)
• Portland is 1-1 at home this year, posting a win over Stonehill College back on Aug. 18 and the loss to the Women of Troy
• Sacramento State is the first Big Sky opponent for the Pilots this season -- and the first since posting a 2-0 win over Montana at home on Aug. 28, 2022
• Both the Hornets and Portland have faced Cal Poly this year, both ending the day with draws (the Pilots opened with a 1-1 draw against the Mustangs to start 2024)
• Sophomore midfielder Hailey Bagby and graduate forward Hailey Still share the team lead with six points each, while Still leads the team with three goals scored
• Senior goalkeeper Bre Norris has played all but 27 minutes in net this season, posting a 0.85 goals against average and making 17 saves (.810 save percentage) on the year

SERIES NOTABLES
• Thursday marks the first-ever meeting between Portland and Sacramento State in women's soccer

SCOUTING OREGON
• The Ducks enter the week with a 3-2 overall record, snapping a two-match skid with a 2-1 win over CSUN on Sept. 1
• Oregon travels to Texas Tech on Thursday (Sept. 5) before hosting Sacramento State
• The Ducks are a perfect 3-0 at home this season, posting wins over Seattle (1-0) and Portland State (2-0) in addition to last week's win over the Matadors
• Sophomore forward Cameron Bourne leads the team with three goals and six points, netting those on six shots -- five of those on frame
• Sophomore Grace Mensah leads the team with three assists
• Junior goalkeeper Maddy Goldberg has played every minute in net for the Ducks, posting a 1.20 goals against average and 18 saves (.750 save percentage) to go with two shutouts

SERIES NOTABLES
• The series between Oregon and Sacramento State is tied 1-1-1
• The two programs last met in the pandemic-delayed 2020-21 spring season, battling to a 1-1 double-overtime draw on Feb. 19 in Sacramento
• Prior to that, the two hadn't met since a 3-1 Ducks victory on Sept. 14, 2003, in Sacramento
• The Hornets won the first-ever meeting between the two by a 5-0 score on Oct. 27, 1996 on a neutral field in Stockton, Calif.

CONFERENCE CALL
• Portland is the first West Coast Conference opponent for Sacramento State this year
• The Hornets are 16-49-7 against current WCC schools, which includes affiliate members -- and former Pac-12 rivals -- Washington State (0-1) and Oregon State (3-3)
• Sacramento State is winless in its last six meetings (0-5-1) with WCC opponents, last posting a win over Saint Mary's by a 2-1 score in double overtime on Feb. 11 of the pandemic-delayed 2020-21 spring season
• The Hornets will be the eighth current or former Big Sky opponent for the Pilots in their history, as Portland has faced every current Big Sky member except for Idaho, Montana State, and Northern Colorado
• Portland has NEVER lost to a Big Sky Conference opponent, posting a 23-0 record dating back to 1981 (including a win over former members Southern Utah [2016] and North Dakota [2018])
• Sacramento State is a combined 1-3-1 against the current Big Ten Conference alignment, however all five of those results have come against league newcomers Oregon (1-1-1), USC (0-1) and Washington (0-1) when they were members of the Pac-12
• The last meeting against one of those schools came on Sept. 15, 2022, when the No. 22 Huskies posted a 3-0 win in Sacramento

PALMATIER NABS BIG SKY LAURELS
• Sophomore goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in her career on Sept. 3
• Palmatier finished with a career-high 11 saves (more on that later) in a scoreless draw with Cal Poly in the team's only contest last week
• Palmatier's first award came on Oct. 17 of last season when she averaged 8.00 saves per match and stopped 16 total shots in draws against Weber State and Idaho State

OFF TO A FLYING START
• The Hornets' 1-1-2 start to the year is the best since the 2019 squad opened 2-1-1 in their first four matches
• Sacramento State's three-match unbeaten streak (1-0-2) is its longest since the Hornets posted the same record from Sept. 17-24 last season with a win over Northern Arizona sandwiched between draws with California Baptist and Northern Colorado

ZIP. ZILCH. NADA. NIL. ZERO.
• Last week's scoreless draw with Cal Poly was only the 26th such result in the program's history dating back to the 1994
• Sacramento State's last scoreless draw came at Weber State on Oct. 13 of last year
• The Hornets have had multiple scoreless draws in a season only six times, including a record three during the 2012 campaign

IZZY DOES IT
• It was a busy day for Palmatier against Cal Poly last week as the sophomore finished with a career-high 11 saves against the Mustangs
• The performance was her second career match with double-digit stops, surpassing her previous career high of 10 at Weber State on Oct. 13 of last season
• Her 11 saves were just one shy of breaking onto the program's all-time single-match top 10 list and were the most by a Hornet keeper since Mia Shalit finished with the same number against Northern Arizona on Oct. 21, 2022
• The 11 stops are also the most in a match by a Big Sky keeper as of Sept. 3, edging out Idaho's Paula Flores, who had 10 against Washington State on Aug. 25
• Palmatier ranks second in the Big Sky in goals against average (1.00), first in save percentage (.840), second in saves per game (5.25) and third in overall saves (21)

NO GOALS FOR YOU!
• Palmatier's shutout in the scoreless draw with Cal Poly was the fifth of her career, moving her into a tie for 10th on the school's all-time list along with Shelby Tomasello (2010-12)
• One more and she will tie Mia Shalit (2021-23) for ninth, while four more this season will make her only the seventh Hornet keeper to reach double digits in the category

HELP ME, HELP YOU
• Sacramento State has four assists on its four goals through three matches to start the season, already halfway to last year's total of eight helpers on 12 scores

THE FAR(BER) SIDE
• Sophomore Ellie Farber, who leads the team with a pair of goals and an assist on the season, enters the week among the top 10 in a number of Big Sky categories• Farber leads the league with 3.00 shots per match and ranks sixth overall with 12
• Her two goals scored are tied for third in the conference, while her five points are tied for fourth in the league
• With her goal and assist against Houston Christian on Aug. 17, Farber became the first Hornet with a three-point match since Ariana Nino had a goal and an assist at Idaho in the closing minutes of a 2-1 victory on Oct. 16, 2022

NOSE FOR THE GOAL
• Senior Abigail Lopez enters her final collegiate campaign knocking on the door of a few all-time lists in Hornet women's soccer history
• The three-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree enters this week's matches with 11 career goals and five assists for 27 points
• She needs two more goals this season to break into the career top 10 in that category, while nine more points gets Lopez onto that top-10 list
• Her 96 shots are also 16 back of 10th on the career chart
• 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)