Vikings Announce 2016 Soccer Schedule
Full Schedule
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland State presents its own offering to Soccer City, U.S.A., as the Viking women's soccer team announced its 2016 fall schedule Friday. The Vikings will play eight home matches during the 2016 season, all at Hillsboro Stadium where the Vikings have played for the past six seasons. Like last season, admission to all home matches will be free to the public.
The 2016 schedule represents up a tough challenge for a young Viking team that will be looking to get back into the Big Sky tournament field after missing the conference tournament last year. Four of the Vikings' five Big Sky road matches will be played at above 4,000 feet of elevation, and the Vikings will be on the road for five of their eight non-conference matches as well.
The Vikings will host five of the six teams that made the Big Sky tournament at home, however.
"The 2016 schedule is an exciting one," PSU head coach Laura Schott said about her team's upcoming slate. "The season is a marathon, not a sprint, so we will use every game on the schedule, regardless of result, to stress the importance of hard work, being fearless, and focusing on improvement in everything we do."
The Vikings will play an exhibition against the University of Oregon in Eugene on Aug. 12, before opening their season at home against CSUN on Aug. 19.
The Vikings will then head across town to the University of Portland for an intra-city clash at the Pilots' Merlo Field at 5 p.m. on Aug. 26. The Vikings and Pilots haven't played a regular-season match since 2010, when the Pilots beat the Vikings 1-0 for their sixth win in six matches all-time against the Vikings.
The Vikings will then stay in Portland for another home match against Fresno State on Sept. 2, before heading out of the Portland area for the first time with a road match against Gonzaga on Sept. 4.
Road matches against UC Davis and Nevada follow on Sept. 9 and Sept. 11, respectively, while the Vikings split the final weekend of their non-conference schedule, playing Colorado State at home on Sept. 16, before heading back out on the road for a match at San Jose State on Sept. 18.
The Vikings will then open Big Sky play with one of their toughest road trips of the season, as they play a quick back-to-back at altitude against Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. The Vikings play the Lumberjacks at over 7,000 feet of elevation at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23, and then turn around and play Southern Utah at 1 p.m. (MT) on Sept. 25, just over 36 hours later and at over 5,000 feet of elevation once again.
The Vikings will return home after that to host a pair of Big Sky tournament teams last season in Eastern Washington and Montana on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, respectively.
The Vikings then split the next weekend, playing at Idaho State in Pocatello, Idaho, on Oct. 7, before coming back home to host defending Big Sky regular-season champion Idaho on Oct. 9.
The Vikings hit the road for a final time after that, playing at defending Big Sky tournament champion Northern Colorado on Oct. 14, and North Dakota on Oct. 16.
Two stand-alone home matches will then follow over the next two weekends, as the Vikings play Weber State the next week on Oct. 23, before wrapping up the regular season against Sacramento State the week after on Oct. 28.
All home matches for the Vikings will kick off at 1 p.m. (PT).
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