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NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — The Portland State women's soccer team ran into another tough opponent on the road Sunday, as the Vikings lost 3-0 to Cal State Northridge at Matador Soccer Field.
 
The loss follows the Vikings' 3-0 loss to Arizona State Friday, and drops the Vikings to 0-2-0 after the first weekend of the 2015 season.
 
Unlike Friday, when the Vikings fell behind 2-0 early to the Sun Devils, the Vikings stayed level with the Matadors (1-1-0) deep into the first half, and only trailed 1-0 at halftime. Two goals early in the second half for the Matadors made things tough on the Vikings, however, and the Vikings couldn't respond despite picking up their play over the last 30 minutes of the match.
 
Cal State Northridge went up 1-0 in the 39th minute of the first half, when the Matador's Destinney Duron headed in a corner from teammate Sylvia Trinh.
 
The Matadors then doubled their lead just after halftime in the 48th minute, when Kourtney Kutscher slotted in a free kick from 25 yards out.
 
The Matadors' third goal, meanwhile, came off a counter attack in the 60th minute, as the Matadors took a blocked shot from PSU's Cori Bianchini into a breakaway goal for Cynthia Sanchez. Sanchez scored the goal after receiving a long pass up from Duron that started the break.
 
The Vikings tried to pull back a goal after that, but CSUN goalkeeper Jovani McCaskill saved three shots over the final 30 minutes to keep the Vikings out of the net.
 
Portland State's best chances came in the final five minutes of play, starting with a quick rebound off a corner kick in the 86th minute. Junior midfielder Bianca Munoz took the corner for the Vikings that got punched out but fell right to senior forward Tamia Hasan. Hasan then sent a quick rebound shot towards the Matadors goal, but the shot went wide.
 
Bianchini then made a threat in the 90th minute of play, when she got her head on the end of a cross deep into the Matadors' box. McCaskill was there to save Bianchini's shot, however, keeping the Vikings out of the goal.
 
Overall, the Matadors outshot the Vikings 18-11 in the match, including a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal.
 
PSU goalkeeper Angela Haluska recorded six saves for the Vikings in the match, giving her 16 saves for the weekend after she finished with 10 saves in the team's season opener against Arizona State Friday.
 
The Vikings will now turn their attention to their home opener against UC Davis on Aug. 28. The Vikings will host the Aggies at Hillsboro Stadium at 1 p.m. (PT).
 
Match Notes: Sunday's match was the first between the Vikings and Matadors as non-conference opponents…The Vikings had faced the Matadors four times from 1997-2000 when the Matadors were still part of the Big Sky Conference…The Matadors improved to 4-1-0 all-time against Portland State with their win Sunday…Sunday's match was also the first of four straight the Vikings will play against Big West Conference opponents…The Vikings fell to 7-11-2 all-time against Big West opponents after Sunday's loss.

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