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HILLSBORO, Ore. — With second place in the Big Sky Conference standings on the line, the Portland State women's soccer team beat Idaho 3-1 Sunday, putting the Vikings in the driver's seat for the second seed in the Big Sky Tournament and a first-round bye.
 
The Vikings (8-5-4, 5-2-2 Big Sky) claimed sole possession of second place in the Big Sky standings with the win over the Vandals (4-13-2, 4-4-2 Big Sky), who had entered Sunday tied with the Vikings at 14 points in conference play.
 
Portland State, which also clinched berth into the Big Sky Tournament with Sunday's win, now controls its own destiny with regard to second place in the conference, as they can wrap up the second seed in the conference tournament with a win over Sacramento State in their regular-season finale Friday, Oct. 31.
 
"A win today against an Idaho team that is well coached and has been performing well in conference was very important for us," PSU head coach Laura Schott said. "It'll give us a lot of confidence going forward knowing we can come up with these types of performances when stuff is on the line."
 
The second seed in the Big Sky Tournament has added significance this year, as only the top two seeds at the tournament will avoid playing on back-to-back days. The bottom four teams in the six-team field, meanwhile, will face off in the quarterfinals a day before the winners face the top two seeds in the semifinals.
 
With second place on the line then Sunday, the Vikings scored a big early goal to take the upper hand over the Vandals, as junior midfielder/forward Cori Bianchini put the Vikings up 1-0 with a goal just 3 minutes and 19 seconds into the match. Senior defender Kayla Henningsen started the play for the Vikings as she sent a long cross into the box from her spot on the left wing. Idaho's goalkeeper tried to fall on Henningsen's cross, but the ball instead squirted out to Bianchini, who took advantage of the Vandals' keeper being out of position with a quick shot on target that found the back of the net.
 
The early goal marked the sixth time the Vikings have scored in the first 10 minutes of a match this season, and the Vikings had gone 4-0-1 in those matches going into Sunday.
 
"If we can put pressure on our opponents early, it's always helpful," Schott said. "We need to continue starting games strong going forward."
 
The Vandals responded well to the Vikings' strong start, however, as they played even with the Vikings over the rest of the first half and went into halftime tied 5-5 with Portland State in shots.
 
Idaho's Kavita Battan nearly leveled the match for the Vandals with a shot from distance in the 19th minute that PSU goalkeeper Caitlin Plese was just able to tap over the crossbar.
 
Portland State handled the Vandals' push for an equalizer early, however, and then put the match away with a pair of goals within four minutes of each other early in the second half. Freshman midfielder Katie Forsee scored the first of the two second-half goals for the Vikings, as she fielded a rebound of a shot from Bianchini in the 59th minute, and redirected the ball to just inside the right post for a score.
 
The goal gave Forsee her first as a Viking, and senior Angela Haluska followed with her first goal less than four minutes later. Haluska, the former goalkeeper who got the start at forward on senior day, found herself in just the right spot in the 63rd minute, when junior forward Tamia Hasan won a ball back from the Idaho defense about 10 yards up from the left post, and sent a short pass over the Haluska on the outside. From there, Haluska hammered a shot right over the Idaho goalkeeper that tucked just under the crossbar for the score.
 
"Angela has always been invaluable to us as she's ready to play every weekend if our starting goalkeeper goes down. But to then put her up top and see her succeed, it's inspiring and so much fun," Schott said.
 
Haluska's score gave the Vikings a 3-0 cushion over the Vandals at that point, and the Vikings dominated the rest of the way in closing out the win. Portland State held Idaho to just two shots in the second half, and outshot them 9-2 in the period to take home a 14-7 advantage in shots overall.
 
Additionally, both of the Vandals' shots in the second half came from distance, though the second resulted in a Sports Center-worthy goal that Plese couldn't do anything about. Olivia Baggerly scored the goal for the Vandals in the 85th minute, as she just turned and fired a shot from 40 yards out on the right flank. Baggerly's shot sailed in the air for a long period before falling to the exact upper left corner of the net for the Vandals' only goal of the match.
 
Unfortunately for Plese, Baggerly's late goal robs the senior goalkeeper of what would have been her record-tying 17th career shutout at Portland State. Plese can still tie the record in the regular season, however, with a shutout of Sacramento State on Friday, Oct. 31, when the Vikings host the Hornets at 1 p.m. (PT) at Hillsboro Stadium for each team's regular-season finale.
 
Match Notes: Portland State improves to 4-5-0 all-time against Idaho with Sunday's win…Sunday's match was the first Big Sky Conference meeting between the two schools after Idaho rejoined the conference over the summer…Idaho had been 3-0-1 in conference matches on Sundays going into their match against the Vikings…Portland State is now 8-0-1 when scoring first in matches, as well as 7-0-1 when leading at halftime and 6-0-2 when they score before halftime…Bianchini's goal Sunday moved her into sole possession of eighth place on the all-time scoring list at Portland State with 10 goals now in her career…Bianchini also now just needs one more assist to move into the all-time top 10 in assists at Portland State after assisting on Forsee's goal.

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