Aug. 23, 2012

Oregon State vs. Portland State Tualatin Hills Parks & Rec. Soccer Field #5 Beaverton, Ore.  Wed. August 24, 2012 (12 p.m.) Women's Soccer

Smothering Defense like this had enabled Oregon State to go undefeated in their first two matches without allowing a single goal all season.

Game Preview  Records .Pct   Streak  Oregon State   (2-0-0)  .1000  W2  Portland State  (0-1-0)  .000  L1  Last Time Out... OSU 1 Pac-12 Portland 0 West Coact Conference ----- ---- ------------------------ St. Mary's 2 West Coast Conference PSU 0 Big Sky Conference PSU_Match_Notes  / LIVE STATS  Tweet

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State Beavers women’s soccer team will put their 2-0 record on the line Friday, when they travel to Beaverton to take on Portland State. The match, which starts at 12 p.m., will be the second straight for Linus Rhode’s crew in the Rose City area.

OSU is fresh off of their 1-0 upset win over the Portland Pilots Monday night and will be looking to go 3-0 to start a season for the first time since 2010, when they reeled off five straight to begin the regular season campaign.

“Portland State is going to pose us different challenges than we’ve had in the previous two matches,” Rhode thought. “They are a very direct and athletic team so they will definitely provide us with some challenges that we will need to work out tactically.”

Thus far the Beavs’ have been led on offense by the fleeted foot of Megan Miller, whose pair of assists have both led to game winning goals. Her corner kick in the 87^th minute versus UAB in the home opener gave OSU a 1-0 lead and another set piece of hers led to the same result, but this time in the 25^th minute at Portland to put Oregon State up 1-0.

Defensively, the Beavers have been stellar, allowing just 16 shots and eight shots on goal, all of which goal keeper Audrey Bernier-Larose has stopped. The junior made a career high five saves in the win against UP, four of which came within a five minute stretch, midway through the first half.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Vikings enter the match-up, having dropped their first contest of the year, 2-0 to St. Mary’s in Portland. PSU is relatively young club, with 20 of its 29 roster members being underclassmen. Portland State returns five starters and a dozen letterwinners from a year ago.

OSU holds an all-time record of 9-4-1 over the Vikings, with a 1-0-1 mark at Hillsboro Field. The last time the two schools met at PSU’s place was back in 1999 when the Beavers defeated Portland State 4-1.

RECEIVING VOTES
The Oregon State women’s soccer team is receiving praise from national polls due to their 2-0 start and upset of the home steady Portland Pilots. In the latest poll released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA), the Beavers received a total of 29 votes for the Top-25. Tied with them was Cal-State Northridge, who also had 29 and then there were seven other schools standing in between them and a national ranking.

CLIMBING UP THE LADDER
Entering Friday’s match Linus Rhode has 51 victories as head coach of the OSU women’s soccer program. His current win total puts him just three behind Tom Rowney who coached the Beavers from 1992-97 and took them to their first NCAA Tournament appearance. With four more wins, Rhode will own sole possession of second place on the all-time program wins list, 26 behind leader Steve Fennah (1998-2007).

The OSU/PSU match will kick-off at 12 p.m. Friday and live stats will be available via Portland State’s official athletic website goviks.com

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