PORTLAND- Portland State will face two top-ranked opponents this weekend as the team plays its first home matches against No. 1 USC and No. 3 UCLA. The Vikings will take on the Trojans at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday at the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation Center, and will square off at 1:00 p.m. Monday against the Bruins at PCC-Rock Creek.

Both matches will be firsts for Portland State, as the Trojans and Bruins are among five teams on the 2008 schedule that the Vikings have never faced. They are also among a school-record four Pac-10 Conference opponents for the Vikings this year.

Portland State (0-2-0) will be aiming for its first win of the season after posting two losses over the weekend. The Vikings fell to Oregon State on Friday 2-1, and were shut out 1-0 by Gonzaga on Sunday.

USC (1-0-0) opened its season on Friday with a 1-0 overtime defeat of No. 25 San Diego. UCLA will play its first game against UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday, and will face Portland before their Labor Day match-up against the Vikings.

USC and UCLA were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the NSCAA/adidas preseason poll, and each team is coming off a season in which they advanced to the College Cup. At the tournament, USC claimed the national championship after defeating Florida State, the team that knocked out UCLA in the semifinal round.


VIKING NOTEBOOK

Lewis Moves Up Career Saves List
Coming into the season, junior GK Cris Lewis needed only 15 saves to take over the second spot on Portland State's Division I career saves list. Lewis notched 12 stops against Oregon State on Friday and added four more against Gonzaga on Sunday, putting her up-to-date career total at 161. At the beginning of the season, Lewis also stood at third in goals against average and fourth in wins on PSU's Division I leaderboard.

Leale Scores First Goal In Viking Career
In Friday's match against Oregon State, junior M Lauren Leale scored her first career goal when she put a header into the upper left net in the 75th minute. The goal came on Leale's first and only shot of the game, which was also the first shot of her collegiate career. On Sunday, Leale earned the start against Gonzaga, also a first for her as a Viking.

Freshmen Making Their Mark
The 2008 Viking roster includes 10 true freshmen, and the newcomers are already making their mark. Midfielder Tish Parsons started both games this past weekend, while M Caitlin Hurt and F/M Esty Geiger each got one start and appeared in both matches. Two more midfielders, Amanda Howie and Kala Renard, also saw action. Howie registered a shot against Gonzaga, and Renard fired on goal in both games, with her shot against the Bulldogs stopped only by a leaping save.