Photo Credit: Portland State Athletics

PORTLAND, Ore— After finishing in a tie for second place in the conference, the Portland State soccer team will travel to Ogden, Utah this week for the Big Sky Soccer Championships and will face Northern Arizona in a 10 a.m. PST match on Thursday. Fans can track the game via live stats on GoViks.com.

The Vikings (5-10-4) and Lumberjacks (10-6-3) ended the regular season with identical 4-1-2 conference records, and in the Oct. 12 match between the two teams, the game ended in a scoreless draw. In that match, Cris Lewis notched nine saves against the top-scoring team in the Big Sky, while NAU’s Tori Rocke made eight stops.

Portland State will enter the tournament riding a wave of strong play on both ends of the pitch, as evidenced by the team’s improvements in every statistical category. Through the seven games of the conference season, the Vikings scored an average of 1.29 goals per match while allowing an average of 0.71.

Northern Arizona closed out the season with a come-from-behind victory over Northern Colorado on Oct. 31 to clinch the tournament’s No. 3 seed. After an own goal put them behind early in the match, the Lumberjacks stormed back at the end of the game with scores in the 80th and 81st minutes.

Northern Arizona holds a 7-4-1 advantage in the all-time series with Portland State, but the teams have never met in the Big Sky tournament.

This year’s postseason will mark the first time that Portland State has appeared in the Big Sky Championships in consecutive seasons. With Laura Schott at the helm, it will also be the first time that a first-year head coach has led the Vikings to the playoffs since Neil Turnbull accomplished the feat in 1997, Portland State’s inaugural year as a member of the Big Sky.

PSU has made four appearances in the conference tournament over the past 11 seasons, and advanced to the finals in 2002. Last year, the Vikings entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed and were downed by Sacramento State, 2-1, in the semifinal round.

After the Vikings and Lumberjacks play, Big Sky Regular Season Champion Weber State will face Montana in the other semifinal match at 1 p.m. PST. The winners of each match will play in the championship round Saturday at 12 p.m. PST.