Beavers Head to LA For Tough Road Tests

Thursday, September 28

Los Angeles, Calif.

3:30 PM

Oregon State

USC

September 26, 2017 | Women's Soccer

Match Notes Watch

Oregon State at USC Thursday; at UCLA Sunday

By: Athletic Communications

THE GAME: Oregon State heads into a challenging road trip this week, as it heads to Los Angeles for a pair of matchups vs. ranked opponents. The Beavers will start the week off by taking on No. 7/11 USC at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, and will follow that up by facing No. 1/1 UCLA at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

FOLLOW ALONG: Both of this week's games will air live on Pac-12 Networks. Friday's game will be carried on Pac-12 National, Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Los Angeles, with Christian Miles and Temryss Lane on the call. Sunday's game will air on Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Los Angeles, with Mark Rogondino and Tammy Blackburn on the call. Links to live stats can be found at OSUBeavers.com.

WHAT'S COMING UP: Oregon State will return home next Thursday, when it hosts Washington in the Beavers' first game at Lorenz Field since Sept. 11.

HISTORY WITH THE TROJANS: Oregon State is 5-17-2 all-time vs. USC and 4-8-0 in road games vs. the Trojans. The Beavers' last win in the series came in 2011, when OSU took a 1-0 win in overtime in Los Angeles.

HISTORY WITH THE BRUINS: Oregon State is 4-18-0 all-time vs. UCLA, and the Beavers have never won a road game against the Bruins. OSU took a 2-1 victory over UCLA in 2015 at Lorenz Field.

Streaking:
- The Beavers have held shutouts in six of their last 11 games, dating back to last season.
- Oregon State is 4-2-0 in its last six road games
- Friday's game vs. Arizona State snapped a streak of five consecutive Oregon State wins in matches where the Beavers scored a goal.
- Ten OSU players have started all nine matches this season, and Nicole Nickerson has made eight starts on the year.

Go Geist:
- Goalkeeper Bella Geist is currently second on the Oregon State all-time saves list with 338. Geist needs nine more saves to match Michelle Mitchell's (1993-96) program record.
- Geist was named Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week on Sept. 12, and currently leads the Pac-12 in saves.
- Geist is third in the NCAA among active players in career saves.
- Geist has passed Sloane Cox (Colorado), Hope Solo (Washington) Sarah Peters (Oregon) and Melissa Onstad (Oregon State) to move into seventh in Pac-12 history for career saves. She needs seven more saves to match Jen Weibel (Arizona) for sixth in conference history.
- Geist saw time with the US U-23 National Team in the spring, playing for the Stars and Stripes in the Portland Thorns Spring Invitational. The goalkeeper got the start against the Chicago Red Stars on April 1, holding a clean sheet until she was subbed off in the 64th minute.

Quick Hitters:
- All five of Oregon State's goals this season have been scored by different players.
- Diana Santiago scored her first career goal last week, and is the only OSU player with both a goal and an assist this season.
- Kyllie-Ann Yasutake made her Oregon State debut last week after missing last season due to injury. Emery Wallerich also made her season debut.
- The team brings back two of its top three goal scorers from last season (Faris - 6, Higgins - 4), as well as three of its top four leaders in assists (Faris - 6, Jones - 5, Higgins - 3). Higgins and Jones have both found the net already in 2017.
- Oregon State has committed the 112th-most fouls in the NCAA this season, with 12.4 per game.
- The Beavers committed the most fouls per-game in the Pac-12 last season, with an average of 12.4 per match.
- OSU placed 11 players on the Pac-12 All-Academic team last season, including seven players that will return to the squad this season (Baker, Geist, Faris, Higgins, Latham, Pantuso, Rodriguez).
- Oregon State features a strong international presence, with players from four foreign nations on the squad. Emma Jones and Kate Evans hail from England, Paula Leblic from Spain, Kathryn Baker from Canada and Olivia Ellis from Australia

The Senior Class:
- This season's team is led by a class of seven seniors, and the team has continualy had more wins year over year in every one of their seasons on campus.
- The Beavers have started all seven seniors in each of their seven matches.
- Forward Nikki Farris tied the team lead for goals with six last season, as well as leading the team and tying for fifth in the Pac-12 with six assists.
- Forward Emma Jones finished with five assists, one off of tying the team lead in the category, while starting all 20 games at forward last season.
- Midfielder Kayla Latham started all 20 games for the Beavers last season, recording 12 shots with 8 on goal.
- Forward Natalie Higgins scored four goals last season, including a game winner against Boise State.

The Staff:
- Head Coach Linus Rhode is in his 10th season at the helm of the Oregon State womens soccer team, and is looking to lead the Beavers to their fourth NCAA tournament apperance under his watch.
- Prior to becoming head coach Rhode was an assistant and assosciate coach for the Beavers for eight seasons.
- The program brings on a new assistant coach this season, Vanessa Valentine. Valentine was formerly the head coach at Cal Poly.
- The Beavers also promoted longtime assistant Michelle Voiland to the position of associate head coach this season.

More on Rhode:
- With Oregon State's win over San Francisco on Sept. 3, Linus Rhode became Oregon State's career wins leader, passing Steve Fennah.
- Associate Head Coach Michelle Voiland on Rhode: "Linus has a vision for our program, and he sticks to that vision. It's all about making sure our players have a great experience and making sure the program is always moving forward. He really cares about our student-athletesand everyone involved in the program."
- Redshirt-senior Emmy Rodriguez on Rhode: "Linus has done so much for this program. He's so dedicated to our players on the field and off the field. He's done a great job of creating a family atmosphere."

Beavs in the Pros:
- Jodie Taylor won the Golden Boot at this summer's European Championships, leading the tournament with five goals.
- Taylor also scored a goal for England in the 2015 World Cup in Canada, helping England win a bronze medal
- Taylor currently plays for Arsenal LFC
- Rachel Axon currently plays for Kolbotn Fotball in the Norwegian league.
- Greta Espinoza signed for Spanish club Levante this summer.
- Espinoza has also seen time with the Mexican National Team, including appearances at the 2015 World Cup
- Helene Haavik signed this spring with FC Staad of the Swiss Nationalliga A.

The Schedule:
- Eleven of Oregon State's 19 matches will be home games, including five of its eight nonconference contests.
- The Beavers took on foes from five different conferences in non-league play. OSU will faced three teams from the WCC, two from the Big 12, and one each from the SEC, WAC and Big Sky.
- The Beavers will be on TV nine times this year, eight times on Pac-12 Networks and once on Comcast Sportsnet Northwest.