Beavers Open 2019 Season at Portland State

August 22, 2019 | Women's Soccer

By: Athletic Communications

THE GAMES: Oregon State opens the 2019 season this week, as it travels to Hillsboro, Ore. to face off against Portland State. The Beavers and Vikings play on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 1 p.m.

FOLLOW ALONG: Saturday's game will be broadcast on Pluto TV. Links for live stats and to watch can be found at OSUBeavers.com. Twitter updates for all Oregon State games can be found @BeaverWSoccer.

WHAT'S COMING UP: Oregon State will return to Corvallis for the home openers against Villanova (Aug. 30 @ 5 p.m.) and St. Mary's (Sept. 1 @ 2:30 p.m.). Both of these games will be double headers with the men's program.

HISTORY WITH THE VIKINGS: Saturday's matchup will mark the 17th time in program history that OSU and Portland State have met, and the first time the two have faced since 2017. Oregon State currently leads the series with 11 wins and is on a three-game win streak.

Quick Hitters:

The Beavers will play 11 home games this season at Lorenz Field - including five of the eight nonconference matches.
Oregon State returns seven starters and 13 letterwinners from the 2018 squad.
OSU is scheduled to face three opponents ranked in the United Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll and six that are receiving votes.
OSU placed 11 players on the Pac-12 All-Academic team last season, including five players that will return to the squad this season (Gorzynski - first team, Fried, LaMont, Malone and Weinert - honorable mention).

Last Season

OSU posted a final overall record of 2-17 and a 1-10 conference record.
As a freshman, Bridgette Skiba recorded 78 saves on the season, which was the third most in the Pac-12.
Skiba also posted the only shutout for the Beavers against Dartmouth.
As a redshirt junior, Toni Malone was the only player to start every game for the Beavers in 2018, clocking 1238 total minutes.
Sydney Studer will lead the returning group in total minutes played after clocking 1436 minutes in 2018.
Redshirt sophomore McKenzie Weinert led the Beavers with 33 shot attempts (10 on goal) during the 2018 campaign through 1125 minutes of action in 12 games.
Senior Ashleigh Fonsen recorded the lone assist last season on Weinert's goal against Dartmouth.
Three Beavers return after scoring at least one goal last season - Weinert (2), Brown (1) and Studer (1).
Last season, there were 18 different starters creating 17 different starting lineups through the Beavers' 19 games.

New Era Under Kagan

2019 marks the first season for head coach Matt Kagan who joins the Beavers after spending the prior two years as the associate head coach at Mississippi State.
During his first season at MSU, the Bulldogs posted the best record the program had had in 16 years.
Kagan has been a member of nine coaching staffs that have led teams to the NCAA Tournament - three of those teams have advanced to the Sweet 16.
Kagan started his professional career in 2004 at Assumption College in Massachusetts before taking the reigns of Worcester State from 2005-08.

The Staff:

Kagan brings in three distinguished coaches to join his staff.
Jenny Ruiz-Williams was a four-year letterwinner at UNLV and a two-time All-Mountain West Selection while helping the program to their first ever NCAA appearance.
Ruiz-Williams was a member of the Mexican National Team when they won bronze at the Pan American Games in 2003, 2011 and 2015. Ruiz-Williams scored the game-winning goal in the bronze-medal game in 2011 against Columbia.
Ruiz-Williams joined the Seattle Reign FC in 2013 before competing in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup with Mexico.
Nick Stirrett joins the Beavers staff working primarily with the goalkeepers after spending the last three seasons at the University of Illinois where he helped the Illini finish fifth in the Big Ten and make it to the second round of the conference tournament in 2018.
Prior to his time at Illinois, Stirrett helped lead the Penn State Nittany Lions to become the 2015 NCAA National Champions.
Stirrett also spent two seasons as the head men's coach at the University of Mount Union.
Tiff Crooks joins the staff as the Director of Operations after spending the last 12 seasons as the head coach at Case Western Reserve University.
Crooks is the winningest coach in CWRU program history and was awarded University Athletic Association Coach Staff of the Year in 2009 and 2011.

Newcomers:

The Beavers welcome nine newcomers to the 2019 roster, seven freshman and two transfers.
Sophomore Laura Glaceran transferred from Mississippi State.
Senior Jamie McPherson transferred from Cal State East Bay.
Eight newcomers saw action in the exhibition match vs. UBC with two starting (McReynolds and Schwartz).

Exhibition vs. UBC:

Oregon State hosted the University of British Columbia in an exhibition match last Sunday afternoon at Paul Lorenz Field.
OSU captured a 5-0 victory over the Thunderbirds after outshooting UBC 15-3.
All five goals the Beavers scored were in the second half of play.
OSU's goals came from four different players (McReynolds - 2, Galceran, Leblic and Schwartz - 1).

Former Beavers:

Jodie Taylor currently plays for Seattle Reign FC. This past summer, Taylor was selected for the England WNT to compete at the Women's FIFA World Cup.
Taylor helped the Lionesses to a fourth-place finish, scoring the game-winning goal in the the group stages against Argentina.
2019 graduate Allison Pantuso signed a pro contract with Football Femminile Lugan 1976 in Lugano, Switzerland.
Bella Geist was drafted in the third round (29th overall) by the Portland Thorns in the 2018 draft.
Greta Espinoza playes for the Tigres Femenil in Mexico.
Espinoza was a member of the Mexico National Team and won a gold medal at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Columbia.
Emma Jones signed a contract to play for the Linkopings FC in Sweden prior to last season.
Natalie Higgins signed a contract to play for Tavenna Women in Italy on Sept. 16, 2018.

Season tickets for the 2019 season are available now, and can be purchased here or by calling 541-737-2050.

For more information on the Oregon State women's soccer team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the club @BeaverWSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.

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