It came down to the last game of the year, but the Sacramento State women’s soccer team clinched a spot in the Big Sky tournament.

The Hornets defeated Portland State 1-0 in Portland on Friday on a header in the 30th minute by freshman forward Kim Kemper. Sac State entered the match in a three-way tie for second place.

The team played well all season long, but it took a new program record in wins (10) to get into the tournament. This fact actually pleases coach Katie Poynter.

“It makes me proud that the conference is improving so much,” she said. “It shows that the competition is better throughout the conference.”

Poynter added that the last ditch plunge into the tournament also showed that the team can win important games.

“I think that we have as good a chance as anybody to win it all,” junior forward Katie McCoy said. “It’ll be a disadvantage playing on the road, but we have to shut that out. We can’t let it affect us.”

In what has become a continuing theme for the team all season, the Hornets realize that what ultimately may stand in their way of a conference title is the team’s inability to finish scoring chances. In the season, the Hornets took 100 more shots than their opponents (337-237), yet only scored six more goals (27-21).

This problem is not lost on the players.

“We just have to finish,” sophomore midfielder Missy Matzen said. “We are doing everything else well right now.”

But for now, the team is happy that step one has been crossed off the list.”The conference has been crazy this year,” Matzen said. “It makes the games that much better.”

So who’s going to win it all? Sophomore goalie Jenny Lawrence knows.

“We are, for sure,” she said.

The four-team tournament will be comprised of regular season champions Idaho State, Montana, Sac State and defending champion Weber State.

Sac State will enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed while Montana enters as the No. 2 seed. The Hornets and Grizzlies tied 1-1 on Oct. 13 in a game that saw Sac State score a goal in the 85th minute to knot the game at one apiece. The seeding was determined through a series of tiebreakers. The Hornets and Grizzlies share the same conference record, but a 2-1 victory for Montana over Weber State decided the complicated outcome.

Sac State and Montana will square off at 10 a.m. on Friday in Pocatello, Idaho while No. 1 seed Idaho State and No. 4 seed Weber State will play at 1 p.m. The winners of both matches will square off on Sunday at noon for the right to be called champions of the Big Sky.

Benn Hodapp can be reached at [email protected]