The UCCS Mountain Lions continued their hot start to the season, taking two of three matches in their final homestand before in-conference matches begin.
Raineri, UCCS takes down Lubbock Christian
The Lubbock Christian Chaps did not have an answer for Mountain Lion starting forward Kolby Raineri. The senior had three shots on target, along with two goals and an assist to cap off the squad’s strongest performance of the match. He capitalized on the opposing goalkeeper’s mistake of placing the ball too far away from him in the first half and scored in the 15th minute of the match.
The second goal was from an assist by Raineri, on the left wing of the field, to graduate student forward Marvin Putu who placed the ball in the corner of the net for the eventual winning two-goal lead
Lubbock Christian came into the second half of the game looking to mount a comeback and were able to score a goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Freshman forward Komil Khatamov gave the assist to Raineri for the last goal of the match, which buried the Chaps’ chances of a comeback victory. The Mountain Lions took the game, 3-1, and increased their record to 2-1-1.
“We deserved it. We definitely played better than them and we were more prepared,” the sophomore Russian defender, Bogdan Vedernikov, said about the win. Nicknamed “Iron Bog” for his brick-wall defense, attackers had trouble getting past him Vedernikov.
UCCS, St. Mary’s ends in scoreless tie
This intense match between the Mountain Lions and the Rattlers ended in a scoreless stalemate. A total of 37 shots were made by both teams, with none of them finding the back of the net.
The teams had an equal share of possession and numerous close calls during the second half. St. Mary’s forward Enrico Onzi had three rapid attempts on the goal, all blocked by UCCS goalkeeper Declan Domyan, who is on his fourth clean sheet so far this season.
UCCS breaks scoring records vs. Adams State
In an unprecedented performance by the Mountain Lions, Raineri and graduate student forward Liam McGuire both notched a hat-trick, scoring three goals each, en route to a record-breaking 11-0 win for UCCS over the Grizzlies.
The Mountain Lions quadrupled the Grizzlies’ shots in the game, with 32 shots to the Grizzlies’ eight.
Adding a goal each for UCCS were Khatamov, Putu, freshman midfielder Duncan Cahill, junior midfielder Lars Walczyk and junior defenseman Cole Van Holland.
Their 11-goal margin of victory was the highest since 2010, breaking the previous record of eight goals. McGuire tied the all-time point record in a single game with eight, after adding an additional five assists.
This victory gave the Mountain Lions their third win in the past four games, putting their overall record at 4-1-2.
The Mountain Lions will take on the Colorado Christian University Cougars at noon on Sunday, Sept. 18, at Mountain Lion Stadium to finish off their non-conference slate of games.
