The UCCS women’s soccer team concluded its season with a loss against eventual RMAC tournament champions Colorado School of Mines in the tournament’s semifinals.
With an overall record of 10-8-2 and 7-5 in the RMAC, the Mountain Lions didn’t perform as well as they did last season. In 2023, the team went 15-5-3 overall and 10-1-1 in RMAC. The 2024 season was the fewest wins by the team since J.B. Belzer took over as head coach in spring 2020.
Freshman defender Malia Groshong said this season fell below the teams’ expectations for themselves.
“As a team, we weren’t where we wanted to be at the end of the season, and we didn’t make the NCAA Tournament,” Groshong said. “I think with the amount of newcomers we had, we grew every single game and got better every single game.”
Groshong was awarded the 2024 RMAC Women’s Soccer Freshman of the Year on Nov. 12 for her accomplishments this season. “I thought it was a huge award not just for me but also for our team.”
Since joining the Mountain Lions, Groshong has been a main pillar of the team. The freshman biology major from Hillsboro, Oregon led the team in minutes played with 1,593 minutes and was a starting lineup player for each of the season’s 20 games. She scored a rare goal as a defender in the final regular season game against CSU Pueblo in the snow on Nov. 6.
“I took the shot, and I definitely wasn’t expecting it to go in,” Groshong said. The Mountain Lions made it to the RMAC Championship semifinals this year but were not selected to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The Mountain Lions had just two wins from six games when conference play began on Sep. 27. After defeating Cal State-Dominguez Hills on Sep. 18, they went on a five-game losing streak.
About a month later at Fort Lewis, things began to turn around for the Mountain Lions. They broke their losing streak with a 1-0 victory over Fort Lewis and then they won their next two matches against Black Hills State and Regis.
“We were all just sick and tired of losing, and we just needed to pull it together and find a scrappy way to win,” Groshong said. Groshong felt that once the team got momentum from a series of wins, it propelled them in the latter half of the season.
The team lost to Colorado Mesa after their three-game win streak but quickly rebounded with another four victories to conclude the regular season. By turning their performance around, they earned the No. 4 seed in the RMAC Tournament and hosted Colorado Christian University for a quarterfinal match on Nov. 10.
“We lost to CCU previously in the season, so when we played them in the quarterfinal, we knew we wanted revenge.” They got their revenge with a 2-1 victory, both goals scored by freshmen.
The win over CCU pitted them against No. 1 seed RMAC Tournament Champions Colorado School of Mines in the semifinal on Nov. 14. UCCS was unable to conquer the eventual champions in the semifinal, yet Groshong was still proud of their effort, “We played some really good soccer.”
Groshong was one of 16 freshmen on the 2024 roster, five of which started in more than 10 games. Over half of the roster were new to UCCS. Groshong said it was a challenge for the newcomers to adjust to the program’s intensity and each other’s personalities.
“Fie [Steenberg] was really helpful and adamant about trying to get the team together,” Groshong said. “Everybody had to do team bonding and stuff to make our chemistry better.”
The 2024 season was a rebuilding year for UCCS with a rough start and strong finish. Groshong said in 2025, she plans to retain her starting spot and help the team to RMAC and NCAA Division II championship titles.
Defender #33 Malia Groshong during the RMAC Quarterfinal on Nov. 10. Photo by Lillian Davis.