Men’s golf kicks off season at Writz Tournament with fourth-place finish in first round
Beginning their 2022-2023 campaign at the Writz at Mile High tournament, the Mountain Lions’ men’s golf squad shot just three over par on Sept. 11, day one of the three-day competition.
The Mountain Lions find themselves at fourth in the overall standings at three over par, placing beneath Cameron, Colorado Christian and West Texas A&M.
Junior Brady Haake has the highest individual placement of any Mountain Lion thus far, shooting a -3 on the day with a total score of 69, good enough for fifth. Trailing just behind him is redshirt senior Barrett Jones, going two under par for a top-10 finish at 70.
Specifically, UCCS succeeded in par 5s, leading all 11 competing squads in average finish on these holes with 4.67 shots a hole. Haake leads all individual contestants in the same category, going three under on par 5s.
As for achieving pars consistently, sophomore Trevor Griener led the Mountain Lions in total pars, tallying 13, including seven consecutive to finish off the round with a 73. Griener, along with redshirt senior Travis Bossio, redshirt senior Lucas Howell and junior James Perry all placed within the top 40, shooting three over or better over the course’s run.
Adding an extra 12 pars was redshirt junior Brandon Bervig, finishing the round with a score of 78 and a +6.
Men’s golf continues their run at the Writz at Mile High on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 to compete in the second and third rounds of the tournament.
Women’s soccer draws consecutive games 0-0, continues streak without losses
The Mountain Lions’ women’s soccer team began their four-game homestand with a pair of ties over the past week, with scoreless draws in back-to-back games against Central Washington and Cal Poly Pomona.
Ranked for the first time this season, the Mountain Lions held strong in their defenses by not allowing a single goal but were unable to put a ball past the opposing goalkeeper in either contest.
In their first game against the Central Washington Wildcats on Sept. 7, UCCS completely dominated the attack with 16 shots, seven of which were on target, to the opposition’s 4. Ten of the Mountain Lions’ shots came in the first half of play.
Neither team was able to finish the job and get one between the posts, and the game ended without a goal for either side. Redshirt juniors Jade Kinsey and Zoe Sims, as well as redshirt sophomore Makenna Fowler all played the entire duration of the 90-minute match.
In the following match against the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos on Sept. 11, both squads stayed even for the entire game, with no one able to record a goal. UCCS held the advantage in shots and shots on goal after the final whistle blew, with 13 shots taken and five on target.
The Mountain Lions were shutout in consecutive games for the first time since 2016. However, defensively, graduate student goalkeeper Alexis Walker recorded back-to-back shutouts for the third time in her collegiate career.
These were the first two straight scoreless ties in program history, marking the first time in over four years that the Mountain Lions ended a single game in a 0-0 draw, since UCCS last drew with Dallas Baptist on Aug. 30, 2018.
This marks the fifth straight game without a loss for the Mountain Lions since their season began, and they have not conceded a game since Aug. 25, nearly three weeks ago.
UCCS will look to create some offense and defend homefield advantage in the back two games of their homestand with matches on Thursday, Sept. 15 and Sunday, Sept. 18, against Western Colorado and Fort Lewis, respectively.
Photo courtesy of gomountainlions.com.