In a bitterly cold regular season finale, UCCS men’s soccer drew 1-1 against CSU Pueblo before heading into the RMAC tournament.
The tie knocked the Mountain Lions down to the 4th seed in the RMAC division.
In the darkness, snow flowed under the arena’s lights. The pitch was dusted with snow, but the turnout of 215 attendees persisted through the harsh weather conditions.
The first half was very chippy between both teams. In the first ten minutes, four fouls were collected by both squads. Determining who had the most momentum in the first 30 minutes was no easy feat as both teams struggled to obtain any significant pressure in the offense.
Pressure rose in the 20th minute when CSUP’s Giancarlo Pretto received a yellow card with a tackle missing the ball as UCCS pushed forward with possession. This was a subtle precursor to many more yellow cards earned from each team in the first half.
The back-and-forth game lasted until the 30th minute after UCCS found their footing and started to put on the pressure. In the 35th minute, Mountain Lions junior forward Nick Walker sprinted down the left side of the field, centering the ball to senior midfielder Dani Barajas.
With one touch to ground himself, Barajas struck the ball down the center of the goal, grazing the crossbar with no chance for opposing goalkeeper Ruben Volkert to make a save, scoring the first goal of the match.
As the half continued, more players received yellow cards. The first half conceded with exponential chippiness. Between the two teams, 16 fouls were racked up: CSUP had 11 and UCCS with five.
The ThunderWolves bounced back in the second half, constantly pressing up against UCCS’ backline throughout the final 45 minutes.
In the 46th minute, the ThunderWolves’ Jose Bustamante had a chance at a goal with a very well-placed shot from outside of the box that glided to the far-right post. But junior goalkeeper Soren Russel prevented the goal by punching the ball out of bounds.
This was the start to dominant possession through the rest of the second half. A total of five corner kicks were obtained in the second half by CSUP, hinting at what would become a major upset for the Mountain Lions.
With corner kick after corner kick, the ThunderWolves finally found what they were looking for. In the 87th minute, Shjon Andrews placed the ball on the left corner and sent the ball to the far right post where Caio Oliveira headed the ball to the bottom right corner of the net, just beating Russell’s gloves and tying the game.
The celebrations turned into chatter, and the goal scorer earned himself a yellow card for taunting. This accumulated the yellow card total to seven yellow cards: three for UCCS and four for CSUP.
No goals were scored for the final few minutes, and the game ended with UCCS sending the ball high into the air and the final whistle blowing, drawing 1-1.
Ending the regular season, UCCS’ record moved to 13-1-4, and 6-1-3 in the RMAC. CSUP’s record held at 12-3-3, and 7-1-2 in the RMAC. The Mountain Lion’s record against the ThunderWolves now stands at 36-26-7 overall.
After the Mountain Lions’ first victory against the Colorado School of Mines in the RMAC quarterfinals, the Mountain Lions will take on the ThunderWolves in a rematch on Nov. 13 at 6 p.m.