The Storm the Stadium event held on Oct. 1 ended with an overtime win from the UCCS women’s soccer team against the Westminster Griffins. They followed that game with a close loss on Oct. 3 against the Colorado Mesa Mavericks.
The Mountain Lions won 3-2 with only two minutes remaining in the first overtime at Storm the Stadium.
The first half saw a defensive game for the Mountain Lions with only three shots taken. The second half started with the Griffins taking the lead 2-0 until the Mountain Lions turned the game around and tied the game 2-2 with two minutes remaining in the second half.
Midfield graduate student Tarah Patterson scored the first goal with an assist by midfield freshman Fie Steenberg at the beginning of the second half.
With just over a minute remaining, forward redshirt senior Tori Maydew scored the second goal for the Mountain Lions with an assist from forward graduate student Bri Johnson to tie the score with the Griffins 2-2. This took the game to first overtime where midfield/forward redshirt junior Amelia Junge scored the winning goal with an assist from Patterson.
Two cautions were given in the second half to a player from each team. Both players received a yellow card for unsportsmanlike behavior or reckless play. The game became an aggressive match between the teams, which resulted in a large number of fouls in addition to the two cautions.
Patterson led for shots taken, with a total of four shots taken throughout the game and one shot resulting in the first goal for UCCS. Maydew was the second lead for shots taken overall and was the second player to score a goal for UCCS. The contested match game consisted of 17 fouls for UCCS and 10 for the Griffins, proving to be a high contact game on both sides.
Junge described the game as really intense and said the team kept the coaches, other players and spectators on their toes. Reflecting on the second half of the game, she said, “We finally just started to play our own game, and we just kept the ball on possession, and we got to switch the point attack.”
Junge scored the winning goal for UCCS in overtime, and according to her, she will remember that moment for the rest of her life. “I was there when the team needed me, I was just there and got in the goal,” she said.
With this game, UCCS Women’s Soccer continued their winning streak of seven games won in a row. However, that streak was broken on Oct. 3 when the team fell 3-2 against Colorado Mesa for their second loss this season and their first RMAC defeat.
UCCS came out ahead within the fifth minute of the match after an assist from Maydew to Junge. After the back-to-back goals from both teams, the Mavericks ended the game in the 88th minute with their final goal.
Despite the fall, Patterson became the all-time program leader in assists for UCCS.
The overall record for UCCS moves to 8-2 with a 3-1 record in the RMAC league. Coming up, the Mountain Lions will take on MSU Denver at home on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m., followed by Black Hills State at home on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. They will end the week with an away game versus Colorado School of Mines.
Only eight games remain for the UCCS women’s soccer team to wrap up the regular season before the start of the RMAC Tournament followed by the NCAA Division II Tournament.
