The Rams are going, going to Cali, Cali.
The Colorado State women’s soccer team (1-1-1) will be in Moraga, California this weekend to take on Saint Mary’s (3-0-1) Friday and UC Irvine (1-2-1) Sunday.
The Rams head into this weekend coming off their first defeat of the season, a 2-1 loss to Grand Canyon University in a game where possession was rather limited for CSU.
“We were really exited to play,” CSU head coach Bill Hempen said. “And then (we were) intimidated when that wall of students came walking down the pathway and stood behind the goalkeeper. I could see our kids were a little bit more intimidated after all that happened. Up until that wall of students walked in, we were fine.”
Hempen’s team will look to get back in the win column against a tough Saint Mary’s. The Gaels ride a two-game win streak into the match, after shutting out both Green Bay and Youngstown State.
CSU’s defense will have its hands full with Samantha Dion. The junior has fueled Saint Mary’s hot start, netting three goals for the Gaels and earning the West Coast Conference Player of the Week honor.
The Rams have been preparing for the weekend games with hopes of bouncing back after the loss to GCU.
“That feeling of losing is just horrible,” freshman Hannah Gerdin said. “We are just doing our best to train hard and not to feel that way as little as we can.”
The team would like to erase the memory of the GCU match, and is looking forward to the challenge this weekend.
“I definitely think playing as a team and playing together and playing as one unit we can take on any team,” Gerdin said.
The start to the 2015 season has been the best in the young program’s history. In just their third year of Division I play, the Rams are holding their own against more established programs and would like to keep building on their early results.
“We are still in the early part of the season,” Hempen said. “We have scored a goal in each of our first three games, that’s never happened. We know we can score a goal or two and the defense has been stout. We’ve given up a deflected goal and a PK, one goal off a run in three games. Everything is better than it was a year ago and the year before that so we are making the progress that we hoped we’d make.”
The Rams will look to continue their progress, and hand the Gaels their first loss of the season in the process. CSU takes on Saint Mary’s Friday at 12:30 p.m. before going up against UC Irvine Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Collegian Soccer Reporter Chad Deutschman can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChadDeutschman.
