Just like the Gold Rush of 1849, the Colorado State women’s soccer team headed west to California with hopes of striking it rich.
Instead of searching for gold, Colorado State (3-10-2, 1-5-1 MW) was searching for points to help boost them into position to make their Mountain West conference tournament.
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Their dreams of a berth in the conference tournament took a major hit on Friday, falling 2-0 to the Fresno State Bulldogs (7-7-7, 2-4-1 MW).
The Rams and the Bulldogs entered Friday’s match with the same conference record, but Fresno State’s victory propelled the Bulldogs into contention to sneak into the conference tournament while leaving the Rams behind.
The match was anyone’s through the first 15 minutes, with CSU and Fresno State splitting possession pretty evenly, but it was all downhill for the Rams from there.
The Rams fell behind in the shot count early again on Friday, a position they’ve been all too familiar with this season.
After peppering Colorado State goalkeeper Paige Brandt with shots early, freshman forward Kassidee Wiley scored her first collegiate goal to put Fresno State up 1-0 in the 34th minute, a lead that the Bulldogs would ride into halftime.
If the four overtimes that CSU has already been involved in this year didn’t already give it away, the resilient Rams of 2016 have had a tendency to make things interesting but Friday’s slow start proved to be too much to overcome.
Colorado State came out in the second half with a little more energy than they began the game with.
Despite not recording their first shot until the 51st minute, the Rams showed some signs of life, rattling off three consecutive shots in the span of one minute.
Junior forward Myra Delgadillo has been a wrecking ball thus far in 2016, and she continued her reign of terror on Friday.
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Delgadillo scored her eighth goal of the season in the 67th minute to put the Bulldogs 2-0. Prior to Friday’s match, Delgadillo’s 21 points — seven goals and seven assists — ranked third in the Mountain West.
The Bulldogs outshot the Rams 20-6, and sophomore forward Hannah Gerdin led the Rams with two shots.
A shot at the conference tournament looks bleak with four games remaining in the 2016 season. After Friday’s loss, Colorado State finds themselves in last place of the conference but only one game behind four teams. While the Rams aren’t technically eliminated from the tournament just yet, they will need some points and some help in the four games remaining.
The Rams next shot at a win will come on Sunday when they take on San Jose State in San Jose at 1 p.m.
Collegian assistant sports editor Colton Strickler can be reached at sports@collegian.com and on Twitter @coltonstrickler
