Caeley Lordemann is in the midst of a historic season for Colorado State soccer, while the program is enjoying its best season ever.

CSU’s soccer program is still relatively young; they’re in the middle of only their seventh season. Senior Lordemann has been around for three of those years. The program historically has not had a lot of success. Before Lordemann arrived, the Rams, from 2013-16, had records of 2-13-3, 4-15, 3-15-2 and 3-14-2. As a new team that was struggling to win at all, the Rams soccer unit was the laughing stock of the Mountain West.

The arrival of Lordemann as a transfer changed that. Although her first two seasons in Fort Collins weren’t the most successful years that the collegiate soccer program has seen, they were the two best in the Rams’ history. In 2017, Lordemann’s first year as a Ram, they went 4-10-5. That season marked the most successful season to date. As a junior, Lordemann and CSU improved on that mark by going 6-9-4.

Still, CSU had never seen a winning season, and Lordemann is accustomed to success, so something has to give. She was a four-time letter winner just down I-25 at Greeley West High School. In Greeley, her team even advanced to the nationals, where only eight out of 100 teams moved past round-robin play. She was a two-time all-state honorable mention, and after a memorable run through high school, she moved on to play college ball.

Lordemann didn’t start her college career at CSU. She played her freshman season at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. That Creighton team pulled in a very good record of 9-6-2. Lordemann was even a full-time starter and was third on the team with 10 points, including four goals. Even after a great season that created high optimism for the future, a return to Colorado was necessary to Lordemann.

“I’m really family-oriented, and I just wanted to come back home,” Lordemann said.

Now as a senior, Lordemann is a captain for the Rams. CSU is in second place in the loaded Mountain West, with a record of 9-4-1. Those nine wins are already the most in CSU history, and the team still has five games left.

“As a player, she is a cut above,” Head Coach Bill Hempen said. “And as she goes, we go.”

That statement rings very true, as this season, the Rams are undefeated in games Lordemann scores in.

Lordemann was already one of the greatest players in the history of the program, but this senior year for the midfielder has put her in the greatest of all time conversation for Rams soccer players and even CSU student-athletes as a whole in terms of changing the identity of a losing program.

This season, Lordemann is first on the team in goals (seven) and points (18) and is second in assists (five). Those numbers are third, third again and seventh respectively in the Mountain West Conference. Lordemann has five game-winners to boot, three of which came as overtime killers.

“I don’t know how she does it, but we will just keep getting her the ball,” teammate Kristen Noonan said.

Lordemann now ranks as the all-time leading goal scorer in CSU history. She has 15 career goals for the Rams, and this is without ever playing her freshman season in the green and gold.

“(The title ‘all time goals’) doesn’t mean that much to me,” Lordemann said. “At the end of the day, as long as we are winning, that is all that matters.”

Lordemann shines at more than just getting the ball into the net. No doubt the captain thrives as a goal scorer, but she is an incredibly versatile player as well. She can defend with the best of them and may be the team’s best passer. She can start any fast break with her strong leg, delivers great through balls and is never afraid to put her body on the line defensively.

“Teams are starting to pay more attention to her, and that’s making it even harder for her,” Hempen said. “But she still plays well.”

Through these last five games, it isn’t the individual accolades that matter to Lordemann. She has done nearly enough of that. It’s time to continue doing something this soccer program hasn’t historically done much of: win.

This Rams team wants to win the conference and maybe do damage in the Mountain West championship tournament.

“Individually, I just want to keep up the leadership,” Lordemann said. “And as a team, we obviously want to make the tournament and do whatever it takes to get there.”

With as little as maybe five games left in her collegiate career, Lordemann is putting everything she has into these last few games. Lordemann is a health and exercise science major who wants to take a profession in anything along the lines of fitness and nutrition. That plan is if her dream of playing professional soccer doesn’t work out, but if she keeps up the season she is having, that is a real possibility.

Bailey Bassett can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @baileybassett_.