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CSU women’s soccer goes 1-1 to kick off the season

Tyler Meguire and Taylor Paumen

March 8, 2021

Grace Armstrong(#9) looks to pass to a teammate, while surrounded by San Diego State Players — Gracie Armstrong (9) looks to pass to a teammate, while surrounded by San Jose State University players, as Colorado State plays at home Oct. 13, 2019. CSU defeats San Jose 2-1. (Devin Cornelius | The Collegian)

The Colorado State University women’s soccer team started their 10-game season over the weekend, as they faced the University of New Mexico Lobos on Friday and Utah State University Aggies on Sunday. Although the Rams fell short on Friday, they stayed strong come Sunday afternoon.

The last eight minutes of the game, everybody fought very hard, and I think the composure was better today,” – Bill Hempen, head coach of CSU women’s soccer

The Rams started their opening match up strong. Assisted by Liv Layton, forward Gracie Armstrong found the back of the net for the first time this season around halfway through the first half of the game.

Despite the promising beginnings, things quickly turned sour for the Rams. UNM scored back-to-back goals in quick succession, and with just over five minutes left in the half CSU found themselves down 2-1. The Rams were outshot 15-6 in the first half, the Lobos also had more shots on goal in the first half with five compared to the Rams’ four.

The game went stagnant in the second half. The Rams were unable to score over six shots, despite five of those being on goal. CSU played tight defense for most of the period trying to keep the one-goal deficit contained. Hopes at a comeback for the Rams began to dwindle, as they were still unable to gain any momentum while the clock ticked closer to the 90 minute mark.

UNM forward Alesia Garcia put the game further out of reach with a goal at the 84 minute mark to go up 3-1. When the Lobos score, they score in bunches, as four minutes later Leilani Baker sealed the game with the Lobo’s fourth and final goal of the game.

The Rams would have to wait two days to get another opportunity at their first win of the season.

Sunday’s game against the Aggies saw points on the board significantly earlier in the game, but this time it was not in favor of the Rams. The Aggies scored their first goal at 10:51 and would outshoot CSU 4-3 in the first half.

Shortly after halftime USU defender, Imelda Williams got a yellow card at 51:17 after getting handsy with CSU forward Caroline Lucas.

Armstrong continued to play a key role in CSU’s offense, as she aggressively went straight toward the Utah State keeper and got brought down in the box — resulting in a penalty kick for the Rams. Taylor Steinke’s successful penalty tied the game at 72:04. Clearly rattled after the penalty and searching for a way to get back on top, Utah State’s aggression got the better of them, resulting in a second yellow card.

After a few minutes of the Aggies playing clean defense, Armstrong proved to be the tiebreaker, scoring in the 82nd minute. The final eight minutes of the game saw the Rams play with a maturity not seen in the first game of the season. While it may have been a bit of a grind, the Rams finished their homestand with their first win of the season.

Gracie Armstrong with a rocket of a shot, sinks it in!!! #LetsGOOO

CSU 2 // Utah State 1
2H | 82:44 pic.twitter.com/dGmpjbDjLR

— Colorado State Soccer (@CSUFutbol) March 7, 2021

“The last eight minutes of the game, everybody fought very hard, and I think the composure was better today,” head coach Bill Hempen said in game recap posted on the CSU athletics website. “The communication of the back line in the second half was a little better, and we were able to work together to stop them from coming down the middle and down the sides.”

Tyler Meguire Taylor Paumen can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @TayTayPau.

About the Contributors

Taylor Paumen, Content Managing Editor

Taylor Paumen is the 2022-23 content managing editor for The Collegian and has been with the newspaper since February 2021. She started out as a volleyball recap reporter and was promoted three months later to sports director. Now going into her fourth year, she is working on finishing a major in journalism and media communication and a minor in sports management. As The Collegian's content managing editor, Paumen takes care of approving content for the week, guiding the directors and editors of each desk and occasionally supplying her time to the cannabis and sports desks when they let her. When she first joined The Collegian, her time covering volleyball games was tough, as COVID-19 had just taken over. Games were fanless, but she knew it was where she wanted to be. Now as content managing editor, she loves learning things outside of the sports world and strengthening her skills. Now, fans are back, and working in the newsroom to create a weekly paper is her new passion. Paumen is most grateful for the memories created with the entire Collegian team and their work together to create the best content. When coming to Colorado State University, Paumen started as a health and exercise science major but quickly tried to find something new. She found writing and sports were her passions, and The Collegian welcomed her with open arms, reassuring her that this is where she was meant to be.

Devin Cornelius, Digital Managing Editor

Devin Cornelius is the digital managing editor for The Collegian. He is a fifth-year computer science major from Austin, Texas. He moved to Colorado State University and started working for The Collegian in 2017 as a photographer. His passion for photography began in high school, so finding a photography job in college was one of his top priorities. He primarily takes sports photos, volleyball being his favorite to shoot. Having been on The Collegian staff for 4 1/2 years, he's watched the paper evolve from a daily to a weekly paper, and being involved in this transition is interesting and exciting. Although Cornelius is a computer science major, his time at The Collegian has been the most fulfilling experience in his college career — he has loved every second. From working 12-hour days to taking photos in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Conference, he cannot think of a better place to work. Working as a photographer for The Collegian pushed him outside of his comfort zone, taking him places that he never expected and making him the photographer he is today. As the digital managing editor, Cornelius oversees the photos, graphics and social media of The Collegian along with other small tech things. Working on the editorial staff with Katrina Leibee and Serena Bettis has been super fun and extremely rewarding, and together they have been pushing The Collegian toward being an alt-weekly. Outside of The Collegian, he enjoys playing volleyball, rugby, tumbling and a variety of video games. When in Austin, you can find him out on the lake, wake surfing, wake boarding and tubing. You can expect that Cornelius and the rest of The Collegian staff will do their best to provide you with interesting and exciting content.

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