by Bryce Reedy
Colorado Mesa University women’s soccer team entered the weekend with a 2-3-1 record on the year and an 0-1 record in the conference before coming away with two 1-0 home wins against University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and Western State Colorado University.
The Mavs got their weekend started on Friday night against the Mountain Lions at Walker Field. Weather was a factor as it rained prior to the game, as well as throughout the first half, making field conditions less than ideal.
CMU was on the offensive attack from the opening kick off. The team dictated the game on both sides of the ball and dominated the shots throughout the game.
In the first half the Mavs outshot the Lions 14-3. Despite the large number of shots taken however, the Mavs were only able to score once. The goal came off the foot of Amanda Wenzel in the 33 minute.
Wenzel was able to break up the field away from Mountain Lion defenders and chipped the ball over the keeper to give the Mavs the 1-0 lead.
“It is an amazing feeling,” Wenzel said regarding the goal. “I just saw the ball right over the keeper and I knew at that moment ‘this is it, this is our game, and this is what we deserve.’”
CMU kept attacking in the second half, once again outshooting their opponent UCCS, but they were unable to score. While the Mavs couldn’t put anything in the net, neither could the Lions and as the time ticked closer to 90 minutes UCCS got more flustered and it could be seen on the field.
“Towards the end [UCCS] was getting a little frustrated and rushed,” Wenzel said. “And usually when that happens the team usually does go for the cheap shots. So I think we did really good reacting to it and I think we did okay at responding and playing our own game.”
Wenzel and company took advantage of the situation and didn’t allow the Lions to get any good looks at the net. When the clock did finally hit the 90 minute mark, the Mavs came away with a 1-0 victory.
“This is what we are about,” head Coach Jason Clare said. “We can attack and we can attack with pace […] they are hungry for it. We want our players to be hungry and they showed it tonight.”
The Mavs came into the game looking to give their home crowd something to cheer about after falling short in their last home game against Westminster. Following the game, Clare was much happier with his team’s overall performance.
“I am buzzing I am so excited,” Clare said. “I remember when we spoke after last game I was disappointed in our performance because I know that we can do better. And this is what we can do. From start to finish we executed the game plan really well.”
Even in a game where a team comes out on top though, there are still things that they can improve on for their next time out.
“Our one grumble is we have to finish more,” Clare said. “But I’m really happy with the amount of chances that we created. You have to create them in order to score.”
CMU finished the game with 21 total shots, with eight of those being on goal. The next task for the Mavs was making sure that they kept this winning feeling heading into their matchup against the Mountaineers on Sunday.
“We have to keep the hype up,” Wenzel said. “One of our favorite things is jamming out in the locker room so that is going to be a big thing. But this feeling after tonight we just have to keep going off of that.”
The team did just that Sunday night as once again they were the aggressor throughout the contest. CMU would go on to outshoot Western 12-3 on total shots and 5-1 in shots on goal. Despite the large number of shots coming from the Maverick offense, the lone goal in the contest came in the 70 minute on a penalty kick by midfielder Halie Bergeron.
It was Bergeron’s first goal of the season and it would be all the Mavs would need to finish off the Mountaineers as CMU walked away with another 1-0 victory and a 2-0 record on the weekend series. With the victory the Mavs moved to 4-3-1 on the year, tying their win total from last season.
CMU looks to keep their win streak going as they will travel to Denver to take on Metro State and Regis University this weekend.
