Soccer Match Notes: Rams seek success from first road trip

Sept. 17, 2014

Rams Seek Success On First Road Trip

After five home matches and one road match at Colorado, the Colorado State Rams are traveling to Missoula, Mont. for their first road trip of the year. Colorado State is most recently coming off a thrilling overtime victory over College of Charleston and will be looking to continue that momentum against a couple of Big Sky opponents. 

The Colorado State Rams embark on the program's second season ever with a schedule featuring some of the premier programs in the sport. On the year, the Rams will play 10 matches at home, eight on the road and one at a neutral site.

The Iron Woman

Through six matches this season, only senior defender Jami Vaughn has played every possible minute in the field for the Rams. This a familiar sight for Colorado State, as the Kansas transfer was one of just three players in the entire Mountain West to play every possible minute in 2013. Dating back to last year when she first came to Colorado State, Vaughn has now plaed every possible minute in 24-consecutive matches, a streak that spans 2,169 minutes without a sub. Vaughn's streak leads the Mountain West.

Eckert's Moment

Without a goal in the 2014 campaign, sophomore midfielder Amy Eckert chose a timely moment for her first goal of the season, and second of her career. Three minutes into overtime against College of Charleston, Eckert snuck behind the defense and received a pass from junior forward Gianna Bertana. Just inside the edge of the box, Eckert one-timed the pass and slotted the ball into the corner of the net to give CSU it's second win of the year, matching the team's total from last year.

Attacking From The Back

It's no secret that Colorado State loves to use its wing backs as part of its attack. That trend is never more clear than when looking at the Rams' senior left back, Catherine Ruder. Through six matches, Ruder leads the team with 11 shots and four shots on goal, including a team-most three vs. SMU on Sept. 12. Fellow senior defender Jami Vaughn is third on the team with four shots.

Depth is Key

Head Coach Bill Hempen has not been afraid to go to his bench early in this 2014 season. As the team continues to improve upon its fitness and experiment with different lineups, Hempen has played 24 different girls already this season, with all 24 girls seeing action in at least two matches. 

A Pair Of Wins For The Rams Will...

Give Colorado State its first winning streak in program history.
Improve CSU to 4-4-0 in 2014, giving the program a .500 winning percentage.
Set a new program record for wins in a season.
Improve the Rams to 2-1-0 away from home this year.
Move CSU to 3-1-0 against the Big Sky this season.
Improve Head Coach Bill Hempen's career record to 282-205-47. He currently ranks No. 19 among Division I active coaches in all-time wins.

Experience At The Back

While Colorado State returns just nine players from last year's team, the 2014 Rams feature plenty of experence at key positions. CSU returns its entire starting defense from last year, including co-captains Megan Speed and Jami Vaughn. Speed and Vaughn are also flanked on the outside by Jessica Stauffer and Catherine Ruder, who each give the Rams valuable leadership and strong attacking options from the back. Out of a possible 24 matches, Speed, Vaughn, Stauffer and Ruder have been the starting defense for 21 of them. In 2013, Stauffer missed two matches due to a broken wrist.

Jumping On The Opponent Early

Colorado State knows the importance of getting off to a quick start in a match. An early goal can completely tilt the entire momentum of the match. All three of the Rams' wins have come when they have scored the first goal. All-time, CSU is 4-0-1 when scoring first, and 0-17-0 all-time when conceding the first goal of the match.

Second Half Action

In Colorado State's six matches this season, the games have started to open up in the second half. Across the board, CSU's stats have gone up across the board in the second half of matches. While the Rams have tallied 11 total shots in the first half of matches this season, that total jumps to 33 in the second half of matches. Similarly, CSU's corners jump from seven in the first half to 21 in the second half this year. Both of CSU's goals this season have also been scored after the intermission.

Fresh Faces

Fans can expect to see plenty of fresh faces on the 2014 Rams. The second-year program brings in a total of 18 newcomers, including 11 freshmen and seven transfers. The new additions are expected to give the Rams plenty of competition and depth.

Colorado Cup

With a win over Northern Colorado, Colorado State earned its first win in the Colorado Cup. The Colorado Cup is a season-long tournament between the six division I teams in Colorado. This is CSU's first year as part of the Colorado Cup, which Head Coach Bill Hempen helped create. 

The Rams lost their first match of the Colorado Cup, 2-0 at Colorado, and knocked off UNC 1-0 at home. With four points through two matches, the Rams are in fifth place.

2014 Colorado Cup Table

Pl. Team Pts. Record GF

1. Colorado 14 3-0-0 5

2. Colorado College 8 1-1-0 5

3. Denver 7 1-2-0 4

- Northern Colorado 6 1-2-0 3

5. Colorado State 4 1-1-0 1

6. Air Force 0 0-1-0 0

The Lagoon - Home of the Rams

Located on the field just east of the Lory Student Center on the Colorado State campus, The Lagoon serves as the Home of Rams Soccer. 

Free parking will be available for all CSU home matches in the Moby lot. 

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